I didn't have to play rugby that well, and I didn't have to play cricket that well, because I had this voice.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I tried to play rugby but was never very good.
Rugby gave me a confidence. I was quite shy and relatively timid, but it gave me the confidence to be a little bit more out-going and back myself a bit more.
When things could've gone really bad, rugby caught my interest and I really stuck with it. The sport brought me, maybe off the streets where we'd be fighting, into putting in a good effort in the rugby field where you're kind of rewarded for that rough behaviour instead of in trouble with the law.
As a kid in New Zealand, you play cricket in summer and rugby in winter. I played cricket and hockey. Not rugby. I wasn't brawny enough for it. Or silly enough, perhaps.
I still get a great buzz from rugby.
I have played cricket on my own terms.
In my youth I thought I was going to be a professional rugby player.
It used to hurt me that people thought I didn't have the technique and the temperament to play Test cricket.
I've got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I'll get my head around what the next challenge involves.
Geez, I just played cricket because I loved the game. I never thought about it much, never really had any formal coaching.
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