Jasmine Nicholls is a groundsperson at Yorkshire CCC, an integral part of the team led by our head of grounds Richard Robinson. She has been working at Headingley since March 2023.
Nicholls is also a former England national race walking champion and is now training to undertake her first two marathons this year. She has never run a marathon before but will tackle those in London and Leeds in late April and mid-May respectively.
Nicholls has worked as part of grounds teams at iconic cricket venues such as Headingley and Edgbaston and also in football at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in rugby union at Leicester’s Welford Road.
In November just gone, she won the prestigious Rising Star award at the ECB’s Business of Cricket Awards.
Here we chat to the 29-year-old from Leicester about her life in work and athletics, the ups and the downs and how she is aiming to inspire youngsters, particularly young girls, to follow their dreams and break the mould like she has done in becoming the first female to be employed on the Headingley ground-staff.
On the 22nd February, the YCB are hosting a Women in Cricket event, where you can hear from Jasmine to learn more about grounds management – book your place here!
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com – 08/07/2023 – Cricket – LV= Insurance Men’s Third Ashes Test Day 3 – England v Australia
Jasmine, you are just about to start your third summer at Headingley. What was your career path to this role?
I studied a Sport Development degree at Leeds Beckett University.
I initially came up to Leeds because that’s where the National Centre for Race Walking is, and I got to Weetwood through that. There were a few race walkers who I knew who worked there, and they said there was a job going, which I needed having just finished Uni.
I started as a Recreation Assistant in 2016 and then moved up the ladder and finished as an Assistant Duty Manager, which is basically overseeing the three outdoor sports sites that the University has.
That’s where I first met Robbo (Richard Robinson). He was the head groundsman on the cricket side of things, and I helped him out first of all with the ground during Covid, pulling on the covers and things like that.
Having worked at Weetwood for so long, I got to the stage where I needed something different, and that’s where Yorkshire came in. I’ve loved it here. I love the job that I do and enjoy being around the people I work with and the club in general.
Both your working and personal life are heavily linked to sport. Has it always been this way?
Yes. Going back to Primary School, I was basically doing every single sport I possibly could. From there, I settled on race walking and running.
I weened out the running and just race walked for around 20 years I would say. But last April, I decided to go back to running because I wanted to do something a bit different.
I’m doing a few races, but it’s mainly because I enjoy it.
I’ve spoken previously about my battles with mental health, and there’s no doubt that running helps massively with that. It just gives me that time out from things.
It gives me a bit of an escape where I can just switch off and put one foot in front of the other for an hour or so or however long a session that I’m doing.
The main goal for this year is that I’ve managed to get a place in the London Marathon. I’d already signed up for the Leeds Marathon before I got accepted for London through my membership link with Abbey Runners in Leeds, so I’m doing that two weeks later as well.
A marathon is something I’ve always wanted to do, and especially the London one. It will be something special.
I’ve booked a few days off after London, but there’s a County Championship game (Warwickshire) towards the end of the week after I’ve run it. So if you see someone hobbling about on the pitch at lunchtime, it will be me.
Can we talk about your biggest achievements, first of all in your working life?
My first year here, in 2023, at Yorkshire was a whirlwind. There were so many things I did that I never considered possible.
Going to Edgbaston and working as part of an all women’s grounds team for the women’s Ashes T20 international was amazing. I came back from Edgbaston and worked on the men’s Ashes at Headingley a few weeks later.
Those two weeks are ones I will always remember.
Jasmine was part of an all women’s groundstaff team that prepared the pitch during the Women’s Ashes at Edgbaston.
A month or so later, I prepared one of the training nets for the Hundred. One of the days, Ben Stokes was batting in there for a good hour. I was like, ‘What is going on!’
Towards the end of 2023, I got the chance to go to Leicester Tigers and work on the ground there for a Premiership match. I love my rugby and will always be a Tigers girl.
I’ve been in the crowd for many a game at the Tigers. But to be in the middle of the pitch whilst the team was running out was absolutely insane. It was was a dream come true.
Last March, I also went to the Emirates Stadium for a Women’s Super League North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham.
The Grounds Management Association wanted to make a big spectacle of it. They wanted an all women’s grounds team for that event. I was asked to fill out a form to apply for it, and I got the email inviting me to be a part of it.
There was quite a lot of attention on that media wise. To experience that and see how everything worked was really good.
To have the opportunity to go to different grounds and work on different sports, it’s nice to see how things work compared to what we do at Headingley.
For me, I love cricket the most because I really enjoy the preparation stage when it comes to the pitches. But if the opportunity came up again to get involved in a different sport, I’d take it because you never know when these things are going to come up, especially being a female in the industry.
