Dealing with expectation is a required quality in the multi-tasking world of professional sport. The pressure of expectation can often force sportspeople to crumble. In the high-performance arena of professional sport – it is the athlete who can handle the pressure and expectation that will come out on top.

In 2004, while all his classmates were debating which route to take after high school, schoolboy rugby player John Barclay was planning out his own future. In a meeting with his Academy Coach, the 17-year-old had expectation placed on his shoulders like never before. His coach told him that he was looking forward to seeing him wearing a Scotland shirt in the Rugby World Cup 3 years later.

“I kind of laughed it off at the time, but it made me have bigger expectations of myself,” Barclay told In The Winning Zone. Three years on, he has filled his coach’s expectation, but he is by no means satisfied - Barclay has business to finish. His name may have been waxed lyrically in Scotland as a youngster, as it is today, but there is nothing the 21-year-old wants more than to get his head down, work hard, and let his rugby do the talking.

For the tail end of his school career, Barclay’s performance on the rugby pitch was indeed the talking point amongst coaches at a professional and international level. As a 16 year old, he represented the Scottish Thistles in an international sevens tournament. At 17, he captained his school outfit, Dollar Academy, to a victory in the Scottish Schools Cup final, an event the openside flanker treasures as one of the most important in his career so far.  Barclay played through the pain of injury in a man of the match performance.

“About one month before the final I found out I had a pretty chronic groin problem and about a week before the final I decided to play because it wasn’t going to make my injury any worse by playing one game. It had been what I wanted to do since I started school, it meant a lot so I just played.”

In that same year, Glasgow Warriors signed Barclay as an apprentice. However, it was not all plain sailing. He describes his first year at Glasgow as the toughest in his career so far. So much so that he contemplated pursuing a university degree in medicine and putting rugby on the back-burner

It was this abrupt transition from school rugby with his friends to playing against professionals, which came as a shock to the system. “It’s a completely different game playing at school compared with playing against men who are a lot bigger and stronger than you at the time.” The player comments, “I just thought I would go to Glasgow and play for the first team, I was used to being one of the best players at school. That’s why it was quite a hard first year because I realised I had so much to learn.”

In October of the same year, Matt Williams announced Barclay’s name in the extended Scotland squad for the autumn tests.  The 18-year-old was left confused by the fact that he was selected for a full Scotland squad having not played a minute of professional rugby for his club.

“I knew myself when I first got selected that I wasn’t really there on merit and if I had played I probably wouldn’t have done myself justice. It wasn’t the best thing for me at the time but all’s well that ends well!”

An inexperienced Barclay was catapulted from the classroom to the training pitches at Murrayfield, to work alongside the best rugby players in Scotland, all in the space of twelve months.  Once he got over a turbulent inaugural year of professional rugby, Barclay got his head down, worked hard and grasped his chance to break into the first team.

“I was thrown in at the deep end at Glasgow. I was still pretty young and still learning and I hadn’t played much for the first team. Donnie [Mcfadyen] and Andrew Wilson got injured and Jon Petrie dislocated his shoulder so all the experienced guys were out. Myself and John Beattie were thrown in to play, that was my break into the team and I was given a good chance.”

Consistently impressive performances in a young Glasgow back-row recently brought Barclay to the attention of Frank Hadden, Scotland head coach. He was selected in the opening two fixtures of the recent RBS Six Nations Championships, until he unfortunately hurt his hand in a freak accident out with rugby. Barclay speaks with frustration of what might have been for Scotland in the Six Nations. Although registering two impressive performances - emerging from the second encounter against Wales having made the most tackles - Barclay was not selected for Scotland for the remainder of the campaign.

“In the two games I played in we didn’t play particularly well and I felt that in the games to follow we played a lot more rugby, so I found it quite frustrating. I almost feel that it was an opportunity missed and that there is a fair amount of unfinished business that I’ve got to set right.”

It is clear that Barclay is determined to put a Scotland’s recent mediocre form behind him and concentrate on the future. At 21 years of age, and performing well for club and country, it is almost certain he will be part of Scotland’s future.

“I want to play for Scotland a lot more. I’ve got 3 caps now and we’ve not won one game I’ve been involved in. I feel like there is potential here to do something. I want to get a lot more caps, I love playing for Scotland and I want to keep doing that.”

Barclay has had an impressive introduction to professional rugby, but he believes that much of his progression is a result of hard work as a youngster. Indeed, Barclay personifies the traditional outlook on sport with relation to success: work hard and reap the rewards.

“A lot of success is put down to skill and talent but a lot of it is also drive and determination. When I was at school I was going out and doing fitness and weights and running every second day by myself. If you can’t drive yourself by yourself then the chances are you’re not going to get very far.”

He watched on as his team mates battled and succeeded against England last month to win the Calcutta Cup. You can be certain that there was nothing Barclay wanted more than to be out there, working hard in the thick of the action. He will continue to put in sterling performances for his club and hopes to be involved in the Scotland set up in the near future.

The next time he pulls on a Scotland jersey, there will be expectation on his shoulders, but that won’t faze him. You can be sure he will do everything in his power to make sure Scotland win.

“I want to be part of a winning Scotland team – I want to win for Scotland.”

IC
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