Business started in a garage proves a hit in the NFL

A business born in a Borders garage has seen off some of world's biggest sporting brands to claim a global accolade.

Former Gala rugby player Richie Gray created GSI Performance after spotting a gap in the coaching market for contact training equipment.

Almost 15 years after designing and building prototypes of the Collision King at his home, the former Scotland, Fiji and South Africa skills coach has now expanded his range to 60 different training aids.

At the recent 2026 Smarter Sports Awards, the 56-year-old joined the likes of Apple Fitness, the Bundesliga and Wimbledon in claiming a category.

Gray said: "I've always kept my designs to just contact and collision equipment, which is really niche, and has made it our selling point which in turn has brought success."

Following a reasonably successful rugby career, where he captained his hometown team of Gala and earned age-group caps, he moved into coaching, lecturing and media work before launching GSI Performance in 2011.

Along with his wife, Lisa, he quickly captured a corner of the training aids market.

As rules tightened over the amount of collision time allowed during rugby training, GSI Performance launched a stream of impact products to allow for precision coaching to continue.

Similar guidelines around contact time allowed in American football training led to Gray being invited across the Atlantic - and almost every one of the NFL franchises have now bought into his methods.

He explained: "I knew some time ago there was going to be challenges surrounding contact and collision - I was reading most days about impact injuries and concussion.

"Coaching at the top level and having studied the methodology of collisions in sport, put me in place to stay ahead of the curve.

"There are now laws both in rugby and in NFL on how much contact time a player should have outside of matches - and if you can't do contact every day, but want to remain technically accurate that's where the equipment comes in."

Gray has also been credited with helping the Philadelphia Eagles develop one of the most successful tactics which helped them to Super Bowl success.

He spent time with the team to refine their technique on the controversial "brotherly shove".

Winning the Coaching Systems category at the Smarter Sports Awards 2026 is just the latest accolade on a remarkable journey for the couple's business.

However, they have resisted any temptation to leave the area.

Gray said: "It's not just the NFL teams that are using our tackling equipment, the college system is now picking it up and we're getting orders from them as well.

"I've been told many times that we are going to have to move away from Galashiels and the Borders as it's too small, and relocate to one of the big American cities, but I've never had a problem with working from where I call home.

"We've managed to take on the world so far from Galashiels - if you get your business model and plan right, you can work from anywhere."