Latest / Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves / 202: Hannah Altman - The Injury That Changed the Direction of My Career

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202: Hannah Altman - The Injury That Changed the Direction of My Career · Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: grew up in a family that wasn't very sporty.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up in sports more as a way to stand up to bullies, to be quite quite honest.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up in swimming.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: To escape bullies, I figured out if I could get my level seven swimming, I can go to the deep end.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't get so I did it really, really quickly.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he was, you know, like you should be a swimmer.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I started doing the swimming.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so where was this?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: How old were you?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was seven.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I could not swim at all.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was actually in very bad so I was horrified of water.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I was desperate to get away from all the bullies.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I still met my level two because I was supposed to get my head head left.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got my level seven.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think I did it in like three months because I was determined to get to the other seven bull.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you beyond the game?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Ryan Gonzalez.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I became a professional footballer at 16 and eventually had to answer that myself.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is Career Cloud with Athletes from Second Wind Academy, a show about career transition.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting down with athletes still competing athletes years out and the sports psychologists coaches and practitioners guide them.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: We get into the decision the identity and the practical work of building what comes next athletes hit this earlier than most people but what they learn works for anybody.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Each episode a story and where it goes from there.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let's be inspired by the stories of others thanks for coming in and it's it's really good to have an in-conversate in-person uh conversation and I know that whilst we've probably got a few sports to cover a few transitions to get through um but also really just get a sense of sort of who you are and what you're up to today and how you you're giving back.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a lot that people can take away from this conversation.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks for coming in and joining me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so for those who don't know you and want to know more about you, can you just tell us who you are and what you're up to nowadays?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess my name is Hanna Alpett.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So my main gate is I work for the Global Institute of Sports.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a senior lecture there.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I run the Sydney side of their master's international sports business and analytics.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm an academic so I'm sure if it's it was a good thing or a mistake.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I got my PhD.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations that's not a mistake come on that's a very process but so I did that in sports economics and then I have a degree in health science as well so I worked as an exercise physiologist and exercise scientist for about 14 years and I still run my online business and do a little bit in person and then been an athlete my entire life and I still compete as an athlete I still coach and I'm one of those horrible referees as well.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Don't have to be a horrible referee.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: You could be a good referee as a referee.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's horrible in somebody's eyes you just could use Okay yes a perspective someone's perspective.
• 3:08
  unknown: Exactly.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I'd like to think you'd be in a referee on a judge for no more noble reasons rather than to be mean to someone.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, I did it because I wanted to be fair.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was my motivation to be fair and also have empathy for people who are fish dating me.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why so?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think because you get so frustrated with referees often because there are so many bad calls.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you sit in there literally sit in their chair you can see how sometimes there is a bad call and maybe it's not a bad call, maybe it's an angle, but you have more empathy for them.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as an athlete makes you a better athlete because you learn how to not make those mistakes that they catch and as a coach makes you much better coach because you know what they're looking for and you know where they might make a mistake and how to make sure your athlete doesn't make the mistake.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it makes you better in every hat you wear.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Wow yeah that's interesting.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: It does suggest all athletes who compete should try being a referee so at least they can see the angle at which they're being judged for I actually always we haven't we don't have enough volunteer except our official so I always say more athletes who step up the better.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, okay.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well that's good.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well I I can say that um one of my boys is a referee in in rugby and so we are playing our part.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I I do agree I think by understanding the rules of the game and understanding the perspective of how the game is allowed to flow or not flow it makes him a a more understanding and like I say perhaps more empathetic but a a better player as a result of that.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really believe it does.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: It makes you a better player a better athlete as a coach it makes you I think a much better coach as well.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so you know interesting since you are an athlete and have been athletes in in different disciplines as well and now you are lecturing so you're teaching as well what are you teaching in as a So I need my background is predominantly in sports or analytics and economics analytics finance economics with a sports and fitness industry location.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: But right now I'm teaching a lot of sports management, sports integrity, sports analytics, etc in similar areas and a lot of research and building in sports as well.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: You said economics with a sport and fitness too was in the lack of regulation in the health and fitness industry.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow pretty much misleading qualifications and the dangers of Instagram to have people hire professionals to help teams hire professionals so looking more at the allied health and lack regulation for physios and strength coaches.