Imagine being told that you can never do the thing you love the most ever again. Imagine the despair of that moment. Imagine the next weeks and months as you come to terms with the news that the thing you committed your life to has been unceremoniously stripped from you.
London Pulse Director of Netball and Chief Executive Officer Samantha Bird doesn’t have to imagine. When she was just 23-years-old a “career-ending” knee injury forced her to retire from netball. When such an unjust moment in their life is being recalled, you might expect regret, sorrow, maybe anger from that person. All understandable emotions in such an anamnesis. However, Bird offers a different perspective:
“Yes, it was [devastating when I had to retire],” Bird said. “I sulked a bit with that, and went away, but I ultimately missed the game too much. So I went away and coached.
“I’m Very Lucky”
“I’ve been coaching for a long time now, and I’ve been very lucky to coach for my country, coach at Superleague, and it’s [coaching] a genuine passion for me, and for one that I am now paid! I’m very lucky to do something you love and get paid for.”
With the benefit of hindsight, this answer tells you a lot about what you need to know about Bird. This is somebody who’s focussed, determined, ambitious and enthusiastic – the qualities that have since contributed to her coaching in the Superleague and for her country, becoming a lawyer, and most recently, her dual-roles at Pulse.
You don’t earn these roles by condemning bad luck.
Bird’s “love” of netball began when she started playing at school. A teacher of hers must have recognised talent in her because they soon entered her team into a “little summer league”. It wasn’t long before she was representing her county, and having done well at county level, her country soon came calling.
A lot has changed since. British netball is the subject of multi-year broadcast deals, leagues and dresses are sponsored, and the introduction of salary caps have ensured netballers are entitled to contracts and wages at Superleague level.
The professionalised netball of today is a far cry from the playing days of Bird when forging a career out of netball wasn’t economically possible.
“Back then, you obviously couldn’t earn any money being a netballer,” Bird said. “So I pursued an academic and legal career alongside netball. So, whilst I was playing for England I was studying and became a lawyer.”
After a premature end to her playing days, Bird’s academic career would prove to represent a necessary fallback to her netball career as opposed to just a companion. It would also represent a key part of her future in netball.
“It Is Very Busy”
“Time will tell,” Bird jokes when asked how she manages to balance her roles at Pulse. “I tend to split the day up. Half a day will be very focussed on the business side of the club: how we make the business better, and how we get people to engage in our sport and club. The afternoons and evenings will be set over to working with my performance team and staff rather than the business staff. I’m really enjoying it, but it is very busy.
“It’s full-on, there’s no question about that. I think because of the experience I have of working as a lawyer for over 25 years, managing a team of lawyers, and managing an international team, a lot of the skills I learnt in that job is really helping me now in terms of delivering a CEO role for the club.
“So I’m fairly at home in terms of trying to expand the club’s reach, trying to develop the club as a business, and trying to develop the club’s reach in the community, and those things are sort of a welcome distraction from just focussing on the coaching.”
‘Fairly at home’ may be a modest understatement. Since Bird’s appointment as CEO, various partnerships have been announced including six-figure partnerships from multi-year contracts, as well as partnerships with schools that Pulse hope will ensure the next generation of netballers will be available for their pathways.
While the pandemic has presented a unique challenge to British netball, there is still cause for optimism for the future of the sport. According to Statista, participation numbers were steadily rising every year until the pandemic hit, and viewing figures for England games are higher than ever, and there is a feeling that now is the time for netball to take advantage of this trend.
“It’s really important we’re quite aggressive about how we try and grow the game,” Bird said. “Business-wise, it’s really encouraging people to watch our game, to see it’s worth investing in.
“For example, all our matches this year are being shown on Sky whether that’s YouTube or TV, and our first match last week, I think we were up to 40,000 viewers on YouTube.”
For many of us, the prospect of having that much weight on our shoulders would undoubtedly be daunting. For Bird, however, there’s a clarity and calmness to her voice as she outlines what has to be achieved for Pulse to reach the summit of British netball.
“Really encourage more people to coach, and keep improving the quality and diversity of the coaching involved in our club. We’ve probably got 25 coaches within our whole club already that come from London and the South East, and we want to keep supporting those coaches in order to help our pathways improve.
“Huge Amount Of Talent”
“Being in London, we have a huge amount of talent and a great diverse pool of athletes, and it’s really important we provide a place for them to come and play and represent London.”
It’s easy to forget that Pulse didn’t exist just five years ago, however, under the tutelage of Bird, there’s an optimism that the club is only heading in an upward trajectory.
One thing is for certain: Bird is not the sort of person you bet against, and if Pulse are to become contenders in the Superleague, she will be the conductor of the orchestra.
