Why I Left Professional Sport… And What Came Next
The story behind Lessons from the Touchline, and why I’m building something bigger.
Just this week, I was asked why on earth I would leave working for a professional sports team - surely I really missed it?
It was a good question and one I get asked often. Yes, I do miss match days. The atmosphere was always amazing, even if they were long and exhausting and I was, usually, without exception, the last to finish work.
But actually, working in professional sport is not as glamorous as I think most people imagine it to be. It certainly wasn’t for me anyway. You never really get downtime, you rarely get proper holidays and even when the athletes take time off, the reality is very often that the people behind the scenes can’t. It is relentless and unrelenting and, if I’m honest, there were moments where I probably didn’t realise quite how much I had normalised running on adrenaline and pressure all the time.
But equally, there was a buzz to it that is hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. And do I feel lucky for having done it? Yes, I absolutely do.
The atmosphere, the build-up towards a match day, the pressure, the shared purpose of everyone working towards one moment, one outcome, one event. There is something incredibly addictive about that environment and I genuinely loved being part of it.
So, why did I leave?
Aside from having children which made it much harder (I ended up working on my laptop on a cricket job five hours after giving birth to my first child), the pressures of always showing up, kidding myself I could do it all and still functioning like a human being took their toll.
And, as Covid hit, I lost a big contract almost overnight. At the time, I was working on the Six Nations, introducing players and press, coordinating networks and helping bring some incredible sporting moments together and honestly, that part was super fun.
But then Covid arrived and suddenly those contracts disappeared overnight.
And I think for the first time in a very long time, I really started questioning where I fitted and who I actually was outside of that world.
I had read so much over the years about athletes tying their identity to sport and I completely understood it, because I realised I had done exactly the same thing myself.
I had also experienced that crisis of identity when my dad died.
He was the person who introduced me to rugby in the first place. We spoke after every single game. Win, lose, good game, terrible game, we talked about all of it. Sport became such a huge part of how we connected that, when he died, sport never really felt the same afterwards. I was not sure how I was going to navigate it without him there with me.
And again, I found myself asking the same question: Who am I without this?
Around that time, I started meditating and, forgive me for sounding slightly woo woo here, but I genuinely had what felt like a complete epiphany. I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to start writing everything down.
All the lessons.
All the experiences.
Everything I had learnt after two decades in and around professional sport about pressure, consistency, mindset, performance, self-belief and what actually helps people sustain high standards over time.
Slowly, from there, I started creating content. Then downloads. Then courses. Then talks. But underneath all of it was one very strong belief that never really left me: That the lessons used in elite sport could genuinely help people navigate everyday life better.
Not just for athletes, but leaders, founders, professionals, parents and anyone trying to juggle pressure, responsibility, ambition and real life all at once.
Because I honestly believe that so many people are capable of far more than they realise, but they are overwhelmed, mentally overloaded, inconsistent, exhausted or simply trying to carry too much all at once without the right structure or support around them.
And I truly believe people can make their lives more streamlined, more productive, less stressful and build real self-belief simply by implementing the right principles consistently.
And that is really where Lessons from the Touchline was born.
I have developed digital courses, downloadable resources and talks already, but what I feel very strongly about now is creating something deeper. A space or programme that people can join from anywhere in the world, at any stage of life and learn these lessons alongside me in a way that feels practical, honest, supportive and genuinely transformative.
But it is incredibly important to me that I make it as useful, meaningful and transformative as it can possibly be and not just another “online course” that sounds good in theory but doesn’t really create change in real life.
So, if you have got this far reading, thank you. I genuinely appreciate it.
And if you wouldn’t mind answering the polls below, it would honestly help me enormously because I’m very close to launching something I care deeply about and I would love this Substack community to help shape it into something that really nails what people need most.
If there is something missing from these polls that you think people are really struggling with right now when it comes to performance, pressure, mindset or simply trying to hold everything together, I would genuinely love to hear it in the comments.
Some of the best conversations and ideas I’ve had over the last few years have come from people simply being honest about what they are finding difficult.
Thank you again for reading and for being part of this journey with me. It genuinely means more than you probably realise.
Great listen, thank you sharing your story.
Forgive me if you’ve also shared the story of how you got into professional sport in the first place, but that would also be interesting.