All black legend Ali Williams discusses in this exclusive interview his path to becoming a professional rugby player.

Williams touches upon the sacrifices that he has had to make, the hardships he has faced, and the mental strength he’s needed to realise his goals.

Furthermore, Ali provides amazing insight and advice for young players also with the goal of playing at the highest level

On Work Ethic: “If you’re prepared to go to dark places to achieve your goals, then more often than not, its not your natural ability that will take you there, its your actual attitude and your desire to be great!”

Make sure you view Ali Williams profile on Sporple, and follow him next time you log in!

 

Read the interview

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Sporple – Ali you’re obviously best known for your rugby career but tell us a little bit about your sporting background from your childhood.

Ali Williams – I grew up in New Zealand and basically just tried every sport humanly possible my parents didn’t direct me into any particular sport, truth must be known they probably veered me away from the game of rugby. I played tennis, rugby and cricket and well I didn’t play rugby, I played soccer when I was 16. When I was in high school and this is the honest truth I thought If I’m going to try and find myself a bird, I’m gonna need to start playing rugby and that’s literally what happened I changed and started playing rugby at 16

Sporple – And now you’re married with a kid so I guess the choice was a pretty smart one!

Ali Williams – It wasn’t too bad (laughs) I mean look, you read the articles and you see how easy it was, well it’s not easy, and I was very fortunate. I think more than anything it’s that desire in your mind to forego something, to become something. I didn’t go to uni, I wanted to go to uni but I didn’t, I gave rugby a shot and the rest is history

Sporple – When you decided to make conscious decision that rugby is something that you pursue to the highest level, what steps do you take and what were you willing to forego to become something? what steps do you have to make as young athlete to start putting those milestones in place?

 Ali Williams – You got to do research, I looked around after leaving school at what rugby club in Auckland could help me achieve that goal. I gave myself a short time frame, I wanted to be professional in a year two years. I did a lot of research and I found that Ponsonby was the best one, and luckily it was one of the closest ones to home. As I said I didn’t go to university because I wanted to pursue this, I needed to make a living so I needed to start working and you just train.

Sporple – I loved to know why Ponsonby? when you do your research, what do you then tell young kids why go to Ponsonby as opposed to other clubs? Why should they choose certain clubs not others?

Ali Williams – Firstly you look at a range of things, for me it was the people in the club, in terms of who could coach me and make me a better player. My choice was to go into the best club because it would be harder to break into the team and so I would get my answer a bit quicker whether I was any good or not. Then you got to have and association in terms of feeling of passion for the club and believe in it’s values. Alot of people don’t to that these days and that’s probably due to  professionalism.  But if you have a passion for something or a connection to something it’s a lot easier to get motivated. So for me yeah it was pretty simple I just wanted to be around the best and Ponsonby were the best in Auckland

Sporple – So who at Ponsonby has had the biggest influence on you and why?

Ali Williams – Probably my first coach, is an ex senior player himself who played a few provincial games – Dave Eckans is his name He knew deep down inside what I could achieve but I don’t think he really told me he just pushed me. He actually directed me because he wasn’t to sure if Auckland were gonna take me so he directed me towards Christchurch but I veered away and stayed at Auckland and luckily that came off. I think one, it’s the coach and then two it’s the players in there. I was pretty damn lucky, I mean we had Carlos Spencer who was coming back from injury and that was his club, I had a guy named Jason Chandler who was a super rugby player and a locking partner. You learn more about the game just for being alongside someone who’s been there and done it.

Sporple – So you stayed in Auckland and that was a decision that was probably a difficult one, especially coming from someone who was that big an influence to you.

Ali Williams – Yeah

Sporple – How did you get recruited to Auckland how and how does that process play out?

Ali Williams – Well I think with Auckland a lot of places that have academies a lot of the talent scouting is done pre-school or in school, and I wasn’t even on the radar. So for me it was just about consistently playing well and making coaches understand that I wanted to go to a higher level, which made people come to watch me.

From then, another coach saw what  I had and I was fortunate enough to be coached by him last year – Wayne Pivac. and the rest is history.

Once you break into that professional provincial side or a club in Europe then you’re good. Then your avenue is all about hard work and putting performances on the field.

Sporple – So if you’re not on the radar because you didn’t come through the traditional or the well-worn path of New Zealand school rugby. What are the challenges for a young professional or aspirational professional rugby player male or female in New Zeeland.

Ali Williams – The challenges are probably time, in terms of the fact as a young kid if you’re not spotted early then you can miss the opportunity, a lot of great all blacks are playing at 21 so there’s that barrier when you start late.

Also I think a lot of people, especially nowadays they need to know a little bit about yourself, not just how you play, but like your work ethics and things like that and that only gets shown by doing the things that people don’t expect you to do at the club level. It is hard but you have to back yourself

Sporple – Once you become a All Black does it all disappear the hard work? Or the sacrifice all start to make sense?

Ali Williams – That’s when it gets harder!

