Early Days
Born in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill, Healy was educated at Brisbane State High School. Healy and his family relocated 600 km north to the small town of Biloela in 1972, due to his father’s transfer in his job as a bank manager. Rod Marsh inspired Healy to take up wicket-keeping; he also played basketball, soccer, squash and rugby league. He represented the Queensland under-11 team and later attended a clinic conducted by the touring Queensland cricketers. The team’s wicket-keeper John Maclean gave him some specialist coaching, which gave his junior career further impetus.
During his later years in the town, Healy played alongside adults, which accelerated his progress. Returning to Brisbane with his family at the age of 17, he joined the Northern Suburbs club in Brisbane’s grade competition in 1982. After three matches for the Queensland Colts as a specialist batsman, Healy made his first-class debut in 1986–87 as a replacement for the injured Peter Anderson. However, Anderson remained the first choice as the state’s wicketkeeper for the next eighteen months, during which time Healy managed only six first-class appearances.
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Famous quotes related to early days:
“I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)