WEBVTT - Blood, Sweat, and Olympic Glory | Caitlin Parker - 914 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:07.440 She said, it's now never I got fighting in my blood. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:09.639 I'm tiff. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.200 This is roll with the punches and we're turning life's 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:17.600 hardest hits into wins. Nobody wants to go to court, 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.400 and don't. My friends are test Art Family Lawyers. Know 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:25.919 that they offer all forms of alternative dispute resolution. Their 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.640 team of Melbourne family lawyers have extensive experience in all 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.960 areas of family law to facto and same sex couples, 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.280 custody and children, family violence and intervention orders, property settlements 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.680 and financial agreements. Test Art is in your corner, so 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.440 reach out to Mark and the team at www dot 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.199 test Artfamilylawyers dot com dot au. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.080 Katie Parker, welcome to roll with the punches. If anyone 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.800 deserves to be here, bloody hell, it's you. 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.680 Thank you, thank you, love love to be here, love, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.440 Oh my god, what a great start by me. It's 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.760 great to be here. We'll just say that that's. 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:10.960 You just mirroring my setup. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.319 I've just told you how I make up words and 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.360 screw things up, and that's just you do it, being 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.720 a good guest and just fitting right in off forget go. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.800 I had to yah set the expectations high from the start. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.040 Really, what can we say? We both get punched in 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:25.920 the head a lot, so. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.759 Expect all the time. And I'm like, I really shouldn't 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.440 say that, Like it doesn't sound good, But it's just 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.000 a way to get out of things, you know. 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:36.920 I love saying it. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:38.920 I think I just love the shock bealley of just 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:40.920 going to get punched it a lot. And I love 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.679 it more if people don't realize what I'm talking about. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.759 Ah, you don't give the context of you're a box 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.600 or anything. They're like, You're okay, how's your home situation. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.320 What's it like? What's it like these days? Being in 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.120 a limpian. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.960 Same old Really, see the fact that I get a 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.400 little l y underpass my name that I can chuck 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.080 on the Instagram and whatnot, so you know, just could 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.359 have got to use the perks while when I have them, 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.200 you know, so, but it's the same old really. I 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.400 just I have a nice, tiny little medal that I 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.320 got to bring home that I could just show off 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:18.880 now and then. 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:26.799 Is it weird being a medal winning olympian for our 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:33.720 country yet in a sport where so many people are 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:39.200 probably only just beginning to watch, like Boxing's growing, and 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.840 it's growing for women and it's awesome, but it feels 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.000 like a sport that's really young in terms of people 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.839 knowing who's representing the country and that we're even here. 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.240 Yeah yeah, I mean, like, obviously it's one of the 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:58.919 oldest Olympic sports, but women were only allowed to fight 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.320 in the Olympics in twenty two twelve, which is nuts. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.000 I think that was the first time that was equal representation, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.960 not in numbers, but just like males and females in 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.040 every sport at the Olympics. Like crazy that it's taken 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.280 this long. Ah, But yeah, like I guess, you know, 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.200 even from an early age, you know, as a young 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.360 girl in a male dominated sport, I always wanted to 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.480 prove that I belonged, and you know, being one of 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.920 the only girls in the gym, just that was just 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:27.040 a constant, uphill battle guys not wanting to spa or 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.079 work with me, and you know, just having to go, well, 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:30.560 you're gonna get in the ring with me, and if 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.040 you're not gonna punch me back, I'm just gonna punch 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.480 You're gonna punch me back eventually. So going in with 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.200 that kind of mindset, I was just like I just 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.120 want to prove that, like I can be better than you. 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:41.240 You know, it doesn't matter male or female, Like I'm 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.360 gonna work harder than you. I'm gonna, you know, put 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.080 everything that I have into this. And I've loved seeing 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.760 the sport grow in that amount of time. At my gym. 