Latest / The You Project / #1602 The Agony & Ecstasy Of Sport - Harry Garside

Transcript

#1602 The Agony & Ecstasy Of Sport - Harry Garside · The You Project

0:01
Speaker 1: I got a team. It's Harps, it's Tiff. It's Harry, or,
0:04
Speaker 1: as I call him, the Big h the big deal.
0:06
Speaker 1: He's all of that. Hi, Tiff, how are you?
0:09
Speaker 2: I'm good aaps. How are you?
0:10
Speaker 1: Oh bloody fantastic. I've had my coffee and I drank
0:13
Speaker 1: all of it, unlike you.
0:15
Speaker 2: Half your luck, mate, half your luck. Mine's spilled across
0:18
Speaker 2: the floor and the desk and the computers everywhere.
0:21
Speaker 1: We're about three minutes before pressing the go button and
0:25
Speaker 1: you just sat down with your coffee and spilled it everywhere.
0:29
Speaker 2: And it wasn't a little one. Look how big that
0:31
Speaker 2: was was in my big true protein cap It was huge.
0:34
Speaker 2: It was well everywhere.
0:36
Speaker 1: No caffeen for you for the next forty five or
0:38
Speaker 1: fifty minutes. You might not off, Harry, and I'll keepe
0:41
Speaker 1: you well awake and entertained and amused. You better, Yeah, Harry,
0:46
Speaker 1: Hi mate, welcome to the You project.
0:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much having me on. I'm very
0:50
Speaker 3: excited with you now.
0:53
Speaker 1: You said before we rolled that you've listened to a
0:55
Speaker 1: few episodes before Tiff even reached out to you. Where
0:59
Speaker 1: did you hear about the show or you just stumbled
1:01
Speaker 1: on it.
1:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was. It was like about two
1:04
Speaker 3: years ago. I was suddening across the Instagram one of
1:06
Speaker 3: my Instagram stories and someone who I followed I reshared
1:11
Speaker 3: one of your podcasts. So, yeah, I think you have
1:13
Speaker 3: an amazing podcast and I'm pretty honored to be on.
1:17
Speaker 1: We're on a tab you you're bloody, You're, like I said,
1:19
Speaker 1: you're a big deal. How's life been since the Olympics.
1:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been interesting, mate, I've spoke about this openly.
1:27
Speaker 3: There was like a period post the Olympics where I
1:29
Speaker 3: felt really numb. Yeah, not much was giving me life,
1:33
Speaker 3: not much was giving me energy. The only thing that
1:35
Speaker 3: was was my partner. And yeah, it was a weird
1:38
Speaker 3: feeling like we trained for things for so long and
1:42
Speaker 3: it just happens like that and win, lose or draw.
1:46
Speaker 3: We all have goals and we all have yeah places
1:49
Speaker 3: we want to be, and that gold medal was what
1:51
Speaker 3: I wanted and unfortunately I stumbled right at the last hurdle.
1:54
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was like a weird sort of couple
1:57
Speaker 3: of months coming to terms of it. But I feel
1:59
Speaker 3: like myself again and I just set bigger goals and
2:02
Speaker 3: different goals and I'm really excited for the future now,
2:05
Speaker 3: but it was an interesting couple of months. I won't
2:07
Speaker 3: like what was.
2:08
Speaker 1: The I mean, this is kind of a kind of
2:11
Speaker 1: a dumb question, but I want the answer. And I
2:13
Speaker 1: know you could talk for a now about this, but
2:15
Speaker 1: can you give us a snapshot of you know, like
2:19
Speaker 1: last year was Oh it wasn't last year, it was
2:22
Speaker 1: the year before. I was thinking the twenty twenty, you know,
2:26
Speaker 1: because we were in the throes of COVID. It was
2:29
Speaker 1: chaos globally. What was the Olympic experience like for you?
2:34
Speaker 1: There's like, is there two or three vivid memories that
2:37
Speaker 1: come out of that or feelings?
2:39
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely. I actually had a different qualification to other
2:43
Speaker 3: boxes from Australia and there were six boxes that qualified.
2:47
Speaker 3: All five others besides myself, they all qualified at the
2:51
Speaker 3: start of twenty twenty before COVID hit and I failed
2:54
Speaker 3: on two different occasions and there was a bit of
2:57
Speaker 3: uncertainty through twenty twenty. Am I going to go to
2:59
Speaker 3: your peach? Is my Olympic dream over you? And that
3:03
Speaker 3: whole year of not being able to travel, not being
3:05
Speaker 3: able to train properly. I was in Melbourne throughout the
3:08
Speaker 3: tough lockdowns. It was an interesting year twenty twenty. Looking
3:12
Speaker 3: back in retrospect, though, I'm really grateful that happened. I
3:16
Speaker 3: got to spend a lot of necessary time and needed
3:19
Speaker 3: time with my family. I rekindle the relationships with my
3:23
Speaker 3: two brothers, and I spent a lot more time with
3:25
Speaker 3: my mum and dad, which is great with my dog.
3:27
Speaker 3: So there were some really really good things for twenty
3:30
Speaker 3: twenty for me, but it was also very very challenging.
3:32
Speaker 3: Of course, not being able to train, not being able
3:34
Speaker 3: to compete. Am I going to go to the Olympics,
3:36
Speaker 3: all these thoughts coming up, and Yeah, to finally get
3:40
Speaker 3: the opportunity to represent our beautiful country in twenty twenty one,
3:44
Speaker 3: I was absolutely over the moon.
3:47
Speaker 1: There was there a moment when you got to the
3:51
Speaker 1: Olympic village or anywhere along the journey where you be
3:55
Speaker 1: able to pinch yourself, or there was maybe many moments,
3:58
Speaker 1: but where you kind of went this is.
4:01
Speaker 3: Incredible, absolutely mate. I've spoke about this just recently. On
4:07
Speaker 3: the second or third night, I remember it so vividly.
4:10
Speaker 3: I was sitting in my apartment and Japan at that
4:13
Speaker 3: time of year is beautiful, the night sky was it
4:15
Speaker 3: was on dusk and it was a beautiful It was
4:18
Speaker 3: about thirty degrees it's really nice weather. And I never
4:22
Speaker 3: forget I was sitting there. All I could hear was singing, dancing,
4:27
Speaker 3: people laughing, joking around, and I just thought to myself,
4:31
Speaker 3: this is what humans can achieve when we put our
4:33
Speaker 3: heads together in a positive way and seeing all the
4:36
Speaker 3: cultures of life and walking through the athlete village, Like
4:40
Speaker 3: it was truly like a moment where I was like,
4:42
Speaker 3: I was just so great. It sounds a bit corny
4:44
Speaker 3: and cheesy, but I was just so grateful to be
4:46
Speaker 3: human in that moment. And yeah, I'll never forget that moment.
4:50
Speaker 3: That was about the second or third night, And yeah, truly,
4:53
Speaker 3: like pitch myself now thinking about it.
4:56
Speaker 1: It doesn't sound cheesy, it sounds fucking great. I love
4:58
Speaker 1: that I'm with you. I think you and I are
5:01
Speaker 1: both both a bit deep and philosophical. Where does that
5:05
Speaker 1: that kind of sensitive, empathetic kind of global consciousness, philosophical
5:13
Speaker 1: kind of mindset about the world and humanity and people
5:17
Speaker 1: and culture and happiness. Is that? Is that something that's
5:21
Speaker 1: evolved in you or is that you?
5:24
Speaker 3: That's a good question. I think I'm trying my best
5:28
Speaker 3: to become that and and you know you're never going
5:32
Speaker 3: to get there, always on the journey, and I think
5:35
Speaker 3: I'm really blessed. My mum is a medium, she talks
5:38
Speaker 3: to dead people, very spiritual, and my dad's a roof tiler,
5:41
Speaker 3: a tradesman and hard working as a man. And having
5:44
Speaker 3: them growing up together, they really a compliment each other.
