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Speaker 1: I get are you bloody champions? Welcome to another Installing

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Speaker 1: the Year project. It's Fatty Harps Craig Anthony Harper for

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Speaker 1: about the millionth time with Matt Formston, who's a fucking gun.

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Speaker 1: I've been reading about him, watching a little bit of him.

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Speaker 1: He wouldn't call himself that. I'll call him that. Goody, Matt,

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Speaker 1: how are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm good mate and thank you. I definitely wouldn't call myself.

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Speaker 3: That you're a gun son? You're a gun? Hey?

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Speaker 1: Where do we find you? Where you at?

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Speaker 2: I'm Matt Formston everywhere at Mattformston dot com.

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Speaker 3: Cool?

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Speaker 1: But where are you at geographically?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Today, I'm home, which is one Brall on the

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Speaker 2: Central Coast, just north of Sydney.

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Speaker 1: And I see you've got looks like a dozen surfboards

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Speaker 1: behind you. Is that an actual? Are they actual? Is

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Speaker 1: that an actual room that you're in or is that

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Speaker 1: a graphic?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Now it's a room there my boards? Move on

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Speaker 2: to wow, yeah.

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Speaker 3: That's real. Wow. How many boards do you have?

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Speaker 2: I've got about fifteen boards at any one time. I've

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Speaker 2: sort of had a rule at one point with my

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Speaker 2: wife that I could have ten. But that's just you know,

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Speaker 2: we've got a few bags with boards in different places,

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Speaker 2: and I don't really know the number, not to know

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Speaker 2: the number that I don't have to count it.

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Speaker 1: Of course, what's the what's the thinking behind so many?

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Speaker 1: Like I mean, I could understand three or four short board,

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Speaker 1: long board, a couple of I mean, what's the Is

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Speaker 1: it just that you're greedy? What is that about.

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Speaker 2: Each board? See, there's three main characteristics the board. Obviously

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Speaker 2: you got your length and with and thickness are the

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Speaker 2: three main things that people would know about. But then

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Speaker 2: also you've got your rocker and your tail shape, and

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Speaker 2: you know shape, so like I might have, I've got

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Speaker 2: probably about five boards that are all six foot long,

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Speaker 2: but they all work very very differently, and I'll use

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Speaker 2: them for different things. And then you got different so

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Speaker 2: I'm more pulled into Like a narrower tail will will

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Speaker 2: manage speed better, so I will wash off speed in

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Speaker 2: more powerful waves, whereas a wider tail will generate more speed.

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Speaker 2: So won't you probably use that in smaller waves or

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Speaker 2: fatter waves to generate speed rather than controlling speed. And

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Speaker 2: then more thickness up under the under the chest will

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Speaker 2: let your paddle better, but you might might catch as

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Speaker 2: well and more faster, more critical parts of all waves.

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Speaker 2: So you'd have it for like barrels and steeper waves,

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Speaker 2: probably ever more pulled in nose which will be harder

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Speaker 2: to paddle. And then for smaller waves, I have a

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Speaker 2: wider nose which is easy to paddle and get that

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Speaker 2: entry speed for a small board. And then construction that

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Speaker 2: you'll have a POxy boards which are lighter, which once

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Speaker 2: work better in smaller waves, but then all use peu

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Speaker 2: with probly ethane for more windy or choppy days because

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Speaker 2: it'll cut through the chop. And then for big waves surfing,

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Speaker 2: when I'm towing in on really big stuff, We've actually

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Speaker 2: got lead in the board, so like most strain board's

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Speaker 2: got five kilo of lead in it, and my board

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Speaker 2: for nazarree is probably got ten kilos of lead in it.

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Speaker 3: What what is the what's the I mean?

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Speaker 2: Is it is it?

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Speaker 1: Is the attraction just that it's awesome and it's fun?

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Speaker 1: Or is it for you? Is it therapy? Is it spiritual?

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Speaker 1: Is it social because you're doing it with mates? Or

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Speaker 1: is it all of the above?

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Speaker 2: Surfing in general?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, surfing general, all.

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Speaker 2: Of the above. Yeah, I prefer it to be with

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Speaker 2: less mates these days. The ocean is very, very crowded

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Speaker 2: everywhere in the world now, but you know that's the

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Speaker 2: only part of it that's getting more challenging.

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Speaker 1: This is a dumb question to a surfer, but is

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Speaker 1: there a favorite break for.

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Speaker 2: You anywhere where there's no other people? To my other

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Speaker 2: point around crowdedness, it's it's now like I've definitely got

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Speaker 2: credit break my favorite breaks around my local area. Look,

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Speaker 2: I'll call one of them out because it's just ruined now.

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Speaker 2: Like for most surfers, you ask them what their favite

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Speaker 2: break is, I'm not going to tell you because they

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Speaker 2: don't want to blow that spot up and everyone to

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Speaker 2: go there are There's a spot near us called box Head,

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Speaker 2: which is probably one of the longest left hand breaks

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Speaker 2: in Australia, maybe in the world. If it all connects up,

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Speaker 2: it's like a kilometer long. We used to have so

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Speaker 2: much fun there, but it's just every time there's a

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Speaker 2: swell now there's like three hundred peop than the water.

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Speaker 2: I basically don't surf there anymore.

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Speaker 3: It's not really worth going, is it.

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Speaker 1: So rather than me read something mate, tell my audience

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Speaker 1: a little bit about you give us a little bit

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Speaker 1: of the Matt Formstone bio, if you'd be so gracious.

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Speaker 2: So I'm blind. I've got three percent. I've got no

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Speaker 2: central vision in about three percent peripheral vision. So it's

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Speaker 2: just a big blur. I can see a little bit

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Speaker 2: of shapes and lines and maybe, like people say, how

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Speaker 2: far can you see? I can sort of see the

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Speaker 2: line of the horizon, so I can see a long

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Speaker 2: way away, but there's no detail, and then I can't

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Speaker 2: see him on facial features straight in front of me.

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Speaker 2: I am a paralympian. I was a world world champion cyclist,

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Speaker 2: world record holder as a cyclist. I'm a business business executive.

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Speaker 2: I run sustainability for enterprise. I'm a dad, really proud dad,

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Speaker 2: and a rugby league coach, junior footay coach, four time

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Speaker 2: world champion surfer, big wave world record holder, and just

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Speaker 2: just got a againess world record for the biggest wave

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Speaker 2: ever served by a blonde person. And that's enough.