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah yeah well that's interesting that's not a so it's a topic I'm aware of and you can see I think you just need to scroll Instagram and TikTok and you you you see the the potential dangers of that well maybe we'll have time to come back to that in this conversation but if not then we'll definitely pick up afterwards because I'm keen to learn more um on that.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now sport you are a multidisciplinary athlete and so I'm keen to dive all the way back to understand how you transitioned through sports and managed to get this balance in and around sports to you know to find yourself now as a lecturer at the same at the same time.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So for you growing up sport what did it mean?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: What did it look like?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a family that wasn't very sporty.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up in sports more as a way to stand up to bullies to be quite quite honest.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up in swimming to escape bullies I figured out if I could get my level seven swimming I can go to the deep end.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't get I did it really really quickly and they went you know like you should be a swimmer.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I started doing competitive swimming.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so where was this?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: How old were you?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was seven so I could not swim at all.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was actually in very bad swimmers horrified of water but I was desperate to get away from all the bullies.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I filled my level my level two because I was supposed to not get to get my head head left and then I got my level seven I think I did it in like three months because I was determined to get to the other seven full and they said she should be a swimmer.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So then I transitioned into swimming and I was I I wasn't bad.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually a decent swimmer.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I swam competitively for about four years.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then somebody said you know a really good thing for competence would be this thing called flatwater kayaking.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I started flatwater hiving and I fell in love with it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to do a lot of strength conditioning and I also felt my swimming so I swam competitively in Canada and I climbed competitively in Canada until my family left Canada and moved to New Zealand.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So what age what age are we talking here when you're finding this I was I think I was 12 and I'm still swimming.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had a lot of under 16 provincial records for butterflies a swimmer and then went to New Zealand when I was 12 my dad was working there for a year and my kayaking idol was there this guy Ian Ferguson he won all these Olympic gold medals and I got into my first naturals as a 12 year old competing under 16 and somehow I managed to win silver and like Ian Ferguson ended up as my coach which was a dream come to and my family actually ended up moving to New Zealand.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I stopped swimming when I was around I think 14 because my shulver didn't like it anymore.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I dislocated my shoulder what does in swimming or outside of swimming doing strength conditioning actually doing pull-ups with weighted pull-ups oh right at 14.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes I think that was a good example of lack regulation.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I kept on swimming and so I lost swimming went to kayaking was kayaking four times so I was kayaking in New Zealand I was homeschooled at that stage because I parents were moving a lot then I went back into my parents so I was kayaking and then I went back into swimming as well.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I was swimming I was kayaking and I was rowing and I was family.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Everything on water everything to do with water.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like jokes no confidence for water.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: The joke was you needed water to give me confidence.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right I did all those sports and then I So what do you mean in that instance by confidence?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I just had no confidence in myself so I was good in school but this was very shy but when I put me in water I was talkative confident and it's where I felt safest and so I did well in kayaking I had a couple national placings national titles I was doing well in swimming and then I developed an allergy to quarry so that that ended my swimming very quickly and then I was just focused purely purely on kayaking um but I finished high school I think 16 so I've been focused on kayaking my dad said you have to go to university and you have to have a a job so you can learn how to work.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be an athlete.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: So just think about this balance you kayaking 16 but you've been homeschooled for around 14 or so I was homeschooled for a nine to New I think 14 when we moved in New Zealand and my parents too much.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went into school in New Zealand for I think 14 16.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I did three years there.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: More than that I went into uni so I can focus more on kayaking wanted to get to Auckland so I can work with Ian Bergerson.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: You said before school you were okay.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah it was fine.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was good yes and the aim was just me was kayaking I wanted to go to the Limbex that was my entire fixation.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was obsessed with it.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes I didn't really care about anything else.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't care about I do well in school but I didn't really care about it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted that was all I really cared about.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: But my parents were like nope, you and they were right you you have to go to university.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: We have to have working experience.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when they spoke about university and you going did that seem like something that would support you in that dream of Olympic hiking or detract?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was something that I thought was going to detract and something that everybody else in terms of coaches thought was you know it was going to detract lead you're going to be doing a full-time study program.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do the training like we were training I think we had three or four sessions a day back then.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you couldn't do the training.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually I think I lasted a week in Auckland with Schmidt Leighton.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what did that move symbolize?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: It just meant that I was living at home which I think was good at that age almost and it meant I was going to university I was working as a lifeguard I was coaching swimming and I was training and it was fine and then I got put with a string coach and that's how my little PhD came who wasn't qualified and I can Did you know at the time?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know because there were I was given to that coach by the person who owned the stake on Titus Brat.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I completely dislocated my shoulder again.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I hit I it recovered and it was completely dislocated.