Jamie Heaslip: Leinster used to run my schedule but now my daughter Harper does

The rugby legend on lockdown life and how his two-year-old daughter Harper is the real boss in his house

Former International rugby player and Focus Ireland ambassador Jamie Heaslip launching The Next Step. Picture Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

Jamie Heaslip has a talking doorbell. Just as he Zooms into our interview, a woman's voice echoes through the computer screen "someone is at the door, someone is at the door." He excuses himself to deal with the anonymous voice, explaining that his daughter Harper (2.5) is somewhere in the house "screaming her head off."

Heaslip says that strangely, his career prepared him for this new world of working from home. "I used to work at Google and a lot of what we did was virtual anyway", he points out. "So this way of working is not new to me. I think the big thing for me since the start of the pandemic is the importance of drawing lines."

He says that as an athlete, he is naturally inclined towards full-immersion, so that makes it extra important to create boundaries between work and home life. "For someone of my kind of character, you can very easily let work become all-consuming when you're working and living from home. That can be - I'm not gonna say dangerous - but it can be quite an energy-zapping."

Like most people, Heaslip and his wife Sheena have found the last year challenging, balancing work with the life of an energetic toddler. "I think there's been a shift in priorities or maybe a and reinforcing of priorities," says the rugby ace. "I think that will apply going forward in terms of family and career purpose. We all got a bit more time than we probably have had for a long time, and to be able to step back and have that context, and have that kind of different perspective, I suppose, on what you're doing, why you're doing it, how you doing, and I think definitely reframed a lot of things for me personally."

Harper has changed Heaslip's priorities for the better." With a toddler, it becomes less and less about you and more and more about them, which is really a kind of good thing for me personally. It's a very selfish thing to be a professional athlete, and it kind of has to be," he explains. "Everyone buys into you, into that game at the weekend. Then, you have a child, it becomes about them and that's a good thing. I often say that Leinster used to run my schedule and I thought I was going to get it back when I retired, but it merely just flipped into my daughter Harper and she runs my schedule now.

Demuring as to whether or not he has picked up more slack in the house since last March - "I think I do half the work, but you'd have to ask my wife" - Jamie Heaslip says that he and Sheena have an approach to life that extends beyond the hoovering. |I think I have always helped out around the house. We are very much a team, not just in terms of the household, but in general - we try to divide and conquer. I think with a toddler you are never in charge anyway, you’re kind of on their schedule."

Heaslip is partnering with Focus Ireland to launch ‘The Next Step’ Virtual Marathon taking place in April. Focus Ireland is asking the public to walk, jog or run the 42.2km distance of a marathon throughout April. Participants track their progress digitally over the 30 days of April whilst fundraising for Focus Ireland. This is the second year of The Next Step and last year the charity raised €60,000 through 350 participants.

The former Ireland number 8 has been working with Focus Ireland for the last number of years and is extremely conscious of the growing problem of homelessness across the island. 

"Right now there are 970 families who’re homeless in Ireland," he explains.  "My daughter might be screaming bloody murder downstairs, but she’s safe, she’s got a home. When I think of the families who are sharing one room for up to twenty-four months, it all hits home for me and that’s why I help to raise awareness for Focus."

• To sign up, log onto  thenextstep.focusireland.ie/register  and get your own personal fundraising page where your friends, family and colleagues can donate. You can also track your fitness progress on your page or connect your page to Strava. Once you finish the marathon, you will get a digital certificate of completion for all your hard work helping to fight homelessness.