Speaker 1: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
Speaker 1: on which this podcast was produced, the Gaddigle people of
Speaker 1: the orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present.
Speaker 2: It's twenty twenty four and water polo player Ellie Armett
Speaker 2: is training hard for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
Speaker 2: The Ossie Stingers navigated a difficult Tokyo Olympics in the
Speaker 2: height of COVID. After they placed fifth, Ellie needed some
Speaker 2: time out of the game, rested and recharged. She's ready
Speaker 2: to revisit the dream of winning gold. She's training from
Speaker 2: five each morning, racing to her teaching job, and then
Speaker 2: back into training at night. Ellie is giving this her all,
Speaker 2: but one conversation with her coach changes everything and Ellie
Speaker 2: is dropped from the team. She's told she's not ready.
Speaker 2: Ellie is standing in the way of her own success.
Speaker 2: Ellie screens and cries, this is not part of the plan,
Speaker 2: but she isn't ready to give up. I'm at Middleton
Speaker 2: and this is head game today. Ellie Armott on developing
Speaker 2: a high performance mindset and her tough road back to
Speaker 2: the podium. Now, Ellie, you've had a sort of love
Speaker 2: hate relationship with the sport over the years. How did
Speaker 2: water polo come into your life? Was it something that
Speaker 2: your mother, your father played? How did how did it
Speaker 2: come about? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I started when I was quite a little in primary
Speaker 3: school and I started with a modified version, the kids
Speaker 3: playing like the shallow end of the pool and like
Speaker 3: a smaller ball. I was quite fortunate when I was
Speaker 3: growing up in North Queensland there was a huge push
Speaker 3: for development in water polo in Queensland and I just
Speaker 3: gave it a go pretty much and fell in love
Speaker 3: with it.
Speaker 4: And I played a lot of different.
Speaker 3: Sports right up until I left school, but yeah, water
Speaker 3: polly was one of my main sports.
Speaker 4: I think I was much.
Speaker 3: More a water athlete than I was a land athlete,
Speaker 3: So it was just something I took to like a
Speaker 3: duck to water.
Speaker 2: Really And you say your water athlete. Were you brought
Speaker 2: up by the beach? What did your family sort of
Speaker 2: unit look like? You come from a big family where
Speaker 2: you always outdoors. How did that look Yeah?
Speaker 4: Definitely.
Speaker 3: I have four older brothers, so we're quite an active family, always,
Speaker 3: you know, doing some sort of sport on the weekends
Speaker 3: or playing.
Speaker 4: With each other. In the backyard.
Speaker 3: We grew up in Townsville in North Queensland, so it's
Speaker 3: on the beach, so we did a lot of surf,
Speaker 3: life saving and swimming as kids.
Speaker 4: But yeah, we played up multitude of sports really, I
Speaker 4: did everything.
Speaker 2: And any of your brothers into water polo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so a couple of them did play growing up.
Speaker 3: One was quite good. He got to the junior os level,
Speaker 3: but then they all went on and chose their careers
Speaker 3: over their sporting endeavors. So the one that got to
Speaker 3: the Australian level, he is now a or three D surgeon,
Speaker 3: so he chose that route over playing water polo.
Speaker 2: Yes, I've I've learned that within within water polo there's
Speaker 2: there's a second career that you that you have to
Speaker 2: have right in order to obviously support yourself, support your
Speaker 2: family and and to really focus on on the water
Speaker 2: polo from from a separate standpoint. So ultimately there's there's
Speaker 2: two careers there. When what what career came first to you,
Speaker 2: was it was it the water polo? Did you step
Speaker 2: into the sort of the professional real of water polo
Speaker 2: before you stepped into a career or did they did
Speaker 2: they come hand in hand I.
Speaker 3: Kind of stumbled into the professional sense of water polo first.
Speaker 3: When I first moved to Brisbane, it definitely wasn't on
Speaker 3: my radar. I was just kind of cracking into the
Speaker 3: q I S squad and and trying to make the
Speaker 3: national senior team.
Speaker 4: And then this.
Speaker 3: Chance, this opportunity came up to go play in Italy,
Speaker 3: and I was eighteen and stari eyed, and of course
Speaker 3: I wanted to go live in Italy and play professional
Speaker 3: water polo. But I don't think I actually knew what
Speaker 3: that meant until I got there, and it was one
Speaker 3: of the most humbling and hardest times of my life.
Speaker 3: But after I came home and realized that was probably
Speaker 3: a silly mistake. But we don't know those things until
Speaker 3: we look back, and hindsight is a beautiful thing.
Speaker 4: I then started studying for to become a teacher.
Speaker 2: So take me back to Italy. What happened?
Speaker 4: Did you?
Speaker 2: It was an exciting time. How did that look and
Speaker 2: how did your parents and your family take to that decision?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So generally what happens when you're an import in
Speaker 3: one of the European leagues is someone kind of scouts
Speaker 3: you somewhere along the way and kind of gives you
Speaker 3: a call or your coach a call and says, hey,
Speaker 3: we'd love to have her on our team. In this case,
Speaker 3: there was an Australian girl already in this team. She
Speaker 3: didn't want to stay anymore. She wanted to come home,
Speaker 3: so she kind of rang me and was like, do
Speaker 3: you want to take my place? We played similar positions again.
