Very seldom do we ever ask, “Who was his coach?” the same way we seldom ask who the director of a movie was, the producer or even who the teacher responsible for a 100% pass-rate in a certain subject was.

The truth is that these people play a massive role which is why we decided to interview this very passionate servant of the game. An experienced cricket coach that has worked with some of the country’s elite cricketers. 

Andrew Mazina who is better known as “Choppa” was born and bred in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha.

Even though he is a coach now, Choppa is no stranger to the game of cricket. He represented EP in all Junior levels from U11 to U19 and then went on to the Plascon Academy at UPE and played a few games for EP ‘B’ as an off-spinner.

Coach Choppa then left PE after he did not get a contract with EP and sadly things did not go as planned after he left.

“After I didn’t get a contract at EP, I went to WP to try my luck, unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan. I played for a club called Western Province Cricket Club (WPCC) where I was the first black African to play for their first team.” 

Coach Choppa’s love for coaching is something that gradually grew inside him.

“When I was playing in PE my coach used to ask me to take the session when he was not going to be available for practice and my friend Zimayi Njokweni was the coach at the time for Zwide Centre of Excellence, now it is called Zwide Hub. I used to accompany him in his sessions and I think that is where the coaching bug took over.”

While not many may know Coach Choppa, he is someone who has worked with some of the elite or rather some of the most talented players in the country and is someone who continues to contribute to the pipeline of South African cricket.

He takes pride in the fact that he has produced professional cricketers and a few Proteas as well, something I am sure any coach would take pride in.

Two players who have come through Coach Choppa’s coaching that many may know are Proteas fast bowler Lutho Sipamla and SA U19 and Graeme College first-team player, Aphiwe Mnyanda.

Coach Choppa shares some of his memories from coaching Sipamla.

“I met Lutho when he went to EP trials Under 11. At that time, I didn’t know he was going to play for the Proteas. I Remember in one of the selection meetings, I was voting for Lutho to be in that side and one selector was pushing for this other boy, it was an hour-long discussion.

“After the trials, his dad came to me and asked for one-on-one sessions. After Lutho played his first Test his mom called me to thank me and I was  happy for the boy.”

Aphiwe Mnyanda, who also played for Zwide Hub also had his first interaction with Coach Choppa when he was 11 and today he is an SA U19 player. Coach Choppa’s effort is definitely speaking for itself.

Coach Choppa shares some of the most memorable moments in his career so far: ” The most memorable moment in my coaching career was winning the CSA U13 week in 2016 and winning Youth Coach of the Year the following year.”

We put Coach Choppa in a tight spot and asked him if he thinks coaching cricket is a career worth pursuing and all he said was, “ YES and NO.”

He said he does not look to one person for inspiration but looks to multiple people: “I love to take every positive in different coaches and put it together. I  will take lessons from the coaching styles of Ray Jennings/ Mickey Arthur/Russell Domingo and Adrian Birrell and put them together.“

Coach Choppa continues to contribute to SA cricket through his love and passion for the game and coaching. He even has a slogan that he loves using or rather a hashtag – #IdRatherBeCoaching. There are many people who, like Coach Choppa, go unrecognised regardless of their contribution to SA cricket. 

We closed off the interview by asking the coach what the 3 key things to his coaching are without explaining them and he responded: “copy and paste, steal information and discipline”. 

As the old saying goes, not all heroes wear capes.