Former Saint Hyndman fighting his way back
Former Northampton Saints centre Chris Hyndman, who was forced to end his career because of a family illness, is making a name for himself as a coach in the north-east.
Hyndman came through the Saints Academy at 19 and looked set for a long career at Franklin's Gardens playing alongside Jon Leslie under Wayne Smith.
But an illness in his family prompted him to suddenly end his career at Saints in 2005 to move back to his native north east.
The former England Under-21 centre says leaving Saints and quitting professional rugby was one of the most 'horrible' moments of his life.
But after taking on the role of player-coach at his home-town club Billingham, the 26-year-old is earning himself a reputation as one of the north-east's most promising coaching talents.
After gaining promotion in Hyndman's first year at the club, Billingham are runaway leaders in North East Two with five wins from their first five games. And his success has softened the blow of giving up on Guinness Premiership rugby.
"It was horrible having to give up playing the game at that level, especially after working so hard to get to there," he said. "But it wasn't a difficult decision.
"My wife's father was ill and family is the most important thing, so I knew that it was the right decision to move back and help support them.
"My attitude is that I've played at a decent level and played for England through the youth teams, and I'm just glad to have done that.
It was tough to give up on the professional game when I think I had a chance of breaking through, but we've got a young family and I just couldn't face being away from them for so long."
Hyndman joined National One side Otley for a short spell but the travelling kept him away from his family too much, so he contacted Billingham where his rugby journey began as a youngster.
"I was actually one of the first guys that was in the club's first mini-rugby set-up some 20 years ago and I always had happy memories of the club," he said.
"I made the call and I was delighted they were able to accommodate me. It's a terrific set-up."
Hyndman now hopes to carve out a career as a coach.
"It probably helps I'm getting started quite young," said Hyndman.
"I think I'm the youngest head coach in the division.
I think my ideal job would be at a Premiership club somewhere looking after the Academy team, because then you get the chance to instill the right attitudes and methods into them at a young age."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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