Kirsty McClay's Cricket Inspired Calmness & Curiosity

My primary mission with this podcast series is to inspire each of us to value and appreciate our multifaceted strengths, experiences and offerings. Both as professionals and as human beings. And to highlight that human stories and connections will always matter, both personally and professionally.My next guest for this podcast series is Kirsty McClay. Kirsty has been working in the market research space for many years now. Her latest role is as the leader of market insights for the Australian Catholic University. And she’s previously worked for both national and international organisations across Australia, Singapore and the UK. This includes for TNS and Reality Check Research. Kirsty permanently relocated from London to Melbourne in the early 2000s. And in more recent years she’s started up a physical team-based activity that is popular in both of those countries.It's around four years ago that Kirsty signed up to start playing cricket at the Richmond Union Cricket Club. She joined as a 'mature' player, first participating in the winter season competition. Now that’s commitment when cricket is traditionally a summer sport. Despite being married to an Australian, Kirsty was completely new to cricket. She admits that she’d previously dismissed the game as 'boring'. Possibly due to her origins in Scotland where cricket was not an overly visible sport, despite its relative popularity. Kirsty surprised herself by taking to cricket like a duck takes to water. And last season her team won the grand final, while Kirsty won the team bowling award. Now that she’s an award-winning bowler, Kirsty is striving to master the art of batting. So far it’s proven to be a bit harder than bowling, but Kirsty finds that to be part of the attraction of playing cricket. The opportunity to continually learn and challenge yourself.