Speaker 4: We had.
Speaker 3: It was Italy and I wanted to go, and my
Speaker 3: dad used to live in Italy, so he had some
Speaker 3: family friends there that if things went south, they were
Speaker 3: kind of okay with me going to them. And it
Speaker 3: wasn't like I was in a foreign country with absolutely
Speaker 3: nobody around. But it was a very hard time because
Speaker 3: I did spend a lot of time on the phone
Speaker 3: to my mom crying because it was so hard.
Speaker 4: And I was eighteen.
Speaker 2: I had no idea, you're homesick.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I had no idea what I was doing,
Speaker 3: and the coach was the typical European screaming at me
Speaker 3: in Italian, and you know, it just there was just
Speaker 3: like a multiputitude of things happening, and yeah, it was
Speaker 3: a really very steep learning curve for me.
Speaker 2: So the psychological aspect is there, especially being an next
Speaker 2: book player, like you said, so you know a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure on you to perform. Everyone looking to you,
Speaker 2: what's the physical sideline because you're constantly in the water,
Speaker 2: You're constantly how often are you training? What does that
Speaker 2: physical side to water polo look like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I went to Italy a few times to
Speaker 3: play in a few different teams, and in the kind
Speaker 3: of later teams that I was in, they were a
Speaker 3: bit more in the top one two of the league.
Speaker 4: So they were training.
Speaker 3: I think we ended up training about ten eleven times
Speaker 3: a week, so you do you know, three gym, three
Speaker 3: swim and then all skills at night and games on
Speaker 3: Saturday every Saturday. So it is a quite Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: a physical toll on your body, and you only get
Speaker 3: one kind of day off to rest. But then again
Speaker 3: you're in a different country, so you kind of want
Speaker 3: to go explore things and see different things. But yeah,
Speaker 3: the Italians and actually a lot of the European teams
Speaker 3: are very physical players and very aggressive and passionate and
Speaker 3: it just comes out and they're playing. So in the
Speaker 3: games you kind of getting kicked and hit and scratched
Speaker 3: and things, as well as trying to prove that you're
Speaker 3: one of the best players in your team and you know,
Speaker 3: hold the team together.
Speaker 4: So it's a lot of yeah, moving parts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really interesting because I suppose you know, you're
Speaker 2: like a rabbit in the headlights as well. Like you said,
Speaker 2: you're young, you're not and you mentioned naives. Sometimes it's
Speaker 2: best to go into situations like that with a naive
Speaker 2: mindset because you know, you deal with the situation at hand.
Speaker 2: You deal with you know, with everything once it's presented
Speaker 2: to you. How did you find the pressure of being
Speaker 2: the export player and then all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: realizing that everything's ramping up, from the pressure on you
Speaker 2: to the training to you know, living life away from
Speaker 2: Australia being homesick. How how did you deal with it?
Speaker 2: How do you manage that?
Speaker 3: I guess as the seasons went on and I got
Speaker 3: a bit more experienced at it, you just kind of
Speaker 3: learned that you can only do what you can only do,
Speaker 3: so instead of kind of putting all this pressure on
Speaker 3: yourself to be the amazing player, They've picked you for
Speaker 3: a reason, So you're going to go there and play
Speaker 3: your game and and try and incorporate their tactics for sure,
Speaker 3: but yeah, you can only do what you can I do.
Speaker 3: So it's just kind of relinquishing that major pressure and
Speaker 3: then also leading into it as a challenge.
Speaker 2: That's amazing because you know, to function at such a level,
Speaker 2: you sort of need that sense of confidence to realize that,
Speaker 2: you know that without teaching into arrogance. I suppose of
Speaker 2: realizing that, you know, coh, you know, I'm flying through
Speaker 2: the ranks here, I'm being you know, I'm playing for
Speaker 2: all the top clubs in Europe, and then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden you get a call from the Stiggers in Australia.
Speaker 2: When do you remember that phone call? And do you remember,
Speaker 2: you know, being being called up by the national team.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: I remember kind of doing a tournament and the head
Speaker 3: coach was there.
Speaker 4: At this time.
Speaker 3: I was still living in Townsville and he was like
Speaker 3: if are you going to move to Brisbane next year?
Speaker 3: And I was like, well, I don't know, and he
Speaker 3: was like I think you should and I was like okay,
Speaker 3: and then you know, kind of told me to move.
Speaker 3: And once I moved, I was kind of accepted into
Speaker 3: this QIS program. And then eventually I think in like
Speaker 3: twenty thirteen was my very first game, and I.
Speaker 4: Was so nervous.
Speaker 3: I got on for maybe a minute and I was
Speaker 3: just shaking the entire time. But I don't really remember
Speaker 3: the call that he gave me or the email that
Speaker 3: I saw my name, but yeah, it just it was
Speaker 3: just I was just happy to be there, to be honest,
Speaker 3: I was just happy to sit on the bench and
Speaker 3: watch everyone else because I was too scared to get
Speaker 3: in the water.
