Why I quit professional ice hockey to teach…
If I had a pound for every time someone said, “why on earth did you do that?” I would be a very rich man!
It’s the question that gets asked just about every time I tell someone I’ve given up a career as a professional ice hockey player for a career in teaching. At times, I found myself asking the same question, but I can honestly say that it is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and one that I don’t regret for a second.
But if you’re reading this and are asking yourself the same question (I don’t blame you!), let me try and explain how I came to make that life-changing decision, and maybe you won’t think I’m such a crazy person after all!
Being a professional sportsman
Being a professional hockey player in the UK is almost exactly like being a professional footballer, except you make next to no money, play three times the amount of games and have a travel schedule that sees you take in all four of the British nations with 12 hour bus trips, prop plane rides and tons of post-game McDonalds! Joking aside, it was an unbelievable experience to play the sport I loved as a kid for my full-time job, but I’m a realist, and no matter what, the career of a sportsman is short, so the next chapter was always in the back of my mind.
Getting into teaching
Even with that understanding, I have to admit I didn’t intend to get into teaching as quickly as I did! I was sat at home after training one afternoon wondering about what I would I do when hockey finished, when I remembered how much I’d enjoyed some coaching I’d done and thought that PE teaching must be pretty similar. So without really thinking too much, I loaded up Google, put in ‘PE teacher training in Nottingham’ and found the nearest schools to me that offered a course. I fired off a couple of applications, texted a couple of old coaches to be my referees and got back to watching my favourite mid-afternoon quiz shows. That was it. A decision that has gone on to change my entire life took about the same amount of time to make as an episode of The Chase!
Training to teach
Fast forward six months and one successful interview later, I was about to start my teacher training year at the Long Eaton School just outside Nottingham. I will freely admit my naivety (please learn from my mistakes!), so if I’m being completely honest, I still hadn’t really given much thought to what I was getting myself into! I was determined to combine a full-time teacher training post with a full-time job as a professional athlete. As you can imagine, it wasn’t going to last very long.
I very clearly remember the moment when I knew I had a decision to make. I arrived back to Nottingham from Scotland at 5am, got back to my flat, dumped my bags and set my alarm for 6 that same morning to be up ready for school. An hour’s sleep? Not gonna happen! There was some difficult thinking done that week, but ultimately I knew I had a choice to make and teaching was the right path for me.
Of course I miss being a hockey player, but teaching is incredible in its own way too. With hockey, I was truly blessed with some of the experiences I’ve had, however I’ve found being in the classroom just as exciting, rewarding and challenging as my time on the ice.
In the classroom
Every day is different and there is great career progression, but without a doubt the best part of teaching is the day-to-day interaction with the kids. It’s not just the rewarding feeling you get from seeing them progress; they’re absolutely hilarious! Every day without fail, a student will say something that will have me in stitches — at times; the camaraderie of the classroom reminds me of being back in the changing rooms with the boys!
I’m currently at Bluecoat Academy Aspley, which is a fantastic inner-city school in Nottingham. Being an inner-city school brings its own unique challenges (which I love!), but I work with some great people which helps. I love going to work every day, and I don’t think you can ask for anything more than that from a career.
I know this is only a brief overview of my decision, but hopefully now you can see exactly why I love my time in the classroom just as much as I loved my time at the rink. Thanks for reading, and I encourage anyone who is even slightly interested in teaching to give it a go!
