It is not every day that a former rugby player is pivotal to Great Britain’s Winter Olympic prospects. Until recently Kearnan Myall, who spent 15 seasons playing professionally for Leeds, Sale and Wasps, had never skied so it has been a steep learning curve. “The most humbling thing is being at the top of the run with the Paralympic team, who are mostly visually impaired, and they just disappear into the distance while I’m still putting my boots on.”
As performance director of GB Snowsport, nevertheless, Myall’s job is to give the nation’s talented crop of snowboarders, freestyle, alpine and mogul skiers a decisive edge when the Games commence in Milan next week. And if Zoe Atkin, Kirsty Muir, Mia Brookes, Charlotte Bankes and others secure medals, helped by Formula One technology – liaising with McLaren to find a new type of material for ski bindings, brain science, cutting-edge coaching and the creative example of Mercury Prize-winning musicians, it will further establish the 39-year-old Myall as one of sport’s smartest thinkers.
During his post-rugby PhD studies at Oxford University, Myall investigated how meditation can enhance athletic performance and mental health. More recently he has been in California seeking backing for a technology he has patented which uses quantum analysis methods to produce performance-related biomarkers from brain dynamic data. Aside from the possible benefits for concussion management, it can identify things such as “ruminative thought” when athletes dwell on past mistakes and lose focus. “What we’re seeing is that when we meditate we break that pattern,” explains Myall, sitting in his front room in a snow-free Hampstead.
It is a long way from nicking lineouts at Leeds, where he was good mates with Lee Blackett, now England’s attack coach, and Wasps where he was a regular second-row opponent of England’s head coach Steve Borthwick. “I had many mental battles with Steve. You always knew the lineout was going to be hard because he did a lot of analysis. I’d have to make sure I’d done mine. That was the part of the game that I loved.”
Thinking clearly under pressure is key to his current role. What started as a part-time gig advising athletes about future careers morphed into a sports science and medicine position before he beat 10 other shortlisted contenders to the performance director role last year. Funding remains a constant struggle but his oval-ball background – “The level of professionalism in rugby is probably above what it is in some areas of Olympic sport” – has proved valuable. “It’s a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation … but if I believe in something I can bring a team around me.”
His first-hand experiences also helped him relate to his new charges despite his lack of snow expertise. “I played at Wasps in the glory days when we were getting private jets and had multiple analysts and a huge medical team. And I was at Leeds when we had to drive down to Luton airport with our boots in our carry-on bags because we didn’t have enough money for checked baggage. So I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum in terms of high performance.”
His playing career, furthermore, taught him the importance of encouraging athletes to express themselves. “It’s not just about making them do squats in a gym or fill in a form. You have to know them and what they’re going through. How do we look after athletes to get the best out of them? By understanding they need to be a healthy, happy, fit person to do what they’re talented at.”
Brookes, it seems, is a good example. “What Mia needs mostly is to be left alone with her crew to snowboard. She’s multi-talented … she’s an incredible guitarist, she’s an artist, she’s a young woman who offers an enormous amount beyond snowboarding. I guess it’s our job to let her concentrate and do what she’s good at.”
The curious-minded Myall also jokes that a more holistic environment could have transformed his own career – “I’d have been playing 10 with Danny Cipriani at 12” – in an era when rugby was mostly “just the survival of the fittest”. He benefited from the coaching support of Stuart Lancaster as a youngster but also endured some desperately dark periods. Happily his own mental health is now in a better place. “It’s not straightforward and it’s not always amazing but I’ve done a lot of work on myself.”
Another ex-rugby colleague, Calum Clark, now a sports psychologist, has also been involved in helping the GB snow squad. In a less direct way so has the Sale Sharks prop Simon McIntyre, with whom Myall played at Wasps. As keen music fans, the pair have a sideline organising events in south-east London and are friendly with, among others, the keyboard player from the Mercury Prize-winning Ezra Collective as well as Theophilus London, who has performed on tracks with Kanye West. Myall uses their creative example to illustrate that being yourself, even under the brightest spotlight, is integral to professional sporting fulfilment.
The moment of truth for his own Winter Olympic project is now imminent. “Our overall GB target is four to eight medals so they’re putting the pressure on. The best we’ve ever got is five.” In his specific area the target is one to two medals and Myall is cautiously optimistic. “From my perspective we’re going into the Games exactly where we should be. We have several athletes who could really win medals. Zoe Atkin has been on great form in the halfpipe ski world championship. It’s arguably my favourite sport to watch live. They’re incredible so I’d advise watching that. And Mia’s just an enormous talent.”
So, the all-important final question is this: who parties harder, snowboarders or rugby players? Apparently there is a clear winner. “Our athletes are way more chilled than rugby players. They drink the odd Aperol but it’s probably a lot more controlled. You go out to their camps and everyone’s in bed by 8pm. They’re all up first thing in the morning to get the best snow.” Tune in next month to discover if GB’s medal hopefuls can go the extra Myall.
