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A Chat with Renita Gerard

A Chat with Renita Gerard

Released Monday, 22nd June 2020
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A Chat with Renita Gerard

A Chat with Renita Gerard

A Chat with Renita Gerard

A Chat with Renita Gerard

Monday, 22nd June 2020
Good episode? Give it some love!
Rate Episode

Hi. Hello. Hey, man here I'm joined with this very special guest star Renita Gerard nee Farrells, a former Hockeyroo, two time gold winning champion. Stick around. I'm going to come to hear more about who's to.

[00:00:38] Good morning. Welcome back to Kinship. Card on came in your house, then the narrator facilitator, probably game show host is really nice. Why did you just mess up? I'm very fortunate today. I've to a guest every guest that comes on vacation is a special guest. And regardless if you're a personal trainer that lives in Paddington, I just got into personal training with a young lady who's just come out of a major injury, who's now picked herself up and achieve things in a life. Or if you're a former Olympian, gold medallist, twice gold medallist and a whole range of resume eyes, highlights of my sporting career. But now translating that into a corporate world, which is quite inspiring. I'd like to introduce to you reminder now relate. Say hello to everybody. How are you going today?

[00:01:35] I'm very well, thank you. It's lovely to join you. Thank you for your time. Now, Renata, I've got you. You read me the giraffe.

[00:01:43] Grab yourself. Yes. I Gérard Gorod and your former and your friend really love your formally withina Farrell. I understand. Yes, sir. Yes, because related. There's a couple of things. We met on a flight on a point where we're not superheroes. We're not capes. We met on a flight. And now what is I just going to ask for that? Because I've just mentioned Renita is a former Olympian twice I would 1996 in Atlanta, gold medallist, also co-captain of the Hockeyroos and also a member of the the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which were the best Olympics apparently sold out, very keen to define Grenada's. Thoughts on that marinade up on that flight. Could you. What was your. How do we make? Because I was, you know, a bit my my producer Zine who through. Hello. That's Kenen. Podcasting is a great sponsor of what I do. We met on a plane. So what what were your first thoughts when you. We started chatting?

[00:02:52] Well, it's interesting because I remember it quite vividly.

[00:02:55] So you were sitting in the middle seat and I was in the aisle seat and there was a gentleman across. They offer me by the name of Mike Renault's sits on a board with me. And as we got on the plane, he said, oh, that guy's an amazing guy. And he's got a on him. And, you know, I think the main thing I remember is just the energy and the positiveness in our conversation. So actually, you know, normally you get off a flight, you're feeling, oh, gosh, get me home, get me out of here. I was actually feeling quite inspired from our discussion. So it just kind of stuck with me and then we caught up a couple of weeks later. So I think, you know, I really crave positive energy. So that's probably why I've connected with you, in all honesty.

[00:03:33] Wow. I work to be honest, I expect I didn't expect that so of were energized sarcasm. You can't say. But I'm blushing. But certainly, I've got to say, it's like.

[00:03:45] It's likewise. And part of the work we do in kinship with the full black academy is wise to make you a better version of yourself. And like you assign, you just feed off the energy. Because I'm really keen to talk about a couple of things or three things, really. And one of them is it was like, OK, we're both from Townsville. I wasn't born in Townsville. You were. Tell me about your your your life in Townsville, your memories, your highlights. Townsville. What's what's Townsville to you?

[00:04:18] I think Townsville's always home. So I don't live there at the moment. But it is my home whenever anyone asks me where I'm from. I always say Townsville.

[00:04:24] And but I live in Brisbane at the moment and I just have amazing memories. I think, you know, growing up, we lived in a rural area on the north side of Townsville. I went to the bowling, our primary school for all my schooling and some of my brothers and sister and my cousins. We all went there and then we all went to Townsville State High School and did all of our schooling there. So I just remember life being busy. It was busy like it is now. But we were actually outside doing lots of active things, lots of space, know not getting stuck in traffic, you know, and being able to just decide we're gonna go home, Jason, and we've got to play one and go for a swim and you just jump in the car and go without too much planning. I just remember simplicity, I guess, of living in Townsville and and everything being accessible and easy.

