Ask around Randburg’s cricket circles for Tatenda Moyo, and you may draw a blank look, but ask for Coach Tats, and everyone knows who you mean.

“Every time you say, ‘Do you know Tatenda?’ they ask, ‘Which one?’ because there is another Tatenda based at Montrose. Then I am Tats,” he said.

Moyo grew up playing cricket in Zimbabwe, reaching provincial U19 level, before moving to South Africa in 2009 hoping to build a professional career. When that path did not open up, he turned his attention to coaching instead.

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“Later on, those pastures were not fruitful enough, so we moved into coaching,” he said. “It stemmed from trying to make a difference in a society where everyone wants to be professional, but no one understands what it takes to get there.”

In August 2013, he launched his own academy, the Sport Network Cricket Academy, built around one-on-one coaching rather than large group sessions.

“If you have a team of 11 or 12 kids, and each one goes to private coaching, then you have 11 kids who individually can catch and hit a ball better, which effectively makes the team a lot better,” he explained.

His coaching journey has taken him through a school-based programme at Randpark Primary School, before the Covid-19 lockdown forced changes to the school’s facilities that made coaching there impractical. That led him back to Randburg Cricket Club, a ground he knew well from his playing days.

“I’ve always been part of Randburg. I played in the Randburg Premier League and was part of the junior setup as well. So then I decided, okay, let me just come back here and use the facility because it’s well within reach and it’s central as well for everyone,” he said.

Asked whether he preferred playing or coaching, Moyo did not hesitate.

“I love coaching. Cricket is a long game. So you stay in the sun for long, and if you don’t enjoy it, then there’s no point. And also I love just seeing the progress in the kids,” he said.

He spoke warmly of former students who still keep in touch years later, including one now studying medicine at Bristol University, whom he began coaching at eight years old.

“It’s such things where, when a kid started with you, he was just seen as a bowler and he just scored a hundred for the first time. For me, all those accolades or all those achievements, it’s better than me scoring a hundred. It’s better than me getting a wicket. It’s seeing a young man that turns around or invites me to their wedding,” he said.

A typical coaching day runs from around 14:00, once school finishes, until 19:00 or 19:30, packed with players of every age and skill level, from complete beginners to teenagers playing first-team school cricket. Rather than running fixed drills, Moyo builds each session around what the player wants to work on.

“I want them to give me scenarios based on where they failed. And even if they succeeded over the weekend or they want to succeed over the next weekend, it’s always going to be, ‘I want to play slower bowling.’ So immediately they say that, I structure a session based on that,” he said.

That flexibility extends to age too. Moyo has coached children as young as three and adults picking up a bat for the first time in their forties.

“One hour you are going to have a five-year-old, the next hour you have a 15-year-old, and the next hour you have a nine-year-old,” he said.

Beyond his own academy, Moyo has helped grow youth cricket further afield through ATT Sporting Solutions.

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Beyond his own academy, Moyo has helped grow youth cricket further afield through ATT Sporting Solutions, a venture he co-founded that runs friendly matches and a longer two-day youth format aimed at building endurance and a love of the game. The initiative’s U11 side recently won its opening two matches in the Gauteng Super League.

For Moyo, the true reward lies beyond results on the scoreboard.

“May they be better human individuals. May they be better men, better women, better citizens in our endeavours and what we are doing. So that’s me, and that’s my driving force daily,” he said.

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