How Eli Walker bounced cut short his rugby career
THE PROJECT MANAGER
We are speaking at Ysgol Y Felin in Llanelli, where Walker and his team have just renovated a playground of the school’s specialist unit, helping young children with additional needs. Funded significantly on the back of a charity golf day organised by Juno Moneta, and with considerable help from the local community, it is an impressive effort, and headteacher Helen Wynne is delighted.
Images on a screen show the area before Walker and his colleagues started work. A glance through a window reveals the finished product.
It’s as if magic dust has been sprinkled around, producing a vibrant and colourful place for youngsters to learn and play. “You do feel happy doing something like this,” says Walker, attending the launch with the likes of Phil Bennett, Enzo Maccarinelli and Carmarthen Quins stalwart Haydn Pugh, who came up with the idea in the first place, in attendance.
“It is going to have a big effect on the children’s lives.”
THE HARDEST GAME?
In between all the studying, launching a company and parenting, Walker has thrown himself into boxing. How does getting bumped about the head help matters? “
He laughs: “I just needed a competitive edge and boxing ticks that box.
“I had been going to Enzo’s Bonymaen gym. I was just running and working on my fitness at first, but I had a go in the ring and I’ve since had a few fights.
“It’s out of my comfort zone and you have to learn quickly.
“I thought I was strong and fast from my sport, but when you are tired in boxing you have to defend, otherwise you’ll know about it.
“There’s no hiding place.” Walker won his first bout but any temptation to think he was on easy street was soon dispelled. In his second outing, he was put on the canvas by Cwmbran ABC’s Edward Wood. The ex-rugby man also took two standing counts before his opponent claimed a points decision.
Undaunted, Walker has emerged triumphant on two further ring sorties.
“I have huge respect for boxers,” he says.
“For rugby players, Wales is a goldfish bowl. Everyone looks at a rugby player walking down the street, with most of them well-known, but an amateur boxer can go unnoticed when he or she walks past.
“It’s mad, really.
“If I see one that I recognise, I mentally give him or her huge credit.
“It’s hard to compare the two sports, because they are so different.
“The Wales boys are out in Switzerland now preparing for the Rugby World Cup and I can remember how hard it was four years ago. It was brutal.
“But working in the Bonymaen gym, some of these amateur boxers do match the intensity and work ethic of the Wales professional rugby environment.
“I can’t speak on behalf of other gyms, but Enzo has brought his work ethic from being a professional fighter himself. He’s puts it into the guys he’s training.”
THINKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE
One more question: how did he cope on receiving the news that his rugby career would have to end prematurely?
“I remember the surgeon and the Ospreys medical performance manager Chris Towers telling me that because it was a lower-back disc injury, if I attempted to return to rugby and re-injured it, then I might not be able to run around with my daughter,” says Walker.
“That was key for me.
“If I didn’t have my daughter I probably would have been quite stubborn and thought: ‘I’m doing it for me’.
“But it was one of the first occasions in my life when I’ve had to think for someone else.
“So it did soften the blow.”
ADVERSITY CONFRONTED
Ultimately, it’s a story of triumph over adversity, then.
Walker is the dyslexic student who has just achieved a master’s degree. He’s the single parent who has had to learn fast about the huge responsibilities that particular role entails. He’s the company director who has launched a business with limited knowledge and experience in that area.
He has picked himself up after seeing his sporting dreams crushed.
And he is refreshingly free of rancour.
“It’s human nature to look back and think about things,” he says.
“At one point in 2013 I was picked in the Wales squad and it was a toss-up between me and Sanjay (Liam Williams) for a place on the wing.
“My injuries started from there. Pre-game, I pulled a hamstring, so I had to withdraw.
“But if you look at the heights Sanjay has reached, pretty much injury free, it’s inspiring for anyone.
“It just goes to show what you can achieve if you stay fit and healthy. “There’s no point being bitter.
“It was obviously hard, because for as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to be was a professional rugby player.
“But what happened was out of my hands. I can’t go back and think ‘what if’. It was a definitive moment that meant I had to finish.”
It was a joy to watch Walker at his lying-machine best, even if injuries hit him hard and often.
But maybe it was an even bigger joy to hear how he’s dealt with the challenges he’s faced over the past two years.
Others would have given up. But he has emerged tougher, stronger and a better person for the whole experience.
Character can count for a huge amount.