[00:05:13] Yeah, that's yeah. That's bringing back memories. Yeah. Because the Bali you little Bali area. Yes. In Bali, you know, those you went to and you went to the Bali. Vail is a Bali Bible school. Yeah I know Palmer's got a little side but it's all about front. And you went to town. Hi. Yes. Yeah. Loved it. Yeah. Well see I was on the other side of the tracks because I was outside the other side of the tracks like. We were short of kids when the body, while we thought my kids were in the gentle way, were tough, like, you have to be tough.

[00:05:42] My brother went to the town hall. I would. I hate you. Because I wasn't tough enough. What do you think? How did they make the grade in debut? So tell me about your guy, your hockey career.

[00:05:55] Don't look up to say I didn't even realise in our conversation. We just connected as people like you said, there was an energy here and then you established that sort of rapport, if you like. And then you told me some amazing things. And I've got to say, this isn't my first rodeo. I've also said next to another another Olympian, Cathy Freeman. I sit next to her in the middle of and I'll sit next to you. And I tell you what. Both times it just inspirational. I want to talk a little bit about your. You're getting into hockey now. It was hockey. Always your sport.

[00:06:39] Yeah, it was. You know, we played everything at home because we had huge acreage. So, you know, we played cricket, rugby league. Everything goes in play.

[00:06:46] Rugby league at that point in time, my brothers did, but my cousins played hockey. And because we had so much space, we almost had like a whole hockey field in the backyard. And every afternoon, you know, we'd all be playing together or because our cousins logical. So, you know, we'd always have 10 or so people out in the yard playing hockey. And I just loved it because it was quiet. It takes a level of skill because you're you've actually got, I guess, your hockey stick. So you've got an apparatus you've got to control. You've got to move people around on the field and you're trying to control the ball. So I really liked the complexity of the sport. So we played a lot. And interestingly, my cousins played in proper hockey in club clubs, but my dad was always thought it was a bit dangerous for girls.

[00:07:28] And it wasn't until my sister was about 13 or 14 that she got to play and I was about seven. So I got to play with it much earlier than she didn't. So yeah. And then I just loved it from. From then, you know, training a few days a week, spend all weekend now that and then a pocket hockey fields.

[00:07:46] I love to get old and build a park. So I did well all of these Inever park where all sides. Well I played rugby league at Millennium Park. I have my brother here to build them parks. All the boys we say, oh, we should get into the park. Look at the park.

[00:08:06] But he was about 10 years I think is about 10 years difference in our age. So what do you should we played it. You played with your your cousins, your brothers and sisters. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:08:18] And I remember my brother's because he was older, my older brother. His friends had come to stay and I'd get them all out there playing. So we had so many walking sticks. So, you know, if they ever came to camp over or something like that, I'd go fishing or something we'd always end up with with enough to know hockey in the backyard. And it's quite funny because I now run into them. Now they remember it and I think they remember me enjoying them to play and to get out there and practise.

[00:08:44] I love that was something you said earlier and you said the complexities of the game. But they're running, you know, just the tick make the strategy and plus controlling a stick on a ball. Have all that that that that excited you. It resonated with you. You felt good doing that school.

[00:09:04] It was really a challenge like it. You know, I could see the challenges in the game. And I always remember talking to a coach who thought I was insane.

[00:09:10] But and I guess when you're on a field, you kind of look through the players on the field. But I always felt when I was playing that I was actually above the field looking down, because you know, how you how you can move people and make spaces and, you know, things like that by using different techniques and moving your players around. It was almost like a big game of chess today, but then you also had to perform the skill.

[00:09:33] So, yeah, it's kind of just the way I am, the way I related to the game, like other people relate differently. So I played in the midfield, which is kind of where the creative people sort of sit, you know, the strikers at the front who scored the goals. Well, you know, they just want one thing and they just put the ball on where they want it. And they weren't about to whack it at the goal as hard as they can. So, you know, a team, a hockey team is made of a whole heap of different people with different attributes and different profiles. And, you know, mine just sort of sat me right in the middle of the field trying to organise things again. So, yeah, I love the challenge of that. That's that's probably the only thing I really miss is that I hadn't played for 20 years. It's just that challenging going on there and managing so many pieces to get the end result.