5:47
Speaker 3: I saw the world from my dad's eyes of a
5:49
Speaker 3: hard working man. You show up and you provide for
5:51
Speaker 3: your family. And then my mom on the other side,
5:54
Speaker 3: was very flowy and spiritual and always had tarot cards,
5:57
Speaker 3: crystals and all that who we're doing sort of stuff,
5:59
Speaker 3: and yeah, and I love seeing that growing up. And
6:02
Speaker 3: I was always really curious about the world and what's
6:04
Speaker 3: right what's wrong because my parents were almost very different
6:08
Speaker 3: and they're two amazing people. And then when I was sixteen,
6:11
Speaker 3: the Reach Foundation enter my life. And some people may
6:14
Speaker 3: know the Rich Foundation, but it's a youth organization and
6:17
Speaker 3: it's all about giving young people a platform to realize
6:20
Speaker 3: their full potential. And through that journey, I really doolved
6:24
Speaker 3: into myself and they really learned. They really taught me
6:27
Speaker 3: sorry to love myself for the good the bad and
6:29
Speaker 3: the ugly, and yeah, probably from Reach, I really sort
6:33
Speaker 3: of viewed the world in a different sense, and I'm
6:35
Speaker 3: really grateful that they come into my life.
6:37
Speaker 1: What was happening with you at that stage that you
6:40
Speaker 1: and Reach intersected. Were you dealing with stuff?
6:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was about sixteen at the time, so I
6:46
Speaker 3: think every young person around that age is going through
6:50
Speaker 3: their own stuff. Their body is changing, the world's changing.
6:53
Speaker 3: I remember in high school, you thought you had a problem,
6:55
Speaker 3: You thought it was the end of the world, And yeah,
6:58
Speaker 3: I was a little bit of a roads. Prior to
7:01
Speaker 3: that moment, I lost more fights than I had won
7:03
Speaker 3: in boxing. I hadn't won a national event. I was
7:08
Speaker 3: having a lot of failure and being unsuccessful. And after
7:12
Speaker 3: meeting Reach and first being a participant and then becoming
7:15
Speaker 3: a crew member, I won my first nationals within the
7:18
Speaker 3: first year and the rest is history. And it's not
7:22
Speaker 3: a coincidence. I don't think that the more that I
7:24
Speaker 3: delved into myself and the more that I understood about
7:26
Speaker 3: myself and the world, the better I become as an athlete.
7:28
Speaker 3: I don't think it's a coincidence at all. And I've
7:31
Speaker 3: just noticed each time I sort of delve into myself
7:34
Speaker 3: and try my best to become a better human. I
7:36
Speaker 3: just naturally become a better athlete as well.
7:40
Speaker 1: I feel like there's this, well, very insightful for someone
7:44
Speaker 1: so young, but I kind of I kind of got
7:48
Speaker 1: onto this later where I realized I was kind of
7:51
Speaker 1: being what I thought I was meant to be for everyone,
7:53
Speaker 1: you know, because we grow up being programmed in a
7:56
Speaker 1: way and taught and told and trained by culture and
8:00
Speaker 1: society and media and these days social media about how
8:03
Speaker 1: we're meant to be. But sometimes in the middle of
8:06
Speaker 1: being what I'm meant to be, I'm not actually being
8:09
Speaker 1: me at all. So was that a part of that?
8:12
Speaker 1: Who the fuck am I? Was that part of it?
8:15
Speaker 1: Who am I? And beyond what everyone expects of me?
8:18
Speaker 1: Who is Harry? Was that part of it?
8:20
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Mate? And I'm still on that journey as we speak.
8:23
Speaker 3: I think I'm slowly but surely becoming a lot better
8:26
Speaker 3: at understanding who I am truly and trying to live
8:29
Speaker 3: my most authentic self. I actually did something just over
8:32
Speaker 3: the weekend, just gone, and I really realized it's pretty
8:36
Speaker 3: present in my life. A lot of people pleasing and
8:39
Speaker 3: it's something that often like I feel like I sacrifice
8:42
Speaker 3: myself sometimes in order to make sure the people around
8:45
Speaker 3: me are feeling good. And that's not a bad thing
8:48
Speaker 3: at all. I don't criticize myself for that, but just
8:50
Speaker 3: also being aware of what are my needs, what do
8:53
Speaker 3: I really want in this moment, what do I really
8:55
Speaker 3: need in this moment? And I spoke openly. It was
8:58
Speaker 3: a breath work course openly about I feel like like
9:03
Speaker 3: when I was younger, my grandparents were sort of not
9:06
Speaker 3: very present, and they were really sort of open about
9:08
Speaker 3: that and made me very aware that they didn't want
9:11
Speaker 3: to be present in my life, both sides, grandparents, and
9:14
Speaker 3: it made me really sort of think that I wasn't
9:16
Speaker 3: worthy enough. When we're young, we don't really understand that,
9:20
Speaker 3: you mean, there's family issues going on. We think that
9:22
Speaker 3: it's our it's our fault, we're so young. And yeah,
9:26
Speaker 3: I think I sort of made me realize the weekend
9:28
Speaker 3: that I'm chasing all this glory and fame and all
9:32
Speaker 3: this stuff in a sense to sort of gain their
9:35
Speaker 3: approval and make make them love me, which which was
9:40
Speaker 3: a quite powerful realization for me to have. And yeah,
9:45
Speaker 3: it was an interesting thing. As I said, it was
9:47
Speaker 3: through a breathwork thing that I did, and that sort
9:50
Speaker 3: of come up and it's still sort of something that
9:51
Speaker 3: I'm navigating, so I can't really talk too much on.
9:54
Speaker 1: That, but I made that's super super bravery you. And
9:57
Speaker 1: do you know what it's like? What are you twenty four?
10:00
Speaker 3: Yeah?
10:00
Speaker 1: I mean I know fifty four year olds that are
10:02
Speaker 1: still trying to get their parents' approval or they're trying to.
10:05
Speaker 1: And it's really interesting that idea of because you're very
10:11
Speaker 1: empathetic and very kind, and you think about others and
10:14
Speaker 1: worry about others. I'm guessing I've known you for eight minutes,
10:16
Speaker 1: but that's what I'm kind of sensing, I reckon. The
10:21
Speaker 1: challenge sometimes is to be kind and be empathetic but
10:26
Speaker 1: also know where the line is. It's like, my mum's
10:30
Speaker 1: super kind and generous and loving and a bit fucking terrifying,
10:34
Speaker 1: you know, and it's so trying to manage that. You know,
10:38
Speaker 1: you can still be strong and powerful and assertive and
10:41
Speaker 1: know where your boundary is and not be a people pleaser,
10:45
Speaker 1: but at the same time be very giving and generous
10:48
Speaker 1: and kind. And I think it's trying to keep that
10:51
Speaker 1: balance where you're still loving people and serving people if
10:57
Speaker 1: that's part of what you want to do, but you're
10:59
Speaker 1: not compromising your values or yourself. You know you can
11:05
Speaker 1: do both. And that's I mean, mate, that's a that's
11:07
Speaker 1: an ongoing quest and an ongoing lesson. Yeah.
11:11
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it really it stems from I think it
11:14
Speaker 3: stems from a really good place. Like we obviously care
11:16
Speaker 3: about other people. We want them to make sure they're happy,
11:19
Speaker 3: and especially if we love on the door, we want
11:22
Speaker 3: them to be happy in at times, as I said,
11:24
Speaker 3: I feel like I may put their needs before mine.
11:27
Speaker 3: And it's true. I'm just going to get better at
11:28
Speaker 3: setting boundaries. And that's one of my goals this year
11:31
Speaker 3: is that just had a few better boundaries and stick
11:33
Speaker 3: to them, not just set there and really stick to them.
