Injury may have forced Anthony Watson to cut short his rugby career but he hasn’t kicked all of his sporting activities into touch.
The former British and Irish Lions and England international is working on his golf game, enjoys a hit at his local padel club and has recently become an ambassador for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
One of Watson’s aims with Laureus, including at this week’s Evelyn Partners Padel Cup, is to increase participation among women and girls and, following a landmark few months for England women in rugby and football, he is anxious to capitalise.
“I think it’s really important to compound the success that the Lionesses [at the Women’s Euros] and most recently, the Women’s Rugby World Cup have had, and try to use the momentum to really encourage getting women and girls into sport,” he tells City AM.
“Because, like I’ve said – and I’ll continue to bang the drum – the lessons that you learn from sport are so important, and we want to encourage people of all genders, of all ages to continue in sport.
“A charity partner that uses sport as a direct influence to help in whatever way or shape that they can, I think, is a natural fit. And then the fact that I’m doing all of this while being able to have fun myself, play padel and still potentially be a little bit competitive, it seemed like an absolute no-brainer.”
He may have been an elite athlete but Watson is keen to temper expectations around his padel skills ahead of this week’s corporate tournament at Padium in Canary Wharf, having been ribbed mercilessly by his regular playing companion.
“He just keeps sending me millions of memes about how bad his partner is at padel,” says the former London Irish, Bath and Leicester Tigers back.
“I wouldn’t say I’m the best, but I’m learning. I’m trying to get better. I can’t guarantee that I’m not going to get frustrated on the day, but I’ll do my best.”
Watson’s three part-time jobs post-rugby
He is just the latest in a long line of famous sportspeople to take up the racket sport, including Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, David Beckham, Serena Williams, Max Verstappen, Michael Vaughan and Watson’s former England teammate Joe Marler.
Watson puts its popularity among athletes down to its low impact, a particularly important factor for the 31-year-old after his career was curtailed nine months ago by chronic back injuries.
“In the same way that golf is quite undemanding on your body if you’re not playing the top levels, I think the padel’s similar,” he says.
“You’re not going to come off the padel court and feel that you’ve run a marathon where your body’s all beaten up. It’s not the same as jumping into a football game, even five-a-side.
“If I play padel every day for four days, I’d probably be in a severe hole afterwards. But jumping into a game every now and then – yes, I’ll be sore the day after, and I have some nerve pain, but it’s nothing that I can’t get over with two or three days’ rest.”
Watson describes himself as having “three part-time jobs”: media work, developing an app for rehabilitating injuries, and helping to look after his two young children.
The son of a former Saracens player, he is also mindful of giving back to a sport that gave the 2019 World Cup runner-up more than most.
“The other part of what Laureus does that I’m really looking forward to is working with underprivileged kids, people who don’t have access to sport,” he adds.
“When I look at things that are really dear to my heart, I think about kids who don’t have the access to things that I was so lucky to have the access to, and being able to give them the opportunity to play in sport that they otherwise wouldn’t, I think is really special.”
