Speaker 1: Apogae Production. Hi, my name's beck Woodbine and welcome to
Speaker 1: Tenderness for Nurses. I'm grateful for the person that I
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to be.
Speaker 2: So I hit it and parked it for Nelly four years.
Speaker 2: We always have free will, We always get to choose.
Speaker 1: We are autonomous. Hi everyone, thank you for tuning back
Speaker 1: into Tenderness for Nurses. Today we have the wonderful Alice Williams,
Speaker 1: who I've known for many many years as she played
Speaker 1: water polo with my daughter Chloe here in Australia and
Speaker 1: she was part of the Australian team that won silver
Speaker 1: at the Olympics in the water pollo, of which I
Speaker 1: watched every game. Thank you for coming in. I'm so
Speaker 1: excited to talk to you. And we just saw the
Speaker 1: silver medal, which I just want to say, you need
Speaker 1: a crane to lift. It's remarkable. But congratulations. How are
Speaker 1: you feeling.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. I'm really excited. I'm good. Good, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm feeling pretty good today today. Yeah it is. I
Speaker 2: will say it's definitely a rollercoaster. They're really high highs
Speaker 2: and low lows I think coming out of the Olympics.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just taking it day by day for me, really.
Speaker 1: Give us a little bit of an idea of the
Speaker 1: lead up to the Olympics and what you had to
Speaker 1: go through to get that silver medal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess like something that always comes up for
Speaker 2: me is people chatting and saying how amazing the Olympics was.
Speaker 2: And my response is kind of like, you see two
Speaker 2: weeks whereas I've trained for eight years to get to
Speaker 2: that point, Like I missed out on Tokyo, so deciding
Speaker 2: to go again was tough. And this year particularly, we
Speaker 2: as a team, as a big squad lived together for
Speaker 2: eight months before the Olympics, and that was grueling, Like,
Speaker 2: it was really tough.
Speaker 1: The that inb.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were in Canberra for a fair beer, but
Speaker 2: we kind of moved around Sydney, Brisbane. We were in
Speaker 2: America for a bit too. Yeah, And that's like, I'm
Speaker 2: lucky that I'm in such an amazing team and squad
Speaker 2: that really love and support each other. But you know
Speaker 2: that at the end of the day, there are only
Speaker 2: thirteen spots and you're all trying really hard to get there.
Speaker 1: So what happened with Tokyo? Did you have an injury?
Speaker 2: No? So Tokyo was difficult. The kind of short of
Speaker 2: the long is in that cycle, I was in every
Speaker 2: team in the first two years of the four year cycle,
Speaker 2: and then the coaches switched and the new coach didn't
Speaker 2: particularly like me, so he dropped me a few years out,
Speaker 2: and then when COVID happened, he reintegrated me into the squad,
Speaker 2: and then I was one of the final few that
Speaker 2: were de selected before Tokyo.
Speaker 1: I can't even comprehend what that must be like. But
Speaker 1: how do you move on from that and then get
Speaker 1: back in the pool.
Speaker 2: It was so tough. I the reasoning behind why I
Speaker 2: was dropped as well for me, like is it felt
Speaker 2: like it was nepotism in my opinion, and so it
Speaker 2: was political. It may have been more of my skill,
Speaker 2: but the general consensus from me and the people around
Speaker 2: me was that it just wasn't okay. And so I
Speaker 2: took a couple of weeks off and I slowly started
Speaker 2: getting back into things, but I just didn't feel right.
Speaker 2: And I actually had a really close mentor at the
Speaker 2: time that pulled me aside and said, look, what's going
Speaker 2: on like that, I know how difficult that is. She'd
Speaker 2: been through it, and I was like, yeah, I just
Speaker 2: don't know if I want to go on with this,
Speaker 2: Like what if I do this again for four years
Speaker 2: and put myself through everything that I did and I
Speaker 2: get this same outcome. And it was kind of a
Speaker 2: decision that I really had to put a lot of
Speaker 2: thought into. But at the end of the day, I
Speaker 2: had such amazing people around me, like such amazing coaches
Speaker 2: that took me under their wing while I was really struggling,
Speaker 2: and they're the ones that kept me through it. Like
Speaker 2: I'm really lucky because I don't think I would have
Speaker 2: continued without them.