[00:10:17] Well, I'll go to Cash Converters, get my hockey stick, and we'll go one on one.

[00:10:22] Thank you, baby. Baby. Let me win. Let me win.

[00:10:26] Look, I'm really fascinated, to be honest, that you've you've ignited something in in the way that you play the guy and use. You you were you sort of you have an elevated position or you became a helicopter view, but you didn't. You looked at the field, you saw what may happen here to get that ball to the fore. So you had to move people around. Strategically, the other players. Yeah, but you get a position, they get the ball.

[00:10:54] Yeah. And I guess as you get more, you know, as your career evolves and you get into the international hockey, you know, you spend a lot of time studying your opposition. So you as well as learning the skills of my players on my team and what I'm K-P. Also what I was capable of, like could I actually get that ball there in the right timeframe as well as learning that you're also learning the attributes of the people on the other team and studying them. And we you know, we had folders and, you know, thick, full of assessments of all the other players that we were going to encounter, what their strengths were. You know, all those things with their characteristics. We may not have been accurate, but it was our own kind of assessment. So, you know what you're managing there is a massive amount of data or I guess massive formation yet. So, yeah, it's something that probably I probably didn't realise the complexity of it until many years later when you when you're in it, you just do it and you don't really think too much about it. But now I'm probably more appreciative of it.

[00:11:49] That's it's amazing. So. So every team you pride is internationally is just internationally. You have this research.

[00:11:59] Like, if we if we are playing for Queensland, we pretty much knew the people on the other teams anyway.

[00:12:03] And so, you know, it was the same level of information, probably not as hard to disseminate. So, you know, we we would train with a lot of the people within Australia that we were playing against the will of Queensland. So we kind of knew them well. So we probably carry our books around, but internationally we'd have folders full of information about people on other teams.

[00:12:26] So say the research, the coaching staff would have collected that data. What was it like? For instance, you've played you've got two Olympics, you've got one World Cup in Dublin, two Olympics, two gold medals, World Cup in Dublin, got a medal for Champions Trophy, three gold medals, won bronze. What happened there with you guys? But was a disaster. But it all in between that you'll just play international. Mark, so there's a whole team of like, you know, someone hiding in a tree and sort of some star players, some Argentinian players just getting the good oil on them out of the research just this year. How did that happen?

[00:13:09] A probably a probably wasn't as undercover as you'd think. So in those days, you know, it was probably more limited in those days.

[00:13:17] So, you know, compared to now where everything's televised and, you know, people, you know, just film things on their phone and put them up on the Internet. So access to information was a little bit limited when I was playing. So any information you could actually get was actually valuable. And it was also valuable for us to not let other people have our information. So you could you could train and secret, you know. Mainly because no one was going to fly out to Perth where we trained and come to collect video footage because it was too expensive and they'd have to bring a great big video camera. So we were able to shell out our own, I guess, knowledge's and our own skills from other teams. And then it was a case of getting as much as you could when you're on the road travelling. So we might spend three or four months a year travelling around the world. And in that case, we collect as much footage as we could. And the coaching staff had to teach us how to analyse things. And, you know, we had to we were only young at the time, so we had to learn the value of analysing information. You know, when you were watching somebody else, you had to learn how to stop putting your own views and your own self bias across things and kind of put yourself in their shoes. So we learnt a lot, you know, throughout that period that really helped us, you know, helps me in later life. So it's been yeah, it was it was a journey to learn how to do that. But in the end, we were pretty good. I actually remember one game at the Sydney Olympics where the coaching staff didn't turn up to the to the to the pre-game leading and who ran the team ourselves. So our coaches and our leaders really taught us how to lead ourselves. And part of that was sort of getting getting used to analysing things and being ready for what was going to come out.

[00:15:00] So like purposely not there. They wanted to.

