So welcome to the sample and podcast formerly Sports talks. Now, why did I change it? I change it, I change it. I changed it because I felt too confined.
I felt a bit like I had to just keep going on there snc Merry-Go-Round when my life had evolved and my career has evolved and I'm at a point in my career now Are, you know, I can go in whatever Direction I want in a point in my life as well, which is really powerful to me and really, really motivating in that way, you know, battling with some some demons. As we all do, some Temptations to a, you know, whenever you see the bloody Six Nations on the TV, want to be out there
coaching and doing all that. But you know, it's part of the COS do you want to grow or do you want to stay? And I want to grow and that's been I really like the story of my life is always being growing on to the next learning new skills, doing different things, becoming a different person. I think that, you know, the most noble pursuit of Master is the Mastery of self, and if that means that you keep growing, then you should. I think it's Eeveelution.
And I think it's wonderful, but it doesn't mean that I'm not going to stop. Stop talking about speed. I love to be the coach speed all the time and my certification sport speed, and the work. Shops in everything like that. You know? It's my love, it's a passion of mine and I love doing it. And bringing these ideas to you.
And he's coaching techniques and and the application of stuff is really important and the foundation of everything that I do. And but you also can talk about other things we can, you know, bring on guests, that run gyms, we're going to bring on mindset people.
We're going to bring on the bloody Postman, whoever the sample and podcast is that Sits who I want to talk to when I want to talk to him, why I want to talk to him and how I want to talk to them about whatever they want to talk about. And I think that's a huge part of it. I remember, you know, I've I got on a podcast that it meant that I made it. You know what it means is really what I thought is that you know I get a podcast and people value
me and show me value. But you know, it's that approval for my for myself and you know from someone else rather than just you know pressing record and doing it myself and That's basically how I've done things from speaking and training and all those things that I just went and did it and then built it and I was it. And so, that's what I'm going to
do again. But don't forget that you can watch these vote on Spotify, think if you turn the phone, if it's on the phone or, you know, I will upload them to YouTube as well. So there's plenty of opportunity for you to see me talk to you as well. Not just listen to me because We will be doing whiteboard sessions. We do know is a cool stuff, which I'm really looking forward to sharing with you.
And, you know, I just wanted to start really impart by telling my story and sharing part of my story and I'm going to tell you so many stories, but I'll tell you the cliff notes. And the goal is to keep these quite short unless we have guests on or special special things. You know, these are going to be hopefully under 10 minutes. And, you know, today I just want to tell you the story of how from underweight 13 year old rugby player.
I ended up, you know, working for the team that tried to sign me the day. I broke my leg and that's a pretty cool story that I think so. Yeah, I was, I was, I was young and I was skinny and I got let go from saracens for being too skinny, but I was tall, you know, I'm currently six foot four and about 100 kilos and Myra Rugby player and weight was, you know, 98 and I was to about 10% body fat at the time. And that was that was solid.
I was very athletic and, you know, the moment probably a bit too heavy play American football, but that's for another day but different sports. But so I was, I was told that I was too small and it really knocked my confidence as a player and over the years and ended up about 17 getting asked to play for the first team at my local club. And then Simo came into My life, and he told me if you're going to play for the first team Sam, you need to lift weights.
You need to get stronger, you need to protect yourself. You know, I was 17 by then and still very skinny. As about 70 kilos 6-foot 1642. They didn't have much left in me, growth wise and Simo play for England, and for wasps before, just as the game turned professional, and he took me under his wing and, you know, on a Monday night I'd have to run up to the Local Rugby Club, which was about 25 minutes run.
And then he brought me into the gym which was an old storage room and had been turned into a gym for the lads at the Rugby Club and mainly, for Simo. And it had some mismatched donations, but there was loads of resistance machines and there's a squat rack in the corner and a old hand bike are dying thing. And you know I turn up thinking right? I'm going to be lifting, some big old weights and now Samoa was like you see all these
machines. You going to Do 10 reps of each one and you're going to do it 10 times through, and then you can go home and then you come back the following week, and then you can just going to try and add more weight, and that was it. And that was my training program. And you had bench press. So you had chest, press your shoulder press. You had row had leg extension hamstring curls with calf raises adapter, like inside outside,
like you name it, it was there. And you know I was it was a tough circuit, I was sore but over time I started bulking up start putting on weight and you know taught me something really useful about General preparation. Is that it doesn't have to be too fancy and it's just about conditioning, the body for the next piece and over for five months, that was there was a whole preseason.