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Speaker 3: That's enough. That'll do. Now you just bragging? How big

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Speaker 3: was that? How big was that wave? Mate?

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Speaker 2: Fifty one feet?

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Speaker 1: It's about five stories, so think everyone, think of a

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Speaker 1: five story building or a twenty story building.

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Speaker 3: In the first five floors. I don't even know.

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Speaker 1: How do you get your sense of spatial awareness?

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Speaker 3: Matt?

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Speaker 1: How do you how do you do that without vision?

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Speaker 1: How do you know where you are? I mean, I

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Speaker 1: know there's dumb questions, but they're probably understandable, and I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you've been asked a version of this, so I apologize,

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Speaker 1: but we've never chatted.

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Speaker 3: How do you know where you are? How do you

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Speaker 3: know where you're going?

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Speaker 1: And how do you know where you are on the wave.

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Speaker 2: It's a very reasonable question, but I'll say I'll answer it,

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Speaker 2: but I'll also say it back to you. I'll preface

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Speaker 2: it with a question, how do you walk?

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Speaker 3: Automatically? Instinctively? Intuitive?

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Speaker 2: Yes? Right? So e Then people say, how do you like?

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Speaker 2: It's the same sort of question. I've been surfing for

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Speaker 2: nearly forty years. It's like walking for me. I just

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Speaker 2: do it, so it's really hard to explain how I do.

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Speaker 2: And I've been surfing as a blind person for almost

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Speaker 2: forty years too, right, So there's that element. But now

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Speaker 2: that I've had to explain it a number of times.

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Speaker 2: I can feel the waves, so I can feel the

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Speaker 2: water traveling up my rail on my board and but

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Speaker 2: by the way it's traveled, the way the water comes

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Speaker 2: up the rail of my board, and through you know,

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Speaker 2: we talk about ten thousand hours becoming an expert. I've

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Speaker 2: done one more than ten thousand hours of surfing. I

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Speaker 2: can feel I've had that many stacks and wipeouts and

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Speaker 2: got it wrong so many times. Like making mistakes a

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Speaker 2: really important part of becoming good at something, and I've

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Speaker 2: made lots of mistakes. So through that, I now can

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Speaker 2: feel with my board's doing. Like when I go down

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Speaker 2: the wave, my front foot's basically my cane. Like I

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Speaker 2: use a cane on land, sometimes my front foot becomes

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Speaker 2: my cane. I can feel my way down the wave,

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Speaker 2: then back up the wave, and the way the water

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Speaker 2: is tracking up the rail of my board. I know

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Speaker 2: of the book, but if the wave is going to

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Speaker 2: barrel so it's going to pitch over my head, or

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Speaker 2: if I need to get further out in front of it,

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Speaker 2: and then when I'm going up to do a turn,

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Speaker 2: what it's doing. So I just feeling everything under my board,

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Speaker 2: and I'm just one hundred percent present, so I'm not

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Speaker 2: worried about the next section of just feeling what the

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Speaker 2: wave's doing. Right now and then for fifty foot waves,

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Speaker 2: I've got a few extra little bits that we've worked out,

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Speaker 2: so we use a whistle. So I'm obviously not paddling

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Speaker 2: into waves that big. I'm getting towed in with the

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Speaker 2: jet ski, so I'm on a tow rope. And then

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Speaker 2: when the boys know that's the wave they want me

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Speaker 2: to get into, they basically as I'm in the right spot,

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Speaker 2: they blow like we go really out orienteering whistle. They

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Speaker 2: blow that, and I just got to trust it. They've

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Speaker 2: got me in the right spot, and I pull the

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Speaker 2: rope and let go, and then it's the same process,

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Speaker 2: just feeling my way down the wave. But because I'm

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Speaker 2: going so fast on those waves, you're doing sort of

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Speaker 2: sixty five cornus an hour bit more. And as I

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Speaker 2: said before, I got about ten kilos, I let in

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Speaker 2: my board to hold my board in the water so

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Speaker 2: it doesn't start skipping out of the water. And then

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Speaker 2: they I was turning too late on those bigger waves,

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Speaker 2: so they worked out that they ride the corner of

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Speaker 2: the wave on the ski and watch me, and they

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Speaker 2: blow the whistle a second time, and then I can

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Speaker 2: I turn, and then they blow the whistle a third time.

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Speaker 2: I kick out of the wave. So it's a bit

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Speaker 2: of feel and a bit of bit of information from

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Speaker 2: the boys with the whistle.

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Speaker 3: Okay, now that all makes sense.

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Speaker 1: Here's my only here's my only question about your analogy

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Speaker 1: between walking and surfing. If I was walking and blind,

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Speaker 1: I'd be bumping into shit all the time.

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Speaker 3: Mate.

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Speaker 1: I'm good at walking, but I'm not good at navigating

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Speaker 1: the world with my eyes closed.

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Speaker 2: And here's the here's the here's a bit of what

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Speaker 2: that won't won't you won't be intuitive for you, but

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Speaker 2: we'll click when I say it. Right, You're one hundred

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Speaker 2: percent right. So walking is a lot harder for me

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Speaker 2: than surfing. Wow, Because walking there's potholes and gutters and

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Speaker 2: cars and trees and low hanging branches and things that

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Speaker 2: just want to get me and hurt me all the time.

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Speaker 2: And I've forever got brushins and rolled ankles and I'm

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Speaker 2: forever injured. In the surf, I've hit a bit of

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Speaker 2: a bumper, fall off on them and water.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I guess in a way.

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Speaker 1: That the ocean is this is going to sound maybe

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Speaker 1: this is wrong, but I feel like it's more predictable

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Speaker 1: for you than terra FIRMA.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't say more predictable, but just more forgiving.

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Speaker 2: Like I can slide, like as I go off, I

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Speaker 2: can slide and move my feet around. Whereas once I've

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Speaker 2: rolled my ankle or I've hit a toaball it's too late,

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Speaker 2: you know what I mean, smashed my touchin into a

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Speaker 2: table into a table. And but also I can go

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Speaker 2: full gas, like if I run anywhere, it's like unless

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Speaker 2: it's a controlled environment, run on the beach, and I

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Speaker 2: make sure I run into the locations where it's pretty safe.

