Into week 5 already! It has been such an experience to date and with so much more to learn, I was happy to be back in the office after a few weeks out and about.

In my time here, it is clear that the name ‘OPRO’ is synonymous with the world of mouthguards in all combat, stick and ball sports. My work to date has been based around grassroots rugby, which to me is very comforting. It can be very easy to overlook grassroots sports at any level, so to see a company like OPRO giving back to the community and actually being involved is fantastic. I’ve been working on getting lower league teams on board and then finding ways of using our resources to help them. Not only is this rewarding but great for my personal progression.

An event that OPRO is gearing towards is the Rugby Expo, which this year is being held at the Ricoh arena in Coventry. The who’s who is rugby will be there and as one of the biggest names in rugby, it’s a great opportunity to generate new contact leads, and collaborations. We had a meeting which detailed how we can gain the most out of the event. Very insightful and puts a lot of marketing ‘tactics’ learnt in a classroom to reality.

An over-riding feeling I get in the office is the camaraderie between everyone, even inter-department. They really are a team and this is shown in their success. Many employees have been here for over 10 years, which is testament to itself; however I do think that Anthony’s children being part of the company has something to do with this too. Daniel, who I have been working closely with, is Head of Sports Marketing, Sophie is the Custom Director and James is the Logistic Director.

I was fortunate enough to be in the office on a day where the company held their monthly staff meeting. There was a brief overview from every head of department to the company, which to me showed tremendous transparency. The main feedback was about the company’s trip to ISPO, the world’s largest sports trade show held in Munich, where OPRO won the Gold Award for the new Power-Fit Mouthguard range. This product has been Anthony’s ‘baby’ for the past couple of years, and this hard work is now being recognised worldwide. The Power-Fit Mouthguard combines the unique combination of the Self-Fit mouthguard with its patented fins and the Custom Mouthguard shell. Produced on site in the OPRO dental laboratory, each mouthguard is hand finished for that personal touch. Richard Evans, Sales Director, reported brilliant feedback off the back of winning the Gold Award including some great lead generation and orders from around the world.

These couple of weeks have certainly been eye opening for me, going from the pitch and the gym training I do daily with my team mates to a 9 to 5 sat at a desk. It’s a nice add on to my weekly schedule and a dramatic change from the fast and physical work in professional rugby. This experience is definitely proving worthwhile and I’m certainly learning more than I hoped.