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Follow your heroes

A big turning point for me was watching the Ashes series of 1981. I was 15-years-old and played football for Bangor City, but I had a vague idea that I wanted to play cricket. I was so inspired by watching Ian Botham perform that I decided I was going to be committed to cricket and try to play it professionally.

Push yourself

You might class yourself as not being very good, but I think the people who succeed in any walk of life think to themselves 'I'll show you.' When I was last to be picked for a football or rugby team, I'd prove to the opposition that they'd made a mistake. You're always developing and pushing yourself through positive thinking and believing in yourself.

Attitude is key

Talent can get you a long way, but not necessarily to the top or to a professional level. All the top guys have an attitude of winning. That's something that they develop for themselves. Those are the superstars that everyone comes to see play. They're consistent and they have that drive to keep trying to improve.

Christiano Ronaldo works extremely hard on the training ground and you can see his skill level improving all the time. He's a great example of someone who's attitude is top drawer and he's obviously got great skills.

Train yourself

We didn't used to have strength and conditioning coaches, we used to do it ourselves. I'd get up in the morning and go running, or to the gym to do a weights session. That all came from within. We got out and did it ourselves. I always thought I had a good attitude that way. I prepared well and gave myself as much opportunity as I could to succeed.

Don't make excuses

People with a good attitude always tend to give their best. They don't make excuses. They don't say things like 'I can't do this,' or 'I can't do that,' they stay positive. If you say negative things to yourself, you won't improve. If you have an open mind and believe in yourself, you can achieve anything.

Just give it a go

Unless you're in the habit of playing sport it can seem to be a hard thing to break into. My daughter had never played hockey before she went away to school. She's broken into the first team and performed well. She's chuffed because she didn't think she was any good at sport. She's achieved a lot just by going along, joining in and having a bit of fun. She's become friends with the other players and, with a bit of practice here and there, she's improved a lot. Now she's playing first team hockey.

Don't wait for that weekly PE session

Throwing a ball at a wall and catching it is great for hand-eye coordination. I used to do it for ages and ages. When my lad was growing up we used to have an alarm box on the back of the house, and he'd forever be throwing tennis balls at it. He found that by just throwing the ball against the wall it was good practice for his catching and throwing. It's amazing what you can do if you're on your own and you say 'Yes, I can do it.'