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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Female Athlete Project. My name is Chloe Dalton.

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Speaker 1: I'm an Olympic gold medalist in rugby sevens and because

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Speaker 1: I have commitment issues, I've played two other sports at

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Speaker 1: professional level. The last two seasons, I've played for Carlton

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Speaker 1: in the AFLW and prior to that, played for the

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Speaker 1: Sydney Uni Flames in the Women's National Basketball League. I'm

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Speaker 1: currently training full time with the Australian rugby sevens team

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Speaker 1: in preparation for the now Tokyo twenty twenty one Olympics.

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Speaker 1: One of my favorite things to do is to head

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Speaker 1: down to the beach, grab a coffee and the paper,

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Speaker 1: click to the back page and read about sport. I've

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Speaker 1: had enough of only reading stories about men's sport, so

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Speaker 1: I decided to do something about it. One day, female

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Speaker 1: athletes will be recognized by their achievements, not by their gender.

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Speaker 1: Until then, I'm going to chat to and share the

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Speaker 1: stories of epicossy female athletes. This episode is brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Workplace Law. The team at Workplace Law are

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Speaker 1: incredible supporters of Australian female athletes navigating through player contracts

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Speaker 1: and sponsorship agreements, crisis management and legal representation. Their goal

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Speaker 1: is to ensure that female athletes have access to all

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Speaker 1: of these services regardless.

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Speaker 2: Of their financial situation.

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Speaker 1: If you want to find out more about their amazing work,

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Speaker 1: head to Workplace Law dot com dot au. My guest

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Speaker 1: this week is basketballer Kayla George. Kayla has an incredible resume.

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Speaker 1: She's currently in the North Queensland Bubble preparing for her

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Speaker 1: thirteenth season in the WNBL. She's won Commonwealth Games gold,

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Speaker 1: a World Champs silver, a EuroLeague Championship, has played in

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Speaker 1: the WNBA and represented Australia at the Rio Olympics. Kayla

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Speaker 1: has used the struggle she experienced as a youngster around

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Speaker 1: self worth to now empower the next generation of girls

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Speaker 1: coming through the open squad and has mentoring programs to

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Speaker 1: teach young girls about confidence, culture and commitment. I loved

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Speaker 1: every single minute of this chat with Kayla. I hope

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Speaker 1: you enjoy it. Kayla George, welcome to the Female Athlete Project.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 1: I'm hot, I'm so excited to have you on. You're

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Speaker 1: currently up north in the Hub getting ready for the

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Speaker 1: WNBL season, which has just been announced that there's going

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Speaker 1: to be sixty games over thirty eight days. How are

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Speaker 1: you feeling about it? And how's the old girl body

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Speaker 1: going to go? It's in your thirteenth season, are we talking.

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Speaker 4: I'm thirty one, but I act like I'm sixteen, so

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Speaker 4: technically my body thinks I'm sixteen, so I'll be fine.

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Speaker 3: No, I'm excited that it's coming up north.

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Speaker 4: Obviously I'm an Adelaide girl, but I've been residing in

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Speaker 4: North queens and when I'm in the country and not

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Speaker 4: on contract since twenty eleven, So yeah, adopted final Queensland

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Speaker 4: is so to have the whole hub in North Queensland

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Speaker 4: is legit. And obviously through this time, I wasn't really

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Speaker 4: keen to be back in Melbourne, just with you know,

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Speaker 4: the tough times that it was down there, So yeah,

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Speaker 4: excited that everyone's coming up to me instead. It's a

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Speaker 4: pretty cool setup and exciting as well for everyone up

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Speaker 4: in North Queensland to be able to watch some live

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Speaker 4: women basketball as well, which was pretty cool. You recently

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Speaker 4: had the Kayla George tournament up in cans Tell us

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Speaker 4: a little bit about that one. Yeah, so I'd had

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Speaker 4: this in the pipeline probably at the start of the

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Speaker 4: year and I wanted to launch it in Melbourne, but

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Speaker 4: for obvious reasons, wasn't able to do that. So in

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Speaker 4: Cans it's been pretty pretty good in terms of like

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Speaker 4: you know, using stadiums and games back on and things

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Speaker 4: like that. So I thought it was a good time

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Speaker 4: before I come into the Hub to maybe just give

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Speaker 4: it a go. And it was my first kind of

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Speaker 4: go at event management as well. A little bit tricky

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Speaker 4: when things on the day don't go as planned, but

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Speaker 4: I made it work.