[00:15:02] Yeah, yeah. It was intentional. So so a couple of players just jumped up, I think from memory and took the team meeting and we got out on the field. The coaches obviously went at the game. They came to the game and helped, you know, by the substitutions. We sort of got to that point and that was a long journey. It was probably I don't remember doing that in Atlanta. So it was probably an eight year journey or nine year journey to get us to that point.

[00:15:26] Yeah, because I've got my research and my research did some research. You actually looking at your memories. So you. You're in room from Mazari Hooker Hockeyroos, 1993 to 2000. Yes. All right. So all this intellectual property, if you like, now because because I'm you know, I've got to say this. I thank you for your time, because you've played in a part of world sport dynasties, because the Australian women's hockey team are quite always highly right, always highly regarded, very, very professional outfit, which throughout my sportspersons point of view, I don't believe. And with the men as well. The level of profile we see tend to not get as high profile. But just looking at that successful, if I'm gonna call it franchise as a sport of Australia, it's a transfer that knowledge. And those people have got the skills. But it's that that knowledge, a database of information of players and other teams that needs to be held on to. Because when you look at the day asks you to pass on, were you involved in a bit of a transitional and me over information talk?

[00:16:51] Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, generally in Olympic sports, what happens is when when you go to the Sydney Olympics, there were a bunch of us who retired at the Sydney Olympics.

[00:17:02] So that was my last game of hockey. It was at the Olympics. And but there's a continuation. So there's still players. There would have been, you know, 20 players left out of our squad who continued on. And they were able to take that knowledge in the way we learnt how to go about things on their journey. I think in sport, though, probably when I retired in about 2000, the sport well, really, I feel like the performance by sports have really gone up a notch and they've had to make their own journey. So what we did isn't sufficient now or, you know, isn't relevant now. So I think sport changes so fast now that what's important is the culture of learning. It's not so much the the information we had. It's more that when I look at teams who are successful now, they have this continuous evolution, which which is something that I think we started in our team and were able to pass on to the next four people.

[00:18:04] I mean, we're still people I remember we went to the Atlanta Olympics and we changed up the way that our team fights. We had a different playing structure. And I remember afterwards, you know, we just won the gold medal, had been really successful, hadn't lost a game for over 30 games or something. And. And we got back. And when we started our coach, Ric Charlesworth and his team, they just said, well, we can't keep playing like that. And it would've been easy to go, well, we just won using this structure.

[00:18:33] You know, we're obviously in front of everybody else. Why don't we keep going? That just through the whole thing out and start again. And so so we had somebody, for example, who was playing, you know, like as a striker, which is a goal scorer, who at the next Olympics was our left defender.

[00:18:50] So, you know, we just got all messed around and challenged to become better players play differently. And I think in sport now that's the key is how quickly can you evolve and can you keep growing? Because if you just go out every week and keep doing the same thing, people just run over the top of you.

[00:19:06] Yeah, but that's that's gold. I love that culture of learning. So you develop a culture of learning. And I look at some sporting teams now. The world is the big one that comes to mind, is probably one of the most successful franchises sport in that country. The All Blacks and how they manage to be consistently good. And it doesn't come from the skill sets it becomes. Everyone can apply globally, I suppose. But yeah, I suppose that is one percent. It's a learning culture respect. Another New Zealand, the the All Blacks are based on Maori culture, but I actually talk about the cultural strengths of them as a country and then the cornerstone before they get to the business then.

[00:20:00] Yeah. Whereas a hockey side here, you had a culture of learning like that. So that's an interesting. Well interesting. But without people like sportsperson that doesn't get to see that.