Speaker 1: It's an interesting thing how one or two people can
Speaker 1: make or break a career in sport. Did you during
Speaker 1: that time see a sports psychologist to help you navigate
Speaker 1: your emotions to get in the right headspace move forward.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I have a few sights, like we have
Speaker 2: our team site and then where I train is the
Speaker 2: Queensland Academy of Sports. I have a psychologist there. But
Speaker 2: I also, when I was about twenty one, just realized
Speaker 2: that I had more going on mentally than what sport
Speaker 2: was presenting. Like I had a few like family related things,
Speaker 2: and so I actually started seeing a family psychologist just
Speaker 2: on my own, and that's who really helped me through
Speaker 2: that time, because sometimes I find with sports sykes they're
Speaker 2: really outcome oriented and the new solution, whereas with my
Speaker 2: family psych she is like very nurturing. She's like, I'm
Speaker 2: so sorry that you're going through this. That must be
Speaker 2: really tough, and she'll just let me sit with it,
Speaker 2: which is I think what I needed, Like, I didn't
Speaker 2: really want someone to kind of come and keep me
Speaker 2: up the bum and say, you know you've got this,
Speaker 2: you can keep going. I needed someone to say, that's
Speaker 2: really tough and I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I think we do all need to hear it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: wouldn't we.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just kind of wasn't at the time. This
Speaker 2: was what four years ago now. At the time, it
Speaker 2: just wasn't really what the sykes in sport were doing.
Speaker 2: They were trying to be like, these are your goals,
Speaker 2: these what we need to hit to get there, and
Speaker 2: that wasn't working for me. Now it's different. We have
Speaker 2: different psychs around our team and they're phenomenal, truly phenomenal,
Speaker 2: But I.
Speaker 1: Think psychs are a very personal thing and you're not
Speaker 1: going to fit with all of them. Anyway, you know
Speaker 1: a lot of people go through quite a few before
Speaker 1: they find the right one. And do you think it's
Speaker 1: necessary to have a sporting psychologist as well as a
Speaker 1: family psychologist or could have you melded the two and
Speaker 1: just seen the family psychologist.
Speaker 2: I think there are moments even my family psych says
Speaker 2: that she's like, I have no sporting background, I don't
Speaker 2: understand what you're going through. So she's really emotionally supportive
Speaker 2: and kind of keeps me grounded in that sense. But
Speaker 2: I do think a sports psych has been very important,
Speaker 2: especially this year for me, because they travel with us well,
Speaker 2: so that on the ground they see everything that happens,
Speaker 2: and they relay things like between like what the athletes
Speaker 2: are saying. If it's like a general consensus from the athletes,
Speaker 2: they can then be like talking to the powers that
Speaker 2: be about what we may need and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: So I think they are pretty important, yeah, because they're
Speaker 2: just always around. They just they see everything go through.
Speaker 1: When you, guys, when you made the team, and obviously
Speaker 1: everyone wants to go in and win gold, did you
Speaker 1: think you'd be in the top four in all honesty? Yeah,
Speaker 1: considering where a strain water polo had come from.
Speaker 2: I think I hoped, like I really hoped, but we
Speaker 2: went in as sixth seed, and I was definitely aware
Speaker 2: of that. We went on a tour to America in
Speaker 2: April of this year and we got logged like seventeen
Speaker 2: to nine in those games, and that was really it
Speaker 2: was a bit demoralizing, to be honest. We've just done
Speaker 2: all this hard work in Australia on our fitness and
Speaker 2: our mental mindsets, and then we went over there and
Speaker 2: we got flogged. And so there were definitely moments when
Speaker 2: we were away that we were all kind of like,
Speaker 2: oh God, I don't know. But that's where our sports
Speaker 2: site came in. And our coach is phenomenal with that
Speaker 2: as well. She really welcomes our sports siche and all
Speaker 2: the feedback that she gives. And we were game by game,
Speaker 2: minute by minute, like we never looked ahead. Even when
Speaker 2: we were in the pre tournament to the Olympics, we
Speaker 2: weren't thinking about the Olympics. We were just like, okay,
Speaker 2: game one, what are we doing game two? And then
Speaker 2: we just rolled through it like that.
Speaker 1: So was that from Beck or Beck in the Sykes
Speaker 1: or the team made that decision?