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Speaker 2: Yeah it's bad, right, Like if I'm like snowboarding, for example,

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Speaker 2: I go snowboarding. If I get it wrong, I go

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Speaker 2: with the cliff. That's a really bad outcome. Or run

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Speaker 2: into a tree at high speed, very bad outcome. Whereas

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Speaker 2: I can go as fast and as crazy as I

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Speaker 2: like in the surf and as long as my body's

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Speaker 2: physically fit enough and strong enough, and I can, I can.

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Speaker 2: I've trained as a big wave surfer. I've trained to

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Speaker 2: hold my breath. I can stand the water for almost

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Speaker 2: six minutes, So you know, I've got all those physical

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Speaker 2: components that are no different to me than they are

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Speaker 2: enable body. Big wave surfer. I'm just probably going to

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Speaker 2: get it wrong more than they do because I can't see.

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Speaker 1: Does your missus never say to you listen, squeeze and

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Speaker 1: that's no fucking snowboarding for you.

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Speaker 2: She used to, but she realized when she does that,

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Speaker 2: it does it's I then probably go bigger. So which

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Speaker 2: I'm still trying to get that out of that little

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Speaker 2: teenage brain out of my body that has that rebellion.

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Speaker 2: But look, I'm toying with the idea of doing a

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Speaker 2: free diving world record at the moment because of that

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Speaker 2: breath capacity I have from big wave surfing. And she's like,

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Speaker 2: can we not do this? But it's, you know, it's

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Speaker 2: just who I am. I'm just inquisitive about what's next.

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Speaker 3: How old are you? How old are you?

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Speaker 2: I turned forty six yesterday.

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Speaker 3: Wow, you look amazing, dude, Happy birthday.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: It's funny speaking of people who love the ocean, right.

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Speaker 1: So two of my friends are Trevor Handy, who I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you know of, ye and Tammy van Wissa, who

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Speaker 1: you might not know of.

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Speaker 3: Do you know who Tammy van Wissa is? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: So I chatted with her yesterday on the show, and

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Speaker 1: I used to train her. Someone excise physiologists, but I

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Speaker 1: used to train her and she was for quite a

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Speaker 1: long time the world's best female endurance swimmer swimmer, and

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Speaker 1: both both Trevor and Tammy talk about how therapeutic the

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Speaker 1: ocean is for them, like it's almost you know, meditative, spiritual,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. Do you feel like

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Speaker 1: your home when you're in the ocean?

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Speaker 2: Does it make for sure? I can't be away from it?

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Speaker 2: Like when I was when I was a psycho pro cyclist,

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Speaker 2: I'd spend months in Europe racing in like very landlocked areas,

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Speaker 2: and as I was getting deeper into that time, I

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Speaker 2: could fielm my psychology and I suppose my motion and

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Speaker 2: everything just needing that that that top up from the ocean.

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Speaker 2: And so yeah, I just now I get it every day.

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Speaker 2: I just need it. And it's anything like I went

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Speaker 2: ice skating with my kids yesterday and that's always playoffs

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Speaker 2: ice hockey as well. But it's still water, right, It's

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Speaker 2: the something to do with that, like it's frozen water,

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Speaker 2: but it's it's water, and I think and anything to

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Speaker 2: do with the water sport, I love it because it's

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Speaker 2: just the feel of flow, and water. You know, it

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Speaker 2: doesn't have tables, so it's always fun.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is true. Yeah, nice observation. Tell me about

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Speaker 1: So I'm fascinated with high performance. I talk about it

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Speaker 1: all the time, and I've worked with lots of teams

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Speaker 1: and athletes and organizations and stuff. What's what's your kind

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Speaker 1: of And I'm sure it's varied, but in terms of

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Speaker 1: sleep and recovery and training and nutrition and you know,

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Speaker 1: optimizing your physiology, give us a bit of an insight

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Speaker 1: into how you do all that.

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Speaker 2: So right now, look, it's totally tuned back when I

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Speaker 2: was a cyclist, as you know, that is a fitness sport.

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Speaker 2: Like there's no there's very There's not a lot of

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Speaker 2: technique involved. It's whoever is the fittest, whoever has the

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Speaker 2: most strength and power to weight ratio, they're basically going

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Speaker 2: to win because obviously there's technique involved. But when you're

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Speaker 2: in the top twenty in the world, everyone's got similar technique.

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Speaker 2: It just comes down to fitness. So when I was

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Speaker 2: doing that sport, it was crazy, like I I'd have

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Speaker 2: to be in bed by nine o'clock every night to

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Speaker 2: get up and train every day. It's full fifteen six

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Speaker 2: days a week doing sort of one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: k's ish to two hundred k's a morning, and then

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Speaker 2: I do gym and I was like seventy three. I'm

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Speaker 2: about ninety kilos now as a surfer, and you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm a little bit more body fault that I was

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Speaker 2: carrying as a cyclist, but I'm pretty fit human. I

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Speaker 2: was racing as a cyclist at seventy three kilos. They're

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Speaker 2: just not eating at all. But while I was seventy

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Speaker 2: three kilos, I was lead pressing four hundred and forty kilos.

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Speaker 2: The power to weight ratio was crazy.

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Speaker 3: That's ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: And forty kilos so that's like forty five degree leg

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Speaker 1: press plate loaded.

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Speaker 2: Was it correct? Yeah, like every every twenty and twenty

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Speaker 2: five kilo plate in the gym basically, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's incredible. And how tall are you? I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out what that ninety kilo took? Six foot

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Speaker 1: so six ft and ninety so, like you're a strong,

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Speaker 1: solid lump of an athlete. Like you're not skinny, You're

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Speaker 1: not gargantuan, but you're definitely not skinny.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: No, I'm not the smallest human getting around, But I'm

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Speaker 2: definitely a presence.

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Speaker 1: So what what is your you know, when we talk

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Speaker 1: about what we do?

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 1: So whether or not like for me, I started a

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Speaker 1: PhD at fifty six, So I do podcasting, I do

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Speaker 1: corporate speaking.

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Speaker 3: I've been training. I'm sixty.

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Speaker 1: I've been training in a gym every day in my

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Speaker 1: life since I was fourteen.

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Speaker 3: Blah blah blah.

