From Kate Middleton to Britney Spears: 10 celebrities who almost had careers in sports

Before becoming a pop-punk icon who gave the world the song “Sk8er Boi,” Avril Lavigne was a skater of a different kind. Lavigne was an ice hockey star; she even played for a boys hockey team at 10 in her native Ontario. Despite her superstar status in the music industry, Lavigne is still obsessed with ice hockey to this day, as she declared in a recent interview, “I love hockey and playing hockey and ice skating.” Well, she is from Canada, after all.

Before making his name as a potty-mouthed TV chef, Gordon Ramsay had hoped to become a professional soccer player. Ramsay was a keen footballer, playing for a team in Warwickshire at the age of 12 and even being offered a trial with Glasgow Rangers F.C. at 15. Sadly, Ramsay’s teenage years were plagued by injuries, and he had to hang up his boots very early in his sporting career. Ramsay’s successful culinary career will have certainly made up for this disappointment, although Ramsay has got to live out his footballing dreams by competing in several Soccer Aid events.

This may be a little obvious to some people, but younger fans of Dwayne Johnson’s acting abilities may find it easy to forget that before becoming a Hollywood star, the Jumanji star was better known as WWE legend, The Rock. Johnson may have even enjoyed more success as a wrestler than he has as an actor. The Rock had 17 championship reigns in the WWE, including ten as a world heavyweight champion. Johnson became a professional wrestler in 1996, entering the family industry to follow in the footsteps of his father, Rocky Johnson. A sitcom was recently released about Johnson’s upbringing titled Young Rock. The Rock is not the only WWE star to swap the wrestling ring for the sets of Hollywood, with fellow pro-wrestlers Dave Bautista, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and John Cena also carving out successful acting careers.

Long before marrying into the Royal Family, Kate Middleton was an avid athlete, playing a huge role for both her high school field hockey team and university hockey side. This sporty princess never passes up an opportunity to get involved with a game of sport. She even warmed up with the Team GB women’s Olympic team back at the London Olympic Games in 2012. The princess is not the only British national treasure to try her hand at field hockey, with Harry Potter actress Emma Watson also giving the sport a go while studying at Brown University.

Amazingly, Britney Spears was only sixteen and still in high school when she shot to superstardom with her debut single “Baby One More Time.” However, at this time of her sudden rise to fame, Britney was still playing for her high school basketball team, playing the role of a point guard. Sadly, despite setting the music video for her debut single in a high school, Spears did not show off any of her basketball skills.

Sudeikis may be famous for portraying the beloved fish-out-of-water football manager on the popular Ted Lasso series, but before he embarked on a successful acting career, he was a star in a different sport altogether. During his college days, Sudeikis was a hero of the basketball court, playing as a point guard for Fort Scott Community College in his native state of Kansas, where he played directly alongside future NBA stars.

Ferrell’s relationship with soccer goes way back. The Elf actor is a massive fan the sport. He is also an avid supporter of Chelsea F.C and even donned a pair of boots himself to take part in the popular Soccer Aid event in 2012. The actor starred in the football-based comedy film Kicking & Screaming, in which his character was tasked with taking charge of a kids’ soccer team. If that were not enough, Ferrell is also an owner of recently established MLS side, Los Angeles F.C, alongside former basketball player Magic Johnson and Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan, as well as various other investors.

Fans of the comedy show Brooklyn Nine-Nine will find it hard to imagine Terry Crews as anything other than his beloved character Lieutenant Terry Jeffords — the role was written specifically for him, after all. However, long before his acting days, Crews was a superb American Football player, carving out a successful NFL career. He was first drafted into the NFL in 1991 by the Los Angeles Rams and represented other sides, such as the San Diego Chargers, during his time as an American Football star.

The world-famous model has amassed over 72 million Instagram followers, but strutting her stuff on the catwalk was not always Gigi Hadid’s main ambition. During her high school days, Hadid was the captain of her high school volleyball team and had once intended to pursue a career in the sport. However, she confessed during an interview with Jimmy Fallon in 2019 that her classmates found her scary when she was on the court, telling the talk show host, “you probably would have gotten scared of me.”