[00:20:15] Yeah. Yeah. And I think you're right in that way, you know, especially for the All Blacks like in a sport like rugby union, everyone gets the same access to the same sport science, the same technical information. They've probably got New Zealand coaches coaching half the teams around the world. So they're getting access to their history. Things like that, so what's going to make the difference? And often it's just gonna be your your culture. And for us it was sort of we spent a lot of time dealing with, you know, our psychological strength as well. So not just our physical. And so when you think about it, you know, a lot of people struggle with fear. So you mentioned walking out onto the Olympic final and being overcome with fear of if this all goes wrong, we lose. And, you know, when you're playing for gold and silver, silver is kind of like losing some silver medal play. So we spent a lot of time going, well, how are we gonna deal with that? We actually confronted it because we had built this culture to confront. So we all had spent a lot of time together in small groups on and on our own analysing, well, how are you gonna get on that field and not be overcome by that and be ready to perform. So we spent a lot of time turning that around and going, well, once we get on the field, if we if we actually play to our potential, we've got a great chance of winning. That was kind of like our approach as opposed to if this all goes wrong, we could lose. So our goal was always to get to the main game, which is the gold medal game, and then to make sure we arrive there ready to play at our best. And if we lose, we lose. But if we played our best, there's a high probability we'll actually win. So we spent a lot of time going, what does that actually mean? And when you say play at your best. And I remember we spent I think we had a guy join our off-field team that was a mathematician. And so we spent a lot of time looking at, you know, what what increases the probability of us winning a game.

[00:22:16] So we had these things called local non glan stats. So our coaching staff, I can't remember the exact details, but we analysed that if we did all of these non-glamorous things and we tallied so many of them and half say Forte's in a half, then we would win a high percentage of our games. So when we come off at halftime, the guys in the grandstand would have counted how many of those things we've done and they were not glamorous things that were things like chasing, tackling, intercepting, stopping the play. So if we did enough of those things, then there was a high probability we would actually create a lot of chances in school. So when we got to the Olympic final, that's kind of what we're focussed on. We're not thinking, you know, how we're going to score more goals than the other team we're actually focussed on. Right there is the ball chase. So it's very process orientated, very much focussing on the importance of the outcome, which is take care of itself.

[00:23:09] Wow. That's that's fantastic. I sort of think of those two things. Do teams like you guys a methodic the Olympic teams like methodical and you just described the methodical is a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of hitting that ball on a stick. And like you said, it's the whole plus you have to worry about your individual guy. All I talk about is them the opposition. Then there's us as a team, but then there's me. I got to be part of those three. Yeah. Yeah. So and all the other I sort of think of, you know, I'm looking at I've been watching the The Last Dance. When I met, I met you saying that some of the more moderate Jordan. Incredible, incredible story. Incredible story. And a lot of what you said, interest. Now, interestingly enough, is is sort of captured in that in that flick in that episode because it's called The Lost Things, because they've just won by just won five championships, NBA championships. But even one by one. Four championships. Sorry, I'll go back. When they won three. Jordan left. The team did well. Then my struggle. Then he came back and then I won the fourth. And like you were saying, like it was actually Jerry Krass, the general manager, said, we have to reinvent ourselves. We've got to start trading some of these blinds because we can't keep doing the same thing. And he took it as a business proposition to do that. So similar like you've just said, you've just got to keep evolving. And if it means letting star players go, well, you let them go. So it's that it's that intent of being successful for a long time. I think a lot of teams possibly missed. Don't capture that because. Now, was that, Matt, until what Ric Charlesworth now he's a fascinating character. You play cricket. I think for Western Australia. Yeah. I think you played cricket. Then he became a hockey with what he called a male hockey player. Kookaburras. Kookaburras? Yes, he played for the kookaburras. You can't get hockey to cook American like that. Make up. So the kookaburras. So what was he as a coach? What's one? One one takeaway from Rick Childs with interesting man who kept the women's to your team at the top for a very long time.

[00:25:47] Yeah, it's probably it's hard to give one word for Rick because I just find that, you know, this is incessant learning, development, rigour.

[00:25:57] You know, that he's a living example of how those things can actually get inside of you and be part of your life no matter what you're doing. And and and you can sort of see when you watch the way that he works, that if you actually embrace that life can be so you can open up so many different things for yourself by just believing in yourself and doing the work yourself and being thorough and diligent.

