Inspiring East Sunbury coach Jessy Carroll aims to give back to the community which helped him

SUNBURY’S sporting community put its arms around Jessy Carroll and dug deep into its pockets during his time of need.

New East Sunbury cricket coach Jessy Carroll with the club’s assistant coach Liam Sherlock. Picture: Kylie Else.

SUNBURY’S sporting community put its arms around Jessy Carroll and dug deep into its pockets during his time of need.

Last year, while backpacking overseas, the 25-year-old was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma.

When news filtered home from his London hospital, it shook the tight-knit community.

The East Sunbury football and cricket clubs, of which Carroll is a member, quickly united in a campaign to bring him home and support his family.

The generosity of Carroll’s friends and family was “overwhelming”, with thousands of dollars raised to support his return to Australia and treatment.

The popular clubman hopes to give something back and foster the development of East Sunbury’s talented young cricketers after being appointed as coach for the 2016-17 Gisborne and District Cricket Association season.

“It’s pretty lucky, being part of sport, footy, cricket, any type of sport,” Carroll said.

“You know you’ve always got them to lean back on. They don’t treat you any different when you’re sick.”

Carroll’s health battle is ongoing.

He recently started a trial he hopes will improve his chances of returning to the field for the Thunder this summer, but that would be a bonus as far as club president Keith Osborne is concerned.

“To have Jessy at the helm, we’re hoping that inspires a lot more young cricketers,” Osborne said. “But not only cricketers, just to teach these guys more than cricket, how to handle themselves as young adults.”

Jessy Carroll appeals for a wicket. Picture: Kylie Else.

Carroll said he had leant on the club’s former coach Mark Hourigan — who he previously served as an assistant to — while undergoing treatment.

“I’m even luckier that the guy I was coaching with Mark, he’s been through this ordeal with his own son,” he said.

“I’ve got them to fall back on and they’ve been pretty strong for me lately.”

Carroll was first earmarked for the top job at East Sunbury during the 2014-15 campaign, in which he snared an impressive 41 wickets as the club’s progressed to the B Grade grand final.

He was in line to succeed Hourigan last summer, but those plans were delayed when he embarked on a dream overseas holiday which was ultimately cut short.

“We pushed it back a bit and the fact was Jessy’s health was always our first priority when appointing him,” Osborne said.

“As we said to him, ‘we don’t want you to burn out or cook yourself or anything like that’. Jessy reassured us that he’s ready to go and no one is more keen to start pre-season than Jessy.”

Carroll said he saw coaching as a way to thank those who had supported him over the past year.

But his key motivation for accepting the role was to lead East Sunbury back toward the top of the ladder.

The Thunder are set to retain their spot in B Grade despite finishing at the bottom of the table last season.

“Hopefully I can keep this bunch together for another three years and win some flags,” Carroll said.

Osborne said Carroll’s resilience had inspired his clubmates.

“Going through something like Jessy has, to bounce back the way he has has basically given not only the club confidence in the way he’s going to go about it, but also too our community,” he said.

Liam Sherlock will serve as Carroll’s assistant coach.