Ezél Vermeulen’s Playbook for Keeping It Together When Life Gets Hectic
Ezél Vermeulen, wife of Springbok legend Duane Vermeulen, shares invaluable tips to keep a family, and yourself, grounded when life looks picture-perfect from the outside.
When the Springboks lifted the Rugby World Cup, the world saw the glory. But behind the scenes, Ezél Vermeulen was running her own championship: family schedules, emotional support, running businesses and the invisible labour of motherhood.
This isn’t a story about rugby. It’s about all of us, the women keeping everything running while life happens in between. Here’s what we can all learn from Ezél’s playbook.
1. Don’t Just Celebrate the Win , Celebrate the Journey
Big moments are great, but the real work happens in the buildup: the early mornings, the emotional check-ins and the unseen effort.
When the trophy moment comes – whatever that looks like in your world – take a breath. Celebrate what it took to get there. Then debrief as a family. Talk about the highs, the lows, the we survived that week moments. That’s where growth lives.
2. Routine Is Your Secret Weapon
After the chaos, structure is sanity. School runs, dinner around the table, bedtime routines are not boring, they’re grounding.
Get your kids involved in the routine. Let them tick off to-do lists, pack their own bags or help with dinner. It gives them a sense of control and reminds everyone that “normal” can be its own kind of magic.
3. Keep Ego Out of It. Humility Heals
When your partner’s career (or anyone else’s) is in the spotlight, it’s easy to lose yourself in the noise. Ezél teaches her kids that their worth isn’t linked to Dad’s achievements, and neither is hers.
Remind yourself (and them): You’re not a supporting character in someone else’s story. You’re writing your own story too.
4. Claim Your Invisible Wins
No one hands out medals for finding lost school shoes or packing lunchboxes at 5 a.m. But you deserve recognition anyway.
Ezél jokes that she’s earned her husband’s World Cup medal and honestly, she’s not wrong.
Your effort counts. The emotional labour, the multitasking, the calm under pressure, celebrate it.
5. Refill Your Own Tank
Ezél runs her own businesses while raising her kids, proof that following your passions isn’t selfish, it’s necessary.
Find something that lights you up, even if it’s ten quiet minutes with a book or a podcast that reminds you who you are beyond the to-do list. For Ezél it’s walking to clear her head and sort her mind.
6. Plan Like a Pro
Behind every “effortless” week is a spreadsheet, a WhatsApp group and a backup plan.
Ezél’s secret? Planning ahead and being okay when plans change.
Write things down. Ask for help. Use tools, reminders, lists or whatever keeps the machine moving. Flexibility doesn’t mean chaos, it means you’ve built in grace.
7. Teach Resilience, Not Perfection
Parenting is 10% what you plan and 90% how you recover from what actually happens.
Ezél models gratitude, patience and emotional honesty for her kids. Progress, not perfection, is the goal.
You’re not raising robots, you’re raising humans who’ll know how to get back up when life knocks them down.
The MOMents Takeaway
Life behind the glory is gloriously messy. The schedules, the chaos, the love, the exhaustion is all part of the story.
What Ezél reminds us is this: success isn’t about the medals, it’s about the moments in between.
Keep your routines tight, your mindset flexible, your sense of humour intact and remember, the machine only runs because you do.