[00:26:23] So I just I was kind of touch on for our team the thoroughness because in life and I guess since particularly in sport, there's always more you can do. So you can always get to the get out on the field for a game, you go, oh, gee, I wish I'd done more penalty point just before today. There's always more. It's kind of like study. So when you're when you're living with that sense of law, how do you live with a sense of I can always do more and I can always get better. Yet you're able to perform when you have to because you can't you're never going to get to the end of your preparation. So we were prepared as well as we could be for everything. Things that never happened. You know, we probably had, you know, four hour penalty corners, which is sort of like a set play in hockey. We would have had on an 30 or 40 penalty corners that we practiced over and over and over again. And we were pristine, you know, amazingly skilled that and we probably used 10 of them, but we practiced the 40 and we were as good at all of them. And in our whole time, I remember he developed a new skill with a particular people on our team who took the strike on the penalty corners. And I think they practiced that skill for eight years and they used it once. So that gives you a sense of confidence that, you know, if you two goes down in the final, you can pull that out of your back pocket and use it because, you know, you're good at it sort of thing. So I think that thoroughness then gives you the confidence that you can then go forward and perform when you have to say it.

[00:27:49] Rick's amazing current there or something you mentioned on the playand which has left me. There's a lot of things you said. I like my very memorable beenable conversation. You said that he rotated your captaincy. Yeah. With the. Tell me a little bit about that.

[00:28:09] So Rick had a belief that everybody's a leader.

[00:28:11] So, you know, if you fall down, Fogle's down in a final, you don't want to just be waiting for one person to pick the team up. So that was the risk we were managing against. So his strategy was, well, you know, the game's going so fast. We all have different leadership skills. We all have different attributes. You know, someone might be good at leading in this situation. Someone might a good leader leading. And that's why, you know, keep them suppressed. Why not bring all of those people to the fore and how they interact together? So he did away with us having a full time captain. At one stage, we had a pool of people. And then by the time we got to the Sydney Olympics, we didn't actually have him and we didn't have Jerry.

[00:28:50] Jerry didn't have a captain at the Sydney Olympics.

[00:28:53] No, we didn't have a captain. But under the rules for sport, you have to assign someone to be the captain for every game. Yeah. And cases and cases of blow up. And, you know, the umpires want to give your team a good talking to or something, something like that. So you have to assign a captain who also has some responsibility during the game, runs the team on the field or whatever, but not in our case, hockey. Such a fast sport, you can't really do anything. So there were when we got to the Sydney Olympics every day, he would just announce a new captain pretty much to fulfil the technical obligation, not really to do anything special. And the idea was that everybody could lead at a certain time. And you'd you kind of we'd spent a lot of time getting to know each other like incredible amount of time with our sport psyche, you know. So we all knew what everyone could bring to the table depending what the situation actually was. So that's kind of the way we worked. I mean, I was fortunate I was nominated as the captain in the gold medal game, but really that was just sort of tossed the coin. The team just manages themselves.

[00:29:53] So there was Atlanta. You were the gold medal captain centre in Sydney. What were you, the captain in Sydney?

[00:30:00] Yes, in the gold medal game in Atlanta. Some of these things that we did with Rick, we kind of worked on. It took eight years, right, to get to that point. So when he first took over the team, we had a captain and we kind of transition. And we've spent a lot of time growing as people. And it wasn't until eight years later that we were ready for that. So, you know, you've got to invest a lot of time in your people to make sure that they're ready for it, you know, if you going to take away a framework that they used to. He certainly challenged us and then him and his off field team would get us ready to make the most of that. So, you know. What I really loved it and it sort of, yeah, hockey is such a fast forward.

[00:30:39] It's hard for one person to really influence anything. You really need your whole team forming at their best.

[00:30:45] I think that's a I think that's awesome. It's like this. This podcast is called Kinship Code and the kitchen code from the Food Academy. Everyone's ladylike. It's about you doing your job and doing it well. But bring other people with you. And once you do that, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait on the yarding circles. We do. We do it in a circle because there is no one at the head of the table. It's a about it's a circle. Everyone's a leader. Everyone's a leader in the chain.

