From Service to Sport — Nigel’s Journey of Resilience, Recovery and Finding Purpose

From the RAF to the classroom, and from injury to an extraordinary triathlon challenge, Nigel shares how sport helped him find his way and inspired him to help others.

Content note: This personal story includes references to mental health challenges, serious illness and premature birth.

Written by Nigel Batten

At 44 years old, I consider myself very much a student as well as a teacher. Not just because I’m actively studying my bachelor’s degree while working towards achieving QTLS, but because I never want to stop learning.

Finding my way through sport

I left the Royal Air Force in 2015, after 12 years of service in the logistics trade. I saw four tours of duty in Afghanistan, and additional tours/exercises in the Falkland Islands and Norway.

I spent much of my career playing sports like rugby, hockey, football, cricket and even dabbled in some white-water kayaking. Little did I realise it at the time, but sport was my coping mechanism.

As a late-diagnosed dyslexic adult, I struggled with long written instructions, reading large documents and processing long lists of instructions. In 2011, I injured my hip and was unable to walk around effectively, let alone do any form of sport. This left me without my support crutch for over four years and resulted in some very poor levels of mental health.

When I then left service in 2015 (shortly after hip surgery), I qualified as a personal trainer. This is where my passion for coaching and eventually teaching began.

I learned firstly how to “fix” myself, and then used that knowledge to help others improve their own fitness and health. I finally had my sports crutch back in my life, and better yet, I found educating and helping others to be equally rewarding.

I studied sports nutrition and nutritional therapy so that I could then really begin to make greater differences with those that I worked with. This led to me starting a sports nutrition company, which ultimately required more time than I was able to give it.

To supplement my earnings, I gained my first role in education as a tutor within a SEND school.

Discovering the power of movement in education

Working as a tutor, I was responsible for my class of 4-5 teenage lads (all with their own wonderful challenges). The learning curve of working with SEND students is steep, but also fantastic for building resilience.

I saw behaviours with a new perspective, and as an adult with my own SEND issues, I found it easier to relate to their perceived struggles.

Keeping sport in my life (although now very much orientated around lifting weights and muscular strength and endurance work), I saw the importance of movement for the students that I was working with.

Those with ADHD, Dyslexia and ASD were largely more capable of managing their emotions and self-regulation strategies if they were active during the day, or had movement breaks when they became unsettled.

A challenge bigger than myself

In 2019, my world turned upside-down with the arrival of my youngest son. This should be the happiest day for many, however my son arrived 13 weeks early, delivered by emergency surgery after a major haemorrhage in my wife’s uterus.

Thankfully, the story has a happy ending and both of them are doing really well today. This chapter of my life is where resilience and growth mindset really took off.

After three months of almost living in the hospital, my family was home. I felt that I needed to say “thank you” and looked for a way that would raise money for the local hospital charity.

After much deliberation, I chose triathlon.

I had never run much more than 5-10km before (despite being in the military and involved in sport for so long). I had certainly never completed a cycling or swimming event, so a triathlon was going to be something completely new to me.

I looked across the water from Southampton and wondered if there was a triathlon on the Isle of Wight, and to my surprise there wasn’t one.

So, I made my own.

On the 25th September 2021, myself and my brother-in-law (supported by two amazing friends) completed the first ever middle-distance triathlon on the Isle of Wight (1.9km swim, 90km cycle, 21km run).

The training was tough, and blending it with family life was an additional challenge. I remember the main event so well, and all of the challenges I faced along the route.

Training enough had been a huge challenge, so I wasn’t in the best condition physically, which led to battling cramp for several miles on the run. I made mistakes with nutrition which contributed to the cramp, but also some very unpleasant gastric issues.

Despite this, my reason for finishing was huge. I had a focus that was unreal and finished the event, raising over £6000 for the Southampton Hospitals Charity in the process.

Bringing those experiences into the classroom

After about 4 years of working as a tutor/LSA, I set my sights on becoming a PE teacher.

For those of you that have done this, you will know that there are very few PE teacher roles available in education, partly because very few people leave the role (because it is awesome).

So, my first teaching role was functional skills based within a secondary school. English, Maths and slowly but surely, I managed to take on some sport/PE responsibilities.

Then in January 2026, I made the leap into further education for the opportunity to qualify as a teacher.

That same drive and refusal to quit has brought me to my first full-time sports teacher role, and now I use my experiences to build resilience and personal growth in my own students.

We work on goal setting, accountability, self-efficacy and personal growth in addition to the core elements of the subject. Being able to show people how sport works for their mind as well as their body is so rewarding.

Whatever your distance, embrace the journey

So, those of you in this community that use running as your coping mechanism, I want to say “well done”! There are so many physiological and psychological reasons that running is beneficial to us.

If you’re running to challenge yourself, go for it and embrace the journey; especially the tough days when you’re not quite feeling it.

If you’re only just starting with running or maybe doing it to improve health or for weight loss, I take my hat to you. I’ve been in that place, and the first step out there in your trainers is one of the toughest to take.

For me, I love the challenge. What started as a “thank you” and a triathlon has become a huge part of my life and now ‘Round the Isle’ is set to host its first public entry event, on the Isle of Wight in September 2027.

Pick your distance, choose your challenge. One kilometre or forty-two, road or trail, just running or as part of a triathlon, enjoy the gift that keeps giving back. Welcome to running, welcome to STRIDE.

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Nigel Batten is a sports and SEND teacher based in Southampton, a former RAF serviceman and the founder of Round the Isle Triathlon. He is currently studying towards his bachelor’s degree and Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status.

Round the Isle: https://www.roundtheisle.org

Instagram: @rtitriathlon

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