Date of Event 22 January 2025

Webinar: Give Wellbeing a Sporting Chance, with Stafford McDowall and Farmstrong

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In this special webinar series “Give Wellbeing a Sporting Chance”, we talk to Scottish and International sports professionals who started their career in farming or crofting, and continue to keep their foot firmly on the ground. 

We explore what it takes to stay focused on the pitch and on the track, and how they prioritise their wellbeing for the benefit of their sport as well as their own health. We also learn more about why agriculture will always be an important part of their journey to success, and how the skills and experience they gained on the land continue to play a vital part in keeping them resilient during the ups and downs of the sporting world.

Our one-hour blethers are open to anyone with an interest in wellbeing, farming and crofting – you don’t need to have an interest in sport.   

Episode Three - Stafford McDowall, Scottish Rugby & Farming in Dumfries and Galloway

Next in our webinar series, Give Wellbeing a Sporting Chance, we speak to Scottish rugby sensation, Stafford McDowall. 

Stafford had his name down to study agriculture at Newcastle University as an 18-year-old, but he deferred the place while he tried to break into the professional rugby ranks, juggling training sessions with farm jobs. 

The chance to make rugby his livelihood did come knocking during that gap year out and Stafford headed for the bright lights of Glasgow and a life away from the family farm which stands a stone’s throw from the Irish Sea at Kirkcudbright, in Dumfries and Galloway. 

Now, whenever he gets some time off, Stafford enjoys returning home to the farm and has started studying for a business management qualification, which he hopes will be useful in the long-term when his playing career is over, and he comes home to take over the reins. 

Of course, with luck on his side, that won’t be for a long while yet. After all, Stafford is still only 26 and is playing the best rugby of his life as a back in the Glasgow Warriors squad. 

But what does it take to play rugby at such a high-level, keep your foot in the door at home and manage expectations of succession in the future?

Join us for this special webinar, when we will chat all things sporting, farming and wellbeing with Stafford, on Wednesday 22 January from 6pm to 7pm. 

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