Speaker 4: But once you kind of get over that initial shocks,
Speaker 4: it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: And then Tokyo comes up. That was quite an unsettling
Speaker 2: sort of time in the world. Talk me through when
Speaker 2: you first got called up to Tokyo to represent your
Speaker 2: country for the Olympics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so obviously the lead up was just so tumultuous
Speaker 3: and unsure, and you know, I kind of still remember
Speaker 3: flying home to Townsville to be with my parents with
Speaker 3: their quarantine and getting the message to say that the
Speaker 3: Olympics were canceled, And it still gives me chills this
Speaker 3: day that we were like but I just, yeah, I
Speaker 3: lost it. We were about to go over to Europe
Speaker 3: to play a tournament, and we were leaving Australia as
Speaker 3: we got on the plane and we were flying to Dubai,
Speaker 3: there was messages flying, you know, backwards and forwards about
Speaker 3: there's someone in Italy that's super spreading COVID throughout Italy.
Speaker 3: So we land in Dubai and they say to us, hey,
Speaker 3: we can't go to Italy anymore because this look seems
Speaker 3: like a health rest to us. We're just going to
Speaker 3: chill for a second and maybe divert straight to Hungary,
Speaker 3: which is our second stop, and then we sit around
Speaker 3: for a few hours and whatnot, and yeah, our bags
Speaker 3: off the plane and we go get a hotel and
Speaker 3: check into a hotel. How the next morning we get
Speaker 3: up and our coaches are like, yeah, so Hungry is
Speaker 3: off the plan as well because there's COVID there and
Speaker 3: it's just not it.
Speaker 4: So we're going to turn around and go back to Australia.
Speaker 4: So we went back to Australia.
Speaker 3: We went back to our training environments, and I think
Speaker 3: we went to camera for a little bit and back home.
Speaker 3: And then I vividly remember what she like sitting on
Speaker 3: the couch watching the news and they're going to close
Speaker 3: the borders to Queensland, and I just called my manager
Speaker 3: and I said, should I be going home?
Speaker 4: And she was like, yeah, get out.
Speaker 3: So I left the next day, packed a bag enough
Speaker 3: for like two weeks.
Speaker 4: Like I thought it was good, you know, everyone thought
Speaker 4: it was two weeks. And then when.
Speaker 3: I got home, I was at the airport waiting for
Speaker 3: my mom to pick me up, and the message came
Speaker 3: through that it was postponed, and I was just bloodgates
Speaker 3: and yeah, it's just still emotional today actually. But then
Speaker 3: we kind of just locked in and we just had
Speaker 3: to train in case there was a call one day
Speaker 3: that we're back on.
Speaker 4: So we just did what everyone else did.
Speaker 2: I suppose there was a little glimmer of hope that
Speaker 2: things would come about. And when they did come about,
Speaker 2: can you remember that moment And was it from pure
Speaker 2: sort of you know, just that same routine to all
Speaker 2: of a sudden having that spark ignited, or was it
Speaker 2: just a case of oh, this is this is happening
Speaker 2: now and not really believing it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a tough one because there was still obviously,
Speaker 3: you know, the Japanese people didn't want the Olympics to
Speaker 3: go ahead, and there was still protests and things happening.
Speaker 3: So we still weren't sure. Even though the IOC were like, yes,
Speaker 3: the Olympics are going ahead, we weren't sure until we
Speaker 3: got on the plane that it was actually happening. And
Speaker 3: there was just so much protocol and things that we
Speaker 3: had to do, like go in stage in cans for
Speaker 3: two weeks just to be able to get on a
Speaker 3: plane to go to Tokyo and things like that. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think once we were like certain that it was
Speaker 3: on and well, at least for us, it was going
Speaker 3: to happen, we were just going to train like it
Speaker 3: was going to happen, and we're.
Speaker 4: Going to deal with it when we got there.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I still remember the moment my coach called
Speaker 3: me up and said I was on the final thirteen
Speaker 3: on the way to Tokyo. It was I think I
Speaker 3: was on my brother's deck and kind of overlooking towns
Speaker 3: where my mum was behind me, and I said, don't
Speaker 3: come out here until I tell you to come out here.
Speaker 3: And the minute I had hung up the phone call,
Speaker 3: she was like by my side. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm good, yeah, actually, and she's just kind of like,
Speaker 3: what's going on? And I was like, oh, I mean,
Speaker 3: and then she was just crying, So I think that
Speaker 3: kept me really calm, so I didn't cry, but I
Speaker 3: was like such an amazing feeling to hearing those words.
Speaker 2: I bet it was, And it obviously reignites the whole
Speaker 2: reason for you doing what you were doing during lockdown,
Speaker 2: and you know, continuing to be an elite athlete, which
Speaker 2: is what was required of you, even you know, the
Speaker 2: discipline to do that during lockdown is another level by itself.