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.440 Now I think more than half of the fighters actually female, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.480 and yeah, how good is that? And then we have 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.240 these like development days the girls get together and it's 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.040 just like I look around, I'm like, this is crazy, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.000 what the hell? Like this is so awesome. I was 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.760 even invited to the AIS to the Australian introduced sport 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.600 to do, you know, just talk to the females. I 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.960 had a female camp there, more like the girls that 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.440 have had maybe under ten or eleven, ten or fifteen 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.039 fights or something like that. And I went there and 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.160 I'm looking around. There's like forty of these girls that 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.039 have gone to this camp alone, and I'm like, make 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.960 sure that you get each other's numbers and contacts and 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.640 work together, even if you just do a little weekend together, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:34.840 travel to each other and just you know, it's so 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.680 great to be able to uplift each other. But and 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:41.839 then again to make the headlines and be you know, 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.200 make the history of being the first female to meddle 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.400 for Australia in boxing at the Olympics was insane. That's 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.560 that's a massive goal of mine. But also to see 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.440 the impact that it has had on others and to 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.240 see that in the in the headlines going you know, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:05:00.320 boxer female and so many people got around me. It's just, 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.080 I don't know, it's incredible. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.479 It just even just as you said that, and I 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.799 like when you reflect on that and go, that lives 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.120 in history forever now, like no one can. People can 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.320 come along and do it again, but no one can 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.000 do it for the first time again. Your name will 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:23.040 always be etched in history as the first medal winning 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:25.320 female for Australia. 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:30.480 Yeah, yeah, pretty, we hear that, to be honest, so amazing. 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.719 I mean, getting a medal at the Olympics is hard work. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.840 I think in the history of Australia boxing in the Olympics, 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.719 which goes back to I don't know back in time. 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.120 I got to get the stats, but I think I'm 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.560 about the seventh maybe the eighth medalist all up, so 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:51.160 we really doesn't happen very often, and we had Harry 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:55.159 guy side, really really good friend of mine, like Zilli's 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.440 like a brother to me. He won that first medal 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:01.040 back after thirty three years we hadn't won a medal, 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.440 so he won that in in Tokyo, and to be 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.560 there to cheer him on after things didn't go my way, 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.000 it was just amazing to be able to just soak 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.400 in that and just made history, Like how good is that? 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.599 And then you know, it made me work even harder, pushed, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.240 pushed and put everything I had into this and and 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.880 myself and one of the other boys again like a 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.200 little brother to me that you know, we've we've traveled 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.360 and trained together for years and years and we both 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.360 of us together won a medal and to be able 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.560 to celebrate that again, it was just amazing and it 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.760 was me I got to do it. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:39.360 It's so amazing, is it? Because how many fights have 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:39.920 you had? Now? 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:43.960 I've had one hundred and twenty seven five. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.800 So that's a lot of time stepping into the ring. Yeah, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.880 but in terms of stepping into the ring for the 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:56.240 Olympics that only comes around every four years? Does that 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:58.680 what does that do to you? What does it do 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.200 to your mindset, your form? Wants your expectation of yourself 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.240 and anything else that you experienced that no one else 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:11.880 knows about. A probably nothing until the next one, and 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:13.600 then you're gonna be like, oh, I remember that question 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:15.120 you asked, Shit, this is a big deal. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.640 Yeah, Like basically, all I can say is that, like, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.400 this has been a goal of mine since I can remember. 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.640 I was you know, when I started the sport and 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.400 found out that women's boxing was in the Olympics. Like 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:34.800 that's when it started for me. And it has been 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.840 such a long journey to get here, and it's taken 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:45.400 so many you know falls to come back and you know, 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.080 not getting that goal straight away. Is this big goal 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.720 I said of mine from an early age, to go 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.040 through the pits and falls of it, to keep pushing 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.520 through this long seventeen years I've been boxing, So I 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.640 started when I was eleven years old, and now a 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.200 lot of people have just been started following me, you 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.960 know lately, you know, coming into coming into Paris, and 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:07.840 it might just seem like, oh, wow, you know you 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.200 did amazing whatever, But I'm like that, can you understand 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.040 how long how much work it actually took me? But 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.880 thank you, I really appreciate it, and then it was 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:17.640 like straight away as soon as I got home, when's 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.040 the next one? What are you doing now? I'm like, 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.360 give me a little, give me a breath this, I 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.200 want to take this moment. And I never I've never 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.160 taken a taken an achievement in I don't think I've 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.520 just kind of moved on to the next one. This one, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.320 I've really given myself the chance to just reflect on 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.360 the whole journey and just take it in like this 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:35.800 is I did it. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:37.880 I love that. 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.520 Now I've heard I've heard a lot more of your story, 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.640 But can you talk about how you started in because 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.640 I really loved listening when we when we first met, 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.600 and I heard about when you started boxing and how 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:53.840 and just the journey, Like, what's it? Can you just 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.439 tell us tell us a story storytime with Katie. 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.640 Yeah, let's take us back to I don't even know 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.160 what year, when I was eleven years old. No, so 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:08.800 I actually got into combat sports my dad big yeah, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:10.720 Daddy's girl. And you know, he always wanted me to 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:15.120 look after myself, and he got me into taekwondo to 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:16.960 start with, and he said I wasn't allowed to walk 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.160 to school by myself. Until I got a black belt 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.120 in taekwondo. So I worked hard because I really wanted 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:23.520 to walk to side. I don't know why I wanted 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.040 to walk to school so badly, but I was really hard. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.120 And then as soon as I could, I got a 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.040 black belt and that's what I was competing and things 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.079 like that, and you know, I love that obviously. That 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.559 was my first kind of setting goals at a young age, 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.199 when I got that I don't want to walk to 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.000 school by was no's just taking me in the car 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:45.599 now independence He realized it's not that great, but U. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.960 And then we got to black belt and actually my 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.000 first time in the ring, in the ring, what do 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.240 you call on the mat in taekwondo, it's been a 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.720 little while for me. I was actually because I I've 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.360 always been big for my age. I grew, I grew 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.360 from an early age, and I always looked older than 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.680 I was. So I was nine years old getting on 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.600 the on the mat, so weird to say, not in 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.440 the ring, but on the mat with fifteen year olds 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:13.240 and stuff like that. And then in boxing I wanted 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.560 to start that. It was just the next challenge. I 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.400 couldn't go to the next dan of the on the 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.280 on your belt until it was a couple of years 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:22.720 I had to wait, and I was like, I'm ready 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.400 for for a new challenge. It was very, very different 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:31.720 kind of environment I'd say, taekwondo and boxing. Well, even 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.600 the gyms I was at. So this gym for taekwondo, 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:36.680 it was very you know, strict, you couldn't talk to 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.120 anyone else. You had to you know, do all the things, 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.880 you bow with the right times and uh. And then 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.960 I went to the boxing gym and it's just funny. 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.520 The first time I walked into the gym. My coach's 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:52.920 name is Fox. He looks like a big Viking, muscled up, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.520 tattooed head to toe and just we were like a 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.320 better word like bow, you know. I was just like, yeah, 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.760 you know, come on, and I was like, hey, this 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:09.120 is different already. Wow, let's go. And he partnered me 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.040 up with this boy to work with it for the 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:12.480 first day and he was like, you know, you're be 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.200 working with this guy. He's the Australian champion. And I 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.320 was like, oh my god, whoa, that's so cool, Like 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.120 I had to work with the Aussie champion, Like that's 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.319 what I want to be so that was really impactful 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.599 to start with. And yeah, I guess it just it 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.560 just kept me going. I loved that environment and I 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.080 was always very very shy, so you know, I was 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.600 very excited, but I'd still hide behind mum and dad 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.679 before i'd walk into the gym. But basically that's how 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:40.760 it started boxing. 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:42.720 That's so brave. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:47.480 Like I remember walking into gyms even once i'd already 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:52.360 started fighting, and walking into new gyms just for fitness 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:56.640 based classes really and still feeling incredibly intimidating and thinking 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.720 you've trained under some pretty brutal coaches as you've fought, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.000 and you still feel self conscious as a female walking 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:08.040 into some of these really friendly, really welcome in boxing gyms. 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.600 Like imagine you ton little thing. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.800 I wasn't very tiny, but yeah, yeah for sure, like 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.439 I was, I was incredibly shy, like zero self confidence. 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.840 And yeah, I think that's also when my dad like 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.280 always wanted to give me. My parents sorry, my dad 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.160 put me, wanted me to go to the combat route. 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.319 But my parents were super supportive and and got me wanted. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.480 They saw the value of sport. They weren't able to 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.640 do it much when they were younger. Although my mom 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:41.720 is not sporty in the slightest and not coordinated. She's 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.880 always I've tried to take her on the pads before 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:52.680 my mom just left right like. But so yeah, yeah, 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.720 my parents just saw the value in sport and giving 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.360 me some confidence. I needed that a lot, and you know, 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.560 discipline and resilience, and through that, I was able to 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.720 discover my own strength that came with challenging my limits 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:08.120 as well. 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.320 I love that. When did you start competing in the boxing? 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.480 So I didn't actually get to compete until I was thirteen. 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.680 So I because I was always trying to find fights, 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:22.240 but there was no one my age and way the 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.640 first so I was weighing in thirteen years old seventy kilos, 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:27.800 like there was no one my age and way, and 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.800 so I fight at seventy five kilos now, So I've 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.360 always been like this tall and this is big. But 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.079 I say, like I'm massive, I'm not, you know, at 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.080 that age it was yeah taller. I was always in 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.560 the back line of the school photos. I always wanted 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:43.920 to be in the front. I wanted to sit down 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.200 like the other girls, but I was standing at the back. 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:53.280 It's the small things. But yeah, I why do I 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:54.960 lose track of what I'm talking about. 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:56.800 I go, I love it. 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:04.959 It's like how Yeah, because even when I started around 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.439 that time, and it was starting to get a bit 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.520 more popular, but probably more so because my entry into 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.320 boxing was through the corporate Boxing Challenges, which is a 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.880 very friendly environment to be given an opportunity like that. 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:25.040 But at your age, at that time, there's no opportunities 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.040 to fight. So I'd love you to share how your 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.680 your parents got those opportunities for you and how you 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:33.360 developed that. 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.320 Yes, and that reminds me of exactly yeah, what I 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:41.080 was just talking about as well. So yeah, So I 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.640 was continuously trying to find fights. I was telling my coach, 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:44.880 so please, I just want to I want to get 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.400 in the ring. I don't know what pushed me so hard, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.840 but I just I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.080 to get in the ring. Obviously all the training that 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.960 I'd done. I wanted to show that I was listening 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:58.880 and that it was all you know four or for 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.680 a purpose. I'm very gold dribbn. I need something to 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.000 kind of work towards. So getting in the ring was 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:08.040 a big thing for me. And so the first time 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.200 I got in the ring. It wasn't an official fight, 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.960 it was called an exhibition. But to get someone in 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:14.560 the ring with me, I had to get in the 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.680 ring with a twenty five year old at thirteen years old, 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.640 and I loved it. It was such a great experience. 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.720 Everyone was like, oh, you definitely won that. We were 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:24.520 both got our hands raised at the end. But I 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:32.000 took that. I was like, yeah, but that was yeah. 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.000 That was early on, and then I was able to 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:35.760 get a couple of like I think my first actual 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:42.600 official fight was a state title fighting yeah, this other girl. Yeah, 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.960 I was I had to kind of have the big 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.480 fights early on. I went to nationals. It was my 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:53.560 maybe my fifth or sixth five, and I ended up 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.800 stopping the girl in forty five seconds, just because I 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.680 was just so eager. And that's my first style. My 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.200 taught me Foxy. He just taught me to be tough 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:08.040 and I would just come forward and swing and yeah, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:09.840 I guess they didn't know what to do with me, 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.080 and yeah, they ended up giving me the fight in 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.520 forty five seconds. I was like, well that's and so 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.280 from there, I was selected to go to the World 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.000 Championships in Turkey, and I was just about to turn fifteen. 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.800 I'm going to Turkey. I don't even think i'd heard 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:25.800 of the country before, and I could just travel across 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.600 the world. Yeah, insane. It didn't even at the time 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.520 Mum and Dad, you know, they couldn't They couldn't come, 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.360 They couldn't afford it. They put all their money and 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.840 everything they had into just getting me to training. And 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.440 I was meeting up with a teamide from Perth originally, 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.080 so I was flying across across the country to meet 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:43.600 up with some of the team I think it was 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.680 Sydney probably, and then fly back over that way to 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.720 Europe and to go to Turkey. Very very I think 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.680 I just loved being able to take that in and travel. 