Former Portsmouth FC player helping everyone ‘recover like the pros’
Callum Reynolds was just 16 when he began his professional football career, heading straight from his final school exam into training full-time.
But three years later, after playing for Rushden & Diamonds FC (then in the non-league Conference) and at English Premier League level with Portsmouth FC, tendonitis in both knees brought his career to an unexpected halt.
Then, at 19, Callum faced the prospect of leaving the sport he had committed his life to.
"It was debilitating. I couldn't do anything," he recalled. "I was released from my contract. I couldn't train anywhere or go on trial to get another contract."
The experience gave Callum, originally from Luton and now living in Hitchin, a new appreciation for the importance of physical recovery. It would eventually lead to a return to club football – Aldershot Town and Luton Town FC among several, as well as a spell as a centre-back with Dagenham & Redbridge FC and, more recently, Bromley FC – and inspire Callum to establish his own business, Pro Sports Recovery Ltd.
The idea started taking shape during the pandemic, when Callum became interested in the growing market for hiring fitness equipment.
Already working in the fitness industry, he discovered Normatec, a specialist leg compression recovery system used by professional athletes.
After experiencing the equipment himself, he began to wonder why similar recovery technology wasn't more widely accessible.
"Once I got access to the machine, I was like, why hasn’t everyone got this?" he explained.
"Then I realised the cost was quite high, so I thought, how can I get this to people and provide a service that's affordable to everyone? Allowing any person to recover as the professionals do."
That question became the foundation of Pro Sports Recovery, a business supplying flexible hire of specialist recovery equipment, allowing customers to access the technology without the high upfront cost of purchasing it.
The service caters to people with different fitness and recovery needs, including runners preparing for major events, people undertaking intensive training programmes and those aiming to incorporate recovery into their everyday routines. Originally designed to help post-breast cancer patients, it focuses on lymphatic drainage, which offers multiple health benefits for the public and anyone recovering from injury.
But while Callum understood professional football training and the fitness industry, running a business was an entirely different challenge.
His entrepreneurial journey began with a Black Friday purchase of five machines.
"They turned up at my house, and I thought, can I actually legally even do this?" he laughed.
With no previous business experience, Callum turned to Hertfordshire-based business support organisation Wenta after a former football teammate recommended its free advice services.
Through Wenta and its Get Enterprising programme, funded by Hertfordshire Futures, Callum accessed one-to-one business guidance, including support with cash-flow forecasting, pricing and developing his business model.
He also secured grant funding to develop his first website, helping establish the company's online presence.
More than four years later, Callum continues to work with Wenta as he explores the next stage of his business.
"The advice that you've given me personally has been invaluable," he said.
"Honestly, if I didn't have those conversations, the perspective, sharing and mentoring beyond advice, I don't know if I'd be where I am now with the business."
The relationship has proved so valuable that Callum has since introduced his sister-in-law to Wenta to access support for her own business.
His ambitions for Pro Sports Recovery continue to grow.
Having initially focused on making specialist recovery equipment accessible to individual customers, Callum is now considering opportunities to expand into business-to-business services, develop new areas of the company and potentially bring in investors or business partners.
He is also considering how to grow his team while coping with the demands of entrepreneurship and family life.
Where his approach to growth once meant simply finding the money to buy more machines, Callum says business support has encouraged him to think more strategically about the company's long-term future.
He is now looking at what Pro Sports Recovery could become in three, five and even seven years.
For Callum, however, the original motivation remains unchanged: advancing recovery equipment accessible to people who might otherwise be priced out of using it.
Having experienced first-hand how devastating injury can be, he hopes his business will help more people recognise the importance of looking after their bodies, whether they are professional athletes or simply trying to stay active.
"Recovery is such a big part of that," he said.
"Whether that's through sleep, mental recovery, food and drink, and again, physical recovery, which is a product that I'm wanting to provide to everyone."
Along with his clientele, Callum is living proof that one can regain fitness, prolong a football career, and reach greater heights in their dreams. Whilst with Bromley, Callum was in the 2024-25 team that won promotion to League Two via a play-off win at Wembley, also featuring in televised FA Cup matches, latterly away to Newcastle United at St. James’ Park. Now captain once again of Boreham Wood FC, where Callum spent part of his early career and led them to promotion in 2014-15, ‘the Wood’ just missed out on a penalty play-off final promotion to League Two last season and are currently top of the National League.
To find out more, visit prosportsrecovery.co.uk.