Speaker 2: What was it like landing in Tokyo.
Speaker 3: To be honest, we were so sheltered, so like we
Speaker 3: got off the plane, we were like corraled, we were tested,
Speaker 3: and we were put onto a bus and like masks
Speaker 3: and everything, and then we got bus straight into the village.
Speaker 3: You know, once we're in the village, you're not allowed
Speaker 3: to leave unless you're going to a training or game.
Speaker 3: So we didn't interact with any of the public at all.
Speaker 3: The only public we saw were like kind of lining
Speaker 3: the streets as we'd go to training, but they seemed
Speaker 3: like happy and excited to see the Olympic buses going past.
Speaker 3: So yeah, again we didn't see any kind of unrest
Speaker 3: by the Japanese public, but we didn't interact with anyone.
Speaker 3: We just were in the village or at our training
Speaker 3: venue and that was it or game venue.
Speaker 2: And what was it like training together for the for
Speaker 2: the first time after such a long time of being
Speaker 2: you know, by yourself, you know, having the team back together.
Speaker 2: Was that was there a moment there or was it
Speaker 2: just like, listen, we've got a drop to do. We've
Speaker 2: been out of the you know, out of it for
Speaker 2: a while. We just need to get get in and
Speaker 2: utilize time to crack on. And what was that like
Speaker 2: coming together?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was different because we didn't play any international
Speaker 3: games leading up to Tokyo, so the first one was
Speaker 3: a bit a bit of a shock to the system.
Speaker 3: But yeah, once you're in that Olympic village, it's so exciting.
Speaker 3: There's so much kind of happening still that you get
Speaker 3: a few days to find your feet and then it's
Speaker 3: just game mode.
Speaker 4: So like your game on, let's go. We're here to
Speaker 4: do a job and we're not kind of stop until
Speaker 4: we have done it.
Speaker 2: And do you feel like that Tokyo was you know,
Speaker 2: obviously you couldn't prepare as you wished as a team,
Speaker 2: and you know that interaction, you know, face to face interaction,
Speaker 2: the energy, the you know, the the that team sort
Speaker 2: of ethos that that you can't experience during lockdown or
Speaker 2: when you're isolated. Did that come back straight away or
Speaker 2: did you find that you were working on that while
Speaker 2: you were actually competing.
Speaker 3: It definitely we had to work on that every day
Speaker 3: while we're competing, and yeah, you just lose those kind
Speaker 3: of little nuances and the little touches that you have
Speaker 3: with each other that you learn from playing with each
Speaker 3: other over a long period of time. So we had
Speaker 3: to try and get that back quite quickly. We still
Speaker 3: had lots of team meetings throughout where we were kind
Speaker 3: of like what's missing, what's the where are the gaps
Speaker 3: type of thing. But yeah, it's something you have to
Speaker 3: work on all the time, no matter if things are
Speaker 3: going well, if things are going bad.
Speaker 2: So do you think it affected your overall performance of
Speaker 2: the Tokyo Olympics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really hard to say because everyone kind of
Speaker 3: had a similar prep Some of the teams played games,
Speaker 3: some didn't, So yeah, it's really hard to comment whether that.
Speaker 3: I mean, playing prep games might have helped us, and
Speaker 3: it usually does help in the lead up to things,
Speaker 3: but again, yeah, who's to say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, where did you come in the Tokyo Olympics. We
Speaker 2: got fifth, and was there a sense of excitement about
Speaker 2: that or was there a sense of success considering the
Speaker 2: situation or was there a sense of disappointment where you
Speaker 2: believed you could have done better.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we got bronze of the World CHAMPCE in
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen, so the year before the Olympics were meant
Speaker 3: to be so we were a top four projected team,
Speaker 3: so we're expecting to get top four and we lost
Speaker 3: our quarter final by one. So that was a big
Speaker 3: kind of heartbreak moment for us, because it's a hard
Speaker 3: thing playing a team sport. Once you lose your carter,
Speaker 3: you're out of middle contention. There's no coming back.
Speaker 4: But after that moment, we kind of slapped down.
Speaker 3: And we're like, well, we're going to finish it the
Speaker 3: best result we possibly can. So we just kind of
Speaker 3: went out all guns blazing and got the best we
Speaker 3: could from then on.
Speaker 2: And were you happy with your performance after after Tokyo
Speaker 2: because you fell out of love with the sport shortly
Speaker 2: after Tokyo. Was it due to the team? Was it
Speaker 2: due to your personal performance? What happened there? Why did
Speaker 2: you fall out of love with something that was been
Speaker 2: ingrained in you for such a such a long time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I think I did.
Speaker 3: For my first Olympics, and for being kind of the
Speaker 3: inexperienced national player that I was, I think I did
Speaker 3: quite well in my position. I just it was just
Speaker 3: a huge kind of two years. And then I was
Speaker 3: living out of a storage unit at the time in
Speaker 3: Sydney because of COVID. I was back and forth from everywhere,
Speaker 3: so I had no way to live, and just the
Speaker 3: thought of having to find somewhere to live in a
Speaker 3: job and all those things, I was just like, that's
Speaker 3: too hard. I'm just going to go overseas and play
Speaker 3: another contract in Italy for the team i'd played for.
