Sarah Kelly, CEO Baseball SA

Alex Mednis & Nicholas Watkins, Australian Sports Professional Association
Sarah Kelly, Baseball SA

Bonus content

It quickly became apparent while we were creating the Playbook that each of these interviews offered such an incredible amount of valuable content that we wanted to share with ASPA members. Because of this, we have created an additional excerpt for each CEO. These philosophies, statements and stories were pulled directly from the interview. Where possible we have ensured the bonus content offers something different to the philosophies and advice details in the Playbook.

We hope you enjoy!

Interview

With a background in finance and accounting, a playing career in both volleyball and tennis, running two small businesses before becoming the CEO of Water Polo SA, Sarah is now the CEO of Baseball SA.

Before we get into your current role - why water polo?

At the time they had an advertisement out for a bookkeeper, when I had my bookkeeping business. I got the job, and then the CEO said, "How would you like to do some sport development work as well?"

I said, "Okay, I don't know anything about water polo, but grassroots sport and development is very similar across most sports, so why not!".

I picked it up pretty quickly, and it was quite fun. I could see so much value in water polo in South Australia, and engaging clubs with a new product called Flippaball at the time. 

Through learning another sport via water polo development, and then starting to do some backend work with club development and umpires or referees, I really got a good understanding of the sport. 

It sounds like the previous CEO had succession in mind!

(Laughs) Possibly! The CEO was moving on soon after, and the board offered me that position alongside the development role. It ticked a lot of boxes for my plans for career development, and I could really tie all of my past experience together.

I also have four children who have played a multitude of sports, and I felt I could bring that together and say, "What did they enjoy in sport? What worked well in their sports?" - in a way that I could bring across to water polo.

In some ways you were already prepared for the CEO life, from running your businesses over the years prior.

Absolutely. As a CEO, you have a lot of departments within your sport. It's a business that you're running and you have to continually be aware of the needs and, and requirements of all of those different stakeholders within the greater system. 

I guess it was a bit of a light bulb moment where I became a CEO without really realising that was the direction my career was going to hit. I loved learning the sport of water polo. Everyone asks, “Why did you choose water polo?”

I think water polo chose me. It was a great opportunity to be exposed to a sport that I didn't know, and my friends didn't play. I didn't feel too scared to step in and say, "Well, I don't know water polo but I know a lot about sport. I've got a lot of qualifications and skills around other sports."

And so now, baseball!

When this role came up in baseball, I decided that water polo was this very small sport, and there wasn't going to be a lot of growth and development opportunities for me in the long run. By the end of my time there, I was playing the role of sports development officer, finance officer, CEO. I was wearing all the hats in that small sport.

I felt like it was time for me to take on a more strategic role and have a team to work with. This role came up, and, again, it was a sport that I've had nothing to do with in the past. No children played it, no friends were playing it. And they gave the job to me. I must've won them over somehow!

You have a penchant for jumping into sports that you can bring in outside experience to.

The beauty of not being a part of the sport is that I can make some very unbiased decisions that don't suit a specific player or a club.

I can sit on the fence and work out what's best for the sport overall. What do we do for baseball to grow it and develop it? And where are we, where do we have holes in our structure? 

Has that been received positivity in the community? Sometimes sports like to have someone that has experience in the sport, and sometimes they want a fresh pair of eyes.

The feedback to me from the time I've been here, so far, is that it's great to have somebody that's not from a club, not from a baseball background, and children aren't playing it. I'm not going to favour their club or make pathways for them, which we all know happens in sport. And that's just a fact of life.

It's a very good neutral position to be in.

It sounds like you love a challenge!

I do! I've loved the learning another sport again. It's a totally different sport to water polo, to, to volleyball, to tennis, to footy. The opportunities globally are enormous, the pathways into ...

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