Rugby superstar Jesse Parahi lifts the lid on life after sport

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to rugby superstar Jesse Parahi.

Rugby supporters know well the on-field exploits of the Woonona Shamrocks gun who, at his peak, played for the Brumbies and won a bronze medal representing Australia in rugby sevens at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Parahi would also go on to play briefly for NRL team the Wests Tigers before returning to rugby to represent Australia in rugby sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Though he takes just as much satisfaction from what he has achieved off the field.

Parahi and his wife Carlien run an occupational therapy program - Sense Team Sports - created to help kids who usually find it difficult to be part of a sports team get involved in sport and physical activity.

More on that later.

Nowadays though even though Parahi is coming to the back end of his rugby career he is still considered one of the most powerful and damaging ball runners in the Illawarra District Rugby Union competition.

Lately though, the Shamrocks star has been nursing a lingering knee injury which has seen him spend more time off the field than on it.

Parahi told ACM's Illawarra Mercury he has every intention of returning to the playing paddock in the coming weeks but indicated he may well call time on his illustrious career at season's end.

The damage his body has endured over the years including during his peak years playing rugby sevens for Australia has taken its toll on the 34-year-old.

The father-of-two nowadays also has more family and business responsibilities, including running Sense Team Sports and Sense Therapies with his wife.

The program originally called Sense Rugby started after Parahi came to the aid of a boy with special needs. That one act started a therapy program that is now helping hundreds of kids.

Parahi spoke at length about his journey on and off the paddock, from growing up as a kid playing rugby league in Sydney's west to playing for the Brumbies and Rugby Sevens at the Olympics.

"I was born in Western Sydney. I lived in Bellfield for the first eight years of my life and then moved out to Moorebank until high school, and then moved out to the Central Coast and then kind of followed footy around from there," Parahi said.

"I went to Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, back to Sydney and then started coming down here for Sense Rugby, the program that we run, and really liked it and moved here in 2018."

Parahi admits he has been fortunate to make a career in something he has always been passionate about, even if it's been a bit of a bumpy ride.

Early on it was all about rugby league for Parahi.

"I played for the St George Dragons and Moorebank Rams and was a huge Canterbury Bulldogs fan. Terry Lamb was my favourite player. I loved that Bulldogs team back then," Parahi told the Athlete's Voice.

"When our family moved up to the Central Coast, I played for the Kincumber Colts. But, after a game when I was 14 or 15, my dad had a bit of a go at me, which led to me giving up on league - at least for a while."

Within a few months Parahi got selected in the Country U15s for a tour of Tonga and Samoa.

He enjoyed the trip so much he stuck with rugby.

By 2007 Parahi was playing in the Australian Schoolboys side alongside future Wallabies such as James Slipper, Matty To'omua, Rob Horne and James O'Connor.

Three years later he made his rugby sevens debut for Australia in London, where the squad won the Cup championship.

Then in the early stages of the 2012/13 World Series, Parahi filled in as captain for the injured Ed Jenkins during the Wellington, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Tokyo rounds.

He re-joined the Australian Sevens set-up in April 2016 after a short stint in the NRL with the Wests Tigers.

The powerful ball-carrier was a key cog in the team that helped Australia qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

One of his most memorable moments in an Australian Sevens jersey was in October 2013 when he crossed over in sudden-death extra-time against South Africa in the Gold Coast Cup Semi-Finals to win the game.

"It was a long time ago now but there were some good memories," Parahi told the Mercury. "The wins were some of the better memories. They were few and far between for us, so when we did have good tournaments, like my first when we won in London in 2010, that was pretty epic, and then we won in Tokyo in 2012 and then we won in Sydney in 2017, which was nice."

These good times included representing Australia at the 2016 Olympics and captaining Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics saw Parahi leave the Australian Sevens after almost a decade in the sport. He finished as the fifth-most capped Aussie Sevens player in history, having notched more than 50 World Series appearances.

Sense Rugby was founded in October 2015 by Parahi and his wife, paediatric occupational therapist Carlien Parahi.

Sense Rugby is a rugby-based occupational therapy program designed to help kids who usually find it difficult to be part of a sports team.

"Its called Sense Team Sports now," he said.

"We run rugby and AFL programs mostly for autistic kids or kids that find it difficult to get into team sports really. We started that in 2015. It was just Cali and I going to my old club in Avoca while we were living in Narrabeen. We did the program with the Narrabeen Tigers and Avoca Sharks.

"It has kind of evolved into something we never thought it would but now we've got some 30-odd locations across Australia. We partnered with NZ Rugby and have got about 10 locations running over there.

"We kind of delved into AFL because the elements of the game that we find are really beneficial for the kids, is the wrestle, is the tackle, all that kind of stuff is really great for kids development and all that kind of stuff, so AFL was the next logical step."

Parahi has had a lot of great experiences and challenges but it's only through his wife that he has realised just how important playing sport has been in his life.

"When COVID hit, that was one of the things I missed the most," he said. "Not necessarily like-minded people but people all enjoying the same sport and the same thing and find common ground on that.

"It was a nice way to integrate myself into this community down here, after moving here. It gave me a lot. I don't know where I'd be without it and I really don't know what I'd do with my weekends if I didn't have it."

Though turning 35 this year and living a "hectic" life, Parahi is leaning towards hanging up the boots at season's end.

"I had a pretty rough run of injuries last year. And then work's been hectic for us. This year I think I've only played two games out of seven. So I'm going to see out the year and just see where I am from there," he said.

"We started a therapy clinic [Sense Therapies] in Bulli and it's kind of grown to a point where I never thought it would be. I need to spend more time there.

"We work with a whole different range of kids, autistic kids, kids with down syndrome, CP (cerebral palsy), kids with anxiety, ADHD and all that kind of stuff.

"It's been really busy.

"It is getting hard on the body and there's some other things in my life that deserve some time as well."