Speaker 3: So when I was seas and played and I just
Speaker 3: don't think. And I don't know if you've heard of this,
Speaker 3: but there's this huge like thing that happens after the
Speaker 3: Olympics is called the post Olympic depression, and it hits
Speaker 3: almost everybody. Yeah, so you're just going up this huge
Speaker 3: high and then you just drop. And I obviously wasn't
Speaker 3: prepared for that, and I ran overseas away from my
Speaker 3: problems and just away from my support system and in
Speaker 3: a situation that I thought, again was a lot different
Speaker 3: to what I was expecting and things like that. So
Speaker 3: it kind of hit me quite hard over there, and
Speaker 3: I just kind of almost fell apart and I needed
Speaker 3: to step away from water polo to see if it
Speaker 3: was water polo that was causing these feelings and emotions
Speaker 3: or if it was something else, and I just needed Yeah,
Speaker 3: So I just needed some time away from the sport,
Speaker 3: so I didn't leave, you know, with a tainted feeling
Speaker 3: and towards it.
Speaker 4: So that's what I did.
Speaker 3: I just took a step back and you know, took
Speaker 3: stock of my life and saw kind of see where
Speaker 3: I was at.
Speaker 2: And how did the coaches and the national team take
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 3: The national team players coaches definitely were It was kind
Speaker 3: of a weird time for Australian water polo went through
Speaker 3: quite a lot of coaches in about a you know,
Speaker 3: eight year period of seven year period, so we were
Speaker 3: kind of in the midst of changing coaches at the time,
Speaker 3: and when the new coach came on board, I just, yeah,
Speaker 3: I just kind of gave them a call and said, look,
Speaker 3: I just need a break.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry. I can't. I can't go to World Champs.
Speaker 3: And he was quite accepting of that and understood, you know,
Speaker 3: where people first, and he was taking care of, you know,
Speaker 3: the person first. And then he just said, you know,
Speaker 3: we'll circle back after World Champs and see how you're going.
Speaker 2: What was your mindset? Was your mindset I'm never going
Speaker 2: to revisit the sport again, or was your mindset, I'm
Speaker 2: going to go away, work on myself and come back. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I worked really closely with my sych at the time,
Speaker 3: and he was kind of the one that suggested that
Speaker 3: I take that step back, because when you're in it,
Speaker 3: it's really hard to see what.
Speaker 4: Else is outside.
Speaker 3: And so I took the step back from water polo,
Speaker 3: and then I kind of came home from my international season,
Speaker 3: got a job at the school that I'm working at
Speaker 3: right now, and just kind of enjoyed life without sport.
Speaker 2: Got you? So you just did cut it all out?
Speaker 2: You went back to teaching. What changed your mind?
Speaker 3: Well, I kind of played There's like a Queensland kind
Speaker 3: of tournament that happens at the end of every year,
Speaker 3: and I played that with my friends in a one
Speaker 3: of the random teams, Like I wasn't planning on taking
Speaker 3: it seriously, and I was just going to play to
Speaker 3: have fun with my friends, and obviously playing games is
Speaker 3: really what generally ignites the love of the game in everyone,
Speaker 3: and just doing that and then I kind of did
Speaker 3: my toe back in and then went back to training
Speaker 3: a few times a week and just and just built
Speaker 3: it back up and kind of thought, well, if I'm
Speaker 3: going to do this, it's three more years or two
Speaker 3: more years, and if not now, then when, and you know,
Speaker 3: why not me?
Speaker 4: Type of thing.
Speaker 3: And I remember one vivid conversation. I was working at
Speaker 3: a different school as a casual teacher and there was
Speaker 3: an excess traine athlete that he was a roller in
Speaker 3: Sydney and he was the reserve and he was talking
Speaker 3: to me and he was like, you'd be so stupid
Speaker 3: not to try again for Paris. Like if you can't
Speaker 3: do it now, then you know you got the rest
Speaker 3: of your life to work. And I'd heard people say
Speaker 3: that to me like so many times. I had people
Speaker 3: say you can work for the rest of your life
Speaker 3: so many times, but it was just kind of the
Speaker 3: way he said it and who he was in that
Speaker 3: exact moment that I was kind of like I'm being
Speaker 3: stupid here, like I need to give this another go
Speaker 3: and I need to change the narrative on water Polo.
Speaker 4: I can't leave like this.
Speaker 3: I can't leave thinking it was that bad and I
Speaker 3: was that down on the dump. So I just had
Speaker 3: to give it another go. And if I didn't make it,
Speaker 3: I didn't make it.
Speaker 4: But at least I gave it a go. And I
Speaker 4: might have lasted one month, I might have lasted all
Speaker 4: the way to Paris. But yeah, that was kind of
Speaker 4: the turning point for me.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're working a full time job at the
Speaker 2: school and then you're obviously training on I say, on
Speaker 2: the side, how does that schedule work for you? You're
Speaker 2: getting up super early and John in the pool. How
Speaker 2: did that look all the way up to to obviously
Speaker 2: you going into your training camps to prepare for their
Speaker 2: paras Olympics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it wasn't all the time, but like for
Speaker 3: a huge like two to three months, I was up early.