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was right before the world championships or marathon.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and I was finished.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: What'd you mean I I could not lift my arm I could not train and I had lost that world championship that I had worked towards yeah and it was really hard to get back to that point that I'm headed to the end.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why so being back from that injury I didn't have the access to the resources that I needed to the physios that I needed when I was living in Wellington which is famously windy.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and it was very hard to get to flat water I was traveling a lot to get to the water then balanced school to balance work and everything it was very very hard so I kept on doing that that idea I graduated I would then move to Australia I moved to Queensland where they had amazing kayaking and I spent a year focusing on my kayaking so I kept in competing I got back I was always in the top four to five for under 23 women so I kept in competing I spoke to school but then I got a detour and decided I was going to do a degree in health science to I wanted to understand how I just kidding.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I ended up doing a double degree and then I ended up starting a business within that completely straight put everything on a bit of a it was a detour.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: This was like nice work.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Detour it took away from your physical It took within my ability to get the recovery I needed because I was constantly I was constantly working.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so during this time you could have been doing full-time recovery recuperation I couldn't have been sleeping enough.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I could have been drinking less cafe but instead I was just like I was not sleeping enough.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was just I was spoiled for I was finished at 10 p.m what shifted or what what disappeared in all of that focus on study to becoming a priority?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think I knew what I wanted at that time.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think anybody understood it.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I understood it.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: How do you describe that now Jill Bad I think it was the most insane thing I could have done but I'm so happy I didn't because at that time where I was just so focused I wanted to figure out how that sort of happened to me as an athlete and how it was happening to other athletes.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't know how to do it.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the only way I could figure out how to do it was if I got a degree in exercise science.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I was too stubborn to give up with my business degree but I knew I could kind of work with them together with analytics to try to analyze what was going on.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I figured well you can't really talk about an industry being bad if you don't have experience in it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like well I'm gonna have to start a business in this industry.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I can actually understand what's happening.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I did.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was stayed insanity for five years.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to get that balance right.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was very hard yeah.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: And well what was the hardest part?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was just time management where there's not enough time time of the day to be quite honest.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um and just working through a really difficult difficult thing, you know, all the exams for all the degrees that I started tutoring and then getting into those training sessions doing those hard sessions.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Your training sessions are moving to 4 a.m you're training early early in the morning you're training by yourself.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: You don't really have anybody there going you're doing well to keep on going.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're just pushing yourself.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're always bit tired.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can't complain with being tired because you're obviously tired and it's your own it's your own trip mind.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just you learn how to push through push on nothing.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure it's a good thing but I think it is a good thing because there's a lot of times they didn't like where you need to be able to push on nothing.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: To guess that's worthwhile.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: But the interesting thing you had there is worthwhile.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: What was feeling your motivation at this point?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think my motivation is purely I wanted to help create something better for athletes and people who are vulnerable who are being taking advantage being taken advantage of and I think that was truly what was feeling fueling me through that.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess in the back of my head I was like well I really want I have this dream I have this goal and like my hero when I was younger was this Kyaker who's actually British Tim Robin and he was Dr.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Tim Robin and he came back in his 30s and he won goal to like okay well I had time I can do this and I can come back.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's kind of what was showing me.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah which it's good because I'm asking the question because the injury the fact that you went into the study really because you got injured and you think how how could that happen?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And probably a negative emotion for that would have been a bitterness would have been um an anger of some regard and that would have fueled the so I'm gonna find find out but you described it quite differently Yeah I don't think I'm angry because I don't think it was the trainer's fault who had me do those exercises and I think that's about like a fitness industry.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have people who are qualified so to speak based on qualification that takes three to four weeks and they're not qualified.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they're doing things they don't understand and they're pushing people to do things that they don't understand based on certificates that are pretty much made up.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then people are going to get injured and people are going to get hurt and it's really no baseball other than people who are making money off these qualifications.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think it was really angry, anger or bitterness it was more just there has to be a better way and why isn't anybody trying to figure it out?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah I guess as an ignorant 19 year old and 18 year old is going, surely I can fix this problem.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: So in your comeback stories you were on the way of fixing this problem from an academic perspective study in my head as my I can I can do this PhD.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: You were the activist I love it it was like I'm gonna find out what's going on and you're doing it for the right reason.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's don't suffer um in the same way.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So what was happening to you from a sporting perspective?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I was going I was still training I was doing a lot more work within dark life saving.