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Speaker 1: So they're the things that they're my wat's, But I'm

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Speaker 1: interested in the why behind the what, like what what's

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Speaker 1: your what's your why? With the pushing, the striving, the

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Speaker 1: raising the bar, the trying new things, the danger, the uncertainty,

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Speaker 1: the vulnerability.

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Speaker 3: What's the driver for all of that? Do you know?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? So it's evolved for me over the years. So

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Speaker 2: definitely when I was younger, it definitely was too There

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Speaker 2: was the f you to the world to say, can

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Speaker 2: you keep telling me? Because I got told, you know,

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Speaker 2: when I was five, and my parents got told, your

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Speaker 2: child's got disability, he has to go to a school

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Speaker 2: for kids with special needs. He won't get an education,

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Speaker 2: he won't have friends, he won't play sport, he won't

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Speaker 2: have a career, all these things. That was the prognosis.

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Speaker 1: Terrible what kind of terrible fucking input is that from people.

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Speaker 2: Who says that, Well, all the experts, so that you know,

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Speaker 2: the specialists, a doctors, the school principal, the school teachers.

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Speaker 2: So my parents had to fight that trend. And and

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Speaker 2: I was in a mainstream school and not like he

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Speaker 2: has to leave the mainstream school, and like, but he's

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Speaker 2: doing okay at the mainstream school, so why does he

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Speaker 2: have to leave? So I was lucky that my parents

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Speaker 2: had that within them like myself. My dad was a

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Speaker 2: sales and marketing director, so he's used to having challenging

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Speaker 2: conversations with people. And basically so I stayed in that school.

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Speaker 2: So I went through and I was one of the

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Speaker 2: not many kids with disabilities went through in the eighties.

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Speaker 2: They were just kids with disability didn't go through mainstream schooling.

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Speaker 2: And because of that, the teachers weren't set up for me,

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Speaker 2: so they you know, it was it was always hard,

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Speaker 2: but there was always this thing like you can't. And

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Speaker 2: I played rugby league for multiple years. I ended up

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Speaker 2: playing representative rugby union. I played ice hockey to a

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Speaker 2: representative level. But every time I start one of those sports,

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Speaker 2: people like the blind kid can't play like this, can't, can't, can't.

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Speaker 2: So the whole world was always saying you can't do it.

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Speaker 2: So my brain, my whole, my whole psychology is I

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Speaker 2: can do it. I'll prove you wrong, you know. And

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Speaker 2: that was that was my that was my why back then,

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Speaker 2: and that carried on and then I and then I

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Speaker 2: got really sick when I was about sixteen, got glandular feval,

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Speaker 2: was in bed for six weeks and the doctor said,

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Speaker 2: if you play footy so that that that time was

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Speaker 2: rugby league, ruby union, sorry, and ice hockey either or

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Speaker 2: and you get a stick to the ribs or a

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Speaker 2: big tackle one of the ribs, that you could have

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Speaker 2: a ruptured'splain because of my honest. So I missed the

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Speaker 2: whole season. Then I couldn't. I have had all these

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Speaker 2: processes I used around following the ball and hearing the

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Speaker 2: park go across the ice and I lost all that,

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Speaker 2: And then the kids got better and stronger, and I

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Speaker 2: just couldn't keep up anymore. So I found partying and

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Speaker 2: I found you know, I found drugs, and I just

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Speaker 2: I went down this really toxic spiral. It was it

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Speaker 2: got into like I was fighting because I've got bullied

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Speaker 2: at school. So my way of dealing with the bullies

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Speaker 2: was to bash them. So I broke kids fingers and

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Speaker 2: say how many fingers? And my holding upsides, so how

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Speaker 2: many things you want to keep? All this really toxic stuff.

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Speaker 2: And that went off about ten years and then I

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Speaker 2: found my way out and I was in my late twenties.

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Speaker 2: I basically got my first executive role in corporate. Within

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Speaker 2: a year, I started writing for Australia, met my wife,

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Speaker 2: and it all just turned around because I decided I

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Speaker 2: took ownership of my life in instead of trying to

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Speaker 2: say f you to the world and prove everybody wrong.

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Speaker 2: It's just like what I took ownership of what I

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Speaker 2: want to do. Who do I want to be? Like?

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Speaker 2: I wasn't That wasn't the human I wanted to be.

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Speaker 2: On knew I could. I could be better for myself

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Speaker 2: and for the world. And since that time, now it's

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Speaker 2: about best being inquisitive about what's possible for me. And

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Speaker 2: because of that that ten year hiatus, I'm like, I

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Speaker 2: only died right. I was lucky I didn't end up

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Speaker 2: dead or in jail. And because of that, I've got

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Speaker 2: this now, I've got this perspective of life like, I

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Speaker 2: don't want to go back to that. I know how

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Speaker 2: bad that is. And that's what I suppose why I

400
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Speaker 2: can train as hard as I do because I did

401
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Speaker 2: train hard as an athlete when I was younger. I had

402
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Speaker 2: to train harder than all the kids that could see

403
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Speaker 2: to be the fittest kid on the field. And then

404
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Speaker 2: I know, now you know that what brought that toxic

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00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:57,239
Speaker 2: party life is like as well, and I don't want

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Speaker 2: to be part of that. So I just just pushed myself.

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Speaker 2: That's just being inquisitive. So I take on this next

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Speaker 2: journey of free diving. It's just because I'm inquisitive about

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Speaker 2: what's possible from them and what's possible for human beings.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and with all of that, I love that. I

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Speaker 1: love that turnaround. I love that story. Was there a

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Speaker 1: was it just a cumulative thing, Matt over ten years

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Speaker 1: of going this is not fucking working. Or was there

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Speaker 1: a light bulb moment? Was there an epiphany an event?

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Speaker 2: There was? There was no light bulb moment, but there

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Speaker 2: was there was light bulb moments. So there was one

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Speaker 2: time when I, and I tell this story very often,

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Speaker 2: but there was one time when I, like I woke

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Speaker 2: up after after being like a blackout of partying way

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Speaker 2: too hard and not knowing what was going on. And

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Speaker 2: I had I had like BRUI MT knuckles and had

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Speaker 2: blood alab me, which wasn't mine. That was one moment

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Speaker 2: in my early twenties. And then I had a few

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Speaker 2: relationships that didn't weren't successful, and you know, when you

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Speaker 2: look at it at the time, it's easy to blame

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Speaker 2: someone else, but then when you look into it, you're level.