Speaker 3: I was in the gym or in the pool or both,
Speaker 3: and then I was like showering at school, eating breakfast
Speaker 3: at my desk while I marked the role for home room,
Speaker 3: and then went to class all day, taught all day,
Speaker 3: would come home quickly change or do anything that I
Speaker 3: needed to do before the nighttime practice, and then go
Speaker 3: to training until eight thirty at night, come home, cook dinner, prep,
Speaker 3: do everything for the next day, and then just get
Speaker 3: up and do it all again the next day.
Speaker 2: And that takes some dedication and discipline, So you'd fallen
Speaker 2: back in love with the sport because obviously you have
Speaker 2: to be to be that dedicated and committed and discipline
Speaker 2: towards it. How does the call up feel for obviously
Speaker 2: you've had the call up before for your first Olympics
Speaker 2: back in Tokyo. How did it differ from the cool
Speaker 2: up for Paris?
Speaker 3: Honestly, the Paris one was a lot harder because there's
Speaker 3: a lot more emotions, there's a lot more at stake,
Speaker 3: and I like, I'm not sure if you know, but
Speaker 3: I got dropped from the team about six months out,
Speaker 3: so I was still in the squad, but I got
Speaker 3: dennounced from the World Champs.
Speaker 4: That yeah, I was a reserve for the World Champs.
Speaker 4: That happened in January.
Speaker 2: Why and how it was just.
Speaker 3: Kind of a moment of me getting in my own
Speaker 3: way and it was kind of a weird situation. So
Speaker 3: our coach at the Paris Olympics was our assistant coach
Speaker 3: in Tokyo, and she'd been the assistant coach all the
Speaker 3: way up in the Paris cycle, and then about a
Speaker 3: year out from Paris, we had a huge review of
Speaker 3: our program and our current coach and that coach got
Speaker 3: fired and so we were coach less for quite a
Speaker 3: long time, and then she was appointed as coach in
Speaker 3: December sins like six months is ish out and had
Speaker 3: a quick turnaround to have a training camp and prepare
Speaker 3: and get a team selected for a World champ that
Speaker 3: was like in February or something, and so she only
Speaker 3: really saw us training and stuff for about a week,
Speaker 3: but she obviously.
Speaker 4: Knew who we were being the assistant coach, and.
Speaker 3: She after I got the announcement that I didn't make it,
Speaker 3: I had to sit down meeting with her and she
Speaker 3: was just like, we've spoken about this before, and it
Speaker 3: was something that she and the old coach had come
Speaker 3: to me with before Tokyo and said.
Speaker 4: You know you're in your head, you're in your own way.
Speaker 3: You're the one stopping you here from being this athlete
Speaker 3: that we know who you are, and you have the
Speaker 3: potential and capabilities of being So she's like, I think
Speaker 3: you need the time right now to get that fixed
Speaker 3: so you can go to Paris. Otherwise, if we prolong this.
Speaker 4: You're not going to Paris.
Speaker 3: Essentially like paraphrasing, but it just was, Yeah, a conversation
Speaker 3: and a huge wake up call.
Speaker 4: I had become too comfortable. I was just going and going.
Speaker 2: In the motions complacent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was complacent. I was just turning up. I
Speaker 3: wasn't training, you know, maybe to my full potential. And
Speaker 3: this was a huge wake up call. And you know,
Speaker 3: there was moments where I was like, well, you know,
Speaker 3: I tried to see how this will be it I'm out.
Speaker 4: And then there were other moments where I was like, no, I'm.
Speaker 3: So close, and I'm I'm going to prove to her
Speaker 3: that this I'm not complacent, like I'm doing everything. And
Speaker 3: so that was another moment where I got all the
Speaker 3: kind of assistant and support stuff that I couldn't in a.
Speaker 4: Room, and I was like, how am I getting to Paris?
Speaker 4: How are we getting there?
Speaker 3: Let's go, let's organize, because again I wasn't in the
Speaker 3: the traveling squad, so I had to stay home and trains,
Speaker 3: which I mean I had to stay home and work.
Speaker 4: So again I'm.
Speaker 3: Working full time when I didn't plan to be, and
Speaker 3: and things like that. So yeah, it was getting the
Speaker 3: final call I think was even more emotional than the
Speaker 3: first one because I was just I purposely was myself
Speaker 3: in my apartment, just just sitting in the fields for
Speaker 3: a long time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Wow. And this is where the head game comes in
Speaker 2: because you know you've been dropped, and you go one
Speaker 2: or two ways, but you either have that sort of
Speaker 2: fuck you attitude where you go, well, listen, I've done
Speaker 2: everything I can for you lot, or you go, actually,
Speaker 2: you know the reason why this happened. You know, am
Speaker 2: I being complacent? Am I getting a bit too big
Speaker 2: for my boots? Am I getting over confident? And you know,
Speaker 2: do I think that the team can't function without me?