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing more inflatable rescue boat racing just to try to help my ability through waves because that you know after some of the games when you were watching them athletes were really struggling because the water wasn't actually flat and I knew that was one of my weaknesses at the athlete I hated when we had white caps water racing.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew I had to get better at that.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I took advantage of that time to say where I was living in Wellington and Wellington had beautiful white caps because of the wind to really work on my confidence with the waves.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing work on Stern ski and I was doing work in IRB racing.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was doing a lot of IRB.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm playing rescue buttons.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the little um little dinghy boat you raced in a weight so I was learning how to better handle the waves and angle the weights so I can take that into my kayak and also trying to improve my confidence I was absolutely horrified of them.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I think every time I went into the water and I was able to get through a session in the IRB, I got more confident and wrote the letter to my kayak because those those flatwater kayaks are very thin and made me better at angle my boat and how to ride them and actually how to use them as an advantage instead of just something that put me into the water.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's excellent.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: The way because at the start you'd spoke about Wellington being a bad place for your and so you had to move and here now you're coming back and it's uh you reframed that issue, the challenge the environment and figured out how can this environment be supported getting closer to where you want to go rather than pulling you back, blowing you back because it was too windy.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and so was the dream still the same or was the dream to come back as doctor in your 30s in in kayaking was that the plan?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: My dream was to get back to kayaking I'm not sure if I even saw a PhD at that point.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: My aim was to finish my undergraduate degree, have that work experience and then get to Queensland because that's where all the great kayaking was in my head.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was going okay maybe I'm gonna take a gapier so I can focus my kayaking and so many idea within academies you know what?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was going to Brisbane to I guess scope it out said you know go to this cafe.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's a really good a special on I don't know what it was like okay I'm going to this cafe.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And sure enough this guy was there who recognized me and this was this person's PhD supervisor.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually read some of your research I'm like you did?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think you should do your master's degree with me.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it was obviously thought yes and he said well there's some really good scholarships in Queensland for my research master's degrees I really like what what your your proposal is and I wanted to do it in two or three years.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you apply and come to Brisbane so that's what I did.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got to Brisbane and moved to Brisbane and from Wellington.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Brisbane's a big city and what I hadn't realized was all the Grand Kyogre was in the Gold Coast not in Brisbane.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: No So I had to I tried to paddle on the Brisbane River but it was in Castilla Sharks.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to drive all the way from Brisbane to varsity lakes which was interesting and it was quite hard to do it when I was studying and I was trying to do my PhD coursework.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a very quantitative coursework and everybody in that PhD program or master's program teaching master's PhD had done their undergraduate degrees together and they're all pure quants.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was more I did the quant, but I was more in the economics management side.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was all guys and it was all male professionals It's a day blank.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a little blonde girl in the classes.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really hard because I everybody worked together in a group just to study.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I have to put around to just coding by myself.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they were using different language than I used.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it was really hard driving first place in the morning and doing that.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I needed to get a job because I didn't want to extract a debt.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to start working without any networks in Brisbane.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I then built those networks.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you do that?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: There are too many stories of bankruptcies, mental health issues, and unfortunately to its time.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's time for it.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: Every year, we see thousands of athletes that reach a point where they need to consider their life activities.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a time, injury, or need to go to your careers between sport and a job.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: But the former industry for I have somehow managed to transition from sport into fighting strategy innovation.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: And now life coach career practitioner and founder of the TechnicWind Academy.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to help those around me find their career technical.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Find me on Insta or through my new Facebook group, Technology Academy, where I'd love to know your thoughts and suggestions.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I started working at this gym for this guy, and I had no clients.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was working pretty much for three doing all the early morning classes.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got an offer at this Allied Health Clinic that had pretty much they didn't pay or they paid you, I think, ten dollars an hour.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: But they gave you within hope that one day you would prove yourself and then you'll get promoted.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started working there and I was very lucky.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I got some clients that were quite high high profile, but they hadn't realized they had the motherbooks.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually I left that clinic because they were paying me like$10 an hour.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I started my own business.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And all those clients went with me.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then infinite strength rehabilitation, which was my which is my business.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: What's the business call, sir?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Infinite strength rehabilitation kind of started.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I was working with a lot of elderly clients and doctors and medical professionals who had injuries from upper use and just trying to get people in the position that they could keep on working, using strength training.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So working with women and undercompetent people who didn't feel sick in the gym and just trying to provide an evidence-based method for training.