When Kendra Cocksedge was young, she was repeatedly told she was too small to play rugby, and that she shouldn't be playing with the boys. Rather than the comments stemming from bullying peers or green-eyed rivals, they came from coaches and parents standing on the sideline of school rugby matches.
At 1.57m tall (5 foot 2), she acknowledges she wasn't big, but "the perception back then was that you had to be big and physical to play rugby," says the Black Fern, who despite her petite stature has gone on to become one of New Zealand's best rugby players. "People couldn't believe I was a girl playing rugby with boys, as rugby was seen as a male sport. But this never stopped me from achieving my dream."
Proving the naysayers wrong, Kendra is now one of the finest rugby players of her generation, along with the honour of being the most capped Black Fern of all time and the team's record point scorer.
Now the top New Zealand scrum-half, Kendra — along with her Black Ferns teammates — has joined forces with Rexona as part of its Not Done Yet campaign to encourage Kiwis to overcome their own barriers and self-doubt and move more.
Recent research conducted by Rexona shows that 58 per cent of New Zealanders aren't meeting Ministry of Health recommendations when it comes to movement and exercise (2.5 hours each week of moderate physical activity for adults, with at least one session being 30 minutes). The nationally representative Pureprofile survey was conducted with 1000 Kiwis aged 18+ during August this year, and found that 60 per cent of those surveyed said mental or physical barriers were holding them back from moving.
Other key barriers cited in the study were "feeling self-conscious", "not having anyone to exercise with", and "lack of motivation". "Lack of time" also featured, as did feeling "incapable or not good enough" (8.7 per cent). Survey responses showed that these barriers breed self-doubt and a lack of confidence, stopping people from moving freely.
While it would be easy to imagine that an elite rugby player couldn't possibly relate to feeling such vulnerabilities around exercise let alone find it a struggle to find the time to work out, Kendra says she wholeheartedly understands the obstacles that stand in many New Zealanders' way. The comments about her size were painful at the time and made her feel self-conscious, she says, but she learnt to laugh them off and use them to fuel her ambition to become the best player she could.
This meant digging deep to push past other people's limiting beliefs about her capabilities. "I really had the drive to prove people wrong and it made me work harder to be the best player out there," she says. "I wasn't going to let anyone stop me from playing the game I love. I also had to silence that voice in my head and tell myself not to worry about what other people think."
Plenty of people do care what others think, however, as the results in the Rexona Not Done Yet campaign show. This is why Rexona is championing the power of movement to transform lives. This is based on the belief that everyone should be able to experience all the mental, physical and social benefits that movement brings, however it is you move. The campaign also acknowledges that we all have limits, many of which are imposed by society, which often judges those who don't fit their expectations. This fear of judgement can create a huge barrier for many Kiwis, making us doubt our ability to push through.
As a strong-willed teenager, Kendra says when she discovered there was a New Zealand women's rugby team, she set goals and worked hard to achieve them, even if there were a few setbacks along the way. "I am a very determined person, and I loved the game so much that all I wanted to be was a Black Fern."
Her prominence in rugby began in Taranaki and Hurricanes schools' rugby in 2006. The following year she made her provincial debut for Canterbury, and that same year she reached her long-held ambition to become a Black Fern, debuting against Australia. She also learnt to deal with the hardship of nine years of sitting on the bench. As Kendra told the podcast Between Two Beers, that period in her life gave her the resilience to be the player she is today, with a record 64 matches under her belt, and a record 382 points.
During her 15 years in the number nine black jersey, she has also been an instrumental part of two globally dominating squads, including the World Rugby Team of the Decade in the 2010s. Renowned for being a fierce competitor and an inspiring leader, in 2015 Kendra was named World Rugby Women's Player of the Year. In 2019 she became the first female player to win the Kelvin Tremain Memorial Trophy for Player of the Year and was awarded the MNZM for services to rugby in 2020. In 2021, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours.
Reaching that level of success would not have been possible without silencing those early negative voices, says Kendra. Yet for all her successes and accolades as an elite athlete, she also knows how easy it can be to fall out of love with the movement you're doing. One of the biggest barriers to movement mentioned in the study was feeling uninspired, something 31.4 per cent of participants identified with, along with not knowing what sort of activity they should be doing.
For Kendra, maintaining her enthusiasm for the sport she has long been passionate about has waxed and waned over the years. At her lowest point, she says she experienced mental fatigue with rugby last year, due to the postponement of significant global matches. "I didn't want to go to Black Ferns camps and I didn't want to train." But she was wise enough to realise she'd need to make some changes. So she took a break from club rugby to refresh her mind and reset her goals. "I just wanted to get the enjoyment for the game back," she says.
Now, at the age of 34, Kendra is ready for the next chapter in her life, having recently announced her impending retirement from professional rugby. But she's certainly Not Done Yet. Kendra says she's determined to ensure she still maintains her daily movement by undertaking activities she finds pleasurable — as well as those that involve others. "With the Covid lockdowns, I really enjoyed going for walks and I know how good this was for my mental wellbeing. This is something I will continue to do. I am also joining social sports teams so I will still be moving as I know how important it is for me."
If there's one top piece of advice Kendra has for anyone starting out, or getting back into a habit of movement, it's simply that: to make it a habit. "Routine is massive," she says. "You don't have to put any pressure on yourself to do what others are doing. It just needs to be a small walk around the block, and if you get a good routine in your day, it becomes a lot easier."
Just as Kendra experienced on the rugby field all those years ago, although she may not have fit society's definition of what a rugby player looks like, she has gone on to reach the pinnacle of success in the code. Likewise, Rexona's Not Done Yet campaign aims to encourage all New Zealanders, irrespective of their shape, size or ability, to ignore the negative voices and self-doubt — and move more. "It's hard to start but once you do, you realise the importance of exercise and what it does for your mental and physical wellbeing," says Kendra. There's no better reason to get moving than that.
Get inspired to move more by checking out the Not Done Yet campaign at rexona.com/au/social-impact/not-done-yet-nz
@rexona_nz #NotDoneYet