11:35
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's it's February and I'm slowly but surely
11:39
Speaker 3: sort of getting better at it.
11:41
Speaker 1: Good for you, I read that you had and you
11:46
Speaker 1: mentioned this already, but in your first eighteen fights you
11:49
Speaker 1: lost ten, which is I would have lost eighteen, so
11:53
Speaker 1: you still did well, right, And then you spoke about
11:58
Speaker 1: your time with Reach. Was that the was that the
12:01
Speaker 1: real kind of cognitive and emotional turning point in terms
12:05
Speaker 1: of you having a bit of I don't know confidence
12:08
Speaker 1: or like, what what change that you went from losing
12:11
Speaker 1: more than you were winning to is it nine times
12:14
Speaker 1: national champion? Yeah, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Olympian with
12:20
Speaker 1: a bronze medal?
12:20
Speaker 3: What? Like?
12:21
Speaker 1: What was the significant Because lots of people are listening
12:24
Speaker 1: to this, who are identifying with you? Right, because we're
12:28
Speaker 1: all we all overthink virtually, everyone's a fucking overthinker. Everyone's
12:33
Speaker 1: scared of something. We all want to be love, needed, wanted, valued, connected,
12:38
Speaker 1: We don't want to be alone. We want people to
12:41
Speaker 1: care all of those things. But at the same time
12:45
Speaker 1: we want to be strong and powerful and resilient, and
12:47
Speaker 1: sometimes they don't all go together. Like what was the
12:52
Speaker 1: turning point? What happened with you to go from the
12:55
Speaker 1: guy who was getting beaten to the guy that we
12:58
Speaker 1: all know now and that it's got a national profile
13:01
Speaker 1: and is a champion.
13:03
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think there's numerous moments in my life. I
13:06
Speaker 3: remember so significantly when the first Nationals that I won.
13:11
Speaker 3: As I mentioned prior to that, I had no success
13:13
Speaker 3: at the national level, and reach had just come into
13:16
Speaker 3: my life probably about a year before my first national
13:19
Speaker 3: win and through the journey of being involved with REACH.
13:21
Speaker 3: They really sort of allowed me the space to sort
13:24
Speaker 3: of realize my full potential and truly believe in myself
13:27
Speaker 3: a lot more and have a more confidence with myself.
13:29
Speaker 3: And I remember saying to myself before my first national win,
13:34
Speaker 3: I'm going to dedicate everything to these next twelve weeks prior.
13:37
Speaker 3: I'm going to do everything. When I wake up early,
13:39
Speaker 3: I'm going to train, I'm going to go to bed early,
13:41
Speaker 3: I'm going to I'm going to do all the things
13:42
Speaker 3: that possibly can to make sure that I'm ready for
13:45
Speaker 3: this moment. And that feeling before that nationals being able
13:49
Speaker 3: to look myself in the mirror and know that I
13:51
Speaker 3: never once turned my back on myself like that feeling
13:54
Speaker 3: is quite electric. And I've only felt that four or
13:56
Speaker 3: five times in my life, and the Olympics Calm Games
13:59
Speaker 3: will one of them as well. And that feeling is
14:02
Speaker 3: quite amazing. When you haven't turned your back and yourself once,
14:04
Speaker 3: as you showed up every single session, I only know you.
14:06
Speaker 3: Only you know that you've done that. People may think
14:09
Speaker 3: that you've done that, but only you really know if
14:11
Speaker 3: you've turned your back or cut corners or stuff like that,
14:14
Speaker 3: and that feeling of been I looked myself in the
14:16
Speaker 3: mirror was quite amazing. And I finally won my first
14:19
Speaker 3: Nationals and the rest was history. But I think that
14:23
Speaker 3: was the point. Reach gave me the space to realize
14:25
Speaker 3: my full potential and believing myself. And then I dedicated
14:28
Speaker 3: twelve weeks in my life to make sure that I
14:30
Speaker 3: was ready for the first Nationals, and as I said,
14:33
Speaker 3: the rest was history.
14:35
Speaker 1: Apart from apart from the stuff you've done in boxing,
14:40
Speaker 1: what for you? And it doesn't need to be significant
14:43
Speaker 1: to anyone else at all, but what for you has
14:46
Speaker 1: been among your biggest accomplishments personally Where you look back
14:52
Speaker 1: and you go, I've overcome that, or I've improved that,
14:56
Speaker 1: or I've learned that. Like what are you most proud
14:59
Speaker 1: of other than you boxing stuff? Personally?
15:02
Speaker 3: That's a that's a really good question. I think the
15:07
Speaker 3: stuff that I do when no one's looking, Yeah, that's
15:11
Speaker 3: that's the stuff that I'm most proud of. And I
15:14
Speaker 3: don't need to go and try and bignote myself here,
15:16
Speaker 3: but I know when there's no one looking and there's
15:19
Speaker 3: no one around, I'll always try my best to do
15:21
Speaker 3: the right thing. And I credit that to my parents.
15:25
Speaker 3: They're really good people. So although like fame, sporting success,
15:30
Speaker 3: it all kind of means nothing. I think at the end,
15:32
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, we're all just going
15:34
Speaker 3: to be We're all just human and I'm going to
15:37
Speaker 3: be buried six feet under when I'm older and no
15:39
Speaker 3: different to anyone else. And I always just try my
15:41
Speaker 3: best to have human connection and be a good person.
15:44
Speaker 3: And I'm really proud of myself for that.
15:47
Speaker 1: Fantastic And how are your mum and dad around? Did
15:51
Speaker 1: they realize you're a big deal or is it just man?
15:55
Speaker 3: I think it might be just you At the end
15:57
Speaker 3: of the day, I'm still just a little boy. And yeah,
16:01
Speaker 3: it's quite interesting. I remember through the Olympics it was
16:05
Speaker 3: quite funny. I would always call my parents. I'd like,
16:07
Speaker 3: so because I try my best to stay off my
16:09
Speaker 3: phone just so I can really focus on my mission,
16:11
Speaker 3: and I would call my mom like, yeah, so how
16:14
Speaker 3: you go, and just like, oh, we just had sunrise over.
16:17
Speaker 3: We're talking to the Herald Sun Channel seven's coming over that.
16:20
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh that you guys are good tool more
16:23
Speaker 3: than I am. Yeah, But I absolutely loved it and
16:26
Speaker 3: really embraced it and it's good that they're getting a
16:29
Speaker 3: bit of limelight. Every family sort of wants and craves
16:31
Speaker 3: a bit of attention, and yeah, I think me the
16:35
Speaker 3: reason is to why one of the reasons to why
16:37
Speaker 3: I'm chasing thing so hard. As well as my family,
16:39
Speaker 3: I always felt people judge and criticize my family growing up,
16:42
Speaker 3: and because of that, I felt like we weren't good enough,
16:45
Speaker 3: and I just wanted to prove that we are. And
16:47
Speaker 3: it's great that they're getting a bit of spotlight. As
16:49
Speaker 3: well as.
16:50
Speaker 1: Much or as little as you want to share, What
16:52
Speaker 1: did you feel that were critical of your family about?