[00:31:15] Do you think that when you think about it, it's so simple? It's some you know, it's simplifying. How do we get this group of people, whether it be a group of people with a particular culture or something? How do you get them to perform at their best when you get all of them to step up and be their best and contribute? So it's it's so transferable.

[00:31:34] Miriam, I'm not to plug my business. That's actually what I take. The corporate Australia is how we make every person in your organisation leader, because currently leadership is a pyramid system. It's a pyramid system. And as you know, pyramid systems are legal. But a pyramid system is that someone someone leads and you follow. Whereas if someone who opens the tall guy, the security person at the front, why come I really what comes of the lollypop person and then what will that bring to an entire team team of to do that? But that's what I'm keep the kinship in the workplace and I talk about. Kinship is bigger than leadership. Leadership is a commercial context. And that's another matter podcast. Now, the Chicago Bulls obviously like six NBA premierships in the last year. They there's nothing think Jordan was really going to retire. They came up with a model. That's what they call that, the last dance. And this is all because the coach was the Jerry Kraske, the general manager is not the coach's guy. This is his last. This guy was the most successful coach in NBA. But Jerry knew is he didn't wait till was gonna fall. He said, now I'm going to get rid of it now and start rebuilding. But in place was a place of learning. So did you did that, Rick? Do you have a mantra or did you have anything to aspire to? What was that bar? Because you got your team like very successful Olympic medals, world championship medals, Champions Trophy, boom. So let's.

[00:33:11] Yeah, we had a few different. And once again, we evolved all the time. I mean, for Atlanta, we had a it was a mission statement. And so we had it was 10 things on a mission statement. And I remember the quote at the bottom was one of those JFK quotes. And it was something like, you know, we choose to do this not because it's easy or hard or whatever. You know, we're going to learn. So we did that and we all had to sign it. And then I remember things on there, you know, in a team where about, you know, being prepared to accept decisions made for the team, a personal friend. So there were some very personal things in that in our Ten Commandments. And so that was out thing for Atlanta. Then as we transitioned to Sydney, we we kind of went for a whole heap of different things that I remember. One of the things we had is we made up a rhyme maybe, and there were just enough letters, not everybody in the team. So everyone in uniform had a training uniform. And it just had me, like my managers had some quotation marks on it and yours might have had the word to come. So the idea was when you see them individually, they look a bit strange, like if you're running down the street with a shirt, it just has become more B. But once you put them all together. So it was about how we are a whole team. So we made up this some the saying and then everyone got allocated random random laundry, went out and all of our training. Gill, some of our training goals got printed with those words. So yeah, we went through all different phases. But once again it was just, you know, in Atlanta, the team had this 16 players in it. They weren't the same 16 people in Sydney. So we we didn't stay with what we had. So we evolved that they were a different generation. Some of the younger guys in the teams, they had to make sure you including a little more intensity.

[00:35:00] What we're gonna be wrapping up soon, but this is obviously jointness. Now, the other Olympian offset next is Cathy Freeman. And interestingly enough, she told me about Atlanta and Sydney. She's told me that she for Atlanta Olympics, she had the same thing. She had an affirmation, but she learnt that affirmation from a child in Cloncurry. I think it was her stepfather, Opta. Cathy, what do you want to do at the age of 10 or 11? Cathy said, I want to run at the Olympics. And she said, Alright, well, I got this postcard. Right. I will run at the Olympics and he stuck that on her bedroom room, made a light switch. So every time she'd go to bed at night, you'd have to look at that side. And that was the last thing she saw. Yeah. I am going to the Olympics. And when she woke up, I walked at the door. It was the first thing that she actually visualised. And it became a thing where it just disappeared. But it was still way. And so she took this affirmation, the next step, the next make them. And she said in Atlanta, she came second to Mary Jo's Parisians and the French rama. Are you with a guy? And so she was disappointed, but then she realised she had actually written on her card. I will run out one point, whatever it was. Forty six. Perez ran one forty three or something. But Kathy beat the forty six. She ran better than that. So she thought, OK, let's change that. Let's put on the next card for Sydney. I will win regardless of the time. She put that on the thing. She said, I will win at the Sydney Olympics. And as I say in Hollywood, Mary MOTTRAM And the rest is history. It's all an affirmation. Look, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. I got one more thing to ask you now. Vera, what's your favourite tree? Tell me. I'm going somewhere once you file the blue because I'm welling up now.

