A streak of unfortunate injuries, a competitive mindset and bit of faith was all it took for former New Zealand Sevens star Orene Ai'i to dust the old playing boots off again.
At 42, Ai'i has come out of retirement to play for the Major League Rugby club he coaches in the US and is now two games into his unexpected return.
Ai'i told 1News the body was, unsurprisingly, a little bit sore after seven years out of the game.
"Recovery time for me at this age is key," he said.
"I'm not saying it wasn't key for me when I was younger but it does take a few more days to recover from the weekend.
"But my competitiveness and my competitive mindset hasn't changed so it's more around what I do around the week to get myself to that start line."
After a strong start to the season saw LA Giltinis win their first four matches, disaster struck with the side suffering multiple injuries at the first-five position.
Things got more dire when the club's final fit playmaker, Luke Burton, was injured during the warm-up for last Saturday's match with Austin.
With no one left in the reserves, Ai'i stepped up for his side.
"Last year, being the assistant backs coach and skills coach and with the way MLR is set up with Covid and how limited we are with bringing people in, I've just been jumping in and providing opposition and numbers at training," he said.
"It was a good way for me to stay in shape but fast forward to this year, we've lost a couple of key players so without breaking the salary cap, they looked internally and because I was training and keeping myself in a somewhat good condition, they threw the idea and for me, being a competitive person, I agreed so that's where I'm at.
"I never thought I'd be back playing again but the only reason I'm able to do this is because of the strength and guidance I get from my faith and being able to contribute to my team like this, it's a blessing."
He conceded keeping fit at trainings was far different from being thrown back into a competitive match though.
"Obviously getting knocked about in a real game is a bit harder on the body and mentally, honestly, I was a bit nervous at the start the game but once I got into it and found my groove, the boys were looking after me."
View from the other side
Ai'i has carved out an impressive rugby career since making his provincial debut with Auckland in 1998. He won a Super Rugby title with the Blues in 2003 along with multiple Sevens World Series crowns with the New Zealand side between 1999 and 2005.
Along with his team triumphs, Ai'i was also named Sevens World Series player of the year for the 2004-05 season, before he moved away from New Zealand to take up deals in Japan and France.
After heading to San Francisco in 2016 to join the first professional rugby competition in the US, Ai'i eventually transitioned to coaching with the intent of building a resume that could one day lead to an international job.
His first steps involved both club and high school rugby before higher opportunities started presenting themselves, leading to a role as skills and academy coach with current MLR champions, the LA Giltinis, last year.
Since then, Ai'i has enjoyed building and adding to the environment of the reigning champions, although he's also gained some fresh perspectives in his brief return from retirement, having to swap hats at trainings before the side's latest match against Utah over the weekend.
"Coaches meet first thing in the morning for their meeting so I'm there for last week and then last week was my first time at a players meeting - I was officially allowed to go in.
"We talk about what we're going to do during the week at training as coaches and then I throw my player's hat on and go out and execute what we've been talking about."
Ai'i said he's been reminded of "subtle differences" to the environment from a player's perspective now that he's kitting up again.
"The pressure is a little bit more because of the expectations of the coaching staff and the group," he said.
"And then obviously as a coach, it's on us to make it clear so that the players are all on the same page."
While a full return to playing is off the table, Ai'i joked his recent return inspired another sports star to come out of retirement on Monday.
"I was joking with my wife last night when we got home, I mentioned that Tom Brady had come out of retirement and she said, 'really?'
"I was like, 'I think I inspired him to come back' and we had a laugh about it.
"But for me, I'm in this position because of the situation our team is in right now until those boys get back.
"But when those boys get back, I'll be more than happy to slip back into the coaching role and put the cones out."
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