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I did that.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the same.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And trying to drive Sparcy Lakes every single morning to train.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was fine.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was challenging.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Challenging.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Was it fun?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was because I loved what I did.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love what I do.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I was so passionate about it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I had to always wake up at 5 a.m.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: to run a session.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't really hard.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I actually loved what I was doing.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I loved generating new content.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I loved developing everything I was doing.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was so passionate about it.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I had friends in business with me.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I created almost like a a community and a family within my business that I loved every single minute of it.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there was one guy who I worked with for many years who worked longer hours than I did.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: He used to say, Well, I don't I might work 22 hours a day some days, but I'm not working because I love everything I do.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in some ways he's right, if you are able to suffer your cough, you actually get to do what you enjoy every single minute.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it might be a little bit hard, but how lucky are you to actually do what you love?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well do you think you need to suffer first to get there?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think you do, because otherwise, how do you earn your place?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: How do you learn your trade?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're all passionate about something, but you can be passionate about something, but it doesn't mean you know anything about it.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: You have to actually learn how the process starts, learn what you're doing, in my opinion.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Actually have the skill set to actually earn it will come out of it.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me, the kayaking.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: It had to stop at some point.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I was kayaking and then in order to get selection, I told so I needed to improve my upper body strike because my shoulder.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I started just the shoulder, one of the shoulders that had been intake.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I started car lifting in this gym.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: I walked into a gym that I need to bench press 100 kilograms.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a car lifting gym, and the owner conjured all the desk female bench pressers, and he was like, Okay, well, take your money, but you're not gonna do it.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think made him say that?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was this chubby short little girl and I could bench press 50 kilograms.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, my arm hurts.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, you need to done to your ass.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like sore.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: So he's like, well, let's see what we can do.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: So then I just did that.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did my first Hall of Tane competition, I think, two months later.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I won.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I benched 80k.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And probably 21 or 22 at the time.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was still a junior.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the junior record was 90 kilograms and it'd been stuck there maybe seven years.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know what?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna break junior record.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, actually maybe you could.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we came back the next month and I I 95 kilograms.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't come to she had three attempts, so like 91, like 94 and 95.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I broke broke three national records.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he was like, he should be getting Carlos things.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I also did okay at my squaw and then my deadlift.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: So like, you know what?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: I could do both.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I kept on doing both.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember I did that competition with Adelaide for the Grand Prix and I competed in kayaking next week.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Check.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then the Olympic trials came around.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I went down to Sydney for them and they got canceled halfway through the COVID came.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, indeed.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: COVID came just as we were there.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: We had to drive back and then life as we knew it kind of ended.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't couldn't drive to varsity lakes because of all the restrictions staying in your suburbs.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was allowed to go kayak, but there were a lot of sharks.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think I already told me the story already.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have a very bad encounter with a shark.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Please tell the story again, Donna.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is kayaking up the river.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought I saw a dolphin, or I told myself it was a dolphin.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then kind of pulling a saddle.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked and I was like, hmm.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Must have been.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I pulled on the other side on a dolphin on the pool.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then a really pool.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember I jumped up because there was a tree.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then I pulled myself up and my boat out.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then the shark jumped up and I was like, and that's that.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I hid there for about 10 or 15 minutes.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got back into my boat, pedaled across the creek, took my boat out and walked to the store which was a little bit my car.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Wife.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: How fast did you paddle back across that?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, really slow.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was really worried.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I knew if I was slow, I was kind of like shit up, I guess.