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Speaker 2: I was, you know, there's two people in that in

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Speaker 2: that relationship, so there was there wasn't. And then my work,

429
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Speaker 2: like my career was sort of stagnating. And then I

430
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Speaker 2: was like, you know, if I take ownership and I

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Speaker 2: change these behaviors, I can be a better man, be

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Speaker 2: more successful, animal, happy man. And I wasn't happy, you know,

433
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,400
Speaker 2: and I really wanted to have I wanted to become

434
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,399
Speaker 2: a dad, I wanted to be a husband, and that

435
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:14,880
Speaker 2: were things that really important to me. And I knew

436
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 2: that I needed to change things in me to be

437
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,800
Speaker 2: to make that a successful thing. So you know, I

438
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,880
Speaker 2: made those changes over a couple of years. And then

439
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,440
Speaker 2: once I made a few of the minor changes around

440
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 2: stop partying and having goals like once I had that

441
00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:30,600
Speaker 2: goal of writing for Australia. That was really good because

442
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,320
Speaker 2: it changed that I couldn't then go drinking. I couldn't

443
00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:35,800
Speaker 2: go do these things because then I've set my training backs.

444
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,919
Speaker 2: So they were they were just things that all clicked

445
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,640
Speaker 2: in that all helped me get there really quickly in the.

446
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,360
Speaker 1: Middle of you know, like the mix of ambition and

447
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,280
Speaker 1: anger and dealing with the stuff that you were dealing

448
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,680
Speaker 1: in that ten year period. Was there ever moments of

449
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,040
Speaker 1: and if there was, I would understand, because I think

450
00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: I would.

451
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,920
Speaker 3: But was there ever moments of self pity like woe was?

452
00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:06,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure there was. I don't really remember it,

453
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 2: but yeah, I think definitely through the relationship breakdowns there

454
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 2: was a lot of that you know, why why am

455
00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:14,360
Speaker 2: I having to do this? You know, you know, why

456
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,760
Speaker 2: am not good enough? All that type of stuff. Yeah,

457
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 2: I'm sure there was in my career as well, like

458
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,400
Speaker 2: where you know I looked because well, to be honest,

459
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 2: the world not a not set up for people with disabilities.

460
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 2: I'm a massive advocate now and I work a lot

461
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,240
Speaker 2: in the disability space, on the chair of the Disability

462
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 2: Network at optice and through that, I've got a really

463
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,600
Speaker 2: good lens of what what disability looks like in the

464
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,560
Speaker 2: corporate world. And like at the moment, there's a huge

465
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,159
Speaker 2: gap between the amount of people with the don't have

466
00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 2: a disability to do a disability with employment like where

467
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 2: it's it's a huge gap. So the opportunity to start there.

468
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,040
Speaker 2: But like in the corporate environment, a lot of the

469
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:53,720
Speaker 2: systems don't work, so there's an opportunity to just go

470
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:55,919
Speaker 2: whole is me, you know, like it's not working for me,

471
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 2: so I'm not going to do it. But but there

472
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,679
Speaker 2: was obviously there just you know, through that whole change

473
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 2: a period I was like, you know what it is,

474
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 2: what it is, So I'm just gonna have to work

475
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 2: with what it is. We work with the tools I've

476
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 2: got and do the best I can. And I used

477
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:11,879
Speaker 2: to hide my disability so when I first, you know,

478
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:13,920
Speaker 2: were a first couple of jobs, I wouldn't tell people

479
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,200
Speaker 2: that I was blind because I can get around a

480
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,040
Speaker 2: little bit and sort of fake it. Do you make it?

481
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,919
Speaker 2: But then I realized, you know what, that's actually my

482
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,080
Speaker 2: strength because I lead with So I'm on a few

483
00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 2: boards and now like I'm going for very very senior roles.

484
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 2: When I'm going for those roles, I'm going straight in

485
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:31,720
Speaker 2: with I've got disability, but despite because of my disability,

486
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,200
Speaker 2: I'm a very good problem solver. I've got huge amounts

487
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 2: of resilience. I've got all these attributes that I've built

488
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,920
Speaker 2: because of my disability. So I lead with my disability

489
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 2: now rather than hiding it. And that's been a big

490
00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:43,359
Speaker 2: mind shift for me, and I try and help. You know,

491
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,919
Speaker 2: other people use that to go you know, but just

492
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 2: your difference actually makes you better. And as market as

493
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 2: there any business person you talk to, they'd say, oh,

494
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,640
Speaker 2: when we need like what's the differentiator, Like every car

495
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 2: is the same, every TV is the same, but what's

496
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 2: your differentiator? But then, as humans, we hide our difference

497
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,159
Speaker 2: rather than leading that difference. So I think, you know,

498
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,920
Speaker 2: that's something that we wanted to do better hundred percent.

499
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: And I mean I think about you navigating the world

500
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,480
Speaker 1: with pretty much no vision. Like you said, you're constantly

501
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,199
Speaker 1: solving problems. But it also means like problem solving is

502
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,879
Speaker 1: a form of creativity, right, So you're always having to

503
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,439
Speaker 1: think outside the box, whereas the rest of us just

504
00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,160
Speaker 1: walk across the road. Unconsciously or do whatever, or open

505
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,199
Speaker 1: the gates, shut the gates, slide the bolt, da da

506
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 1: da da, like all these things that for us are

507
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 1: unconscious and you know, without thought.

508
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 3: Like for you, that's a very different prospect.

509
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 1: And I just, yeah, I agree with you, and I'm

510
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: not saying that to just endorse you, but I think,

511
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,719
Speaker 1: you know, there's some research out recently that people with

512
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,359
Speaker 1: dyslexia are three times more likely to become millionaires than

513
00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:57,439
Speaker 1: people without because people with dyslexia, obviously, you know, can't

514
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 1: read either can't read at all times or can't read

515
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: well at all, so they have to navigate, and of

516
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: course you too, but they have to navigate this world

517
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: that is to an extent dependent dependent on.

518
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 3: Being able to read shit, and they can't.