16:56
Speaker 3: There's numerous things. Always my dad really presented it's just
16:59
Speaker 3: a tradesman, and he and I often felt people were
17:03
Speaker 3: laughing at him, not with him. Right, he was a
17:06
Speaker 3: bit of Alarican, but as I mentioned, people were sort
17:08
Speaker 3: of like laughing at him. He played this bit of
17:11
Speaker 3: a role and I played that for a lot of
17:12
Speaker 3: my life as well. And I just felt then the
17:15
Speaker 3: other side, my mom's side, they're a bit well off
17:17
Speaker 3: and rich, and my dad's side is really the opposite,
17:19
Speaker 3: and my mom's side often criticized us for being like
17:23
Speaker 3: like I get I guess a bit more lower class
17:25
Speaker 3: to them, and I felt that who knows that this
17:27
Speaker 3: is just a story in my head, but I felt that,
17:29
Speaker 3: And there was people the football club always sort of
17:32
Speaker 3: looking down at my feel I felt that looking down
17:34
Speaker 3: at my family, and yeah, it's just great that when
17:38
Speaker 3: my parents go to the shops now and this sounds
17:40
Speaker 3: a little bit weird, but when my parents go to
17:41
Speaker 3: the shops now and people ask, jeez, how how are
17:44
Speaker 3: we going? You know, proud? You know how proud? That
17:46
Speaker 3: makes me. It makes me so proud, and I know
17:48
Speaker 3: my mom and dad would be so proud. And yeah,
17:52
Speaker 3: I'm not doing it because of that, but it's a
17:53
Speaker 3: great feeling.
17:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, mane, it's amazing. It's amazing. How does I feel
17:58
Speaker 1: like having a high profile and being I don't have
18:03
Speaker 1: to write words famous, but let's go with really well known?
18:07
Speaker 1: That probably sits better with you. How does that sit
18:10
Speaker 1: with you? Do you like that? Do you tolerate it?
18:13
Speaker 1: Is it a platform for you to share messages? What
18:15
Speaker 1: do you feel about being really well known?
18:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been really interesting. Prior to the Olympics, like
18:22
Speaker 3: no one knew me besides my mom and dad, I think,
18:25
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's been like really interesting. No one can
18:28
Speaker 3: really prepare you for that stuff, Like you walk down
18:31
Speaker 3: the street and some young person runs up to you
18:33
Speaker 3: and shakes your hand or gives your knuckles or something
18:35
Speaker 3: like that. Like I'm at the end of the day,
18:37
Speaker 3: I'm still just that young boy who watched Grant Hacket
18:40
Speaker 3: in two thousand and seven and dreamt of being a
18:43
Speaker 3: sporting hero like he was. And yeah, I just try
18:48
Speaker 3: my best and never lose sight of who I really
18:50
Speaker 3: am and saying really grounded and yeah, at the end
18:54
Speaker 3: of the day, as I said, I'm no different to
18:56
Speaker 3: any other human. We're just humans at the end of
18:58
Speaker 3: the day. And I try my best always show integrity
19:01
Speaker 3: and show character and always give especially young people the
19:05
Speaker 3: time of day, because I really do think that if
19:07
Speaker 3: one young person shakes my hand or gives me knuckles
19:10
Speaker 3: or watch me on TV and he goes to maybe
19:13
Speaker 3: the twenty thirty two Olympics and wins a gold medal,
19:15
Speaker 3: then I'll be so proud.
19:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing, mate, tell us about We probably can't
19:20
Speaker 1: chat to you without talking about your nail polish at
19:23
Speaker 1: the Olympics. Was that something orchestrated? Did you think about
19:28
Speaker 1: that for a long time or was it just a
19:30
Speaker 1: spur of the moment thing and what was it about
19:32
Speaker 1: for you?
19:33
Speaker 3: Yeah?
19:34
Speaker 1: That was sorry to ask you that question. I know
19:37
Speaker 1: you've been asked one thousand fucking times. I tried to
19:39
Speaker 1: avoid it, but I thought, oh, well, let's hear about it.
19:42
Speaker 3: It's a good message, I think, And yeah, that was
19:46
Speaker 3: something that was. The nail polish itself was quite impulsive.
19:49
Speaker 3: I was going to wear a dress originally to the
19:51
Speaker 3: opening ceremony, but I'm pretty grateful I didn't do that
19:54
Speaker 3: just because I didn't want to grab the spotlight away
19:57
Speaker 3: from the rest of the team. It's about the whole
19:58
Speaker 3: team and also as well, like prior to A can't imagine,
20:02
Speaker 3: that could have went a million different ways, and prior
20:05
Speaker 3: to A can't you sort of you don't want too much.
20:07
Speaker 3: You just want to make sure you're focusing. And the
20:10
Speaker 3: nail a polish was the message behind that is you're
20:13
Speaker 3: trying my best to show young people, especially that you
20:16
Speaker 3: don't have to fit this mold that society tells you,
20:19
Speaker 3: your family tells you, your friends tell you. You can
20:22
Speaker 3: be whatever you want to be as long as it
20:24
Speaker 3: feels right to you and as long as you're not
20:26
Speaker 3: hurting anyone else, And it really doesn't matter. You don't
20:28
Speaker 3: even have to explain why you love something. And I
20:31
Speaker 3: never thought that a young Timid. I was a young
20:33
Speaker 3: Timber boy growing up. It was nothing like my talder
20:35
Speaker 3: brothers that I was going to start boxing and fall
20:37
Speaker 3: in love with it. I was a lot more close
20:39
Speaker 3: to my mum's energy. But I took the leap and
20:42
Speaker 3: I fell in love with the sport that there was
20:44
Speaker 3: nothing like my personality. And yeah, it just shows how different,
20:48
Speaker 3: unique and change and beautiful we are as individuals. And
20:53
Speaker 3: I just hope that a young person sees that and
20:55
Speaker 3: try something different and try something unique, try something that
20:58
Speaker 3: their friends or family aren't, because you never know, you
21:00
Speaker 3: might fall in love with him and spend the rest
21:02
Speaker 3: of your life chasing it. It is.
21:04
Speaker 1: It is almost like an odd pairing you and boxing,
21:08
Speaker 1: because you're your energy and it's such a brutal sport
21:13
Speaker 1: and you're so not a brutal bloke.
21:17
Speaker 3: Trauma best not to me. I often think as well,
21:21
Speaker 3: like boxing has probably been the thing that's allowed me
21:24
Speaker 3: to be more relaxed and know myself more. And you
21:27
Speaker 3: may think as boxes as being rough, and but I
21:31
Speaker 3: also think that because we do combat, we're confident in ourselves,
21:34
Speaker 3: we know our ability, and we're a lot more relaxed
21:37
Speaker 3: because we're always releasing energy and more negative energy. And
21:42
Speaker 3: the boxing community, I've met so many amazing people. And
21:44
Speaker 3: there also is, of course bad people, but there's bad
21:46
Speaker 3: people in all industries, and yeah, I think there's a
21:50
Speaker 3: majority of really really good people in the boxing world.
21:52
Speaker 1: Tell us about your tats.
21:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've covered got a big right right leg sleeve
21:59
Speaker 3: full of my favorite boxers. So all of them except
22:03
Speaker 3: for one went to the Olympics and representing their country
22:05
Speaker 3: and did well and then termed professional and people like
22:08
Speaker 3: Muhammad Ali for Salimamchenko, Sugar and Leonard Roy Jones Jr.
22:13
Speaker 3: Bernard Hopkins some of the best boxes of all time
22:16
Speaker 3: and some of my favorites.
22:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. And also there was a couple
22:20
Speaker 1: of notable exclusions based on kind of your value system.
22:25
Speaker 1: Can you because some people have asked, you know why
22:29
Speaker 1: you didn't get Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather, And if
22:34
Speaker 1: I've got this right, the reason was that because Tyson
22:37
Speaker 1: was convicted of rape and Mayweather was I think convicted
22:42
Speaker 1: of domestic violence or beating his partner up.
22:45
Speaker 3: Is that right, Yeah, that's correct, and not taking anything
22:49
Speaker 3: away from them as athletes. They're unbelievable athletes. And I
22:53
Speaker 3: just think our society, I think we've got to try
22:56
Speaker 3: and change the narrative. And just because someone has a
22:58
Speaker 3: lot of money, or they're good at a sport, or
23:01
Speaker 3: they're famous or something like that, that doesn't mean that if
23:04
Speaker 3: they do something wrong they should be looked any differently.
