Swapping Sweatpants For Suits

After 15 years at play, Bryan Habana, the man who was once compared to a panther, discusses the end of his run on the field as he gives business a shot.

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SITTING AT THE SLOW LOUNGE in Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, sleeves rolled halfway up his arm, Springbok and World Cup-winner Bryan Habana looks a lot less like the menacing right winger with an insatiable appetite for tries and more like the entrepreneur he has now become.

The change was sudden. One day, he was recovering from injury and plotting a new season with his French club Toulon, the next he was walking into the Toulouse Business School getting his first badge in Business Studies.

“The decision to call an end to your sporting days is probably the most feared in a professional athlete’s life,” Habana says.

“You don’t really know what you’re going to be jumping into, even though they talk about preparing yourself for life after professional sport.

“The transition is the most talked-about topic in sport because it’s so huge. When you’ve been doing something you love for five, 10, 15 years, you almost need to rediscover yourself once it’s done.

“But I’ve kept myself busy – even though I thought I would give myself time to reflect on the past 15 years, which hasn’t happened yet.”

In the post-training, post-gym routine that retired players find themselves, former professionals can often get stuck trying to find their next move. It’s an often depressing realization and a lonely time, filled with much angst and doubt.