519
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: So they end up being like you, really adaptable, flexible,

520
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 1: able to improvise, adapt overcome, survive, thrive in the middle

521
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,920
Speaker 1: of pressure, and deal with all of the atypicalness of

522
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: existing in a world where you're not like most people

523
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:34,719
Speaker 1: in the room. I mean, yeah, I think that communication.

524
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 2: Is a key part of that too. Now, I just

525
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 2: think communications keep out of that too. I are a

526
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 2: lot of sales teams and a lot of the time

527
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,400
Speaker 2: people just want to talk to people, Whereas I think

528
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: if you've got this lext or something, you become a

529
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 2: very good listener because that's your only way that you

530
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,199
Speaker 2: can consume information. So and I think that's a key

531
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:50,879
Speaker 2: skill that a lot of us don't have. And we

532
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 2: because we can read or I can't read, but because

533
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 2: other people can read, they just go, I'm not going

534
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,240
Speaker 2: to focus now because they can just read the document,

535
00:23:58,240 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 2: Whereas if you don't have to do that, you have

536
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,400
Speaker 2: to you have to focus on what's happening and understand

537
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,960
Speaker 2: the concept. So if you're not understanding, you ask questions,

538
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 2: which makes you're very good communicator.

539
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,960
Speaker 1: I also feel Matt like doing this stuff that you've

540
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,159
Speaker 1: had to do, Like you can't wake up tomorrow and go,

541
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,160
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm not going to do blindness today.

542
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 3: Fuck it.

543
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: You know everybody else can go, fuck, I'm not going

544
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,280
Speaker 1: to the gym, or I'm not going to do my

545
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: run or you know, a friend of mine, Joel's a quadriplegic,

546
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 1: and I always talk about him and he can't get

547
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: up today and go, you know what, fuck quadriplegia.

548
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 3: I'm not doing it, Like.

549
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:35,879
Speaker 1: Yeah, fuck it. I'm just going to walk today. I

550
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 1: can't be bothered being qudriplegic, right, And the same with you.

551
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,719
Speaker 1: But like when you, when you don't have the option

552
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: of easy, where you have to do hard, then you

553
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,639
Speaker 1: become strong and resilient, you know, almost just as a

554
00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 1: byproduct of your day to day function. Whereas at the moment,

555
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: I don't know what you think about this, I think

556
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: to an extent because of the great modelly coddling of

557
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: the twenty first century, where we don't want anyone to

558
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 1: participate in a sport where they might lose. We don't

559
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: want to give out, you know, we don't want to fuck.

560
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,439
Speaker 1: Don't let them, don't let's not keep score, you know,

561
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 1: let's let's nerve the world. Don't let them climb because

562
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 1: they might hurt them. Like I feel like, you know,

563
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: in an intelligent and a caring way, like a motcom

564
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,960
Speaker 1: of pain and discomfort and uncertainty is good.

565
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 2: Right, don't get me started on this topic, mate.

566
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,680
Speaker 3: Oh come on, let's hear it. Son fucking open the door. Bro.

567
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 3: Come on, Well, my boy, my.

568
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,160
Speaker 2: Boys play league and my son, my oldest son's ten.

569
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,399
Speaker 2: He's his team last year was undefeated. They and then

570
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 2: everyone knows the score. This whole bass about not keeping

571
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,040
Speaker 2: the score. Every parent, every child, everyone knows the score.

572
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 2: They go to school and they get marked at school.

573
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 2: They get graded at school. They know who's the best reader,

574
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 2: who's not the best reader. But then they go into

575
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 2: the sporting environment, they're not allowed to be compared to

576
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 2: each other. Yes, and all my son wants to do

577
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 2: is win a premiership. He all he wants to know

578
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 2: is what the other teams are doing. All the other

579
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 2: kids all they want and there's just been taken away

580
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,119
Speaker 2: from them. It's horrendous and it takes away resilience. And

581
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 2: then they didn't know when they're going to introduce it.

582
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 2: They introduce so now for regular argue, they've taken it

583
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 2: from under tens. It used to be undertends and now

584
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,680
Speaker 2: they've moved up to Thirteen's what's one of the hardest

585
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 2: things you have to do with in your life, transitioning

586
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,639
Speaker 2: from from primary school to high school. So they're not

587
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 2: just taking those children that they're having to do with

588
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 2: going to high school and that transition, they're going to

589
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 2: make them learn about losing when they're going to high school.

590
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, it's just crazy.

591
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 1: And also you think about like when you step out

592
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 1: of that bubble mate, Yeah, okay, now you're now you're

593
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 1: getting a job or you're going to university. By the way,

594
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: no one gives a fuck about you or your feelings. Right,

595
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,400
Speaker 1: It's not your boss's job, or your university lecture's job,

596
00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 1: or the world's job to manage your feelings and emotions.

597
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: And if we're constantly running into ference and trying to

598
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 1: protect somebody's feelings until they're thirty, fucking we're not allowing

599
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: them to build resilience.

600
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, this is one of the things. Back to

601
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 2: my diagnosis, my dad was having. So when I start

602
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 2: first started playing rugby league, Dad's having a beer with

603
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,360
Speaker 2: a couple of mates and they said, oh, does Matt

604
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 2: have any mates that want to play because we're short

605
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 2: on the team. This is like an underfile. I was

606
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 2: under six's team and Dad said, well, made your play.

607
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 2: And instead of those dads going good on you, my

608
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 2: dad's name is Don. Good on your Don for letting

609
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,439
Speaker 2: giving your son with a disability opportunity to play, and

610
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,040
Speaker 2: you have a try it if he files in, you

611
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 2: know whatever. Instead of doing that, they went, oh, no, Don,

612
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 2: your son's blind, like he can't play, You're putting him

613
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 2: in harm's way and making him out to be the

614
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 2: bad parents. That was the whole tone of narrative throughout

615
00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 2: my whole childhood was when my parents gave me opportunity

616
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 2: to do things, the whole community would say, you're bad

617
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,119
Speaker 2: parents because you're putting him in harm's way. Wowow, But

618
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 2: we all know now that that we should know that

619
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 2: has set me up to be the athlete that I am.

