From Player to Leader: Insights from Fiji Rugby’s Alana Thomas on Leadership and Culture

What truly sets elite sports leaders apart when managing multicultural teams? In this special episode of Purpose Driven Movement Podcast, co-hosts Jay Hedley and Tarek Michael-Chouja speak with Alana Thomas from Fiji Rugby about her journey from player to high-performance manager and how culture, connection, and empathy shape winning teams. You’ll learn how to shift from control to influence, balance accountability with care, and leverage cultural intelligence to drive team success. Discover why planning, consistency, and adaptability are essential for elite performance. These insights provide actionable strategies for athletes, coaches, and sports leaders aiming to elevate their leadership and team outcomes. Listen now and get ready to transform your leadership and high-performance approach. If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a review on this listening platform! Our favourite quotable moments: “As a player, you're in control on the field or you feel like you're in control and you can influence a game. As a coach, you don’t have that.” - Alana Thomas “It's about being better. It's about learning. It's about listening, learning and then taking that in to be better the next time we go out.” - Alana Thomas “We're a people business. Whether it's in sport, it's all about your people and getting that connection with them is really important.” - Alana Thomas Resources: Alana Thomas’ LinkedIn:   / alana-thomas-08366971   Get 15% off our Mental Skills Training course. Simply go to Functional Training Institute and input 'PDM15' at the cart checkout: https://functionaltraininginstitute.c... Check out our best selling book Purpose Driven Movement by host Tarek Michael-Chouja and Dan Henderson: https://amzn.to/499x6nO Join Our Mailing List: https://sa319.infusionsoft.app/app/fo... About Our Guest: Australian Wallaroo #88 and NSW Waratahs Hall of Fame inductee with over 20 years of international women's rugby experience. A former coach of the Australian A team and Melbourne Rebels Super W, she most recently served as Women's High Performance Manager at Fiji Rugby Union, leading the Fijiana programs to their second RWC and historic milestones including Fiji's first Six Nations victory and a rise from 19th to 13th in world rankings. Alana holds a Level 4 Performance Coach accreditation and serves on key World Rugby committees shaping the future of the game. About Tarek: Tarek is the co-founder of the functional training institute and FitWell Education lab. Tarek is an international educator and speaker who has presented numerous times at the biggest convention in Australia, Asia and the US. In addition, Tarek has presented courses to thousands of trainers throughout Australia, Asia, the Middle East and South America. Tarek is also a best-selling author of ‘Purpose Driven Movement. About Jay: Jay Hedley is a high-performance coach and creator of the Integral+ methodology, a whole-person approach to elite development. With over 20 years of experience, he has supported Olympic gold and silver medalists, Rugby World Cup competitors, professional boxers, and Formula 1 teams including Red Bull Racing and Williams F1. His work goes beyond traditional mental skills training, developing athletes across mindset, physiology, personality structure, and leadership. A Meta Coaching Foundation Certified Coach, NLP Master Trainer, and Neuro-Semantics Specialist, Jay helps performers elevate both results and consciousness. This podcast is produced by Brave Moon Podcasts. We sometimes include links to products and services we find interesting. These may or may not be affiliate links. Thanks for your support! Related: managing multicultural sports teams for high performance, cultural intelligence in elite sports leadership, transitioning from athlete to coach and administrator, building connection and empathy in sports teams,