Speaker 2: I think it's like a combination because Beck was really
Speaker 2: open to hearing what we need needed as players, and
Speaker 2: we've only had male coaches before, so that was never
Speaker 2: Really she.
Speaker 1: Was wonderful to watch on TV. How calm she was.
Speaker 1: It was palatable and it's interesting. I was speaking to
Speaker 1: a very good friend who you would know her daughter
Speaker 1: was reffing a couple of weekends ago and was abused
Speaker 1: by D three coach very badly. But what was interesting
Speaker 1: was the kids were starting to muck up as well.
Speaker 1: And I think if you've got this high stressed, I
Speaker 1: think the players feed off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. They were. Every game at the
Speaker 2: Olympics was stressful because it's the Olympics and anything can
Speaker 2: happen and everyone knows that, and especially in the first game,
Speaker 2: because it was my first Olympics. We played China and
Speaker 2: we'd beaten them eighteen three or something like a month earlier,
Speaker 2: but still going into the game, I was like so
Speaker 2: nervous I was. I couldn't really breathe properly. I was crying.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my god, yeah, because I was like,
Speaker 2: this is everything I've dreamed of. My parents are sitting
Speaker 2: behind me, I'm singing the national anthem, and it all
Speaker 2: feels so different, and then you get in the water
Speaker 2: and I was still really frazzled, but I'd look at
Speaker 2: the bench and Beck would just give me a thumbs
Speaker 2: up like no, like so unfazed by the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And because she's already done two Olympics herself.
Speaker 2: Probably and been an assisting coach, well, she's just she's
Speaker 2: she gets it. And it was really important in those
Speaker 2: moments because of all of our team, only two had
Speaker 2: ever played an Olympics in front of the crowd, and
Speaker 2: so everyone was a little bit overwhelmed and frazzled, and
Speaker 2: Beck was so calm the entire Olympics.
Speaker 1: It never waved, so each game you felt the same
Speaker 1: hopping in the water.
Speaker 2: No, I think the first game was the worst by far,
Speaker 2: because also our team had had an outbreak of COVID
Speaker 2: right before, and I was one of the athletes that
Speaker 2: had it, so I was just nervous about how I'd
Speaker 2: feel as well, like there were so many things at play,
Speaker 2: and so that was my worst game for sure, And
Speaker 2: then it gradually I kind of eased into it. I
Speaker 2: would say, there a moment so that I was more
Speaker 2: stressed than others, like the Hungry Game. That was our
Speaker 2: last round game, and if we didn't win or draw,
Speaker 2: we would have come third in our pool and the
Speaker 2: crossover would have been completely different. Absolutely, So I think
Speaker 2: it was the first game, the Hungry Game, and then
Speaker 2: the quarterfinal. Other than that, I was like, Jesus, take
Speaker 2: the wheel, like we've done it. We're in the top four,
Speaker 2: and then it's like we just have to play now.
Speaker 1: Did everyone on the team have the top of nerves
Speaker 1: you did?
Speaker 2: No, Some people were, Some people were way more calm,
Speaker 2: some people don't feel nerves like. Everyone has their own
Speaker 2: kind of things in way of coping, which we love
Speaker 2: as well, because for me, before a game, I'm very
Speaker 2: I'm far away from the group with them in the
Speaker 2: same area, but I'll be on my own facing a wall.
Speaker 2: Because some people need the high energy to like stuck
Speaker 2: themselves up, whereas I need absolute calm. Like if I
Speaker 2: feed off that energy too early, then by the time
Speaker 2: a game comes around, I feel so depleted.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, energy is so powerful. Oh yeah, So I
Speaker 1: believe Jonathan Brown from The Lions. They used to have
Speaker 1: to stop him listening to ACDC deca before a game.
Speaker 1: Because he'd come out firing so badly he'd go out swinging.
Speaker 1: So you know, it definitely does impact you prior to
Speaker 1: a game, your routine without a doubt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And we're not just there when
Speaker 2: the game starts. In the game's an hour. We get
Speaker 2: there like an hour and a half before to make
Speaker 2: sure we're they're in time and can get ourselves sorted,
Speaker 2: do our land warm up in pool, warm up our lineup,
Speaker 2: and then we get in the pool. So it's just
Speaker 2: such a long period of time that you're mentally and
Speaker 2: physically preparing.
Speaker 1: You must be exhausted after a game.