Speaker 2: And then that reality check comes in? And you know, luckily,
Speaker 2: and you know, knowing your your potential and your capabilities,
Speaker 2: you went down the road of right, listen, let's get
Speaker 2: back in that team. And that takes a certain mindset
Speaker 2: to do that. And so you were just full steam ahead,
Speaker 2: wanting to prove to yourself, wanting to prove to the
Speaker 2: coaches that you've got what it takes. When did you
Speaker 2: get when did you get invited back? And how did
Speaker 2: you feel?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we just got a message kind of saying,
Speaker 3: you know, this is the schedule we're going to I
Speaker 3: think we're doing the locks in Canberra again. So we
Speaker 3: did like months since in Canberra doing training at the Ies.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so when I got back into that, I
Speaker 3: was really nervous.
Speaker 4: I was scared.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was like, I have to prove myself every
Speaker 3: minute of every day here. There's no sleeping at all,
Speaker 3: like not physically sleeping. Of course I slapped.
Speaker 2: Back, Yeah, I know, yeah, there's no sleeping exactly.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so I was just kind of nervous, and
Speaker 3: I just channeled that nervous energy into doing the best
Speaker 3: I could every day and trying to prove that I
Speaker 3: was everything that she was saying that I wasn't and
Speaker 3: you know, fizz being physically fit and being a team player,
Speaker 3: being mentally fit.
Speaker 4: And things like that. So yeah, I just kind of
Speaker 4: threw myself into it.
Speaker 2: Wow. And then Paris. What differed from landing in Tokyo
Speaker 2: to landing in Paris? Obviously, apart from all of the
Speaker 2: pandemic sort of lockdown stuff. But what differed in pressure
Speaker 2: in you know, you were you were expected to perform
Speaker 2: a lot better than you did in Tokyo, right.
Speaker 4: Kind of the opposite. We did a lot of a
Speaker 4: European tours before, so we.
Speaker 3: Were in the end, I think we're in Europe, including
Speaker 3: the three weeks at the Olympics, maybe like seven weeks.
Speaker 3: So we did a lot of prep beforehand, a lot
Speaker 3: of common trainings with other countries and things like that.
Speaker 4: And the week before we went into the village we were.
Speaker 3: In the French Institute of Sport with the pat with
Speaker 3: the French team playing them.
Speaker 4: But ranking wise, we didn't ranked very high.
Speaker 3: We maybe got a fourth at the one of the
Speaker 3: World Champs and maybe a fifth or sixth and another one,
Speaker 3: so we were in top six for sure, but there
Speaker 3: was we have to keep reminding ourselves that. I think
Speaker 3: what kind of failed us in the Tokyo cycle was
Speaker 3: that we thought we were a gold medal chance without
Speaker 3: actually producing any gold medal performances. Whereas this time we
Speaker 3: literally broke our whole program down and we built it
Speaker 3: back up, so we worked on it every single day,
Speaker 3: and I think psych was a huge part of that.
Speaker 4: So landing in in.
Speaker 3: Paris or going into the Olympic village was so exciting
Speaker 3: because we were just so excited to see what we
Speaker 3: could do. Because we had a few pre tournaments where
Speaker 3: we were winning games that you know, theoretically we shouldn't.
Speaker 4: Have been winning, or previously we wouldn't have won.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, leading into into Paris, it was just
Speaker 3: kind of like, well, we can one.
Speaker 2: On us as well, So there's almost the pressure was off,
Speaker 2: but it was on. You know, you knew you could perform.
Speaker 2: But and I suppose when the pressures off as such,
Speaker 2: you know, and the spotlight's not on you, you sort
Speaker 2: of have you go in with a more relaxed attitude,
Speaker 2: don't you in a more relaxed feel, even though you
Speaker 2: know that behind the scenes, you know, there's expectations and
Speaker 2: there's pressures. You come out of the Powers Olympics with silver.
Speaker 2: Did you ever imagine that you could possibly win this?
Speaker 3: To be honest, we had a really hard pool, and
Speaker 3: so we were just literally taking a game by game,
Speaker 3: and like I said, we hadn't really had that much
Speaker 3: many performances where we were winning all the tournaments and
Speaker 3: things like that. So we literally took a game by game,
Speaker 3: and when we topped our pool was kind of a
Speaker 3: minute that we were like, well, hang on a second,
Speaker 3: Like anything can happen at the Olympics here, so you know,
Speaker 3: why can't we win a gold medal? So you know,
Speaker 3: from the kind of quarterfinals on weds when we were
Speaker 3: in the metal stage, it was very much on our radar,
Speaker 3: but we just had to keep to our processes and
Speaker 3: keep to a game by game and just you know,
Speaker 3: we could have gotten knocked out in the semi and
Speaker 3: then knocked out in the bronxe, so it could go
Speaker 3: one of you know, three or four different ways. So yeah,
Speaker 3: we literally just couldn't get ahead of ourselves. We just
Speaker 3: had to take it game by game, and then once
Speaker 3: we were in the gold medal match, it was just
Speaker 3: kind of.
