August 08, 2022

#184 Craig White - Transformational Men's Coach and Elite Sports Consultant

42 minutes

Today we spoke with Craig White - Transformational Men's Coach and Elite Sports Consultant

Craig is a high performance consultant for World Rugby, supporting tier 2 nations like Chile, who recently beat the USA to qualify for RWC 2023. He is a mentor to elite performance coaches and teams and the founder of 'Men Without Masks', a transformation programme and community. Craig was the WRU National Squad Physical Performance Manager, a strength and conditioning coach for the British and Irish Lions in 2005 and 2009, and has worked for other teams like Leicester Tigers, Wasps and the IRFU.

Craig shared his story for us today, his journey of self-discovery and change...from high performance rugby, to yoga and meditation...and Men Without Masks - and what is the essence of this movement. Craig has been searching to understand how to optimise performance; his quest has taken him from the gym and rugby field, to the Yoga Ashrams of India, the jungles of South America, and the four corners of the world. Compassion and love come through this dialogue...and vulnerability, echoes of our recent chat with Cameron Schwab. Craig is impacting many - understand why today. You will leave this conversation with something to think about!

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Highlights

🏉 Working with the Lions, World Rugby and now Chile

➕ A formula for trust

🧑 Harlequins rugby and being able to be yourself

👨🏻‍🤝‍👨🏻 Mentoring men on self discovery and vulnerability

🤝 Influence in team and organisational culture

🎭 Founding Men Without Masks

Timestamps

(3:36) - Working with Chilean Rugby

(4:34) - What Craig tries to bring to a team feeling

(7:40) - Trust being an embodied

(7:20) - The trust formula

(7:40) - We need to know each other to have trust

(8:53) - Harlequins allowing players to be themselves

(11:57) - Men Without Masks

(13:33) - Feeling empty in a job after some soul searching

(15:58) - Being raised in a hyper-masculine community

(18:20) - Every man wants to show his true self

(18:36) - Surrounding yourself with a core group of people

(20:14) - Mentoring and a client opening-up

(22:27) - We need to train the ability to challenge each other

(24:49) - Leaning into your journey + experiences

(26:44) - Building intuition to drive behaviour

(28:30) - Promoting men's health in the current time

(30:45) - Men Without Masks retreats

(32:20) - Aligning drivers / values + your experiences

(34:45) - Being on lion towns, and a love of working for World Rugby

(35:30) - You can't influence without connection + rapport

(36:37) - What does high performance mean to you?

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For information on previous guests and shows please visit www.SleepEatPerformRepeat.com. Previous guests include Cal Newport, Dr. Michael Gervais, Joy Neville, Rich Froning, BJ Fogg, Sonia O'Sullivan, Rich Diviney, Keith Earls, Caelan Doris, Chanelle McCoy, PJ Nestler, Jack Butcher, Shane O'Sullivan, Chris Burkard, Brian Keane, Steve Magness, Owen Eastwood, Steven Kotler, Daniel Davey, Ray Goggins, Shane O'Donnell, Jonny Cooper, Capt Emily Bassett, George Kruis, Brett Bartholomew, Aoife McDermott, Lisa Jacob and many more.

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