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping my belt.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I figured if I was going slow and it hit me, I'd probably like find it back.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: And get across it.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very short.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's good.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know the logical.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone's gonna be will comment, please.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let us know.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is it logical to go slowly when you think sharks are coming or go fast?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's find out.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: I figured if it was going fast.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: If it kicked me off from my angle, I'd get into the water and then I would be dead.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's so good.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: You're here now.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So actually with a little bit out of it.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so what did that signify for you in terms of your kayaking?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: I remember like I was I was at that point, I was working actually where they died with a powerlifting coach.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he wanted to kayak because he's I had a simple deep back at the as a lifter.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then pretty much I tried to go back hiving the next day.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so jumpy.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to find different bodies of water to paddle on.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was driving through all the tools, like trying to go up to the dams.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it just wasn't sustainable.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I just really started to hate it.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I just focused truly on powerlifting.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't think, oh no, I'll go back, I'll go back.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I had my bones, I had my paddles and like people going back.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I just eventually just went away and I just stopped paddling.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I just became purely focused on powerlifting because it was something I could do.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: I could do by myself.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could do within the community I was in.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: It worked really r well with my business.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: I had started coaching and I absolutely loved coaching.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing a lot of work coaching juniors and masters.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of fit into my thesis.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I just fell in love with it.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: So this dream of kayaking at the Olympics gone.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And also I was 200 specialists.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they cut the 200 through Olympics.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I just never I know the 200, 500 meters, it's not a big difference.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: He did the 500.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe like the 200 was gone.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love that explosive strength and speed.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love the 200 and I love the ultra marathon.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: That was weird.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: The two big differences here.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just yeah, I just didn't see myself transitioning back to a nurse.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I would try to go back, I just didn't have the same passion for it.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember when I was younger, and I would be way and couldn't call it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I would think about it all the time.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would dream of it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was just it was I would always give me my met my strength training, my visualization.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I just And I'm gone.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was more parallel thing.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I was.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I wanted to do.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I was trying to figure out.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, how can I get better at this?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was just trying to analyze my training and trying to learn at the it became my obsession.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't really I when I thought about kayaking, I thought of bull sharks.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: What replaced the passion then?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we we spoke earlier about the need for passion.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: So the passion for kayaking at the Olympics gone.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was also it was in a really amazing community within powerlifting.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I really liked that.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: It was local, especially in coup during COVID when I was by myself.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Australian family wasn't there.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: It really it gave me somewhere to go, so I wasn't alone in Australia.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I saw the IBF World Championships somewhere I wanted to go.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that became my my focus.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I I enjoyed the process.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed the repetition.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed, you know, you're training five days a week, you're doing this.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was kind of also this sport where tithing, you can get a bad win, you can be in the bad lane.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that completely derail your race.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Power lifting.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everybody has the same platform.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a if it's a bad rap, or if it's slippery batch or if it's a slippery platform, we're all in the same position.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's certain things that just started to draw me more and more towards it, and I never really looked back.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'll you dream then of getting to these the international tournaments of the worlds reflexively.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: And when you as you look now in your career, as you continue to compete, what's been the highlights for you?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think probably getting there, getting through world championships.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: I had, as my coach would say, I think my coaches were psych probably, I had a very rocky journey because I would have things like I don't have a national championship and go, I'm so sorry.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's at the state.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Just make my PhD but you're competing in six sheer cutting weight.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm sorry.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: I trained.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my thing.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, what time is it?
