A broken thumb changed everything: Sportsman quits GB hockey team and sets up company to help Britain’s renters instead

A GB hockey player who gave up his “dream” sport after breaking his thumb is now helping Britain’s renters instead.

Josh Pavis, 26, a business owner from Nottingham, was picked to play for the GB hockey team aged just 20 in 2019 after “years” of training and dedication.

However, after a crushing thumb injury on the eve of his debut, he quit the sport to start a business, realising he was only playing hockey to please those around him.

Within 18 months, he said his business, which sold plumbing equipment, had turned over more than £8 million, but after disagreements with his co-founder and brother Ollie, 25, they sold it to ensure they remained best friends.

He then founded a successful marketing agency, but said he felt that he was “just making the rich richer”, leaving him unfulfilled.

In November 2023, after going through the “nightmare process” of searching for a flat to rent in London, he started a business, named Rently, which aims to make the long and arduous process easier.

“I feel like I’ve found my calling with this business and I hope it can make a positive impact on people’s lives, which I didn’t feel my hockey career would,” Josh told PA Real Life.

“The thumb injury was really the nail in the coffin and pushed me to take that jump to something else.

“I find the same thrill and competitiveness that I had playing sport in building a business.

“Speaking to partners, raising money or just getting a new person to sign up gives the same thrill as scoring a goal or winning on the pitch.”

Josh grew up in Nottingham and always excelled in sports.

He said he “wanted to be a cricketer” and was headed to the trial for the ECB David English Bunbury Festival in 2015 for the best U15 players in the country.

However, when the event was rained off, Josh, who had his hockey kit in the car, said he decided to pursue England hockey instead, playing for the U16 and U18 teams.

In 2019, Josh said he was selected to play for the men’s GB hockey team, aged just 20, and flew to Australia to tour with the side.

“Playing GB hockey had been my dream for years,” he said.

“It’s what I knew and what I’d trained for. The evenings, the weekends… I’d put so many hours in over the years, it was my world.”

However, he said misfortune struck again.

In training the day before his debut on tour in Australia in 2019 for the Pro League, he said he went to tackle a teammate and got his thumb caught in the collision.

It smashed into his teammate’s stick and broke in three places, and the injury meant Josh was out for six months.

“I couldn’t believe that I’d have to miss out for something so small as a broken thumb,” he said.

Over the following months, unable to play, Josh began to question his dream.

“Everything I’d worked so hard for had become reality,” he said.

“The jersey was mine and I stood proud in it every time I was asked to put it on, but it wasn’t enough.

“I found I wasn’t fulfilled in the way I thought I would be, and I realised I wasn’t actually chasing my dream but just a version of me that everyone else thought I should be.”

Although tempted by the prospect of playing for England at the following year’s Olympics, in August 2019 he decided to quit to start his own business with his brother, Ollie.

Josh said he had always been entrepreneurial, so it seemed like the most logical next step.

“At school I was selling phone cases and had a Depop account with 30,000 followers. I was always doing other things on the side,” he said.

His first business drew on those skills to sell bathroom fittings and plumbing goods, things his father and grandfather sold in a small store in Nottingham.

Within 18 months, he said their online business had made more than £8 million in revenue.

After too many disagreements with his brother, however, they decided to sell the business in 2021 to ensure their relationship did not deteriorate.

Josh set up a marketing agency instead and, although the business did well, he found something was still missing.

“It sounds cliche, but I felt like I was just helping the rich get richer,” he said.

“I was looking for something more fulfilling, which would not only chase my dream but would also help others too.”

At the time, in August 2023, Josh was looking for a flat to rent in London.

“The process was such a nightmare,” he explained.

“I had to fill in and send a form to a different estate agent for every application, knowing that with 50 or 60 other people looking, the chances of getting it were tiny.”

Sometimes Josh would have to get the train to London from Nottingham just to view a property, knowing that if he did not do this, the flat would be gone.

“One time we secured a place and paid the holding deposit. Then an hour later the agent told us they’d been offered £100 more per month so they were withdrawing the offer,” he said.

Eventually after a month of “exhausting” searching, he decided to offer £200 over the asking price for a £1,450 a month flat to rent, which finally secured a place.

According to Zoopla, there are an average of 21 applicants per rental property in London, and the ONS’s most recent statistics say private renters can expect to spend 34.2% of their income on rent.

In London, average rents have been between 57.2% and 39.8% of incomes since 2015, the ONS report says.

“My girlfriend was paying £950 a month for a room in a shared flat with no living room. It had mould dripping down the walls,” Josh said.

In November 2023, Josh set up his own business Rently, which aims to make the process much smoother for renters.

“Estate agents need to ask important questions about affordability, your income, previous renting experience et cetera, to make sure you’re a good fit,” he said.

“Our aim is to bring all that together in one place, so renters don’t have to keep going through that tedious process of filling it out for every different application.”

Josh plans for the business to work directly with agents and landlords, allowing them to access the key information without the tenant having to fill out different forms for each.

He also hopes to help renters “turn their biggest expense into their biggest asset”, with Rently giving renters points for every pound of rent they pay.

These points can be used for everyday uses like coffees, hotel points and he hopes Avios airmiles too.

Although Josh is now pleased to no longer be renting, he is motivated to help people who are.

He said: “I hope to create something that can have an impact on people’s lives.”