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.560 I never left Australia and New Zealand, and to be 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:02.160 able to go and experience such different culture than what 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.640 I was used to was just such a learning such 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.840 a learning experience. And yeah, it took a lot out 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.880 of it and I got to travel to some amazing 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.000 countries after that. I think you learn more doing that 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:15.879 stuff than anything else. 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.960 One, how does the funding for that work? When you 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.560 get opportunities or go and seek opportunities overseas? 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.320 Is their funding available yeah. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.160 I mean back then there wasn't a lot. I think 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:31.879 they might have helped us a little bit. But my 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:37.120 parents they're my biggest support network. Like they're just incredible. 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.920 The amount they've put in to be able to give 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.479 myself and my brother the opportunities that they have. I 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.840 can't thank them enough. I always bring them up because 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.680 they deserve it so much. And and if I asked 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:49.560 them to talk in an interview, they couldn't add all. 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:55.320 They're just shy, but so they My dad has worked 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.680 two jobs seven days a week for my whole life 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.800 to how to get me to training. Has worked multiple jobs, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.520 She did some starts. She was secretary of boxing wa 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:06.080 to you know, be able to support and be a 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.800 part of it, get us you know that, I don't know, 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.080 get us into the fights basically not have to pay, 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.800 but that. And she would also sell pies and she 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.440 would clean houses and she would do whatever it took 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.200 to be able to raise funds because we didn't come 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.000 from much with a low socioeconomic area. You know, a 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.040 mum and dad probably I think they didn't even finish 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.400 year eight year ten of highs of school. So yeah, 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.919 they work extremely hard to be able to give us 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.600 these opportunities and so yeah, they again fundraise like crazy. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.120 They get me to Turkey to the World Championships when 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.639 I just turned fifteen, and I'm glad they did, you know, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.800 because I did win a bronze medal there that that 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:52.240 was a big one for me. I was like, you know, 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.520 I show them that their sacrifices were worth it. And really, 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.600 for me, my biggest motivation is obviously myself, but then yeah, 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.960 like and pushing myself and whatever, but that's that that 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:05.120 pushes me. That that's my why as well. I want 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:06.959 to show them that, you know, I can I can 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.119 do and prove to them that, you know, all the 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:10.720 work that they put in was worth. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.280 God, it's so amazing and it's so selfless and what 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:22.760 like what was their expectation of I guess where this 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.639 could take you? What were they hoping to give you? 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:27.520 What were they hoping for you to get out of it? 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.760 Like amateur? Like you're not making money amateur boxing? 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:39.280 No? Yeah, no, definitely not So I get I think 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.800 it started because they wanted to. I think my dad 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:44.560 as well, from a young age, he always wanted to 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.240 be involved in sport. But you know, couldn't could didn't 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.120 have those opportunities to get out there and do that. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:53.720 So I think he wanted to always do that for us. 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.960 I think the confidence and the discipline and resilience, I 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.359 think they always wanted to instill that in us, and 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.760 I think obvious see when I started winning and then 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.000 showed a bit of potential. I think he just wanted 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.120 me to be able to have the opportunities to get 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.199 the most out of it and to be able to 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.679 accomplish my dreams. And then I told my parents I 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:14.560 want to I want to go to the Olympics, and 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.960 remember being the local paper like I want to go 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.520 to the Olympics, And you know, they just wanted to 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.680 provide that for us and my brother. He he fought 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:28.520 a bit, but yeah, he chose another life path and 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.359 he wasn't really too interested in it. But for me, Yeah, 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.639 even to this day, it's so important to have a 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.280 great support network. I've got to own partner now, who's 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.280 just incredible and I've been with him for seven years 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.600 now and he's just been there. Like I can't thank 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.080 him enough because I can't do this alone. Like you said, 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.440 it doesn't pay the bills, and there is a struggle. 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.200 And to be able to sit there and go away 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.280 and travel for six months of the year most of 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:01.679 the time, and train lot, and for them to stick 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.200 stick by you, push you to be your best and 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.119