Sarah Munro on following your own path
Sarah Munro is the general manager of Matatū, a Super Rugby Aupiki team. In a recent podcast, I chatted to her about the story behind the team and the growth of women's rugby.
The acceleration of growth that actually the women's game has and will, for a while now, continue to exponentially grow. People's experiences are different, but if you don't honour your past, then you're moving into the future blind.
I've always felt that within Crusaders, that strive, the excellence is about doing it not just for myself, but for each other. That’s what's created a really great environment.
That’s translated into Matatū as well. Alot of our coaches and staff work across both environments. The staff, including myself, S&C and physios have come through the Canterbury pathway, and have worked across Crusaders as well.
Whitney Hansen, Matatū head of rugby and head coach, coaches in the Black Ferns Hub. She also coaches in our Canterbury Women's Academy as well and worked within the Canterbury FTC team for a number of years.
I think good people win the game. We need coaches, we need good coaches. That's not a band-aid. It takes time to grow really good coaches, S&Cs, people within the pathway of high performance.
If we have them, then we can grow great players. We're seeing we're getting the growth and participation at that grassroots level, which is great.
It’s important to have the right people around the table trying to contribute in a positive manner around the women’s rugby.
Let's look back and see how far we've came. Let's celebrate it. Let's review. Then let's think about how we take it forward.
We never want to be in a game of comparison and that might be controversial too. I'm a really strong believer in understanding your own pathway, what you need and growing where you need in your own space.
As individuals, comparison doesn't give us happiness. We look at social media at the moment, we see more and more. When you compare yourself, it never makes you happy.
However, being able to focus on yourself, truly understand yourself, who you are, what you represent, where you want to go and what's going to make you successful in your own way.
That's how you drive forward in a really healthy way. I think we've got to remember how the woman's space is different: What do we need and how are we going to be sustainable?
Being sustainable will be successful.
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