About Me
MY COACHING JOURNEY STARTED EARLY
At age 16 I received my first Coaching Accreditation as a Rugby League Coach.
Little did I realise at this young age the effect that coaching would have on my entire adult life.
At Age 19 I was coaching my old school team, not really knowing what I was doing but loving the feeling it gave me. However, at that stage my driver was becoming a professional Rugby League player.
After realising at age 21 that I wasn't going to become an established professional rugby League player I decided to go to University and completed my BSc in Sports Science and my MSc in Exercise Physiology.
I was on my way.
EARLY DAYS OF PROFESSIONAL COACHING
At age 26 I became the first 'full-time' Strength and Conditioning Coach to work with the Irish National Team.
From the age of 23 I had a great apprenticeship assisting my mentor, Andy Clarke, former S&C Coach and now Managing Director of Kitman Labs UK. During my 3 1/2 year tenure working with Andy I worked with rugby teams such as Ireland Rugby Union, Sale Rugby Union, Waterloo Rugby Union, Halifax Rugby League, Featherstone Rugby League, wrote programs for Liverpool Football Club, and gained valuable lecturing experience within Health Promotion in the corporate sector.
I was fortunate enough to play a part in a pivotal period in Rugby Union history when the game shifted from Amateurism to the start of Professionalism in 1995. It was a time when players didn't want to train 2 days before a game and a time when we would still find Pizza boxes outside players room on match day. I'm surprised I didn't go grey!
After a relatively successful Irish Rugby Tour to South Africa in 1998, I moved to Dublin as National Fitness Coordinator working closely with Irish Head Coach Warren Gatland and Director of Performance Dr. Liam Hennessy.
GETTING INTO THE GROOVE
At age 29 I came back to the UK and my career was ignited.
I became the Head S&C Coach of Bolton Wanderers Football Team in the English Premiership under the guidance of Manager Sam Allardyce. However, after 1 1/2 seasons in football the lure of moving to work with London Wasps, once again under the guidance of Warren Gatland was too strong.
I had 3.5 amazing seasons at Wasps winning every trophy available on multiple occasions. We became an unstoppable force and our methods became the benchmark for professional rugby to excel in the UK and beyond.
I then moved to Leicester Tigers and during the season 2006-2007 we almost became the first and only team to win every available trophy in one season, narrowly losing out to Wasps in the Heineken Cup final, the last game of the season.
At 36, I spent 3 seasons with the Welsh National Team transitioning into a more holistic role of Physical Performance Manager. This was also a time when I completed another Masters degree, this time in Holistic Nutrition and became a Sports Nutrition Advisor.
I also had the incredible privilege of working as S&C Coach for the British and Irish Lions on the 2005 and 2009 tours of New Zealand and South Africa respectively. Two very different tours of contrasting approaches. Representing the Lions is a huge honour I will always cherish.
My career was at its pinnacle. Prestigious job, high paying salary, nice house, living close to the sea, a loving wife. However, 8 months before the Rugby World Cup in 2011 this all changed.
MIDLIFE TRANSFORMATION
My love affair with rugby came to an end.
In 2009 I reluctantly attended a 1-month Yoga and Meditation Retreat in Thailand.
It was the first time I had switched off in my working life. I had been a workaholic with no space for self reflection. My s**t definitely came to the surface during that yoga retreat. The suppressed emotions, anger, sadness, the hidden pain, and a lot of confusion. And I touched other parts too. Deep love, heart opening joy, bliss, and sensitivity like never before.
On returning to the Welsh Rugby Team my life suddenly had no meaning. Within 1-year of returning from Thailand I had left the job and moved to Thailand. A mid-life crisis I thought, yet really it was a mid-life transformation. After 6-months I started consulting for World Rugby preparing Namibia for World Cup 2011. Yet, the rugby work was dry and simply funded my intense quest to learn who I was on a deeper level and acquire a different skills set.
Since 2011 I have become a Yoga and Meditation Teacher, NLP Master Practitioner, Certified Hypnotherapist, Spectrum Emotional Coach, Life Coach, Shadow Work Facilitator, a Men's Leadership Coach, and a DeMartini Method Facilitator. I've also been on an incredible journey of self-discovery, exploring multiple modalities such as meditation, fasting, breath-work, coaching, therapy to name just a few. I was beginning to know who I was and certainly who I was not!
MY LOVE FOR RUGBY RETURNS
Helping Uruguay to beat Fiji in the World Cup changed my life.
On behalf of World Rugby, since 2011 I have had the privilege of consulting for many countries in both 7s and 15s rugby.The highlight has been my work with the Uruguay Rugby Team 1 1/2 years before the start of Rugby World Cup 2019.
This was a very different Craig White.
Not only did I bring all of my knowledge of Strength and Conditioning. I also brought everything I had learnt over the previous 8 years from the world of yoga, meditation, life coaching, and men's leadership training.
It was a time for me to reignite my love affair with the sport and the people of Rugby, the sport I had grown up with.
I was beginning the love the Rugby environment once again. The environment had not changed. I had!
I am forever grateful to Uruguay for allowing me to have so much input and more than that for allowing me to 'be myself.'
I had found my passion once again to work in Rugby.
I had changed my WHY!
MY LIFE TODAY
A life lived on my own terms.
My current life centres around coaching and consulting for professional sports teams, mentoring clients privately and in-groups, my love of yoga, meditation, and spending time in nature.
As a World Rugby Consultant I travel the world, supporting the development of growing Rugby Nations. I am now actively involved in supporting Fiji in their quest for success at the Rugby World Cup in 2023. It is a huge honour for me to support Vern Cotter and his team. I am also incredibly grateful to learn about the incredible Fiji culture. A truly spiritual experience for me.
I am also consulting for Harlequins in the UK Rugby Premiership. The role is extremely enjoyable and allows me to advice on leadership, culture, interpersonal skills, and high-performance.
In 2016 I also created an organisation called Men Without Masks
dedicated to supporting the lives of men, empowering them to live a life of purpose. We run men's retreats and offer private coaching. The retreats are incredibly humbling and sacred to me.
Everyday, I am learning more about myself, my place in the world, and how I can share my gifts with others. I am happy to say that I still know nothing. For, I will always have a beginners mind. Learning never stops.
Ready to become
world class?
Contact me today if you're ready to learn the HEART
OF COACHING.
