Built by someone
still in it

I’m Sam McIntyre. Most people call me Maca.

I came through the juniors at the Port Macquarie Sharks and I’ve played first grade for the Wests Tigers, the Gold Coast Titans and the North Queensland Cowboys.

I’ve been dropped. I’ve been injured. I’ve had seasons where it clicked and seasons where it didn’t.

None of that is the point of this. The point is where it put me: inside professional environments, for years, standing next to people who are genuinely world-class at what they do. Head coaches. Performance staff. Physios, dietitians, psychologists. I’ve spent my career asking them questions.

That’s what this is.

The Athlete Blueprint isn’t me telling you I’ve worked it out. It’s me doing what I’ve always done — learning off people who know more than I do, and passing it on properly instead of chopped into a thirty-second clip. Some of it is what I’ve picked up along the way. Most of it belongs to someone else, and I’ll tell you who.

Built in the open

A blueprint gets drawn before the thing exists, and it gets corrected as you build. That’s exactly what this is. It’s being put together in the open — the podcast, the platform, the parts that don’t work first go — and you’ll see it drawn, redrawn and worked out as it goes.

Away from the field I’m a dad and a business owner. I’ve got a diploma in small business and qualifications in coaching and fitness, and I’ve coached athletes one-on-one.

Who this is for

Anyone chasing something. The kid who wants to know what elite actually looks like on a Tuesday. The parent driving them to training. The coach without a performance department behind him. The bloke starting a business or working on the tools who wants to hold himself to the same standard.

Preparation, pressure, discipline, recovery, getting back up — none of that only works on a football field.