by By Milly McEvoy, Sportsbeat
Sarah Hunter had no doubt about reducing her maternity leave to be back in time to train England in a Rugby World Championship of women.
The former Red Roses captain gave birth to daughter Olivia in October last year and returned to her role as a defense coach, just six and a half months later.
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Hunter, who retired from the game in 2023, wants to be a role model for others who want to combine coaching with a child.
“Being a mother was the best thing I’ve ever had. I feel very happy to have Olivia,” said the 39-year-old.
“It was a decision between me and my partner Nathan, who also works in rugby that I actually want to come back to work.
“I want to show that you are a trainer in a high -performance environment and can still be a mother.
“I was very firmly convinced that I wanted to reconcile the balance. Then throw a Home World Championship into everything, and I just didn’t want to give the opportunity to have this opportunity.
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“I feel very happy and privileged that I am part of the red roses and have the opportunity to do this through the red roses, the RFU and the Gallagher High Performance Academy (GHPA) to try to be the best trainer I can be.”
Hunter only joined the Red Roses Coaching employees a few months after his retirement as part of the first cohort of female coaches in the Gallagher High Performance Academy.
Born in North Shields, he was supported by mentoring and workshops and embedded for the first WXV tournament that the red roses won.
Sixteen other trainers will be part of the GHPA at the Rugby World Championship, whereby World Rugby aims to make women at least 40 percent of the coaching team at the tournament.
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Hunter is accompanied by Lou Meadows and Kate Tyler as a mothers as part of the English Backroom Personal and has quoted football coach Emma Hayes and Keely Hodgkinson’s coach Jenny Meadows as inspiration.
She said: “Hopefully Olivia will look back in time and be proud of what her mother did.
“The opportunity to train their national team, which is one of the best teams in the world at a home world championship, may never happen again.
“If you are away from her, times are hard, I just have to get the reasons why and the importance of the warehouse and the importance of doing my best, remind you that there is something for her that you can be proud when you return home.
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“I would like to take on this role and it is a little responsible to show that they can do both.”
Hunter and England go to the HEINWMS, which begins on August 22nd in the Stadion of Light in Sunderland and has not lost since the defeat in the final of the previous World Cup in New Zealand.
The ticket sales continue to break records and the chance of being part of it was too good to be rejected.
“The hopes for what this tournament could be back when the announcement with what it is now has happened, all these plans that come into play,” she said.
“The expectation of what we thought, what it is now, and hopefully it will be blown out of the water until the end of September.”
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