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Corey Rocchiccioli is a cricketer, a philomath, and a lover of ground coffee.
Key points:
- Corey Rocchiccioli has played 16 first class matches since making his debut in 2021
- This season he has taken 11 wickets in two games at the WACA Ground
- The off-spinner conceded the WACA is not the easiest place for him to bowl
The three things seem unconnected, but they all play into his career in WA, which hasn't taken the standard route to professionalism.
Rocchiccioli (pronounced rok-a-CHOHL-ee) remembers when he made the decision to give up on being a batter, and pursue spin bowling full-time.
It happened relatively late in his development, but has seen him become one of the best spinners in the country.
"I couldn't bat, so that was probably the starting point," Rocchiccioli smiles.
"I just couldn't make any runs.
"Playing in the first grade side at University, I wasn't going to make it as a top six [batter] but I realised my off-spin was a point of difference."
Rocchiccioli moved to University in 2017, and by the end of the 2018-19 season had established himself in the first-grade team.
"I had Tom Hogan and Ashton Agar around me, who were really good spinners. They were able to help guide and nurture me," he said.
"From there it was sort of just [having] the curiosity of what makes a good spinner and sort of learning the art of off-spin bowling."
Dream come true
Rocchiccioli grew up with a poster of former Australian wicketkeeper and great Adam Gilchrist on the back of his door, and always dreamt of playing cricket professionally.
"I think it's the coolest job in the world, being a professional cricketer is awesome, playing in front of the crowds is sick," he said.
"There was probably some points where I went the other way and thought I wasn't going to make it and pursued some other avenues.
"It was funny, like pursuing the other avenues actually allowed me to stress less on cricket and perform, which was then my my sort of platform into the first class side."
Rocchiccioli has taken his cricketing opportunities with both hands.
After taking 25 wickets last season as WA retained the Sheffield Shield title, at the time of writing the off-spinner is the competition's leading wicket taker after two rounds in this campaign.
And he's achieved that on the notoriously spin-unfriendly WACA.
"I'm a pretty optimistic and sometimes naive character choosing off-spin in Perth," he said.
"The intricate details of using the sea breeze, using my height and using my balance. It sort of forces me to get really good in my fundamentals.
"We've got some awesome coaches, we've also got some incredible players who are really lenient to spin.
"Sometimes captains and teammates can just give you the ball and ask you to hold ends but I've been asked to take wickets as well, which has sort of allowed my development to grow."
The 15-day pressure cooker
Rocchiccioli recently spent time in India on a spin camp, which forced him to learn skills that don't apply at the WACA.
"India's a completely different place to Perth, 38 degrees and 95 per cent humidity, and it's everything's in your face," he said.
"Everything's loud and noisy culturally, and the pitches do a lot of different things.
"It was a 15-day pressure cooker, essentially, of what can you get better at? What do you need to add under your wing?
"There's been some subtleties that I've used here that no one's really going to pick up, of my changes of crease, the way that I've sort of changed the angles of the ball.
"It's a bit like using a hammer versus screwdriver. You need different things for different times.
"It's nice to keep sharpening [those tools] and using them when I get the opportunity."
Keen student of cricket ... and more
But while Rocchiccioli is enjoying the ride of being a professional athlete, he's got one eye on life after cricket.
The 26-year-old has a sport science degree, two diplomas, and is currently studying a master's degree in business administration.
The two pursuits occasionally collide. Before a recent game, Rocchiccioli had to finish a 2500-word assignment.
But it's something he embraces.
"It sort of distracts me a little bit. It just allows me to realise there's more to [life than] cricket. Like going to class and going to university, there's people who have five kids under 10 and they're also studying," he said.
"It makes you have some perspective that cricket isn't the hardest job in the world.
"You're not just a cricketer for your whole life. So my perspective is that hopefully I have a really good career and I finish up when I'm 40, old and wrinkly.
"But I also want to know that for the next 50 years after cricket, I've got an opportunity to live a really good life and sort of open up some other avenues outside of cricket."
Some coffee shops are wrong 'uns
While cricket is his main endeavour, Rocchiccioli also has a passion for coffee, which he forces onto his teammates.
"When I was at uni, I went to coffee shops to study and that sort of started my coffee journey, " he said.
"Instead of going out with your mates for a beer you can go out for a coffee after training or before training and you can have a social connection."
The interest in coffee has bled into his game, with his bats named after good coffee shops, and finding quality places while on cricket trips is a key interest.
He doesn't hold back on his teammates who go to places he deems inferior.
"We've got a couple of good ones in person we'll go to close by and then I usually give a little jibe a few of the boys who're going to the bad coffee shops and try [to get them] into the good ones," he said.