He is a former field hockey player who was a member of the gold-winning Great Britain squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Potter was born in Paddington, Greater London, in an Anglo-Indian family and brought up in Slough, England.

[1][2] He attended Burnham Grammar School from 1976 to 1982, and represented Slough and Buckinghamshire Schools at soccer, the South of England Schoolboys, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Minor Counties at cricket, as well as England Schoolboys at field hockey.

[citation needed] Potter graduated from Southampton University in 1986 with a BA (Hons) in geography, and attended Aston Business School (1986–87) to obtain his MBA.

He also captured two Champions Trophy medals with Great Britain – bronze in Karachi (1984) and silver in Perth (1985).