Speaker 2: It is like something else, especially the Olympics, because it
Speaker 2: was so emotional after a game. I'd sit and stare
Speaker 2: at a wall. I was like, what what just happened?
Speaker 1: Like, So, how did you look after yourself with your
Speaker 1: recovery after each game? I'm assuming really good diet. You're
Speaker 1: careful who you spend time with. You know you'd go
Speaker 1: to your people. Did you spend time with family?
Speaker 2: We limited that very limited. We were able to see
Speaker 2: them directly after a game. If we were quick at
Speaker 2: getting changed and can make the bus, we'd see them
Speaker 2: for maybe ten minutes. Other than that, I think we
Speaker 2: were allowed to go and see them twice within the
Speaker 2: whole three weeks that we were at the Olympics, And honestly,
Speaker 2: I did go and see them, but it made me
Speaker 2: feel worse. I had to go back, like I had
Speaker 2: to cut it short and go back to the village
Speaker 2: because it made me feel so anxious being away from
Speaker 2: my teammates. And they were asking questions and they were
Speaker 2: just it was like how are you? But I was like,
Speaker 2: I can't get into that, Like I can't get into
Speaker 2: how I am because It'll just open a can of worms.
Speaker 2: And I've got to stay focused, Like I've got to
Speaker 2: stay in the zone.
Speaker 1: You got to shuttle the other stuff out with that later, yeah,
Speaker 1: and just stay focused. Is that pretty much how its
Speaker 1: one hundred?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah? And there was a lot of outside stuff,
Speaker 2: especially when the COVID outbreak happened. There were messages and
Speaker 2: media and everything asking about it and like even Instagram,
Speaker 2: like it just blew up for all of us because
Speaker 2: we were successful as like every game, like we were winning,
Speaker 2: and so people were gravitating towards our team and you
Speaker 2: really had to block it out to stay sent.
Speaker 1: To a message saying we're so proud, are you?
Speaker 2: Oh? No, I love it because I saw it weeks
Speaker 2: after and like it makes me cry, Like it was
Speaker 2: so lovely and it was the best feeling.
Speaker 1: But in the moment too much.
Speaker 2: I knew that if I looked at them, I would
Speaker 2: get emotional and I can't expend that energy.
Speaker 1: Wow, there's so much to think about. Yeah, so you've
Speaker 1: come back, and did you fall in a heap? Did
Speaker 1: you get sick, did you have a meltdown? Did you
Speaker 1: feel flat depressed?
Speaker 2: Yes, So we went out partying, obviously the night that
Speaker 2: we won the medal, and then the other the following
Speaker 2: night we had the closing ceremony, and then I went
Speaker 2: on holidays with my family the next morning to Italy,
Speaker 2: and as soon as I got to the airport it
Speaker 2: was maybe ten am, and I saw them. I just
Speaker 2: started bawling my eyes out because I was like, I
Speaker 2: am so drained, I'm so tired. And we knew that
Speaker 2: that was going to come at some point, Like we'd
Speaker 2: all been told that the post Olympic blues are truly
Speaker 2: a thing. So when that happened, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: this is it, this must be them. But the worst
Speaker 2: of It came when I arrived back in Australia after
Speaker 2: being on holidays for a month in Europe, and i'd
Speaker 2: come home. I'd spent a couple of weeks at home
Speaker 2: and it was still really busy because people wanted to
Speaker 2: see me and see the metal and events. So it
Speaker 2: was around two weeks after I got home and everything
Speaker 2: started to settle and I was alone with my thoughts
Speaker 2: for a bit that I was, yeah, really down and
Speaker 2: flat and sad. I'd be crying for reasons that I
Speaker 2: couldn't articulate why. It would just hit me like a wave.
Speaker 2: And I've spoken to my psych about it and she
Speaker 2: was like, it's kind you're in kind of a form
Speaker 2: of PTSD, because it's nothing like you went in there
Speaker 2: and you were going to potentially die, but you went
Speaker 2: into an Olympic gold medal game and you lost, and
Speaker 2: it's so hard to even get there, and I won't
Speaker 2: know if I'll ever make another Olympics or in another
Speaker 2: gold medal game for that matter. So sitting with it
Speaker 2: and realizing that you were so close to your dream,
Speaker 2: you're halfway through the last hoop and you got pulled back,
Speaker 2: and it's hard to grapple with.
