The career trajectory for one time professional rugby players can take many turns. Sponsorship, consulting, brand ambassadorship, training - the possibilities are endless. A road less travelled by most ex- rugby players however involves moving to Australia and returning home to set-up a cookie dough company with products sold nationally.
That's exactly the route taken by former Connacht Rugby star Dave McSharry. The Dublin native retired from professional rugby in 2016 following an injury but the misfortune eventually led him to set up his own business he recently explained to Evoke.ie.
"I finished playing in 2016 with injury, I had to retire with a concussion," McSharry explained. "My rugby career came to a halt pretty suddenly so I moved to Australia to study. I hadn't got my degree or anything behind me so I felt like it might be a good option to go back and do some study. My friends were still playing rugby here so I thought getting out of Ireland for a while would do me good."
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Upon returning to Ireland in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic, McSharry, like so many of us, had a lot of time on his hands and took up baking as a pastime during lockdown. However unlike most, McSharry wasn't interested in perfecting his banana bread skills - he had his eyes on recreating the delicious sweet cookies he had come to enjoy back in Australia.
"When I started making cookies, I hadn't even thought of it as a business," David explains. "It was more because I was eating those cookies so often in Australia, I was like 'I'm not going to be able to buy these any more so I need to be able to make them myself.'"
"I had a bit more time on my hands in lockdown so I decided to practise and try and recreate something that I had tasted over there. I was covered in cookie dough 24/7 pretty much! Through trial and error and repetition, I ended up coming out with these products. Irish butter, I think, probably made it better than anything I had tasted when I was abroad."
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After tinkering around with his recipes, McSharry eventually took his cookie endeavour to the next level, establishing his company Hot Chip in 2020.
"I played rugby for most of my life and this is my first venture. For me, being open to learning was huge," David explains. "I'm not great in a lot of areas of business so trying to reach out to people who can help you has been a massive learning. Kathleen King who set up Tate's Bakeshop in New York gave me an hour of her time last New Year's Eve and I took a huge amount from that."
"She answered any questions I had and gave me direction. For her to do that, to spend a full hour giving that help was a huge, huge help for me.'
You might think that the worlds of professional rugby union and running 'a mini cookie empire' are miles apart but McSharry identifies a number of parallels between the two.
"There's a lot of similarities between entrepreneurship and rugby because it comes back to your own drive and if you put in the extra hours, you see yourself and the business improve. That's why a lot of sports people go on and do very well in their own ventures. You see the results very clearly and you improve."
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To shop the whole mouth watering Hot Chip range of cookie doughs, check out the full menu for delivery here.
Featured Image Credit: hotchipdublin.comTopics: Ireland