Sporple – Yeah [laughs]

Ali Williams – That’s when it’s a lot harder mate, because everyone just wants to knock you off. I mean you’re in the public light and they want to knock you off on the field and they want to knock you off off the field and people want to find loopholes and reasons why you can’t achieve and you just have to stick to your guns and nail it.

You got to take time in your decisions because a lot of people will find that they get an offer,

I had an offer to go overseas as a young guy from a club but sometimes you gotta think “is that really the right place, am I gonna get then coaching to make me better? My brother he took off quite young, he went to France and loved it but it was harder for him when he came back because he probably wasn’t has well known, but it can work the other way, look at  Census Johnston and a few others like that, they were at the exact same club side as me, they played a few games for Auckland but left because they thought they had better opportunities and their careers are huge.

Sporple – In your opinion and in your experience agents obviously figure in New Zealand rugby, they figure in world rugby. and at varying levels -what advice do you give to young athletes of all sports when it comes to talking to agents.

Ali Williams – Don’t commit straight away, speak to one or two first, especially two. Get a sense of who they are because in the end of the day an agent is like a car salesman, he wants to sell the car but he only pushes the best car and if he doesn’t think you’re the best then sometimes you might not get the benefits you really deserve so just take your time.

I’m not too sure they’re completely essential, I actually didn’t had an agent until I came to France I just had a lawyer that looked over my contract, even negotiated my first contract with Auckland, it probably wasn’t the best contract but it didn’t tie me down with everyone.

Sporple – That’s a really common response that a lot of guys I’ve spoken to, they never ever sign with the first person that comes along and really take your time and build a relationship or at least have a level of trust with the person with the person you’re going to entrust a lot of career goals with.

Ali Williams – yeah, exactly

Sporple – You played at the highest level with the All Blacks what sets the All Blacks apart as an international side and why have they been so dominant for so long.

Ali Williams – It’s quite a tricky and complicated answer but I think more than anything the reason why the All Blacks are so good is because there’s 30 guys players and there’s 12, 15 management and they all got the same goal, no one’s at a more elite level, hey financially you get bigger contracts and smaller contracts but when you’re on the field and you are doing your day to day job, you’re still the same person and you’re representing the All Blacks and having that collective goal.  We don’t put people up on a pinnacle we are all the same.

Sporple – That makes sense. You’re now playing in Toulon, what are the differences you see there as the game is developed, how has it changed? What is the state of the game now?

Ali Williams – I’m in a different stage of my career, I’m in the tail end of my career I decided I didn’t want to play international rugby for several reasons so this came as an opportunity to explore life in another country and another way of life when it comes to rugby, and hey look there’s huge differences to what I’m used to, but that doesn’t say that the New Zealand way or the French way is right or wrong way, I think for a lot of people you have to understand that respecting and understanding a culture is a one of the biggest avenues to succeeding in your chosen field.

Sporple – yeah that’s important. Obviously we want to have a quick chat about Sporple as well in terms of getting kids and clubs on it, what do you say is the big advantage?

Ali Williams – I think more than anything you can now be accessible to anyone around the world, you can promote yourself so you’re in charge of your own destiny and you can connect with people that have influence and can make a difference. It gives you an opportunity to be on the world market rather than just  in your provincial or national market. But then I think a level of honesty and openness that, you know, having a public forum people can’t say you’re this kind of player or that kind of player you’re actually who you are and it’s shown by what you do and what you have achieved.

Sporple –What are the key things do you need to say as a young athlete to promote yourself? What the key messages you need to communicate?

Ali Williams – I think for me as a young kid I think the biggest thing was your work ethic, look if you’re prepard to go into dark places to achieve your goals then more often than not it’s not your natural ability that will take you there, it’s your actual attitude and your desire to be great. You look at players all around the world and they are not naturally the best.

Prime example is my brother and myself, heads down he is a far better athlete than I ever was but this is what I wanted, it’s my chosen field, and he didn’t. It’s just that personal desire.

Sporple – I got a glimpse of that last week with your current team mate Jonny Wilkinson, I’ve never seen anyone train as hard and work as hard as he did and it’s no surprise he achieved what he achieved.

Ali Williams – yeah he’s shown me another level that is borderline on insanity (Sporple laughs) but at the end of the day he is doing exactly what he needs to do to achieve his goals and you only have to look at his record and he’s done some pretty amazing things.

Sporple – So my final question: 15 year old Ali Williams is sitting there as many young athletes are in New Zealand and all over the world, what’s one sort of piece of advice you give him to really make sure he keeps his head down to achieve his goals

Ali Williams – Specifically I think you pick the right sport and sometimes at 16 you don’t know the right sport, but you still keep an open mind. Sometimes you do know, I mean, look at Tiger Woods, but once you do know that’s when you understand the sacrifices you’ll have to go through. Being a sportsman your main asset is your body so you have to look after it, you can’t do the crazy things that a lot of your mates are going to do (Sporple laughs) You got to understand that. Then one of the big things for me is that if something is written down you can say you’ve achieved it or you haven’t achieved it, so for me a big one was writing it down.

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