Speaker 1: So that really upsets you that you didn't win gold,
Speaker 1: and everyone feels the same way. So it's like a
Speaker 1: scab that'll be there forever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, basically, and even seeing my medal, like it takes
Speaker 2: me like a minute to look at it as well,
Speaker 2: because that's a reminder, you know, that I didn't get
Speaker 2: gold and I was so close. And everyone says, like
Speaker 2: people that have been through it, that with time, it
Speaker 2: does heal and you become more aware and accustomed to
Speaker 2: those emotions and they slowly dissipate. But for now, it's
Speaker 2: only been like three and a half months since the
Speaker 2: gold medal game, and you know, sometimes even people say,
Speaker 2: they say, oh, Alice's gold medal, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: it's silver, Like I have to remind people that it
Speaker 2: isn't gold. And that's also kind of like a reminder
Speaker 2: assault in the wound too, you know, it's just a
Speaker 2: really you're in the call room. You get ten minutes
Speaker 2: after the gold medal game to get changed. You don't
Speaker 2: need get to see a family, You get changed into
Speaker 2: your podium outfit, and then you're waiting in a call
Speaker 2: room in between the gold medal winning team and the
Speaker 2: bronze medal winning team and they've both won, but we
Speaker 2: just lost to get a silver medal, and people don't
Speaker 2: understand that.
Speaker 1: It's interesting you say that mel Bexist is a good
Speaker 1: friend of mine and I remember her always saying that
Speaker 1: she'd prefer a bronze over silver because they finished on
Speaker 1: a high they won that game. Yeah, it doesn't make
Speaker 1: I mean, I get it, but I don't get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. I do get the idea of winning,
Speaker 1: because we all like to win. But it's an interesting concept.
Speaker 1: But you're right, like you were between two winners yet
Speaker 1: you still got silver.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is so weird. And I'd never thought about
Speaker 2: it or heard about it before I had you, No, never,
Speaker 2: No one had ever told me about what it's like
Speaker 2: to get a silver medal. You only hear about the
Speaker 2: gold or the bronze. No Australian women's team has ever
Speaker 2: done it.
Speaker 1: That. We've done gold and we've done bronze.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was a really strange situation. You got
Speaker 2: ten minutes to put a smile on your face after
Speaker 2: you've just lost the biggest game of your life, because
Speaker 2: you're going to go on the podium, You're going to
Speaker 2: get your medal and those protos are forever, you know,
Speaker 2: and your families and the crowd of crying because they're
Speaker 2: so proud of you.
Speaker 1: But did you feel flat in that moment?
Speaker 2: Yep?
Speaker 1: Did everybody feel flat in that moment?
Speaker 2: I can't speak for everyone, but I know the girls
Speaker 2: around me did.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, so you really felt like you'd let yourselves down.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was really disappointed. I was gutted. I wasn't proud.
Speaker 2: I was crying in the on call room with Tilly
Speaker 2: Cans because I was like, I don't I don't want
Speaker 2: to do this. Like that was huge for me. That game.
Speaker 2: I you know, it's just emotionally, even thinking about it,
Speaker 2: it is devastating.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. And yet I looked at you girls
Speaker 1: on the podium and felt such pride in you all.
Speaker 1: And I know quite a few of you that played,
Speaker 1: And I mean, yeah, it sucked that you didn't win
Speaker 1: that game, but I thought of the journey that you've
Speaker 1: all been through to get to that point, and most
Speaker 1: people never even get the chance. Yeah, and I just
Speaker 1: thought how amazing you girls are. It's not funny look
Speaker 1: at things. I suppose differently, but you're the athlete. You're
Speaker 1: the one that was in there, and I do get it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's perspective. And you know, well, I do go
Speaker 2: and talk at schools and I at functions and whatever,
Speaker 2: and I do talk about this, and I think it
Speaker 2: makes people feel uncomfortable because they just want you to
Speaker 2: be proud of yourself. So they're like, yeah, you lost,
Speaker 2: but oh my god, that's silver. That is incredible, Like
Speaker 2: we are so proud of you. And I'm like, it's amazing,
Speaker 2: Like I want people to feel that, like it's just
Speaker 2: we have like an Australian silver metal, Like it's not
Speaker 2: just mine. I'm representing the country. So you're allowed to
Speaker 2: feel that. But also I'm allowed to feel.
