ABSTRACT
Having spent 12 years as a player with reasonable success, during a period of immense change within the game of rugby union on a global scale, I often feel blessed that I was playing during the onset of the professional game. Having to manage an alternative career alongside being as professional as one could be with a small ‘p’ in terms of the amateur status of the game has certainly influenced me as a coach and practitioner. A significant shift moving from working full-time to being a professional athlete almost overnight was a challenge. On reflection, my epistemological ‘view of the world’ has inevitably been influenced by the players I had the pleasure of playing with and against during my career, the coaching experiences I received as a player and finally the environments in which this was situated.