23:06
Speaker 3: And yeah, I don't support or respect people like that.
23:11
Speaker 3: As I said that, I always try my best as well.
23:13
Speaker 3: I'm a pretty caring person. I always trying my best
23:15
Speaker 3: to give people empathy and understand people grow and people evolve.
23:20
Speaker 3: And and Mike Tyson, that happened almost twenty thirty years ago,
23:23
Speaker 3: happened a long time ago, and who knows, you could
23:25
Speaker 3: be a completely different person now, And same as Flo Maeather.
23:28
Speaker 3: But I'm not supporting that, and I'm not supporting anyone
23:32
Speaker 3: who supports that. And yeah, I'm no disrespected to them too.
23:36
Speaker 3: As I said, we all grow as humans, we all evolve,
23:39
Speaker 3: and we all change. But yeah, as I said, I
23:41
Speaker 3: don't want to get people like that on my leg.
23:44
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to take a left turn. Tell me
23:46
Speaker 1: about your spiritual life, because you've got a spiritual mum.
23:49
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's something going on. Do you have a
23:51
Speaker 1: particular kind of practice or philosophy that is kind of
23:58
Speaker 1: there's some kind of routine around that a life or
24:00
Speaker 1: is it just a mindset or nothing at all.
24:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sort of really figuring that out. So me
24:06
Speaker 3: and me and my partner this year, we really set
24:08
Speaker 3: a few goals to like we're at the fresh part
24:11
Speaker 3: of our relationship, and I said, this year, I really
24:14
Speaker 3: want to sort of I'm understand myself a lot more.
24:16
Speaker 3: Only twenty four, I'm still sort of learning a lot
24:17
Speaker 3: about the world and myself. And there's nothing really that
24:20
Speaker 3: I do. I meditate daily, my journal like that, they're
24:24
Speaker 3: not really that spiritual. But yeah, I attended last month
24:28
Speaker 3: the philosophy meet up group and I was the youngest
24:30
Speaker 3: by about thirty years, and that was quite amazing. But yeah,
24:35
Speaker 3: I always just try my best and always try different
24:37
Speaker 3: things and unique things. And as I mentioned, I did
24:40
Speaker 3: a breathwork thing over the weekend, and this year I
24:44
Speaker 3: really just wanted to spend a lot of time doing
24:45
Speaker 3: a lot of self discovery and self growth, and yeah,
24:49
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've read Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey,
24:52
Speaker 3: great boy, No I haven't. Yeah, it's a fantastic book.
24:54
Speaker 3: And there's moments in his life that he felt it.
24:57
Speaker 3: I'm not saying I feel flat right now, because I don't,
24:59
Speaker 3: but in his life where he felt a little bit
25:01
Speaker 3: stale and flat and he's acting, and he went overseas
25:04
Speaker 3: and he lived in the Amazon for a period of time.
25:07
Speaker 3: He also lived in different places for a period of time,
25:10
Speaker 3: and you and I love that. And he really sort
25:13
Speaker 3: of just delved into himself and spent time by himself
25:15
Speaker 3: and understood himself more. And then he come back and
25:17
Speaker 3: now he's one of the most famous actors of all time.
25:19
Speaker 3: So yeah, if that happens this year, maybe, who knows.
25:24
Speaker 1: I think it's did you say it's called green Lights?
25:27
Speaker 3: Green Lights? Correct?
25:28
Speaker 1: All right, I'm going to get it. I'm going to
25:29
Speaker 1: get it on audible today. I'm just writing it down.
25:32
Speaker 1: This is not very good for a podcast, but stuff. Yeah,
25:38
Speaker 1: I feel like that being able to spend real time
25:44
Speaker 1: away from your normal life, like whatever your normal life is,
25:48
Speaker 1: to get completely away from it and even from the
25:51
Speaker 1: people that you spend time with, not because they're good
25:54
Speaker 1: or bad, but I think being in a different environment,
25:58
Speaker 1: different energy, different schedule, different responsibilities for the day, where
26:04
Speaker 1: you're totally out of your normal groundhog dayess of existence,
26:08
Speaker 1: I think that it can give you a perspective that
26:11
Speaker 1: you can't get when you're in the middle of your life.
26:13
Speaker 1: You know, I had this kind of almost well, I
26:18
Speaker 1: would call it an epiphany when I was in my
26:22
Speaker 1: thirties and I had all these businesses Harrian and everything
26:25
Speaker 1: was going well, and I had five businesses. Life was good,
26:28
Speaker 1: I was making good money, I had lots of staff.
26:31
Speaker 1: But in the middle of it, I wasn't particularly happy.
26:34
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry to bore my listeners who have heard this,
26:36
Speaker 1: but the quick version is, I went away and spent
26:38
Speaker 1: ten days by myself. So I didn't work and I
26:42
Speaker 1: didn't have a phone call, and I didn't have a conversation,
26:45
Speaker 1: and I didn't have a computer, and I didn't like
26:48
Speaker 1: I didn't do anything that I normally did, and I
26:51
Speaker 1: spent ten days alone and not sitting in a room.
26:56
Speaker 2: But I.
26:59
Speaker 1: Was on the beach, in nature. I was doing a
27:01
Speaker 1: whole lot of things, but I did everything by myself,
27:03
Speaker 1: and I didn't actually other than ordering a coffee or something.
27:06
Speaker 1: I didn't have a conversation at all with anyone. And
27:09
Speaker 1: it was the most profound ten days of my life
27:11
Speaker 1: in terms of.
27:14
Speaker 3: It.
27:14
Speaker 1: And I wish everyone would all, particularly everyone who's trying
27:18
Speaker 1: to kind of in inverted commas, find themselves or understand
27:22
Speaker 1: themselves a bit more. I think you can never do
27:25
Speaker 1: that better than when you're away from your normal life
27:28
Speaker 1: and situation and relationships and commitments, because you get a
27:32
Speaker 1: level of clarity and awareness that you can't get when
27:36
Speaker 1: you're in the middle of it, you know. And it
27:39
Speaker 1: reminds me of there's a guy called Gerber who wrote
27:41
Speaker 1: a book years ago called The e Myth, and he
27:43
Speaker 1: talks about not being able to work on the business
27:46
Speaker 1: while you're in the business, and I feel like it's
27:48
Speaker 1: like that with your life. When you're in the middle
27:50
Speaker 1: of it, it's hard to find the perspective that's really
27:53
Speaker 1: going to be powerful, and when you're away from it,
27:55
Speaker 1: you see things that you can't see, you know. So
27:59
Speaker 1: I definitely recommend, and I know ten days is a lot,
28:02
Speaker 1: but I recommend people do even yearly, annually, even two
28:07
Speaker 1: days where you're by yourself for two days and you're
28:12
Speaker 1: not you're not reading newspapers, and you're not online, and
28:15
Speaker 1: you're not looking at your phone, you're not looking at
28:16
Speaker 1: a computer. You don't have distractions. At the best you
28:20
Speaker 1: have is a pad and a pen so you can
28:23
Speaker 1: get shit out of your head and your heart and
28:24
Speaker 1: down onto a book. But yeah, I definitely think that
28:29
Speaker 1: that that there's a real potential for us to live
28:35
Speaker 1: unconsciously where you kind of wake up in a minute
28:37
Speaker 1: and you go, oh and now I'm thirty Oh fuck,
28:39
Speaker 1: what have I been doing? Oh I'm thirty five? Shit,
28:43
Speaker 1: rather than creating the life that you want. Like so
28:47
Speaker 1: many people I've spoken to over the years have said
28:50
Speaker 1: a version of this to me. You know, they sit
28:52
Speaker 1: in front of me we're doing a coaching session or
28:54
Speaker 1: having a chat or whatever, and they go, they're forty
28:57
Speaker 1: five now or forty or fifty or whatever, and they go,
28:59
Speaker 1: this wasn't my plan. But when you unpack it, they
29:03
Speaker 1: didn't really have a plan as in a structure and
29:05
Speaker 1: a process and a timeline and a due list. They
29:08
Speaker 1: just really had an idea of how their life would
29:11
Speaker 1: end up, you know, because life's going to happen anyway,
29:15
Speaker 1: and you're either going to be the driver or you're
29:17
Speaker 1: going to be the passenger. And most people think they're
29:20
Speaker 1: the driver, but they're the passenger, I believe, And so
29:23
Speaker 1: it's about swapping seats and taking taking control again. But
29:28
Speaker 1: I'm banging on and I don't know why I'm telling
29:30
Speaker 1: you all this, but maybe it's relevant. I want to
29:33
Speaker 1: ask you, though, what would you like to be happening
29:37
Speaker 1: when you're so you're twenty four now, I think I'm
29:39
Speaker 1: looking at what would you like to be happening when
29:41
Speaker 1: you're thirty? If things go great?
29:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, just just on what you're speaking about as well.
29:47
Speaker 3: I think us as humans that the longest relationship we
29:51
Speaker 3: have is the relationship we have with ourself, And as
29:54
Speaker 3: you mentioned, I think a lot of people will sometimes
29:56
Speaker 3: have a pretty poor relationship withself because they don't really
29:58
Speaker 3: understand themselves. And I realized recently I'm purely just I'm
30:03
Speaker 3: chasing happiness. I want more good days and bad days,
30:06
Speaker 3: as simple as that. And of course bad days are
30:08
Speaker 3: inevitable and they make the good days even better. But
30:12
Speaker 3: boxing makes me really happy, and if it didn't make
30:15
Speaker 3: me happy, I'd probably do something else. It's all I know.
30:18
Speaker 3: Don't get me wrong, but it still makes me extremely happy.
30:21
Speaker 3: And yeah, that's what I realized. I think I'm chasing
30:24
Speaker 3: happiness rather than chasing success or fame or anything like that.
30:27
Speaker 3: And that stuff just comes when passionately and you show
30:32
Speaker 3: up every day and you consistent with what you're doing.
30:34
Speaker 3: But thirty, what do I want to be when I'm thirty?
30:38
Speaker 3: Where do I want to be? I think I definitely
30:41
Speaker 3: want to be a father one day. I've never said
30:44
Speaker 3: that publicly, but yeah, I always growing up, I never
30:49
Speaker 3: really thought that I really wanted kids, And then you
30:53
Speaker 3: get to an age and I think something's just spark
30:56
Speaker 3: in your head and you go, I want to I
30:58
Speaker 3: want to try my best to be a good father
31:00
Speaker 3: like my dad was. And yeah, so one day I
31:04
Speaker 3: when I have kids, hopefully by the time I'm thirty,
31:07
Speaker 3: and I want to be world champion. I want to
31:09
Speaker 3: have a business on the side as well, And yeah,
31:13
Speaker 3: I would love to open a boxing gym one day.
31:14
Speaker 3: Maybe not by the time I'm thirty, but maybe more
31:16
Speaker 3: when I'm forty to fifty and have it in like
31:19
Speaker 3: a low SoC circond on the area and have it
31:22
Speaker 3: like free for kids. Imagine somewhere in victory. I don't
31:26
Speaker 3: know where you're from originally, but somewhere like Dandinong or
31:29
Speaker 3: somewhere in Sydney in the West Mount Droug or something
31:33
Speaker 3: like that, having a boxing gym and really showing young
31:36
Speaker 3: people like life lessons. Not really, I couldn't really care
31:39
Speaker 3: less about creating champions, but just creating like life lessons
31:42
Speaker 3: and good people.
31:43
Speaker 1: That's such a good buddy goal. Well, mate, if you
31:45
Speaker 1: ever do that, hit me up. If I'm still alive,
31:47
Speaker 1: I could be well dead by then, but anyway, I'd
31:52
Speaker 1: love to support it. Where are you at at the
31:55
Speaker 1: minute with training and competing and like, what's what's to
31:59
Speaker 1: go about now?
32:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm currently about six seven weeks out from a competition,
32:05
Speaker 3: so I'm fighting in March, at the end of March,
32:09
Speaker 3: start of April, so they haven't really finalized a date yet,
32:11
Speaker 3: but I'm just in deep training at the moment, made
32:14
Speaker 3: and I'm feeling good. I'm feeling really good. I had
32:17
Speaker 3: a good break over Christmas, and last year was pretty
32:20
Speaker 3: full on for everyone and obviously with COVID, and it's
32:23
Speaker 3: still sort of lingering a little bit. But yeah, I
32:26
Speaker 3: had a really good break and I'm happy for that.
32:28
Speaker 3: I feel really refreshed this year and just excited to
32:31
Speaker 3: knock out this next fight and then have a big year.
32:35
Speaker 1: Did you get much kind of international attention or interest
32:39
Speaker 1: when after the Olympics, Like, I don't know how it works.
32:43
Speaker 1: Do people hit you up for fights and to bring
32:46
Speaker 1: you out and all of that.
32:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have like contracts, so like they give
32:52
Speaker 3: you boxing contracts and post Olympics, I had three contracts
32:56
Speaker 3: offered to me, one from USA, one from UK and
33:01
Speaker 3: then one from Australia and all obviously difference in money
33:04
Speaker 3: and time and fights and stuff like that. But yeah,
33:09
Speaker 3: I chose to stay in Australia purely for two reasons.
33:11
Speaker 3: My partner and her are really fresh, and I just
33:16
Speaker 3: you've got to follow your heart. As similar as that,
33:17
Speaker 3: I moved too much from Melbourne to Sydney to follow
33:20
Speaker 3: my heart, and I made a good choice. I think
33:24
Speaker 3: it's going really well so and as well in the Amateurs,
33:27
Speaker 3: I traveled more more times than I stayed at home,
33:30
Speaker 3: So to be only two hours from my family in
33:33
Speaker 3: Melbourne via a flight, it's a lot better than always traveling.
33:37
Speaker 3: And yeah, eventually I want to go to the States
33:40
Speaker 3: or UK. But at the moment, I'm saying in Australia
33:43
Speaker 3: because this is my home. And yeah, I chose this
33:46
Speaker 3: contract because it was the best for me and my
33:48
Speaker 3: family and partner.
33:50
Speaker 1: Are we allowed to ask about the partner or do
33:52
Speaker 1: we have to stay covert and dark?
33:54
Speaker 3: Of course, ask away. She's a legend.
33:56
Speaker 1: Tell us about her.
33:59
Speaker 3: She's beautiful's a little bit older than me, so I'm
34:01
Speaker 3: twenty four, she's thirty three, which is probably I think
34:05
Speaker 3: what I needed. Yeah, someone who's She's definitely made me.
34:09
Speaker 3: She challenged me in ways I've never been challenged before,
34:12
Speaker 3: and I think every relationship does that. And she's super ambitious,
34:16
Speaker 3: she's super switched on. Has her own thing called hit
34:20
Speaker 3: like a Girl, and it's all about women empowerment, and
34:22
Speaker 3: she's really passionate about it. And I just love someone
34:26
Speaker 3: living their true self. And she left her job in
34:29
Speaker 3: HR and the corporate world and she started this business
34:31
Speaker 3: like a Girl and she's doing so well. And as
34:34
Speaker 3: I said, she's so passionate about it, and I can
34:36
Speaker 3: it oozes off and I really sort of spills into
34:39
Speaker 3: my cup as well. How passionate and motivated she is
34:42
Speaker 3: for what she's doing. And yeah, I'm over heels made.
