Sport, Health & Wellbeing
Juggling rugby and study
Tom Cusack says a desire to complete his degree was one of the reasons why he returned to Canberra to play for the Brumbies three years ago.
At the time, he had just represented Australia in the Rugby Sevens at the Rio Olympics. He could have continued travelling the world playing in the Sevens Series, but Tom says he wanted to play for the Brumbies and at the same time, set himself up for life after football.
In many respects the decision was made easier by the Brumbies physical location on the University of Canberra campus. This has become a selling point for players looking to study as well as play rugby.
Brumbies CEO, Phil Thomson, says being co-located on the UC campus is crucial to attracting players; “It’s a really important linkage. It is a point of difference for us. When we bring young players to look at the facilities, their parents, who travel with them like the association with UC.”
Playing away from home, along with study, presented difficulties, as Tom admits, “I was travelling overseas a lot when playing Rugby Sevens and juggling this with study required considerable thought and organisation.” So the opportunity of playing for the Brumbies made study and sport much more feasible.
For Tom, a born and bred Canberran, he says, “I backed myself. It was a dream to play for the Brumbies.”
It wasn’t easy at first, as he needed to condition his body to transition from Sevens to the physical demands of Super Rugby. It was intense to say the least.
Instead of study creating a further pressure on his time, Tom found working towards a degree provided the balance and perspective required. He says commitment to both is essential and says the Brumbies are one of the better teams when it comes to encouraging and supporting this career development.
The physical proximity of both training and university lectures definitely has its advantages, as Tom admits,
“It makes it easy being on campus. UC is extremely accommodating towards supporting us in our studies and our sport.”
Fast forward to 2019 and Tom has become a regular starter in the Brumbies side and has completed a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. He is now looking at post-graduate studies.
He will have time to assess possible options after signing a contract extension for another two seasons with the Brumbies. At 26 years of age he has already taken an important step towards his future beyond football.