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it's 3 a.m.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: At that stage, I'm like, I didn't die.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get it.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh no.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I think for me, like I had a couple of years where like I wouldn't I miss world selection by one place.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it was my fault because I didn't have the profession high because I was trying to do PhD exams.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was going forth to the States for my thesis.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the fact that I was able to have that, I was able to finally get there knocked with and break the national record and get to that point that I was trying to get to.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: That I think that was made it was a pinnacle getting to Lithuania.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, you know, my first international was in South Africa a couple of years ago, right during my PhD exam.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it went well, but it wasn't what I wanted it to be with the fact that I was able to change that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt very judged after that competition that, you know, it wasn't what I knew I was capable of.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Being able to come back and learn how to come back when you have critics, I think for me, that was one of the things I was very proud of.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, quite right.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we we open we were chatting earlier about having people walk at you uh and things like that.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when you talk about those critics, how have you when you say you got over it, how have you got used to then people looking?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think working.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: I worked with a sports psychologist.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I really struggled when a couple of years ago, people were like, well, you train too hard, you work too hard.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be way get where you're trying to get, that working is hard.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what you're doing is bad.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I really struggled with that, that I would be embarrassed by how hard I trained.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up going to see a sporting psychologist.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: So she really worked with me in finding ways to manage that anxiety, that performance anxiety.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would have issues when I would particularly I specialize in squats, where I would go into a gym and I would be like, I think people want me to fail.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was going into really happy lifts and going, I'm really nervous because I think there's people on the side that didn't want to mean they want me to fail.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they do basically just don't want you to fail.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't focus on what you're doing.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: But just having strategies and tactics to learn how to handle months.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: That was the biggest thing for me.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: But that's interesting, isn't it?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: Building what they helped you to do was build those strategies.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, just to cope with it.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so figuring out techniques and strategies cope with that.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my biggest things, or one of my biggest criticisms I've always had was that for my coaches is I'm too nice, I'm too much of a people pleaser.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they're holding you back.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: So they were like, okay, you don't have to work on not being such a nice person.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Lovely.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: So if they want you to fail, you'd be like, okay, okay, I'll fail fitch per cliff to the floor.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have to figure out strategies for you not to be as nice of a person.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have a persona when you're competing.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have that persona when you're competing, you're no longer little nice hammer.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're actually aggressive.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And focused and ability to get in your way of personal puffing on the buttons what we worked on having the persona.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when I set on to the blog form, when I get earphones on, that that's who I become.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So creating that character.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: When I when I compete.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: As weird as well, it doesn't sound weird to me, but you you create a person.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Was it still you?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me it became that persona of anybody who ever had an issue with me as an athlete, it was always an issue with we don't like your coach because he works too hard.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: We don't like you because you work too hard.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or there's an easier way to get in there.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, if there is, why aren't you there?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's weird.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was true.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, it was about okay, it's not that I'm doing anything wrong with wicking focus.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the persona that they didn't have coming up with was that character from Wicked actually, the Wicked Witch that you're focusing is not about doing hard.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's about, you know, you're trying to just do better for yourself.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that for me that's what it was.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was that I can put my earphones in and I can focus.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to be nice to people, I don't have to talk to people when I'm eating.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then as soon as the top set's over, as soon as that competition's over, I can flip back, being nice and friendly and doomy, for lack of better words.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's um you're giving yourself focus.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and having you beat intention.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, having that boundary that's like I'm talking before that I can be actually now don't talk to me right now.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now I need to focus.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna ignore you.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's learning that's okay.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: And look, and you're competing, you still compete today.
• 38:19
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I came back from the world championships.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Indeed.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: How did you do?
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Good, I've done the Australian adventure record and I'm just starting to compete train for national.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: And where's where's next for you in your power listing career?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping um Brazil for the World Championships.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um they get to end.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's supposed to be going to Fiji, wherever the Oceania is, but it was in the middle of the exams and I didn't want to finish my defense.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're there for your students as well.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and if you've kind of touched on it there, how do you find this balance now?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because you power lifting is not a full-time sport.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you are it is for some people though.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: So is it?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Which is.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's no professional powerlifters.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how they do it.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure it's gonna go long term.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, there is.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I guess it it won't go long term because the retirement, the athletic retirement catches up with us.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly what's wrong.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're all we're all waiting for that.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: One injury, I think, every really hard session or competition we go into or pushing our bodies at that point.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually we're gonna have a session that fate's gonna come and we're gonna break.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be over.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: So what do you do in the meantime then?