Speaker 1: Oh without a debt, got it. And I think when
Speaker 1: you speak with honesty and from the heart, it does
Speaker 1: make people feel uncomforted. It really does.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh god yah. And like if someone said that
Speaker 2: to me, I like, if I hadn't seen it, psych
Speaker 2: like for my whole life, I wouldn't notice. Say I'm
Speaker 2: so sorry that you feel that way. I'm here for
Speaker 2: you if you need anything. People say, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: like don't worry about it, like you'll be fine, like
Speaker 2: you're in time. It all you'll understand the gravity of
Speaker 2: what you've done. And I'm like, but even if I don't,
Speaker 2: that's okay. No, it's your journey exactly, Like yeah, so
Speaker 2: it's just funny because yeah it's people see it as
Speaker 2: winning a silver medal, but right now I'm in the
Speaker 2: space I I've lost to get a silver.
Speaker 1: Medal, you lost to gold. Yeah. You have been a
Speaker 1: big advocate around mental health and being very honest with
Speaker 1: mental health in sport. What triggered you to be such
Speaker 1: a strong advocate for it?
Speaker 2: I think going through what I have, I've had so
Speaker 2: many setbacks, like so many. When I got dropped from Tokyo,
Speaker 2: that was one thing, but since then, like health and
Speaker 2: all those types of things have pushed me back to
Speaker 2: And I just felt like when I was growing up,
Speaker 2: there wasn't someone talking about it, so I never had
Speaker 2: someone to to. I felt like it was just me
Speaker 2: experiencing it alone. You know. It was always kind of
Speaker 2: like if you got dropped, it was like we'll get
Speaker 2: back up and train harder. But for me, it's like, no,
Speaker 2: you get drop sit with it. That's really sad. You
Speaker 2: had a goal, mourn it, grieve it, just take a
Speaker 2: minute then you can get back into things. But I
Speaker 2: just had no one to look to when I was younger.
Speaker 2: So now I feel that I can be that person
Speaker 2: for young girls, particularly because we go through it. Women
Speaker 2: go through it way more than men. They don't even
Speaker 2: come close. Like for me. Whenever I see young girls,
Speaker 2: I say, I'm so impressed by you, you know, just
Speaker 2: getting up and doing something today because it's tough, and
Speaker 2: you're so brave because you don't know what a girl's
Speaker 2: gone through. They may have just gotten their period this
Speaker 2: morning and having and they've been demetriosis and they're having
Speaker 2: the worst pain of the whole life. But they're at school,
Speaker 2: they're sitting there, they're getting their work done.
Speaker 1: That's brave, that's so brave. Or they've been led to
Speaker 1: believe that that's normal, yes, and it's anything but exactly.
Speaker 1: So you also are a big advocate for talking about
Speaker 1: normal women's cycles in sports, so periods, period pain, windo,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. Why did you feel it was
Speaker 1: important to discuss that because it does make people feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons why I started,
Speaker 2: because it was so taboo and I'm like, well, one
Speaker 2: of the biggest statistics in women's sport is that girls
Speaker 2: stop playing sport from around for the time they start
Speaker 2: their period onwards because they feel uncomfortable, they don't know
Speaker 2: how to handle it, and they lose interest because, especially
Speaker 2: in water polo, you're in togs yep, like body hair periods, tampons,
Speaker 2: like so many things, acne and all that stuff comes
Speaker 2: into it. And so instead of having someone that kind
Speaker 2: of has been through it and can guide you, we
Speaker 2: had no one had that, so they just stopped. And
Speaker 2: that's just so disappointing to me, so sad, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just we're just I feel like we've just failed
Speaker 2: young girls thus far. So that's one of the reasons
Speaker 2: that I really.
Speaker 1: Think about them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really do want people to like listen and
Speaker 2: hear what girls have to say, because it's powerful.
Speaker 1: I do find well. I have felt that playing water
Speaker 1: pollo was one of those sports that I loved because
Speaker 1: it did encourage women to be strong, to be tall,
Speaker 1: to be proud of their bodies. You know, you do
Speaker 1: have to wear togs walking around the pool, and I
Speaker 1: can't tell you the pride I used to feel in
Speaker 1: the young girls just owning their bodies or at the Olympics,
Speaker 1: you know the center forwards that are always bigger women,
Speaker 1: they just own it. Or what's the name of that
Speaker 1: amazing American football Alona. Oh my god, totally in love
Speaker 1: with her. She's just owned it and good on her.