Speaker 4: A pinch me moment.
Speaker 3: Like our programs a whole year ago was in ruins
Speaker 3: and we were in a review and we lost our coach,
Speaker 3: and you know, there was so much going on background
Speaker 3: to now being in a gold medal and big game,
Speaker 3: like that's unheard of, and so we were just kind
Speaker 3: of like, we are here, why don't we you know,
Speaker 3: finish strong, and why not us. This team is this
Speaker 3: Spanish team. Yet it's a it's a unit. It's a
Speaker 3: strong team that's played together for so many years, but
Speaker 3: so with other teams that we knocked off.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's amazing. And you and you unfortunately you know,
Speaker 2: you don't come out on top, but you come out
Speaker 2: on top with a with a silver medal in the Olympics,
Speaker 2: which is absolutely phenomenal. And you talk about a moment
Speaker 2: after receiving your medal where you where you had a
Speaker 2: hug with with with your family. Why was that so
Speaker 2: important and what you know, what did it feel like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was just incredible.
Speaker 3: It's a weird thing losing a game but getting a
Speaker 3: getting a silver medal because the bronze people in the
Speaker 3: call room are so excited, the gold medal team so excited,
Speaker 3: and you're just kind of like in this weird middle feeling.
Speaker 3: But once it kind of like we had our moment
Speaker 3: and we got the medals and we were excited that
Speaker 3: we got a civil medal.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I found them in the crowd and just giving them
Speaker 3: the hug. Like obviously having four brothers, you don't show
Speaker 3: a lot of emotion and they'd never really hug me
Speaker 3: or you know, say nice things to me. So having
Speaker 3: this like big hug and you know, moment with my
Speaker 3: brothers was just incredible, especially them and my parents. It's
Speaker 3: as much their metal as it is mine, because they've
Speaker 3: sacrificed just as much. And they were always on the
Speaker 3: other end of the phone when I was, you know,
Speaker 3: sixteen thousand kilometers away crying and you know, going when
Speaker 3: I was you know, in my depths of the pits
Speaker 3: of hell.
Speaker 4: So they have been on every part of the journey
Speaker 4: with me.
Speaker 3: So I'm really glad that I give them something tangible
Speaker 3: and physical that they could touch and see that you know, this,
Speaker 3: this wasn't wasted.
Speaker 2: I can see you're getting emotional right now about that.
Speaker 2: I can only imagine what you were like when you
Speaker 2: actually had that hug. And it's such a powerful moment.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned, you know, it's so so aware of
Speaker 2: you to mention a sacrifice that you know other people
Speaker 2: make to get to where you want to be and
Speaker 2: where you where you you know, you could deliver that
Speaker 2: silver medal and it's it's given me goosebumps thinking about it.
Speaker 2: But how important is it to not give up on yourself?
Speaker 2: Ellie massively.
Speaker 3: It's it's something that I think everyone battles with every day,
Speaker 3: is just this imposter syndrome, especially as Australians where you know,
Speaker 3: have this tall puppy syndrome and whatnot.
Speaker 4: But it's something you have to work on all the time.
Speaker 3: And I think along the way I lost it a
Speaker 3: few times and I was so grateful to the people
Speaker 3: who pulled me back and reminded me and gave me
Speaker 3: another chance. You have to back yourself and you have
Speaker 3: to put the effort in and put the work in.
Speaker 4: Things aren't just going to come easily. So I think
Speaker 4: your self belief and self love is crucial.
Speaker 2: It's huge ask question what is next for yourself. I
Speaker 2: love it that you're in your school doing this interview
Speaker 2: with myself because you're you're still working away as a teacher.
Speaker 2: But what's next for you when it comes to water
Speaker 2: polo and your career That.
Speaker 4: I really don't know. I am at the minute.
Speaker 3: I'm kind of taking a break from the national team
Speaker 3: again and I'm back training once a week with the
Speaker 3: QAS squad, but I'm just kind of enjoying doing my
Speaker 3: own kind of training in a gym or running or
Speaker 3: plarties and and I think I just need to kind
Speaker 3: of throw myself into my job for a bit and
Speaker 3: see if that's something that I want to pursue, because it's.
Speaker 4: Had such a backseat my entire career.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm just kind of figuring it out at
Speaker 3: this point in time, and I'm not really sure where
Speaker 3: it holds to my life.
Speaker 2: Well, listen, that's magnificent. Thank you ever so much for
Speaker 2: coming on head Game. I hope I didn't make you
Speaker 2: cry too much. No frilling your glasses up there. It's
Speaker 2: amazing what you're doing with the children. Keep it up
Speaker 2: and listen. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me on Headgame. If
Speaker 2: you enjoyed this episode, make sure you're subscribed so you
Speaker 2: don't miss any of our incredible stories, and leave me
Speaker 2: a review wherever you're listening. I'm Att Middleton. Catch you
Speaker 2: again next time.