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Speaker 3: But no, it was really great for the region.

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Speaker 4: Like it wasn't just girls, it was girls and guys

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Speaker 4: and from eighteen down to like ten year old, so

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Speaker 4: it was really great.

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Speaker 3: We had heap surprise, it's.

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Speaker 4: A been about fifty odd people maybe fifty to fifty

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Speaker 4: five come through for the day, so that was really exciting.

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Speaker 4: We had a DJ and we had live radio streaming

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Speaker 4: there too, so the community really got around it and

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Speaker 4: I'm hoping to continue to do that in a bigger

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Speaker 4: and better way. So it was a good foundation and

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Speaker 4: to really start it off, so really exciting, though I've

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Speaker 4: been a bit of an idea.

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Speaker 3: A bit different. There was a dance comp as well,

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Speaker 3: so you know, a bit wild.

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Speaker 4: So, you know a lot of the kids like to

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Speaker 4: have a bit of a dance and especially when those

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Speaker 4: TikTok songs come on. I liked the old kids like

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Speaker 4: who is so we needed the TikTok ones to really

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Speaker 4: get them going.

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Speaker 3: But that was all right.

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Speaker 4: You know a lot of surprises were handed out, so

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Speaker 4: that was the idea. Lots of fun was had, so

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Speaker 4: good vibes.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's awesome.

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Speaker 1: You're doing some real cool things up there, which is

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Speaker 1: really cool to see heading into this WNBL season. What's

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Speaker 1: your prep looking like with the Boomers? They've all relocated

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Speaker 1: up north and are ready to go. You guys have

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Speaker 1: started training. What's that looking like as a squad?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so I flew down on Sunday and the whole

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Speaker 4: Victorian contingent flew up on Sunday and so we're currently, yeah,

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Speaker 4: saying near this arena. The three Melbourne teams and some

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Speaker 4: of the referees and some of the Bust Australia stuff

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Speaker 4: are all here just quarantining for two weeks training together.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, first session on Monday was really great to

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Speaker 4: be back on the floor with the girls and obviously

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Speaker 4: hadn't been on an airplane since February, so I.

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Speaker 3: Was like, oh, this is new.

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Speaker 4: I hadn't been able to I hadn't had to wear

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Speaker 4: a mask in Can so I you know, whack on

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Speaker 4: some masks was a bit different. But it's okay, and yeah,

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Speaker 4: look just living this quarantine life and at least we

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Speaker 4: can leave a couple of times a day to train,

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Speaker 4: which is fun.

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Speaker 1: From starting out in the WNBO, when you were first

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Speaker 1: at the AIS when you were sixteen years old, what

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Speaker 1: has that change looked like across your career as an

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Speaker 1: athlete and what you've seen changed through the league as well.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think as a sixteen year old coming in,

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Speaker 4: like my goal was to you know, I had as

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Speaker 4: an athlete.

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Speaker 3: You being an athlete, you get it.

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Speaker 4: The goals you set for yourself, some of them are

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Speaker 4: pretty high and one of mine was to play in

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Speaker 4: the devnblv NBA, EuroLeague, Olympics and World Cup. So I've

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Speaker 4: been able to achieve all of them, but the DEVNBIL

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Speaker 4: was like a massive stepping stone for a lot of

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Speaker 4: my other goals. So it was really important when I

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Speaker 4: was younger to really embrace the challenge. And fortunately the

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Speaker 4: way the AAS was set up back when I was

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Speaker 4: coming through.