Speaker 1: She's so strong, and I think we've got to turn
Speaker 1: it around, the dialogue around. And you know, strong women
Speaker 1: are empowered women. You know, women with muscles and that
Speaker 1: are fit and healthy, they're amazing. I mean, look at
Speaker 1: Julia Robinson. I interviewed her for the podcast. She's in
Speaker 1: the Jilarus Plays rugby league. She got totally trolled on
Speaker 1: the Broncos page because they put a photo up of
Speaker 1: her and she's very muscular, works very hard at her body.
Speaker 1: She is remarkable, looks remarkable. They had to take down
Speaker 1: and stop any comments because the vitriol and the comments
Speaker 1: were so foul about her. I was ashamed. I was
Speaker 1: so embarrassed that people could be so cruel. Yeah, so cruel.
Speaker 1: It's it's disgusting it has on someone.
Speaker 2: Like oh yeah, oh one hundred, Like I'm in a
Speaker 2: team of women, you know, like it's empowering every day
Speaker 2: to be around them. But we are human before we
Speaker 2: are athletes. Absolutely, and that's also what I talk to
Speaker 2: whenever I'm at an event. We people forget. I've had
Speaker 2: some disgusting comments on my Instagram posts. Oh absolutely, like
Speaker 2: it's always sexualized or Cellulight City or all that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. But like for me, and there are moments,
Speaker 2: like it's normal as a human to have moments where
Speaker 2: you feel self conscious. I feel self conscious all the time,
Speaker 2: you know, but it's the way that I work through
Speaker 2: it and my teammate's lifting me up that makes me
Speaker 2: keep going. But some people don't have that. They don't
Speaker 2: and that's so sad that that could be something that
Speaker 2: you know, makes will deters someone from you know, playing
Speaker 2: their sport or putting up photos of themselves when they
Speaker 2: look a certain way that isn't stereotypical, and it's vicious.
Speaker 1: And it causes people to commit suicide. It impacts on
Speaker 1: mental health. Words actually do have consequences.
Speaker 2: One of the girls when We're Away uploaded a video
Speaker 2: that was really funny of the way that we have
Speaker 2: to stretch our dogs out before we start playing because
Speaker 2: they're like suction to you. But their comments were insane.
Speaker 2: It was thousands of comments from people. There were I
Speaker 2: think like sixty million views on this Instagram and you know,
Speaker 2: most of it was being like, hah so funny. Didn't
Speaker 2: realize then the other half was look at those muscular women,
Speaker 2: how disgusting. Look at their arms and it's these fit
Speaker 2: Olympic athletes. It's like, you couldn't be more peak than us, absolutely,
Speaker 2: And I'm like, just shut up, like we are like beautiful, phenomenal,
Speaker 2: successful women and you don't like that.
Speaker 1: And we're at the Olympics and you're in your aarmn't
Speaker 1: you exactly? What was the best moment of the Olympics
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: The best moment was I know I was saying that
Speaker 2: the first game was the hardest, but walking out and
Speaker 2: seeing my family sitting in their floral yellow shirts with
Speaker 2: Williams on the back, love it. That's what made me
Speaker 2: cry because, like I said, people see the two weeks
Speaker 2: the Olympics. My parents have seen me since I was
Speaker 2: born try and do this kind of stuff, and they
Speaker 2: always believed in me. You know, like when I think
Speaker 2: about who I was representing when I was up there,
Speaker 2: obviously myself and my country, but it's those people that
Speaker 2: were in the stands as my family and my best
Speaker 2: friends because they've gotten me through the darkest of times,
Speaker 2: Like you can't do it without a really solid support now.
Speaker 1: Because honestly, they would feel like it's just as much
Speaker 1: their medal as it's yours.
Speaker 2: Oh my dad, oh his next level. Like we were
Speaker 2: at an event the other night and someone came up
Speaker 2: to him because he's holding my medal and he said, oh,
Speaker 2: my gosh, congratulations is silver medal. That's incredible and Dad,
Speaker 2: I'm standing right next to him, and Dad says, yeah,
Speaker 2: thanks mate, Like it was such a journey to get there,
Speaker 2: and I was like, hey, I'm Alice Williams. It's my medals.