So yeah, from July to about September when the game's first started, we were doing all of that and I had seen some results and then he started teaching, Me how to hang clean and do squats and I was like, well what about bench? He was like, fuck bench, you're a winner, you're fast. You need to have strong lower body and be explosive, sweet house, like let's go. So he started teaching me how to hang clean and they were like these muscle hand clean tool at
old bars. Like these that didn't Spin and you know it was like just rip it off the ground and rip it off the thigh. Sorry and it was amazing
experience. And at that time I was captaining the The under 19's when I was 17 and playing in the first team, and I got into the national magazine, the Rugby World for scoring, it was 22 tries in 22 games, and I was one of them and kick and go. And I was one of the most that time it was 11 games of the regular season says playing Saturday Sunday. I was one of the highest point scorers in the country and so it got a bit of notoriety which
then started getting me a bit of attention and I was phoning this time, I was Finding Owning a lot harlequins, front desk, trying to get tryouts and trials at academies and I remember I spoke to a guy called Tony dip Rose whose Academy Amanda on the phone and I was like 17 year old kid. Like trying to say to him, I wanna come play for you. How do I come play for you? What do I need to do? And now I called, you know, back saracens.
I was ringing them up and it was like I think about it now and I was like that is just So cool. And I can't even remember who that person was, if I'm completely honest. But I know the fight because it's the one that's still in me. And and I love it, and I was able to be in a position there, where, you know, a couple years later, I ended up playing 17 end up playing against Bristol. The, their second team within the Premiership at the time and on a Monday night.
Right for Henley Hawks second team and for a tryout and then I didn't go through, I played and it was a good game, you know, Premiership quality players experience. So it was really really good and and then I went back to amersham until I was 19 just to fill out a bit more wasn't ready?
And I'm completely honest I was a bit scared and I had so much loyalty to Simo and the teams that I was with and you know I wanted to You something that was never done before I still wanted to, you know, when I was a big fish at that point, I was I was really valued and that was meant a lot to me. And I am ended up going on a national cup. Run with the under-19s and we got to the last 16 to the quarter-final. The last eight.
Sorry. Of the best under-19 team in the country in England and we got bowed out. We've got when were mauled over the line by Red Roof on a really wet and windy day. And we were like a fast, expansive playing Team, the mauling wasn't for us. And and so then I kind of that was it and I made my decision and then I ended up going over to another team.
I went to Henley and then I got put on Trot on loan for a four-match loan to get some game time because I went back and I then ended up getting scoring with my first touch of the ball. Went over in the corner and felt amazing. Perfect way to start my campaign with a new team and then last five minutes played the whole game last. Five minutes I was really solid, we were winning. It was a close game box kit. And up, I've chased it from inside. My own is on I-95.
Meet line were under a lot of pressure, and I was like, I need to make this tackle to relieve the pressure to our over chased, a cut across the guy. He tripped his knee, hit my shin and I broke my leg and is one of the most and agonizing experiences of my life. There's very painful but at the same time as 19 and I realized that me playing professional rugby was over so it was a really interesting time and it's
very tough. If experience that I went through and you know, that there's two thousand seven, so, the championship wasn't a professional League. It was either you get into an academy under-21s, as a professional player, or you don't. And that was it. So, it was over and I had a trial pending with Munster over in Ireland, and I broke me.
Then that was it, that was that done broke my leg game over and I fought to try and keep that try alive, and it never happened and that was it. And the the A part of this whole story is that that day that I broke my leg. The academy manager from wasps, turned out to a mission to watch me play the day. I broke my leg because he was looking to sign me for wasp Academy now.
Funny story off the back of, that is only found that out after Rob Smith employed me as a strength and conditioning coach for wasps Academy three and a bit years later. So sometimes it's not meant to be be but sometimes everything's meant to be and and that's what we take forward from that story. So hopefully you enjoyed that and I look forward to sharing more about why Eeveelution into how I became whatever you think I've become and I look forward to seeing you on the next
episode. be but sometimes everything's meant to be and and that's what we take forward from that story. So hopefully you enjoyed that and I look forward to sharing more about why Eeveelution into how I became whatever you think I've become and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.