Oli Mathis is a name to watch.
The inspiration that sparked his involvement in rugby started with him playing for his mates and “just trying to make my family proud”.
But the 19-year-old from Waihī said “my why” was now about trying to show kids from a small town that it’s still possible to “crack it”.
“That’s probably my big motivator now,” he said.
And the young athlete has certainly put his best foot forward to crack it in the rugby world with a recent streak of triumphs.
The rising talent, who has been playing for Waikato development teams, caught the eye of many when his “freakish” moves, which resulted in him scoring a try during the National Provincial Championship (NPC) semi-final last month, went viral online.
But that’s not all.
It was announced last week that Oli would make his debut in the All Black Sevens line-up to start the 2024/25 SVNS Series in Dubai at The Sevens Stadium on November 30.
Oli, who has committed to two years with the All Blacks Sevens, said he was “stoked as” when his name appeared on the projector.
He told The Profile the first person he shared the news of his selection with was his “rugby mad” little brother, followed by the rest of his family.
“As soon as I told my family, my old man, my uncle, and my grandad all booked tickets to go over Dubai and Cape Town.”
Unfortunately, Oli said his mum wouldn’t be able to make it over as she would be looking after the kids and working on the farm.
His love for the game of sevens rugby was something that started when he was young, so he was “jumping at the opportunity” to play, he said.
“I was always quite keen to give sevens a go but obviously just had to wait for the right time.
“I guess the time has come.”
But the rugby prodigy on the rise had another run of good news. Oli was announced as a nominee for the New Zealand Rugby Age Grade Player of the Year as part of the ASB Rugby Awards. It was clear it meant a lot to Oli.
“It’s massive. I’m just pretty stoked that I guess I can go out and try to perform at the big level. Growing up, especially as a young fella from a small town, you always see these big guys on TV and think it’s not possible. “But I guess if you train hard and work hard, your dreams are going to turn into a reality,” he said.
For the next two years, Oli said his mind would be purely focussed on sevens rugby.
“[I’ll] give that a good crack as well as the NPC, and then I guess we’ll kind of go from there to see what the future holds.”
His development included growing his professional habits, “being around the boys”, training full-time and “not having to worry about anything else”, he said. “I can kind of work with the old boys, pick their brains… and hopefully become the best athlete I can be.”
Oli said he looked up to All Blacks player Ardie Savea, and wanted to “try to play the game like he does”.
But the former Hamilton Boys’ High School student said his biggest influences in the sport from day one were his dad and grandad.
Oli said he was “always trying to make them proud”.
For rugby players who wanted to follow in similar footsteps, Oli’s advice was to “just enjoy your rugby”.
Enjoy time with mates, he said, and don’t take things too seriously – “but still train hard at the same time”.