620
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 2: Like I've been dominant in multiple sports because I've got

621
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 2: to do to play against people that were ever bodied

622
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 2: and then like the contrast of that as well as

623
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 2: I then went on to play representative rugby union on

624
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:11,239
Speaker 2: the northern beach of the Sydney which is like one

625
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,159
Speaker 2: of the brooding grounds for rugby union in a time

626
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,439
Speaker 2: when rugby was very successful. So like, when you think

627
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 2: about who all those other kids that are turning up

628
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,640
Speaker 2: to rep triyouts, how the hell did the kid that's

629
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 2: got at the time five percent vision get selected over

630
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 2: other kids? Because I wanted it more and I was

631
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 2: more focused on my job. I knew what my job

632
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 2: was and I wasn't trying to be everything to everyone,

633
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,479
Speaker 2: And you know, float around, which just shows you know,

634
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 2: if you give, if you give an opportunities and you

635
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 2: take them, then the world opens up for you. If

636
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 2: you don't take your opportunities, or if you know, if

637
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 2: you're hide away in the corner, or if you protect

638
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 2: people from what might happen, they're never going to flourish

639
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 2: and they're never gonna have those experiences to fail and learn.

640
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love it. So you've got a movie.

641
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: Is it a movie or a doco? You've got coming

642
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: out soon?

643
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 2: It's a doco, it's a documentary. It's a nine. It's

644
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 2: a full featured documentary movie. It's we actually launched at

645
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 2: the Sydney Film Festival. We just did two screenings, all

646
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 2: sold out there. We're getting great reviews. Then we go

647
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 2: like we go cinemas nationally on the fifteenth of August.

648
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,240
Speaker 2: But we're so the premiere release will be at the

649
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 2: Sydney Opera House on the eleventh of August. So that's

650
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 2: all all happening right now. It's called The Blind c Sea.

651
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 1: The Blind ce. Oh that's great, mate. And how did

652
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: that come about? Who filmed it, whose idea was it?

653
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 2: What?

654
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:28,640
Speaker 3: How long did it take?

655
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 2: So it was filmed by a company called Brick Studios.

656
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 2: The directors Daniel Finec or Finec. We've been we've worked

657
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 2: together on a few little small clips like through the

658
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 2: Rio Paralympics, and people have been saying, you need a movie,

659
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,719
Speaker 2: you need to do a movie, and you know, it's

660
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:49,440
Speaker 2: one of those things people said, you need to make

661
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 2: a movie, but your life it's a bit of a

662
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 2: you know, you laugh and good good on you, and

663
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 2: then look at an opportunity to come up. We got

664
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 2: some funding so said let's do this and then we

665
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 2: were sort so the first forty five it's a ninety

666
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 2: minute film. The first forty five minutes is my backstory

667
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 2: and my parents telling that the stuff we've talked about today,

668
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 2: and then must equip it on my cycling career and

669
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 2: break ended up breaking a world record which is an

670
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 2: able body world record for four kilometers on the goor droone.

671
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 2: And then it transitions into surfing, and the last forty

672
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: five minutes is Nazaree so the big wave, which is

673
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 2: the biggest wave in the world and finishes up with

674
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 2: me breaking the Guinness World Record for a big wave

675
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 2: for a parasurfer. So that's the short and long of it.

676
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 2: But yeah, he's got some great.

677
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 1: It's called the Blind Sea. Everyone's going to be in cinemas.

678
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: August thirteen. I was talking yesterday, as I said to

679
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:43,760
Speaker 1: you earlier about with Tammy van Wisa, and she swam

680
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: just under two and a half thousand kilometers. Mate, she

681
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: swam the Murray River right now, didn't It took her

682
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,239
Speaker 1: one hundred and I think it was one hundred and

683
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 1: thirteen days. She broke the record by I think thirty

684
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: one days if I'm not right right, which was held

685
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: by a bloke. She swam in one hundred and thirteen days.

686
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: She did not have one day off. That's the condition

687
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: of the record. You can't have any days off. Fucking

688
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 1: brown snakes, tiger snakes, lots, mud infections, like it's it's

689
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: not a dirty river, but it's a muddy river, so

690
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 1: it's dirty time. It's fucking horrible. And I've trained lots

691
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: of athletes, but I reckon you're in the same category

692
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: of all the And I've worked with AFL teams, I've

693
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: worked with Olympians, I've worked with you know, fighters and

694
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: MMA athletes, and she's the toughest athlete I've ever trained, right,

695
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: just in terms of and dealing with you know, like

696
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: she swam lock Ness, which is fucking freezing forty kilometers, right,

697
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 1: and yeah, she's just the toughest, the toughest athlete I've

698
00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 1: ever worked with. But I'm thinking, did you say the

699
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: four k's.

700
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 3: On the velodrome that you yeah?

701
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 1: That, I mean people who don't like as an x

702
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: I sign, that's just fucking Firstly, how many minutes.

703
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 2: Is that we did? Four to eleven? Four minutes? So

704
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 2: that's just so.

705
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 1: That's just two hundred and fifty one seconds of pain,

706
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 1: Like that's just well, maybe not the first ten, but

707
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 1: from there, I mean, how do you deal with getting

708
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 1: in that level of discomfort? I'd be interested to know

709
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: you lactate threshold, by the way, that would that would

710
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: have been just four minutes of agony, wouldn't it.

711
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 2: Look it's the first three minutes aren't too bad because

712
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 2: you're sort of building up, you're staying within your threshold.

713
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 2: I mean, and when I say not too bad, not

714
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 2: too bad as an elite athlete, so the norm of

715
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,560
Speaker 2: him being it would probably be unmanageable. But when you've

716
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 2: trained at that level and you never do foks as

717
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 2: a when you train to that level, you never do

718
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 2: a four k effort ever in training because your body

719
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:06,440
Speaker 2: then your body remembers how bad it is and won't

720
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 2: do it. So you're tricking your body, so you trick

721
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 2: your Only the longest effort you ever do is three

722
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 2: k's in training and then that last k and then

723
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 2: you do longer rides, so you do one hundred and

724
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 2: twenty k rides or whatever, but you never do four

725
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 2: gas four k's until you do it, until you do

726
00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 2: it to your race. And they say every time you

727
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 2: do one of those, you basically take it because the

728
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 2: amount of stress it puts on your heart, it takes

729
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 2: about a year off your life. That's how that's how

730
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:32,200
Speaker 2: bad it is. So you're you're done so once and

731
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 2: once you train to that level as well, like you

732
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 2: you go so deep that you can't actually you squeeze

733
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 2: everything out of your body. You can't get yourself off

734
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,360
Speaker 2: the bike. So we like finish the effort and then

735
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 2: we just roll around and we need like there's twenties

736
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 2: and mechanics that actually help us stop and get off

737
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 2: the bike. It's that's that's the level you get to.