Speaker 2: My dad like it was like it was his, Like
Speaker 2: it was like he but like I didn't care like
Speaker 2: it because it is partly you know, it's so many
Speaker 2: people's partly. Like there was another moment that I just
Speaker 2: thought of that was one of the most specialists in
Speaker 2: the Hungry game and that was a really, like I said,
Speaker 2: tough game. We had to win or draw. And it
Speaker 2: was in the fourth quarter. I think it was my
Speaker 2: fourth goal that I'd scored in the game. And there's
Speaker 2: a photo of me claiming it to my parents because
Speaker 2: they were directly in front of me after I scored,
Speaker 2: and that moment for me, it was like absolutely euphoric.
Speaker 1: It was so good.
Speaker 2: It was like, when I think about it, I get
Speaker 2: goosebumps because everything I've ever wanted in one moment, scoring
Speaker 2: a goal of the Olympic Games to get us up
Speaker 2: by a point or something. My family was right there
Speaker 2: on their feet, literally screaming. You know, you just don't
Speaker 2: find that a normal life.
Speaker 1: No, you don't. It's so special.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: What Now, how's day to day life were you?
Speaker 2: It's different, Definitely, it's less stressful. I'm slowly getting back
Speaker 2: into things like I'm back at water polo training.
Speaker 1: Do you think your corterisole levels were like through the roof?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think my sych said it becomes like a baseline,
Speaker 2: like a really really high quartersole level baseline that you
Speaker 2: maintain and you have to really actively try to switch
Speaker 2: it off when you're at the games because otherwise you
Speaker 2: can't sleep and stuff, and it just accumulates. So I
Speaker 2: think the come down was my final flight mode switching
Speaker 2: off and being like, oh, you're actually safe, You're okay,
Speaker 2: We're in our normal environment, you're at home. You can
Speaker 2: feely feels.
Speaker 1: You think you'll go for the next Olympics.
Speaker 2: I'm going to take it year by year. That's my
Speaker 2: aim and my goal. It depends on if I'm feeling
Speaker 2: happy and healthy, because if something you know, there's always
Speaker 2: lulls in sport, but if it's something that you know,
Speaker 2: pushes me into a place that I don't want to
Speaker 2: be for an extended period of time, then I know
Speaker 2: it's time for me to retire. It's also kind of
Speaker 2: hard to come back because it's scary for me as well,
Speaker 2: now that we're not the underdog, you know, people and
Speaker 2: like people expect things from me now too, because I
Speaker 2: had a good Olympic campaign and.
Speaker 1: An amazing omquit campaign.
Speaker 2: So it's like can I do that again? You know,
Speaker 2: like will I be able to reach that potential that
Speaker 2: I had and I did? Or am I kind of
Speaker 2: like have I peaked? You know? So it also it's
Speaker 2: like something you think about.
Speaker 1: So because you just got named as one of the
Speaker 1: people in for the water Pollo Player of the Year,
Speaker 1: yeah worldwide, Yeah, congratulations, thank you you did? Have you
Speaker 1: had a blinder?
Speaker 2: Thank you you truly did.
Speaker 1: You saved all of that up for that campaign. I
Speaker 1: love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I just you never think about it
Speaker 2: in the game, like you never afterwards we review it
Speaker 2: and you know, think about it, and you know, I
Speaker 2: kind of I thought, you know, Gabby palm Our goalkeeper
Speaker 2: was phenomenal as well, so and I don't even feel
Speaker 2: it now. I don't even feel like I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm one of the best players in the world. I
Speaker 2: think maybe when I retire, I'll look back on it
Speaker 2: and be like, wow, that was cool. But yeah, these
Speaker 2: accolades and stuff, it just isn't really like something that
Speaker 2: I think too much about.
Speaker 1: I just want to say thank you so much. Your
Speaker 1: positivity and honesty is really refreshing. And you haven't glossed
Speaker 1: over anything. And from someone who has you know, a
Speaker 1: daughter that's played a lot of high end sport, I
Speaker 1: know that there are some huge highs and some massive lows,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really refreshing that you're talking about
Speaker 1: it and the sport's under going to improve because of
Speaker 1: your honesty, and I think it's a wonderful thing. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me and giving them media space
Speaker 2: to be vulnerable. I really appreciate it.