Who is Grayson Hart? Former professional rugby player who founded Puresport
GRAYSON Hart’s professional rugby career was cut short by injury, but the pain he experienced led him to his next entrepreneurial venture.
Here’s everything you need to know about the founder of the Puresport wellness brand.
Who is Grayson Hart?
Grayson Hart was born on June 19, 1988, in Kaitaia, New Zealand.
He excelled at sport as a teen, playing rugby for a number of teams in his home country — including becoming the youngest scrum-half ever to play for Auckland team the Blues at Super Rugby level.
Following a stint playing in Australia, Grayson headed for Scotland to join pro side Edinburgh in 2013.
But he was encouraged to turn his back on his beloved sport after a knee injury left him in bad shape.
Grayson explained: “When I first arrived in Scotland, I had a medical check before they confirmed my contract.
“They said your MRI scan has come back really, really bad.
“They said ‘there’s no cartilage and you’ve got these bone spurs in your knee and it’s unstable’.
“The knee specialist recommended that I should retire from rugby.”
After getting a second opinion, he was prescribed strong painkillers to help deal with his ailment.
Grayson said: “They all agreed that my knee was really b******d and said if I was going to keep playing rugby, I would need a knee replacement by the time I was 40.
“That was alarming because I was hoping to keep up this active lifestyle as an old man.
“Doing things like running around playing with my kids and chucking a rugby ball around, maybe playing golf or something.”
He was forced to retire from his playing career due to the injury in 2021, while he was still in his early thirties — but the pain led him on his highly successful entrepreneurial path.
How Grayson Hart founded Puresport
Following his knee injury, Grayson started taking strong painkillers, but soon began built up a tolerance to them.
So he started seeking out natural alternatives, which eventually led to him founding Puresport.
He discovered that NFL players in the US were using CBD — short for cannabidiol — to deal with pain.
As the painkillers started to leave my system, due to me being able to function with the CBD, I felt like a new man
Grayson Hart
CBD is the second-most prevalent active found in marijuana, but it doesn’t contain the psychoactive ingredient in the plant, THC, which gets people high.
Grayson bought some products online to try during the off season, which helped him to feel like his old self again.
He said: “As the painkillers started to leave my system, due to me being able to function with the CBD, I felt like a new man.
“I didn’t realise that my new normal on these painkillers was actually so sub optimal. Like my energy levels, my sleep quality, my mood, my gut health.
“Once I got away from the pain, I literally felt so clear and so good, just so much healthier. I said then that I couldn’t go back to the painkillers.”
Grayson then approached his club to ask if CBD was something they would allow him to take, but they refused as the products weren’t third-party certified and may have caused him to fail drug tests.
He said: “I told them, I really wanted to take these products and I would like to have been able to do more research to understand them, what the risks are, to make my own informed decision that was on my back.”
Following the club’s rejection of his request, Grayson used his savings to create his own wellness brand Puresport in 2018.
The company targets athletes and people with active lifestyle who want to manage their pain using natural ingredients.
It sells numerous wellness products including CBD oil and balm, as well as mushroom capsules and lavender pillow spray.
Grayson explained: “My vision was to create the world’s first fully certified range of innovative natural health supplements to help optimise people’s lives in terms of sleep quality, pain relief, cognitive function, mean system and other different benefits.”
The business went on to thrive and was even featured in publications such as GQ and Forbes.
Everything you need to know about CBD
What can CBD products help with?
Initially, CBD was probably most famous for helping with seizures and was prescribed by doctors in quite large doses.
But in smaller doses it can be helpful for stress-related symptoms.
CBD has many useful actions.
It is anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety and interacts with our serotonin (happy hormone) pathways.
So for some people with mild anxiety or stress-related sleep problems, these products can help.
How is medical cannabis different to CBD?
Although medical cannabis on prescription does contain CBD, it can also contain varying amounts of THC.
This plant chemical can help with severe pain and other medical symptoms.
Some people may have heard that CBD can “turn into” THC in your body and make you stoned.
This is simply not true.
Even with medical cannabis containing THC, small controlled doses are generally very safe and do not make people feel high.
How do I get medical cannabis?
Currently, medical cannabis products containing THC are legally available by private prescription in the UK, via a specialist doctor with expertise in this area.
In our clinic, we utilise different forms and strengths of medical cannabis depending on the patient we are treating.
Is CBD safe?
CBD is generally considered a safe substance and not addictive.
However, there are some medications that can interact with it so always check with a doctor familiar with CBD if you are unsure.
What dose should I start with for, say, sleep problems or mild anxiety?
The UK’s Food Standards Agency has issued precautionary advice on CBD, recommending healthy adults should limit their consumption of CBD from food to 10mg per day.
This is about 4-5 drops of five per cent CBD oil.
Grayson said: “It’s really important to us that we have placed ourselves as a distributor of natural wellness products.
“One of our best selling products is our 1,000 milligramme CBD muscle and joint balm.
“It was actually voted for by multiple media outlets as the UK’s number one muscle and joint balm which was really, really exciting for new business like us.
“It’s so important to us that we educate people on how these ingredients interact with the body naturally and help optimise the body’s natural way of functioning by bringing balance, homeostasis interacting with the body’s receptors.
“I think that it’s such an exciting time for people because there’s a real shift in awareness now around what we can do to live healthier lives and function more optimally now but also in the future and the rise in popularity of these kinds of products.”
Grayson has now stepped down from the company he started, writing on LinkedIn: “I parted ways with Puresport as CEO and Director in November 2023 to follow my heart in a new direction.
“When I stepped down, I handed over the reigns and that meant letting go of the things I was particularly focused on being the product development, apparel design, creative direction and overall business strategy.
“That day was the beginning of letting go of a huge part of my life and something I’d put my heart and soul into since founding it in 2018.
“I now play no role in the operation of the business.”