AT chats to… Hannah Wilson, a player and coach for Great Britain Women’s Open tag rugby team and associate at Piercy&Company about the influence of sport on her career in architecture.
AT’s Stella Forde (left) caught up with Hannah Wilson (right) at Piercy & Co’s offices in Camden. Like Wilson, Forde also balances competitive sport with work, playing for the Leicester City women’s hockey team. Photo by Piercy & Co.
What are you doing in sport at the moment?
I am currently head coach of the Great Britain Women’s Open tag rugby team and play for the North London Nighthawks. Everyone is amateur and it’s something we do for fun in our spare time. We also come from a range of different professions, so everyone shares different views which makes being a part of the team fascinating.
What got you into tag rugby?
In my first year at the University of Liverpool, I mentioned to one of the tutors that I played rugby and his response was, “well that won’t last long”. It riled me up as rugby was an important part of my life which I wasn’t going to give up because there’s more to life than architecture.
Do you think tag rugby benefited your experience as an architecture student?
One hundred percent. Sport teaches you about time management which is especially useful in design as it’s so open-ended. Design work is never actually finished as there are endless possibilities. Sport forces you to make sure you actually finish tasks on time – and as you get more responsibilities, you find yourself juggling more things, which translates to architecture well as being able to prioritise in this job is critical.
Wilson is head coaches of the Women’s Open team and plays for the North London Nighthawks.
How did you get to be head coach for the Great Britain Women’s Open tag rugby team?
Last year I was team captain, so my coaching journey grew from taking a few drills to leading an entire session. Eventually, I felt I had more to contribute as I had a clear idea of how sessions could be improved.
Of course I said yes when I was asked if I wanted to be the head coach following our success in the World Cup, particularly since my coach was keen to encourage the progression of women’s coaching within the sport. There’s a lot of focus on diversifying the talent pool when it comes to players, but ultimately diversifying the game means applying this to coaching as well.
For that to happen more need to be given opportunities and guidance. I’m not only interesting in making individuals better, but in helping bring up the next generation of coaches, too.
Have you noticed any other similarities between tag rugby and architecture?
My role in architecture is more a managerial one, so I am responsible for offering team members with guidance which has taught me a great deal about how different people have different needs.
For example, in the tag rugby team, we ask individuals “how do you like your feedback?” Everybody learns differently and coaching has given me an insight into what makes people tick so you can provide them with the necessary support on the pitch.
Similarly, during annual reviews at Piercy&Company, we ask “what have you found easy? Or difficult?” For me those situations are the same. Rugby is a microcosm of society.
What does your week look like as an associate architect and coach?
It’s a combination working full time in the office or at home and attending a variety of tag rugby activities from training, to camp weekends, to club night sessions, with gym sessions in between.
Tag rugby’s a summer sport so it can get very busy and it’s difficult to manage time, often leaving me tired. I find tag rugby an important antidote to working as an architect which can be intense and stressful – and although tag rugby’s intense in a different way. It’s like a mental break.
Wilson working with the Piercy&Company team in the Camden office.
What is the biggest challenge you face balancing both commitments?
It mainly comes down coaching being a voluntary role that relies on you giving up a lot of time. If I could afford to take days off to do more coaching, I would definitely do that.
There are heaps of initiatives I would like to implement on the coaching side, but it comes down to what’s feasible each week.
Does there need to be a culture shift within architecture to make this more feasible?
Traditionally, architecture has been a male dominated space and it’s working culture reflects a time where they could work long hours, while women were the primary care givers. Even now working overtime is bragged about which I don’t think it should be.
We need to have a diverse group of designers if we ultimately want to design spaces for everyone and to achieve this we need flexibility with work.
Since the pandemic there is proof that architecture practices can effectively run with a combination working in the office and at home.
If you give more people an opportunity to have a balanced life where they can do other things such as play sport, this would also allow more people to stay within the profession for longer and let a more diverse workforce obtain leadership roles.
If anyone reading this is interested in sponsorship of the Women’s Open tag rugby team, how can they get in touch?
There is a sponsorship program set up that goes via the director of Great Britain Tag Rugby. Last year, we were invited to compete in the Australian tag nationals competition for three days. We did that with some sponsorship from Piercy&Company and Webb Yates and their names featured on our kit which was great.
Get in touch:
trytagrugby.com
Source: Architecture Today
