It is the leap which, sooner or later, every cricketer must make.
The day which comes to all and of which all, if not exactly dreading, become ever more acutely aware the closer it looms.
Retirement. The transition from player to ex-player. From an industry you have long-known and grown comfortable with to a different world. One day a veteran, the next a rookie.
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Darren Maddy has just made that leap. The former Warwickshire and England all-rounder was recently unveiled as new master in charge of cricket at Solihull School.
He succeeds fellow former Bear David Hemp at a school with a rich cricketing history and enviable resources and facilities.
The 39-year-old, a highly popular player during a 22-year professional career which began at Leicestershire, is excited by the challenge and appears well-equipped to be a fine coach.
But the fact remains that, never mind having played three Tests and 12 limited-over games for England and 761 matches (scoring 25,693 runs and taking 531 wickets) in senior cricket, he is now starting afresh.
As a 17-year-old, Maddy went straight from school into professional cricket. Now he’s back to school. It’s a big step for a man who has always valued stability in his working life. But, once settled at Solihull, he intends to take root there.
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“It is an exciting time,” Maddy said. “I suppose mentally I have been preparing for this for some years, distancing myself from team-mates and friendships because I knew I would be leaving.
“I never knew which direction my life would take. Would it still be in the professional game or at an independent school?
“When I announced in the summer that I would retire at the end of the season I expected offers to flood in but it took a while and there was a little bit of apprehension and insecurity.
"But then some opportunities presented themselves and Solihull School was definitely the one for me.
“Coming in on my first day I felt it was the start of another 25-year career. I will be 40 next year and most people work until they are 65 so hopefully this will be the environment I remain in for the next 25 years.
“I have never been one to chop and change. That showed in my spells as a player at Leicestershire and Warwickshire and I have had the same bat sponsor since I was 13. I liked to be settled.
"In the professsional game you never quite know where you are from one contract to the next and after 23 years on the road, often away from my family, I owed it to them to settle down where we feel comfortable and happy.”
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The historic environs of Solihull School is where Maddy is settling now and there were a few early nerves.
"Put Maddy in the middle at Edgbaston and ask him to bat – no problem – there is little he has not seen, heard or done in that world. But back in school, he is starting again.
“I am under no illusions that I have loads to learn,” he said. “My first day out of school as a teenager was as a professional cricketer and I don’t know anything different so it will be strange when next season comes round and the games start at Edgbaston and I am not part of it.
“But that part of my life had to end at some point and having a job like this makes the transition a lot smoother.
“It is quite daunting but throughout my career the excitement of the next challenge always kept me going. There are a lot of opportunities here to develop my career with coaching rugby and maybe hockey.
"But cricket is my main role and I am really excited about it. My philosophy in cricket has always been based on enjoyment. If the lads enjoy what they are doing they will develop faster in terms of skill-levels. I will give everyone an equal chance to further themselves.”
Maddy’s own boots have not quite been hung up yet. He will play for Berkswell in the Birmingham League next summer when school commitments allow but his first objective is the nurturing of young talent at Solihull.
And he will draw heavily on the expertise of the many coaches under whom he played. Most of all, the vastly-respected Neal Abberley.
“In my first coaching sessions a lot has been based around the things Neal used to tell me,” said Maddy. “He is a man I respected and admired a lot.
"I’m only sorry my work with Neal started in 2007 when I was already in my 30s and my batting had already been shaped. I would have liked to work with him when I was a lot younger.
“It will be very satisfying to take a group of players at Under-12s all the way through to sixth-form and be part of their development.
"There will be players at different ages and levels, some just starting, some accomplished, and it will be about fine-tuning some and starting with the basics for others. That will be quite challenging but really rewarding.
“Hopefully I can produce some players for Warwickshire.”
Perhaps Maddy’s input to the Bears is not quite over yet then. He was a popular and effective cricketer there, although his contributions in recent years were heavily affected by injuries, most of all a horrific blow to the face in March 2010.
In a pre-season warm-up match in Bloemfontein, a Neil Carter bouncer got under the grille of Maddy’s helmet and left him with multiple facial fractures.
It was an appalling injury after which Maddy perhaps never regained his full batting powers. But the experience, he believes, left him better-equipped for his post-playing career at Solihull.
“The injuries, and getting hit in the face in particular, led to some difficult times,” he said. “But it taught me a lot about myself and how to deal with adversity.
“That’s one thing I will pass on in my coaching – we all have highs but it’s how we get through the lows that really matters. As a player, I think I could have dealt with them better at times.
"Maybe I took too much with me into my next innings instead of letting it go.
"But, however old you are, you are always learning as you go and I think over the years I have acquired a lot of experience and skills to pass on.
"I’m very fortunate to have this new challenge and am really looking forward to it.”