From representing New Zealand in synchronised swimming, to becoming one of the most powerful women in world rugby.
Katie Sadleir's job isn't easy as she’s charged by World Rugby with developing the fastest growing part of the game across the globe – women’s rugby.
But after just a few minutes with Sadleir, she can rattle off rugby knowledge you wouldn't even think to ask about, which proves her love for the game and her job.
“There are 10,000 registered women playing rugby in Iran now,” she told 1 NEWS.
“In India, 43 per cent of all their members are women.
“We have countries where the women are playing in paddocks - they're moving the cows in advance and they’re playing with Coke bottles filled with sand.”
For the last three years, Sadleir’s job as general manager has been to develop women’s rugby worldwide and she says she’s already picked up valuable lessons.
“You move into a global thing, you have to realise one size doesn’t fit all,” she says.
“You're trying to run a mass participation programme through a whole series of different cultural challenges for women.”
The Dublin-based GM has been back home helping launch the lead in to next year's Women's Rugby World Cup – a tournament she says makes her “proud” of New Zealand.
“I’m trying to make sure that we bring the world to here and take the world back.”
It's a far cry from her introduction to top level sport, where she was a synchronised swimmer who competed at the 1984 Olympics alongside her sister.
She later moved into sport administration in New Zealand before taking on the daunting task of developing women's rugby in a traditionally male-dominated arena.
But she said she wanted the challenge.
“There will always be people that are challenged by women’s involvement in rugby but our research tells us that is getting less and less.”
And now she’s looking for ways to differentiate from the men’s game, like separating commercial rights for the women rather than them being tacked on to the men's ones.
“I think we'll see some really interesting new commercial arrangements for women in rugby globally,” she said.
“Watch this space over the next six months.”
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