But, by far and away the proudest moment I’ve had in my working life was to be the first female at Headingley to create a pitch, doing it for the women’s T20 International between England and Pakistan last May. Unbelievable!
That, and the last two years in general, it has been the best period of my working life.
And what about your greatest achievements in your athletics career?
I have a couple of medals dotted about in my living room.
Abbey Runners had a Christmas do and asked us to take in our favourite medal. For me, there were a couple, and it definitely got me thinking about the past.
In 2021, I came away as England race walking champion. That’s an obvious highlight. You certainly can’t complain at that.
But one of the ones I’m most proud of is from the England Indoors at the start of 2023.
I’d broken a few personal bests in 2021 but got Covid at the end of the year. I spent a lot of 2022 dealing with Long Covid effects. I spent about six months off work because of that.
During that stage, I didn’t think I’d get back to competing again. But I did and went to that England Indoors event and came away with a bronze medal. That’s one of my prouder achievements given everything I’d been through. It’s not a gold or a silver, but to come away with that medal, it was the hardest fought one.
In December 2023, you spoke in depth to yorkshireccc.com about your battle with mental health. Approximately 14 months on, is that something you are still dealing with and how are you?
Before I got to know Robbo properly, I felt l like I was constantly in a bit of a dark place. If I was happy, it would only be in brief moments. It wouldn’t last long.
Since moving to Headingley, it’s definitely got a lot lighter in my head.
There are still difficult moments, but they’re not as regular by any means. It’s more when I’m getting tired. It’s managing that and finding ways to deal with it.
If I’m struggling at work, say, the best thing is to put me on a mower for a bit and I’ll go and cut the square whilst listening to some music. I find that if I can be active and moving and have some time to myself, I can pull myself through it.
There are still times when it lasts a few days, but I know that it will pass. Running helps, switching off with a film too. It’s trying to find the balance between having those moments and still carrying on.
I know that being at Headingley helps in the long run.
Everybody has been really supportive at Yorkshire. They’ve been amazing with me.
But that’s not just the mental health side of things. Coming into the club as the only female member of the grounds team, my colleagues have treated me like they would anyone else.
They’ve made that transition into male-dominated industry really easy.
Before I started the job, I spoke to my parents and grandparents about it. They were worried about whether there might be discrimination with me going into a male-dominated industry. But they didn’t need to worry. It’s been absolutely incredible.
You talk about being in the minority when it comes to being a female in the grounds industry. With that comes the opportunity to inspire others to follow in your footsteps. How aware are you of that responsibility?
I’m fully aware that being a female working on a Test Match ground, there’s a lot of people in the stands.
I know they won’t necessarily be paying full attention to what the ground-staff are doing – unless, of course, you are balancing a broom on your chin like Robbo likes to do every now and again!
But when there are big games on, there will be a lot of kids around who soak up everything that goes on around the ground. And if they see a female out in the middle working on the ground, that could inspire them.
That could be to work on a grounds team or even just do a job that they never thought possible.
If I can be a figure like that, it blows my mind. That’s an added bonus to the nuts and bolts of the work I do.
Only two percent of the grounds industry is made up of women. I want to try and play my part in changing that. But if I inspire anyone – be it a boy or a girl – that’s all that matters.
You have said that your running goal is to enjoy it. What are your work life goals – how do you see your career progressing?
At the moment, because I’m still early in my career, I want to enjoy what I’m doing and keep learning. Each season, each year, is going to be different because of the weather and with the variety of games that we have.
I’m quite happy to continue learning and hopefully prepare some more pitches.
I’ll keep trying to get on as many training courses as I can and develop my knowledge and understanding.
In the longer term, if I can get to be a head of grounds, that would be great. But, at the moment – as I say, I’m happy with where I’m at.
There are lot of international games coming up, but we can look forward to Yorkshire being back up in Division One as well.
I’ve prepared a pitch for a T20, but I’d like to prepare one for a multi-day game. The work that goes into that is different, so I’d like to do one of those if I can and understand that side of things.
I’ll need to ask the boss nicely so that I can be ready for when the women’s Test Match comes around in 2027 to lead on that if that’s what I’m asked to do.
Let’s finish on a light note. Two things. Firstly, you mentioned music early. What is your go to whilst sat on a mower in the middle of Headingley? Also, has Robbo been teaching you how to balance a broom on your chin?
The music changes quite a lot. There’s a band called to Smash Into Pieces, who I like. Imagine Dragons as well, Pink, maybe a bit of Bon Jovi as well.
And, no, I’ll be leaving the Circus tricks to Robbo. I don’t want to show him up.
