Australian and Manly rugby legend Michael Hooper opens new co-owned business on northern beaches
Australian rugby great Michael Hooper is setting out on a new chapter in his life – with the opening of a unique business enterprise this week.
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Australian rugby great Michael Hooper has opened a new a hi-tech “wellness” and sports injury recovery business in Manly.
Hooper, a popular former Wallabies’ captain, is a co-owner of, and investor in, Recoverie, which already has studios at Coogee and Cronulla.
It describes itself as offering a “carefully selected range of recovery services that use the latest techniques backed by science and research … to help you feel your best and optimise physical and mental health”.
Hooper, who grew up in Collaroy, said buying into the group was the start of setting up a new life after rugby finishes.
The business was originally started by Hooper’s former Super Rugby Brumbies and Waratahs teammate Stephen Hoiles, childhood mate Nick Bardetta and business partner Trevor Folsom.
The Manly-based Wallaby said he’s no longer playing for the Waratahs, but was preparing to have a tilt at making Australia’s Rugby 7’s squad for next year’s Paris Olympics.
But he’ll be busy at Recoverie.
The Australian Financial Review reported in July that it was preparing to raise capital to open as many as 15 studios “over the next 24 months”.
Hooper said he was knowledgeable, thanks to his years at the highest level in his sport, about ways athletes were helped to recover and the way sporting organisations were managed.
Now the intention, post my rugby career, is to have a level of involvement (in the business).
“A really exciting thing for me is learning the business side and getting a level of busines acumen which I don’t have.
“I’m very excited to be on-board.”
Hooper said when his business partners opened their first studio at Coogee, it was aimed at sports people.
“But the range of people who were coming in was so much more varied than they initially thought. It was from people recovering from injury to people wanting to look after their mental well being.”
The Cronulla studio has regular visits from players at the NRL Sharks and Bulldogs as well as the Giants “Super Netball” squad.” Several Sydney Swans AFL players use the facilities at the Coogee studio.
But Hooper said the business also sees amateur sports people, fitness runners and people trying to excel in tehir sport by trying something different.
“Recoverie, especially on the mental side of things, can kick start you out of feeling sluggish towards feeling good.
“It’s great that people are seeing there is a benefit far beyond the physical.”
The Manly studio, on Belgrave St, will offer services including a hyperbaric chamber that increases oxygen supply to help athletes recover from injury.
It will also provide “hot and cold therapy” with super-sized hot and cold plunge pools which Recoverie said “activates the body’s natural healing powers that can relieve symptoms of many medical conditions and promote a sense of health and wellbeing”.
Thee will also be traditional and infra-red saunas; physiotherapy services; “Hypervolt” deep muscle treatment; and the “NormaTec PULSE Recovery System” — compression devices designed for recovery and rehab.
For those wanting relaxation and guided breathing and meditation, a Zero Gravity flotation pod is on offer.
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