Dual careers: The PWR athletes juggling working alongside playing

Premiership Women’s Rugby is growing fast, with new sponsorships being announced, standout signings and a growing era of professionalism. However, many of the elite players are balancing far more than representing their clubs: they have dual careers.

So, what’s a day in the life like for a dual career athlete? And what are the biggest challenges they face? Well, who better to ask than the players themselves. Meet Sophie Bridger, Emma Hardy, Kathryn Buggy and Olivia Ortiz – four key figures in the PWR. They know exactly what it’s like to perform at the highest levels both on and off the pitch.

Saracens’ Sophie Bridger defines her dual career simply as: “I perform at the same level as full-time players. That’s still expected of me and that’s still what I expect of myself, but I also have a career outside of rugby.”

Her teammate, Emma Hardy, added, “The game is growing rapidly but isn’t quite there financially to be able to give everyone a full-time salary yet, so most of us have to work alongside rugby.”

An athlete’s schedule is already demanding. Add a second or even third career into the mix, like many of the players in the PWR, and the balancing act reaches a different level.

Kathryn Buggy, a prop for Gloucester-Hartpury who retired after the club’s historic ‘three-peat’ victory in the PWR Final 2024/25, knows that reality all too well. “Having to juggle a job, my Masters and rugby was tough,” she said.

“At 5:30am in the morning, I was up, in work for 6:30am at Hartpury Sports Academy. I’d finish work at 2pm and then come home, have my lunch and be at Kingsholm for training by 4:30pm. I’d leave around 8:30 at night and then do it all again the next day.”

A Stakeholders, Relations and Office Administrator for Gloucestershire County Council is the role which features in Bridgers’ dual career. Her role has evolved throughout her rugby career. “When I first started at the council and lived in Gloucester, I was full-time and in person.

“Since coming to Sarries, I’ve become remote, so I’m pretty lucky. I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30am to 2:30pm and then come straight to the pitch, put my boots on and train. On Wednesdays and Fridays, it’s a full day from 9-5.”

Hardy, was involved in Saracens’ recent PWR Cup title win against Harlequins. Like Bridger, she also manages a dual role, but this time slightly closer to home. “I work for Saracens, the organisation. My official title is Community, Engagement and Senior Sales Executive, which is a fancy way of saying I manage the women’s community initiatives – anything from getting people into the stadium on matchdays to working with local clubs to give them support from a Premiership club to get their girls opportunities.”

She added, “I might have to coach or sit and organise events, but I work until about 3pm and I’m lucky that my job is really flexible with it being at the club, so they let me go and train for the rest of the day. I get home around half ten at night and then same again!”

When it comes to being a dual career athlete, one word comes up again and again: fatigue.

Hardy, who previously played for Loughborough Lightning and worked a similar role for Northampton Saints, admitted, “I’ve got to go 110% into my work and my rugby. Doing that for two essentially full-time careers doesn’t always bode well. You can only balance it for a couple of months before you burn out.

“It was a shock straight out of university being dual career. I can definitely go longer periods of time without burning out now and being able to inspire the next generation through coaching makes it worth it.”

Another obstacle? Finance. As the PWR has a remuneration cap, which has to be split across squads of 45 to 50 players, the league isn’t in a position to pay many of the athletes a full-time salary yet. The cap is part of a wider ten-year strategy that aims for the PWR to become the ‘world’s most competitive, progressive and sustainable domestic competition’.

In the meantime, it has some tricky trade-offs. “I’m training as much as people who get paid full-time are, but I can’t take on more work in my dual career as I can’t give the hours to it,” Hardy explained.

“What I’d really like to do is focus my full attention on rugby while I can, but I’ve also got career ambitions in my other role.”

Gloucester-Hartpury rival, Buggy pointed to a different challenge: Recovery – or rather the lack of it. “Unlike full-time players, we don’t get a day off in the middle of the week to recover.”

Saracens’ Bridger added that it’s not just about the training load, it’s the life logistics too. “A lot of the girls are up at 5am to get a gym session in before work and then will come to training and not leave until 10pm.

“We’re lucky with Sarries, as we have a meal provided for us, so we get to refuel properly after training. Without that support, meal prepping properly would be tricky.”

A relatable sentiment is shared by Bridger, “For me, being dual career is to pay the bills. I’m still young and my aim is to get a professional contract with rugby and for that to be my full-time job. We love rugby, we want to see it thrive and it really is heading that way in spite of the hurdles.”

Emphasising the importance of having a community in the sport, particularly as a dual career, Bridger said, “Those of us juggling careers really look out for each other. You notice when someone isn’t quite there or has had a long day.

 

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“The full-time girls at Sarries are really good at noticing too and if you’re having an off day, they pick you up and take you with them. That rings true across all of the PWR clubs, we all really support each other and love what we do,” she added with a big smile.

It’s not just the players that are ‘better together’, Hardy explained the importance of brands investing in women’s rugby to help the game grow. “Canterbury, for example, have done the incredible initiative and provided each PWR athlete with three pairs of boots.

“That may seem so small, but it has made a massive difference for us. Boots were such a big outgoing for me every year and I really do believe the more the brands can get involved and provide things like recovery tools and boots, the more professional the game will get and faster,” said the 25-year-old.

Now you may recognise the next athlete, particularly after her stellar performances throughout the Rugby World Cup… It’s Sale Sharks’ very own, Olivia Ortiz. Having moved to England to join the PWR following the 2021 World Cup that was played in 2022, the USA Eagle is on a full-time club contract with Sale. However, she is no stranger to the dual career world.

“When I was in America, there was a time when I was getting my Masters, working two jobs, playing rugby and commuting an hour and it was absolutely outrageous,” said Ortiz.

“I have the luxury of being here full-time now. The crave of wanting to be in a more professionalised environment brought me to the PWR and I’m so fortunate to have the backing of Sale Sharks and be here year-round, unless I’m on tour with the USA.”

The scrum-half added, “I get to wake up, fuel my coffee and avocado on toast addiction and then come in early to do skills and see the physio, but you see your teammates come in and they’re rushing from work and have kids. It’s hard not seeing it become more professional quicker for lots of players, especially when I know first-hand what it’s like to balance being dual career.”

Whilst many of the PWR’s athletes are dual career, the soon to be 28-year-old is hopeful that the PWR will have more full-time contracts soon. She explained, “We all play the game because we love it, we have fun, and we want to be the best versions of ourselves and athletes we can be. We have to ensure the league gets to the point where it’s equitable for all players.

“When I got my first USA cap, granted that was six years ago, I wasn’t paid at all. I was 21 and raring to go. Now, I’m like, ‘That’s ridiculous that athletes who were dual career were being asked to go on a month plus tour unpaid.’ It is getting better, and I hope over the next five years, the sport will be paying sustainably for all players in the PWR, which I think it will,” Ortiz concluded.

The passion is there. The talent is undeniable. And the progress? It’s picking up pace. The PWR is on the path towards a fully professional future, but for now many of its stars are still doing it all.

The journey to becoming the world’s most competitive and sustainable women’s league won’t happen overnight, but one thing is for certain… With athletes like these leading the way, we’re kicking off into a brighter future for women’s rugby.