Sonny Bill Williams

The next athlete that I will be looking at is Sonny Bill Williams, an All-Blacks rugby union player, former international rugby league player and former champion boxer in his weight division. He has 33 appearances to date, playing for the All-Blacks and was a pivotal player who made a great impact when coming off the bench. He is a former New Zealand Professional Boxing Association Heavyweight Champion and a World Boxing Association International Heavyweight champion. As we see, he is a phenomenal athlete but was he born to be a star or did he sacrifice countless hours in the ring and on the pitch to reap the rewards later in life?

Sonny Bill was born on the 3rd of August 1985 in Auckland, New Zealand. He grew up in a working class style of house yet he says they had a struggling family background. The motivation that drove him to play professional rugby league was then being able to buy his mum a house. During his childhood education, he attended  Owairaka Primary School, Wesley Intermediate and Mount Albert Grammar School. He was described as a small, skinny white kid yet was freakishly talented when it came to sports, he was a competitive sprinter, a champion high jumper and a cross country runner. He abandoned a promising future in athletics to play rugby league. He was spotted by a bulldogs talent scout and in 2002, he was signed at the age of 17, becoming the youngest ever NRL signing. He impressed and was brought up to the kiwi's squad after a small number of games.
As we see, Sonny Bill was a natural athlete from an early age. Being  an outstanding athlete and a phenomenal rugby player don't just come naturally. He admits that he has always stuck to a strict diet and he dedicates a lot of spare time to practising his trade, whether it be boxing or rugby. In my opinion, genetics are on his side with his dad being a former rugby league player himself yet his hours and hours of practice have brought him to where he is today.