34:45
Speaker 3: It's a honeymoon stage. You don't get me wrong, but it's.
34:47
Speaker 1: You bloody I love and old Goo Goo's really exciting.
34:53
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
34:55
Speaker 3: What's her name, Ashley Ruscoe?
34:58
Speaker 1: All right? Give her hit up on Instagram, give her
35:01
Speaker 1: a bit of a follow everyone, and give her a
35:02
Speaker 1: little bit of love and support. Do you and her
35:06
Speaker 1: train together?
35:08
Speaker 3: I never forget out there. They were both very competitive
35:11
Speaker 3: and the first training session we ever did together was
35:14
Speaker 3: a run and I never forget this. We s out
35:16
Speaker 3: of like, yeah, we're just found like four minute and
35:18
Speaker 3: thirty k's. By the end of it, we're like sprinting downhill.
35:21
Speaker 3: We're both going so hard. But she's really she really fit,
35:24
Speaker 3: really healthy, and we love training together. She's she's awesome.
35:28
Speaker 1: And what how does she compliment you?
35:30
Speaker 3: Like?
35:30
Speaker 1: What does she? I mean, apart from the fact that
35:32
Speaker 1: you love each other, which is an ace of course,
35:35
Speaker 1: what does she How does she keep you in check?
35:38
Speaker 1: Does she monitor your bullshit? Does she you know? Does
35:41
Speaker 1: she keep you in line?
35:43
Speaker 3: Absolutely? And I think, like I've realized I've had your
35:48
Speaker 3: success and failure and sport family dramas we all have them,
35:51
Speaker 3: and nothing challenges you more than a relationship, because they
35:54
Speaker 3: really sort of they come into a space that not
35:57
Speaker 3: many people can see and they're the closest one to
35:59
Speaker 3: you time. And don't get me wrong, sometimes comps, I'm
36:04
Speaker 3: super sort of uptighted, I'm anxious, I'm nervous, I'm fearful,
36:07
Speaker 3: there's a lot going through my body. And yeah, sometimes
36:11
Speaker 3: I can be a bit of a jerk and she
36:13
Speaker 3: really put me in place and it's good, and same
36:16
Speaker 3: goes on both ends. Sometimes she's irritable and stuff like that.
36:19
Speaker 3: But we really sort of have the best communication, and
36:21
Speaker 3: I think we've set a really good foundation for the
36:25
Speaker 3: rest of our relationship. And we communicate really well with
36:28
Speaker 3: each other and nothing's off limits, and when we're feeling things,
36:31
Speaker 3: we try best to say it instantly rather than letting
36:34
Speaker 3: it linger and maybe build resentment eventually. But yeah, I'm
36:37
Speaker 3: really sort of happy and proud of both of us for,
36:40
Speaker 3: as I said, the foundations that we've built so far
36:43
Speaker 3: and in the last six seven months.
36:45
Speaker 1: Good for you, man, Well, I hope that's a long, happy,
36:48
Speaker 1: healthy relationship. Now a few more minutes, if you'd be
36:51
Speaker 1: so generous, tell us a little bit. Obviously, my background.
36:55
Speaker 1: Part of my background is working with teams and athletes
36:57
Speaker 1: and in conditioning and sports science. Tell us about your
37:03
Speaker 1: According to the things that I read, anyway, somewhat unique
37:07
Speaker 1: approach to conditioning and training like ballet and army training
37:13
Speaker 1: and karaoke. Karaoke Is that training?
37:16
Speaker 3: Yeah? It was. So we did this program called the
37:20
Speaker 3: gold met Already program. It was with the Commander Regiment
37:23
Speaker 3: and the AUSTRALNGE Board and the biggest thing I took
37:26
Speaker 3: from it was get comfortable being uncomfortable. And since the
37:30
Speaker 3: start of twenty nineteen, so the last three years, I've
37:33
Speaker 3: been doing challenges and I've done things like start ballet, karaoke,
37:39
Speaker 3: had really hard conversations with my family and family and friends,
37:43
Speaker 3: and thirteen hours straight in the bike, so many other things.
37:46
Speaker 3: Philosophy met up with it last month. There's so many
37:49
Speaker 3: things that I've done and each seeing I've learned something
37:52
Speaker 3: new from And yeah, I encourage anyone if there's something
37:56
Speaker 3: that you find uncomfortable, whether it be this really simple one.
38:00
Speaker 3: As I go to a dance class, we all feel uncomfortable.
38:02
Speaker 3: We all feel nervous, we all feel anxious. Before that,
38:04
Speaker 3: we all feel like we're going to get judged or embarrassed,
38:07
Speaker 3: but that feeling after you accomplish that is quite amazing
38:10
Speaker 3: and and you feel like you can run through a
38:13
Speaker 3: brick wall. And there's only growth from situations like that.
38:16
Speaker 3: And I'm really grateful for the Goldment Ready program.
38:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean the truth is, I love that
38:23
Speaker 1: idea and it's a philosophy of mine that I teach
38:25
Speaker 1: as well, is that like, we can't build strength without
38:29
Speaker 1: getting uncomfortable, right, Like you're literally working against resistance in
38:33
Speaker 1: the gym, working against resistance in life. And you know,
38:37
Speaker 1: our body adapts, our mind adapts, our emotional system adapts,
38:41
Speaker 1: and the thing that used to scare us doesn't scare us. Eventually,
38:44
Speaker 1: the thing that was hard becomes easy, the thing that
38:46
Speaker 1: was uncomfortable becomes comfortable. And it's not because it's changed,
38:50
Speaker 1: but rather because we've changed. And it's it is interesting
38:54
Speaker 1: too because when you especially something I was thinking about,
38:58
Speaker 1: when you're talking about doing ballet, you talk about dance
39:01
Speaker 1: or something, I'm thinking, well, one, I'd be terrible at that, obviously. Nonetheless,
39:07
Speaker 1: like I think I would have to overcome my ego
39:11
Speaker 1: and my insecurity. And it's like, because my ego is ridiculous,
39:15
Speaker 1: and I'd have to beat that bitch into submission just
39:18
Speaker 1: to even think about walking in the door, right, And
39:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, that would scare me more than get
39:24
Speaker 1: That would scare me more than me. And you're getting
39:27
Speaker 1: in the ring and you gohaps, I'm going to punch
39:29
Speaker 1: the shit out of you. I'd almost rather that than
39:32
Speaker 1: going and doing a ballet class. Not because I mean,
39:36
Speaker 1: ballet is fucking fantastic, but I realized how humiliated I'd be.
39:42
Speaker 3: It's quite amazing, mate. Honestly, that feeling. Me and my
39:45
Speaker 3: partner we did a contemporary classes recently and we're both nervous, anxious, fearful,
39:51
Speaker 3: all the emotions that are running through your body before
39:53
Speaker 3: or something like that. But then, as I mentioned before,
39:55
Speaker 3: like that feeling after. Honestly, we both felt like we
39:58
Speaker 3: could run through our chesters up where out with confident.
40:02
Speaker 3: There's only growth from periods from situations like that, you
40:05
Speaker 3: know what.
40:05
Speaker 1: I love also with the different things that you know,
40:08
Speaker 1: like with dance and like we're doing the army training
40:10
Speaker 1: and doing the philosophy class. I want to find all group.
40:13
Speaker 1: But also one of the things you said was having
40:15
Speaker 1: kind of hard conversations I mean, that's a whole different
40:18
Speaker 1: thing without telling us what it was about. But who
40:22
Speaker 1: was that with friends family where you had to sit
40:25
Speaker 1: down and go deep on stuff. Yeah, there's been.
