The 2024 Nextgen Leaders Hit The Wave
Last week, the 2024 Sport Industry NextGen Leaders headed to inland surfing destination The Wave for an incredible overnight experience.
Described as a ‘slice of the ocean’ in Bristol, The Wave was created to provide a place where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can experience health benefits and the pure joy of the water and waves.
Founded by former osteopath Nick Hounsfield – who embarked on the new career path in order to ‘positively impact people’s health and wellbeing’ while ‘building a connection to community and the planet’ – the location fitted perfectly with this year’s NextGen programme’s core themes of entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability and social change.
Put up by The Wave in luxury Safari-style tents, the Leaders enjoyed a packed agenda which included a beginner surfing lesson, a BBQ on the terrace, a 6am cold water immersion experience and a yoga lesson before breakfast.
To learn more about The Wave’s mission and why it’s so relevant to this year’s programme, the Leaders also sat down with Hounsfield for the first of two fireside chats.
Speaking about his previous career in healthcare, and The Wave’s origin, Hounsfield said, “I was really happy as an osteopath, but I realised that I wasn’t getting to the root of the main issues as to why people were not healthy and not happy.
“Most of the people I was treating were disconnected from their own health. People were disconnected from the environment, from nature, from being outside and the self-nourishment that provides.
“So, how can we solve that? I wanted to create somewhere where you can be next to water, eat good food, have good conversation.”
Hounsfield described seeing a “grainy image of an artificially created wave in the Basque country on YouTube” and realising that was the start of a vision that became The Wave.
“The first thing to do was get a finance director in and somebody with credibility who could put the numbers together. That creates a business model that we could investment market with.
“We had about 230 Dragon’s Den style pitches. Everyone said it was a really good idea but they all said that they’ll back the second time you do it, not the first one. But one person took the risk. One group did decided to back us. And obviously then we’re able to get this place built.”
Hounsfield also highlighted the importance of sustainability at The Wave, and how he kept that front of mind throughout the whole process.
“The single thing that helped me was the first document I ever wrote. It was with a mentor of mine, Chris Hines, who said let’s write a sustainability policy before we do anything else. Let’s map out who we are as a company, what we believe in, what we care about, and making sure that we are balancing profit, planet, and people.
“Now, we are really headstrong in our vision to show that we are not going to be swayed just purely by money. And, once we set that template out, it became clear to everyone that, to even engage with us, you have to ascribe to our values.”
Later in the evening, Mellissa Noakes, Head of Sponsorship & Events at Santander, joined the group to share her wisdom and experience leading sponsorship at one of the UK high street’s most recognisable brands.
In a candid discussion, Noakes touched on the bank’s approach to various sponsorships and sports including Santander Cycles and professional cycling, Ferrari in Formula 1 and the growing relationship with online school resources platform Twinkl.
With entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, and social change all forming central pillars to The Wave’s own philosophy, the venue once again proved to be the perfect venue for the 2024 NextGen Leaders to learn, bond and socialise.
Find out more about the Sport Industry NextGen programme here.
