Mitch Chapman is the Chief Navigator; he came up with the idea for the name, Game of Drones. And Stephen Hoiles is the pilot; he does a lot of the design aspects too.
Locks, flankers, fathers, and with over 200 Super Rugby caps between them, NSW Waratahs players Stephen Hoiles and Mitch Chapman are about to step into new roles as Maverick and Goose, pilots, entrepreneurs, cavaliers.
They’re not reinventing a scene out of Top Gun, nor fighting to sit atop some iron throne. Instead Steve and Mitch are embarking on their own business of flying drones.
“We basically just started off by shooting aerial videos with it, of surfing and sporting activities, but it can be used for lots of things, mining, construction, real estate, advertising. There’s a fair few streams you can go down to try and make a career out of it,” Steve said.
“We don’t really have a speciality right now. We’re seeing where we would be most suited. Initially we thought real estate as it’s probably the most convenient for us for where we’re at, at the moment. But long term we’d be interest in resorts and golf courses and things like that,” Mitch said.
The pair were required to sit their pilot’s license to be able to fly drones for commercial purposes. Having both passed their final exam with flying colours earlier in the year, they are eligible to receive RUPA’s annual Training and Education (T&E) grants.
As part of RUPA’s Player Development Program (PDP), the T&E grants allow players access to funds for a range of passed courses as part of professional and career development to support their continued success in life after rugby. And that’s part of the reason for the pair’s interest in taking to the skies with Game of Drones.
“We had to do a five day course and at the end of that a written test and a flying test. There’s a lot of theory involved to be able to fly a drone, including meteorology, so it’s pretty interesting,” Mitch said.
“We’d like to say that it’s pretty hard to fly but it’s actually pretty easy.”
“There’s a lot of people doing it as a hobby, but if you want to do it commercially you have to firstly get your license and then have your company registered, which is another process in itself,” Steve added.
“To do that we had to write a business plan for CASA (Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority) and show them how we plan to use it.”
The two are now focused on the business side of things, recently releasing the Game of Drones website in between their rugby commitments with the NSW Waratahs, who are currently chasing back-to-back Super Rugby titles.
“We know we’re not getting any younger and, having played rugby for so long, that it won’t be an easy transition into the workforce. I’ve loved my rugby career so far but this gives us something a little bit different to do, and a bit of flexibility with where we are currently in rugby too,” Steve said.
“I’ve never done this type of thing before so I’m really enjoying it all at the moment.”