40:27
Speaker 3: There's been numerous ones, So I think I've done probably
40:30
Speaker 3: five all out. One with the next partner, and then
40:33
Speaker 3: there was one of my dad, one with my brother,
40:36
Speaker 3: and then the rest of my family. And these are
40:38
Speaker 3: just raising things that were like really sort of getting
40:42
Speaker 3: to me, making me really tense and anxious and nervous.
40:44
Speaker 3: And yeah, probably the hardest one was one with my dad.
40:48
Speaker 3: Me and my dad went through a period where a
40:50
Speaker 3: little a bit turmoil for a period of time. And
40:53
Speaker 3: every family's got their stuff, and I never forget. I
40:56
Speaker 3: wrote it on his birthday card saying happy birthdays, and
41:00
Speaker 3: I wrote like a little message on the bottom saying
41:03
Speaker 3: I really want to fix this and I love you
41:05
Speaker 3: all my heart and I've missed her over the last
41:07
Speaker 3: couple of years. And I gave it to him and
41:10
Speaker 3: just watching he always has his bottom quiver, and yeah,
41:15
Speaker 3: that was like a really sort of beautiful moment. But
41:17
Speaker 3: then we went to breakfast and really spoke about what
41:20
Speaker 3: we both were going through, and yeah, I'm so happy
41:25
Speaker 3: that I built the courage and did that because now
41:27
Speaker 3: me and my dad had a really strong relationship and
41:30
Speaker 3: in order to just take from just taking up to
41:33
Speaker 3: building the courage and binding the bullet and even if
41:36
Speaker 3: it doesn't work out, like just going there and knowing
41:39
Speaker 3: that you've tried your best and you can look yourself
41:41
Speaker 3: in the mirror going I tried and that's all you
41:43
Speaker 3: can do.
41:44
Speaker 1: That's amazing, mate, Good for you. It's like things don't
41:48
Speaker 1: fix themselves, do they? Never that things will work themselves out?
41:53
Speaker 1: That's bullshit everyone. Just in case you didn't realize, did
41:56
Speaker 1: I also realize that you're a plumber or something?
41:59
Speaker 3: Did I?
42:00
Speaker 1: Sorry? Did I read that?
42:01
Speaker 3: Yeah? I am mate. After I left school, I started
42:04
Speaker 3: working my dad as a roof tiler. Roof tiling is
42:07
Speaker 3: extremely physical and trying to manage boxing and roof tiling
42:11
Speaker 3: was hard. So I then got a job as a
42:13
Speaker 3: plumber and I work for my brother every opportunity I get.
42:18
Speaker 3: But at the moment I'm in Sydney and he's in Melbourne,
42:21
Speaker 3: so I'm out of shovel duty at the moment, which
42:23
Speaker 3: is great.
42:24
Speaker 1: Oh you enjoying that all right? Well, you're an absolute
42:29
Speaker 1: delight and it's been really nice chatting to you. How
42:33
Speaker 1: do people find you and follow you and connect with you?
42:36
Speaker 1: And is there anything you want to point people towards
42:39
Speaker 1: that you would like my listeners, our listeners, I should
42:42
Speaker 1: say to support.
42:45
Speaker 3: The Reach Foundation is a really powerful organization. As I mentioned,
42:50
Speaker 3: they come to my life and I was at a
42:51
Speaker 3: bit of a crossroad. So and now I'm the person
42:54
Speaker 3: I am now pure because of myself, of course, but
42:57
Speaker 3: also from the help of Reach and my family. So
43:01
Speaker 3: Reach is awesome. And that uncomfortable challenge if you can
43:04
Speaker 3: think of anything, as I mentioned, dancing is a really
43:07
Speaker 3: really good one because it makes everyone uncomfortable unless you're
43:09
Speaker 3: a dancer. They go try it out and see how
43:13
Speaker 3: amazing you feel after.
43:15
Speaker 1: We'll give it a go. I just quickly did I
43:17
Speaker 1: did omit one thing, and that is I wanted to
43:20
Speaker 1: ask you. This is terrible podcasting, harps, but everyone will cope.
43:24
Speaker 1: I'm your coach, is it Brian Levier? Is that how
43:27
Speaker 1: I say his name? Give us a quick He's been
43:30
Speaker 1: integral to your journey.
43:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, so he's seventy nine years old. This year he
43:34
Speaker 3: fought Johnny Fama. Shan Lamrose back in his day and
43:40
Speaker 3: he's based in Melbourne and I'm up in Sydney at
43:42
Speaker 3: the moment. But he'll always be on my team and
43:44
Speaker 3: will always be my coach. And I'm really grateful that
43:47
Speaker 3: I walked into that gym a young, timid boy who
43:50
Speaker 3: felt nothing like my brothers, so I lacked a little
43:52
Speaker 3: bit of confidence and he sort of fed me like
43:55
Speaker 3: Gustine Maato Mike Tarson's coach. He fed me with a
43:57
Speaker 3: lot of positivity. You're gonna be world champion one day.
44:00
Speaker 3: Your footwork's so good. And I mean, every young person
44:03
Speaker 3: wants to feel special. I was nine years old and
44:04
Speaker 3: every young person wants to feel special. And I'm really
44:07
Speaker 3: grateful that I found him because he made me feel
44:10
Speaker 3: special and I showed up every single day because I
44:12
Speaker 3: wanted to impress him. And yeah, I love him with
44:16
Speaker 3: all my heart. And as I said, he's seventy nine,
44:18
Speaker 3: so he's coming to the end of his boxing career,
44:19
Speaker 3: but he will always be my coach.
44:22
Speaker 1: That's beautiful mate.
44:23
Speaker 3: All right?
44:23
Speaker 1: How do people find you and follow you on socials?
44:26
Speaker 1: What's your what's all your handles and stuff?
44:29
Speaker 3: Instagram? It was just Harry Understall, Garside and Facebook, is
44:33
Speaker 3: Harry Garside, And then I think I got Twitter. I
44:36
Speaker 3: don't very rarely use it though I don't understand it
44:38
Speaker 3: that much, but it's Harry Garside too.
44:41
Speaker 1: Well, mate, we appreciate you being on the You project.
44:43
Speaker 1: You're a good man. Good luck with everything moving forward,
44:46
Speaker 1: good luck with that relationship. Well done on everything you've achieved.
44:50
Speaker 1: You're a fucking inspiration.
44:52
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much for it's really.
44:56
Speaker 1: Oh mate, you'll I love you. You're awesome. Thanks, stay there,
45:00
Speaker 1: say goodbye offair Tiff fellow boxer. Did do you know
45:04
Speaker 1: that Tiff has punched a fair few people in the
45:06
Speaker 1: ring herself?
45:07
Speaker 3: Let's go. I love that?
45:10
Speaker 1: What did you tell? Tell Harry what you won? No,
45:14
Speaker 1: it's not an Olympic bronze, but certainly not.
45:17
Speaker 2: But I won I won twice, the novice Victorian title
45:20
Speaker 2: and then v abl in twenty nineteen Victorian title.
45:26
Speaker 1: Yes, couple of little stint. I do love it and
45:29
Speaker 1: I do miss it.
45:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna say, you're still doing it?
45:31
Speaker 2: No, no behind the mic, now throwing punches here?
45:37
Speaker 1: How do you reckon? You go again?
45:38
Speaker 2: Sorry?
45:38
Speaker 1: I reckon you are your speed and foot work. I
45:41
Speaker 1: reckon you might have.
45:42
Speaker 2: Him okay, at least eight or nine nine oh seconds
45:45
Speaker 2: longer than your seven. Maybe just because I'm quick to
45:49
Speaker 2: run away.
45:51
Speaker 1: Well, you definitely go better than me. Let's just say
45:54
Speaker 1: goodbye to everyone and then i'll say goodbye to you.
45:56
Speaker 1: Off there mate. Thanks everyone, Thanks Harry, Thanks Tiff,