Meet Cooper Grant: The baseballer turned playmaker ready for his Crusaders debut

When Cooper Grant walked up to face the pack of reporters waiting to question him earlier this week, he walked with a mix of nerves and excitement you’d expect from any young man about to debut at 10 for the Crusaders. 

“Yeah, I’m more nervous about this than the game,” he laughs. 

The news of his selection came from Jimmy Marshall and Brad Mooar earlier this week. 

“I was a bit starstruck at the start. It’s a cool opportunity,” he says.  

Calling his family later that night brought everything home.  

“They were ecstatic. Dad’s very emotional, you could hear the tears on the phone. Mum was really excited too. We’ve got some family heading up on Saturday, it’ll be good.” 

If you know softball, you’ll know the Grant name. Cooper’s dad, Marty, is a Hall of Famer who has given more to the sport than most people ever get to see.  

But he’s also been Cooper’s coach, motivator and compass.  

“Dad played a lot of rugby and coached me through heaps of my grades. I looked up to him,” Cooper says.  

Before he ever thought about running a rugby team around the park, Cooper lived and breathed ballparks.  

“I played softball my whole life. I was always around the ballpark with Dad, and it was a dream to be a Black Sox player.”  

Then baseball entered the picture. As a kid, he heard on the radio about a New Zealand under‑13 team heading to the Cal Ripken World Series in Baltimore and put his hand up.  

“Going to America, everything was bigger and brighter. That’s when I found my love for baseball.” 

The sport took him places most teenagers can only imagine.  

At just sixteen, he debuted professionally for the Auckland Tuatara at North Harbour Stadium – the same place where he’ll now make his professional rugby debut.  

“It’s pretty special. A full-circle moment,” he says.  

But while an American junior college opportunity waited for him, something else pulled harder: home, his mates and rugby.  

“I missed the social side – all my mates were playing rugby. I went back, threw the rugby ball around again and loved it.”  

He played in Nelson, rediscovered his joy for the game and entered the Crusaders Academy.  

“Dad wanted me to play baseball of course, Mum supported whatever I chose. But at the end of the day, they both backed me no matter what.” 

His rugby journey hasn’t been a straight line either.  

“I played 9 and 10 growing up, then took a year off for baseball and got a little bit chubby, actually. I played front row for a bit, then loose forward, then back to 10.”  

That experience has shaped him into a playmaker who understands every corner of the field and isn’t afraid of the physical side. 

When he looks ahead to this weekend against Moana Pasifika, he’s clear about the challenge.  

“They’ll be physical up front. They’ve got big bodies and good game drivers. Willi Havili at fullback… I played with him at Tasman, so I know his style. It’ll be a tough game.”  

For someone who’s handled pressure alone on a pitcher’s mound, the transition to guiding a rugby team has been fascinating.  

“In baseball it’s one‑on‑one with the catcher. You’re always in action. In rugby you still have pressure, but you’ve got people around you to help share it. It’s balanced. 

"This week, I’ve been in my book a lot, on the computer, nailing my detail as a first five. The brothers around me have been great, giving me confidence and helping with little things.”  

Growing up around his dad’s professional softball environment helped him long before he realised it.  

“Dad was always driving me to be the best I could be. Seeing the one‑percenters behind the scenes, that stuff sticks. What they did on the softball diamond, I try to do on the rugby field.” 

A few weeks ago, Cooper watched his dad be inducted into the Softball Hall of Fame at Cowles Stadium.  

“It was special. Mum was there, my brother was there. Dad’s been so influential in everything – softball, baseball, rugby, and so has mum – they work hand in hand.”  

When the whistle goes this weekend, Cooper knows what his job is.  

“For me, it’s about nailing my role, putting the boys in the right part of the field. We’ve got a good forward pack and a good backline. If we get things right and limit our errors, we’ll do good.”  

Cooper Grant is a young man with two sporting lives behind him already: the kid who dreamed on diamonds and the playmaker who chose home. Now he stands on the edge of his debut, ready to write the next chapter in the same stadium where another dream once began.