738
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 2: But it was it was painful, but the emotional part

739
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 2: that got through me through it. My my oldest son

740
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 2: was six weeks old at the time, so I was

741
00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:02,240
Speaker 2: away my son and my wife was looking after our baby,

742
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 2: and I was, you know, as that started, that last

743
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 2: minute was hurting. I was just like, and the thing

744
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:08,879
Speaker 2: about my parents, what they went through and their kids,

745
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,799
Speaker 2: and that just you know, that stuff just still gets

746
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,960
Speaker 2: me emotional talking about it, but that I might just

747
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 2: suck it up, mate, get it done. And that was

748
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 2: the thing we beat, like, we beat the Spanish and

749
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: it was in the heat. And the world record that

750
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 2: day was four minutes sixteen because it was on a

751
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,959
Speaker 2: on a tandem obviously for people that are older would

752
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,040
Speaker 2: know that the tanna just used to race at the Olympics,

753
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,880
Speaker 2: not just in the Paralympics. So that was that was

754
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 2: an able body world record, which was four sixteen, and

755
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,399
Speaker 2: we raced that attitude and that morning the Spanish went

756
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 2: out into the four twelve, so four minutes and twelve seconds.

757
00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 2: So we're just like, we're going to do a four eleven,

758
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 2: but everyone else has got their heads down. So me

759
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:47,919
Speaker 2: and mix that I rode with, we just went bang, Well,

760
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 2: if they can do a four twelve week, and it's

761
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 2: just that self belief, right, so we're just like, we're

762
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:52,920
Speaker 2: to do a four eleven. We put a gear on

763
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:54,919
Speaker 2: which no one had ever was a massive year because

764
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 2: obviously on the track you've got a fixed gear. No

765
00:34:58,080 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 2: one had ever didden this gear ever in any race

766
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 2: any in the world, and we hadn't written it in training.

767
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 2: We just got it built because we thought we thought

768
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 2: we might be able to ride on it. One day

769
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 2: we chuck this gear on. I think it was like

770
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:12,280
Speaker 2: a fifty eight teeth gear. It was massive and anyway

771
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 2: we write, we kind of hard to get it out

772
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 2: of the gate and then we wound the thing up

773
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,360
Speaker 2: and then by the end we broke the world record.

774
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,239
Speaker 2: But it was it was that thing of you know,

775
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 2: I'm just doing it for my family. Really, that's what

776
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:22,720
Speaker 2: got me through the last minute.

777
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,840
Speaker 1: That's amazing, bro. There would have been a slow start

778
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: without fifty eight to one thing.

779
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 3: And because that, yeah, we came.

780
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 2: Out of the game and we actually rolled down the board,

781
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 2: so we rolled almost roll off because just trying to

782
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 2: get the things started. But then once we got through

783
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,400
Speaker 2: the first three or four pedal strikes, it was we

784
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 2: got on top of it.

785
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 1: Now before we wind up, tell me about freedomving. That

786
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:46,800
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like a good idea. I mean, I'm no expert,

787
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:51,360
Speaker 1: but that does seem like a great idea, and that's.

788
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 2: Probably a good thing. Like one of the things I

789
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:59,880
Speaker 2: built a ond my my extreme sports career is managing

790
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 2: real risk and perceived risks. So everyone's got this perceived

791
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,440
Speaker 2: risk around big wave surfing and free diving. There's a

792
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 2: lot of people have died doing free diving, but when

793
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,120
Speaker 2: you look at the risk they do, they'll buy themselves

794
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 2: or they're fully being a little bit reckless in competition.

795
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 2: Only one person's ever died from in free diving competition.

796
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 2: So I'll be managing it the way I do anything

797
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 2: else and being very you know, I'll be sending it

798
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 2: as hard as I can, but I'll also be doing

799
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,840
Speaker 2: it in the most controlled way possible and managing risks.

800
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 2: But look, I trained to for Nazuree. I trained myself

801
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 2: to hold my breath for nearly six minutes. So if

802
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,680
Speaker 2: I can build on that a little bit, because that

803
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 2: was obviously that was an elevated heart rate for big

804
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,279
Speaker 2: wave surfing, whereas free diving, I'll be less heart rate.

805
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 2: So if I can push that, then I'll be older. Yeah,

806
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 2: I'd say I'll be able to set a fairly significant

807
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 2: record for the power paraphletic community.

808
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 1: It's a very unique physiological requirement doing that, isn't it,

809
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: Because it's kind of and your body the whole time,

810
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 1: your body is like, what are you doing?

811
00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 3: This is stupid? Stop, you know, because.

812
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 2: It'll come back to psychology though. I've just got to

813
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:05,880
Speaker 2: stay home and trust my trust that my body is

814
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 2: doing what it's trained to do.

815
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's amazing.

816
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,600
Speaker 1: Hey, mate, if people want to find you or follow you,

817
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,240
Speaker 1: I know you're a conference speaker, you inspire and educate

818
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:20,160
Speaker 1: people around the all around the country and beyond. How

819
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 1: do people connect with you and even book you.

820
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 2: Anywhere? So you find me on social channels, But the

821
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 2: easiest way it's just at my website Mattformston dot com,

822
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 2: which is f O R M st O N and yeah,

823
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 2: reach out and would love to come and inspire your

824
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 2: team or do whatever we can.

825
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,520
Speaker 1: Awesome, And the movie comes out in all good cinemas

826
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: and shit ones on August thirteenth, fifteenth.

827
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 2: Correct, go on, yeah, August fifteenth, We've got all We've

828
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:58,360
Speaker 2: got Hoots Village and whatever the other one is that

829
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,280
Speaker 2: it's in all cinemas fifteenth of August.

830
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:02,880
Speaker 3: We'll go palace.

831
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,800
Speaker 1: Who knows the other one? Yeah, exactly. We'll say goodbye

832
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,879
Speaker 1: offair in a minute. But Maddie, really nice to meet you.

833
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: You're inspirational. You know that that's not a revelation. But

834
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: thanks for chatting with me on the new project.

835
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me.

836
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 3: Thanks Man