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get the most out of your career at a uh global institute of sport and powerlifting?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me, GIS is, I guess, my future at my present.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I know when I say this, people look at me very fine, but it's 40, 45 hours a week.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: When you're s when you studied for years, you can do that 40, 45 hours a week studying and you worked and you trained.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: You kind of get you get used to that.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, my day starts at 4 a.m.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: It has since I was 14.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine life any other way.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you kind of learn how to have that balance.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: So nothing really changed for me.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I'm studying towards my PhD.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I work.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think for me, it's a spoken to be to train as long as long as I can, even then when the time comes that I can no longer push my body, you'll find me in the gym coaching more than I'm coaching now.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: You see that as that natural path.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that dual career, the dual the balance continues.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: You as the athlete or you as the coach.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think the championship I'm athlete more to coach, so I still coach now, but not as much.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: And like cool.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, yeah, you can have that transition.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: I hope for me teaching in sports.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, I know mine sport isn't a traditional sport, it's not all it's not crooked, but you do have that background that connoisseurs across that you that did you relate to see it and then talk to areas of sports integrity, then talk to sponsorship, etc.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: All those areas you understand with analytics.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, interestingly, whilst we say it's not a sport that's mainstream, probably every one of those sports that you mentioned does the same movements that you would do or strives to do those movements in power technique.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it is uh it certainly independents.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's becoming it's becoming a very um major now.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how to grow the demilitarian we're seeing right now.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: So when you speak with from your experience, when you're looking at um athletes who are trying to navigate dual careers, academic working, from your perspective, what guidance, what advice would you give to them to continue to be their best self?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: I know this is probably not the pathway it is, but obsession is not where you get you anywhere.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think you need to have balance and the ability to switch switch steps.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Every aspect of yourself is your sport.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have so many there's not one athlete you can say that wrote where they wanted to get or where they got was linear.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have those really low points.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: What's gonna get you through those low points is really there's something else.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So do you whether or not it's stunning or it's a career or whatever that balance is and having a family, having those relationships on the side as well, making sure everything crosses over.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have a bad season or a bad year, but you would come down where I see athletes do really well for one year, they get to the pinnacle, then they get nervous, and they have a horrible competition where they just run away because they be they're hyper obsessed.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have that balance because that's what allows you to last for 10, 15 years.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when I look at those athletes I really looked up to growing up, let's say Tim Robbins, Ian Ferguson, they both had careers, etc.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: But they had that balance between it, and that's why their careers lasted so long.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't think you could say they would have been would have been greater if they were hyper-obsessed when they were 20.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: They probably wouldn't have lasted until they're 35, 40.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's my really unpopular advice.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think makes them popular?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a real push for that session.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you have to become your sport.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to eat sleek train.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: But then eat sleek train was gonna pay the bills.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Those there's not very many St.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Boltz or Michael Phelps out there.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Those sports don't have the sponsorships, even if you have funding.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: The funding doesn't pay for everything.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: You still need to pay for your coaches, travel, you have to pay your rent.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can't say to your landlord, here's the gold medal.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: I got a TB.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, please.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you need to have that balance.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that will also relieve your stress knowing that you have that balance.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to have that injury you had that one year, or maybe you can't actually get your bundle because you know you're injured, you can still train, you have your job, and you come back.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: What I found most employers that I work with are really supportive of my sports.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: They go, that's actually really neat that you're still competing.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: And look, give me that little bit of a leaning, like I have a competition that okay, well, how we work with you to make it happen.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually really cool.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think most people will find that as well.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's far.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if you look for it, it will come.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like you say, uh, well, whilst it may be unpopular, I think it's uh I'm I don't know.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think people need to more and more accept uh obsession and just say mine isn't enough.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and indeed like passion, but trying to get that balance and you it does help you become a more holistic or all-round person.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: So listen, we've got people who are watching and listening this who are thinking, I want to get in touch, I want to learn more about you.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the best place to find you and reach out?
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Probably on LinkedIn or on Instagram or on my website, infident strength for rebuiltershow.com.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: And where would we find that?
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Going to put all the links in the show notes and stuff like that.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we will find you.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Hannah, I want to say massive thanks for joining me on the channel.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for your time.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to this week's episode.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: Reshaping a career is a team sport.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it alone.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you want help working out your next step, it's all at secondwindadvisory.com forward slash academy.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Book a conversation with me there, and the link is also in the show notes.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a couple more things.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Send this episode to the person you've thought of why you're this.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's how this goes reached if people need it.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to solve it, take it easy, and I'll see you next time.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, before I do go, I want to drop a shortcut to declare at Petit Book Design, Nalanity at Staffic Podcast Solutions, and to read at copy of content by load.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: Without them, this go would never have got together.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.