[00:37:04] What's your favourite tree?

[00:37:07] I don't know. I think any sort of any sort of gum tree, any sort of natural trinket.

[00:37:12] Yeah. Yeah. A gum tree. Yep. Strong. Solid. Yeah. Australian. Pretty much like. Now you're the gum tree sees a scenario. It's a really lovely day. There's a there's a nice fire going on. It's just starting to sunstone to go down. And it's just a lovely vibe. Then if you drink alcohol or not, we could be drinking, you know, something warm, a cup of tea, and then you have the opportunity to invite three people. And I usually go for you. Well, I'll ask you. Being an elite sportsperson. What will. Who are the three people in your sporting globe in your eyes? Who are the three sporting people you invite but living past or whatever? They don't have to be a superstar. It doesn't have to be someone. We will not. Three people.

[00:38:05] Three people. All right. Well, I'd have to invite Rick because he'd I need some feedback every now and then. So he'd certainly come along with a bit of feedback and let me know how I'm travelling. So I'd certainly have to invite him along. I think I love people who have longevity in their sport. Because it shows their real commitment to that. So I think someone like Cameron Smith, you know, real down to earth, I don't know how you play a contact sport like that.

[00:38:37] Yeah. This is Cameron Smith, the rugby league player because. Yeah. Hammersmith Golf. Yeah. Well, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:44] And probably the other one because she's local and I've tried this sport and I'm not an individual sports person. And and I always. And these are lot all things. But I'd really love to make Carawan as well, because, you know, she grew up in and which is just down the road from me. I remember following her career significantly and I really feel fortunate. I guess I played a team sport. I've had that kinship experience and I really feel for those guys who do individual sports and they're out. I played in a golf tournament and I just found that quite frightening because you don't have your team around you and I just love to get into their psyche and I have work.

[00:39:26] I think, look, I'm going to come back to this report just on that point. You just have to re why you, Brian? I think once you are to be honest with you, what we've spoken about, I think you anyone can be a single player and you include it. I think you've got the I think what you've the advantage you've got is you've really got the wiring there. You just have to change the colour coding to try to tap into other other one. It's a bit like I'll go back to the last dance again on this blog. And this may be on the last dance when Jordan left. But basketball, he went to my high school and as you know, two different sports. So he had to change his training, its physicality to fit the. And they actually said if he was stuck at all, if you were a stuck out at that sport, he would have made the major leagues. Yeah, but then the big strike, the baseball struggling to he came back and then he went and he played basketball, but he struggled to get back into basketball, but mentally and physically. But you just it's like riding a bike. Once you get your balance that. To be honest, I think I won't be playing you golf. Put it that way.

[00:40:39] It might be talent like that might be talent.

[00:40:41] I'm lacking imagination that other things are also. Also, I just what I mentioned also. You're also Queensland's first female board member on the Queensland Rugby League board. So congratulations on that big milestone on the heels. Yeah, I think in older aspects of the blokes. Well, anyway, I won't go there. That's not. And secondly, you're also the board chairperson of the Townsville Port Authority. Yes. And you and you've also been on the board of the Hockeyroos team, the Hockeyroos international body. Yeah. So Renata Jarad, Mia Farrow, it's been an absolute pleasure sharing. The last, I think is 40 minutes and my producers. It is a great interview.

[00:41:34] And I will die, which we have. We have a spike on the fly nearly all the way. We. It was two hours. So but I'm really keen to maybe revisit. Obviously, I know neither Paris may buy it. Is your copy allegan. I'm a friend of it. We speak on it. I'm gonna send this come down on the centre.

[00:41:51] The lead. Yeah. Yeah, it's I mean it's been an absolute. Well thank you so much. And that. Yeah. Just thinking swinging that golf club. I think it was a preference thing by you.

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