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Speaker 3: We actually played in the DEVNBL, so I played like.

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Speaker 4: Two and a half seasons with the Young Aos team

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Speaker 4: and got to experience all the highs and lows with

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Speaker 4: my same age teammates, and then became a fully professional

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Speaker 4: bustle player at the age of eighteen on my senior

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Speaker 4: women's team with Adelaide Lightning. So that had its own challenges,

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Speaker 4: but I think throughout it all, I always use the

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Speaker 4: low moments to learn things and grow, and I've done

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Speaker 4: that from a pretty early age.

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Speaker 3: So like looking back on and reflecting on my career, like,

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Speaker 3: I've been really blessed, but it's not been without super

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Speaker 3: hard moments.

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Speaker 4: And a lot of those moments came from playing in

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Speaker 4: the DEVNBL and learning and grinding and playing overseas.

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Speaker 3: I got those opportunities because of the DEVNBL, and so

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Speaker 3: it's a great league.

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Speaker 4: And I mean the strength of the league has always

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Speaker 4: been there, but I feel like over the last few

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Speaker 4: years it's become stronger than ever. We're getting some of

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Speaker 4: the best imports out from America and Canada, and we

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Speaker 4: had a Canadian win r MVP last year the NBA

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Speaker 4: player here Nurse. So I feel like, it's definitely top

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Speaker 4: three best league in the world, and so we just

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Speaker 4: keep pushing for, you know, greater competition. And yeah, I

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Speaker 4: think it's been maintained over the last forty years of the.

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Speaker 1: D NBL, and just recently you became the third player

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Speaker 1: in the WNBL to reach twenty five hundred rebounds, along

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Speaker 1: with your teammate from Townsville, Susi Batkovich and your childhood

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Speaker 1: idol Rachel Spawn. What does that look like. Has that

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Speaker 1: been a really big part of your game from when

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Speaker 1: you were younger. Was that something you always wanted to

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Speaker 1: work on or was it that you were just tall

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Speaker 1: and it just fell into your hands all the time.

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Speaker 3: Well, a bit of both.

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Speaker 4: I don't really like to focus on scoring so much,

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Speaker 4: even though like I obviously like scoring, but I feel

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Speaker 4: like rebounding and playing defense is one of those effort things.

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Speaker 4: So for me, rebounding was I think I'm actually a

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Speaker 4: better defensive rebounder than offensive because I just wanted to

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Speaker 4: go down to the offensive end. So I wanted to

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Speaker 4: get the defensive rebound to go down and play offense.

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Speaker 4: That was probably my angle and why I'm so good,

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Speaker 4: because I really wanted to go play offs and not diferense.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that probably helped. But yeah, I think I.

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Speaker 4: Think, yeah, rebounding is really important and it can, you know,

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Speaker 4: change the momentum of a game. It can help win games.

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Speaker 4: And I just yeah, being tall certainly helped. And I

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Speaker 4: really prided myself in getting ten plus rebounds a game,

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Speaker 4: and it helped me as a goal before games, you know,

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Speaker 4: get double figured rebounds and.

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Speaker 3: You know, just work hard on defense.

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Speaker 4: We're usually my goals going into games, so that you know,

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Speaker 4: thinking about those things, the effort things actually enabled me

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Speaker 4: to have a better offensive game because I wasn't thinking about, oh,

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Speaker 4: I've got to score twenty points tonight. It would just

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Speaker 4: happen because I'm doing my effort things. So it just

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Speaker 4: organically happens. And as I've got an older I've had

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Speaker 4: a better grasp on that, which has been really great

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Speaker 4: as I've matured on court, not off court.

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Speaker 2: I don't need that off court.

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Speaker 1: And you touched on the fact that you've spent a

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Speaker 1: couple of years over in the WNBA, more recently with

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Speaker 1: the Dallas Wings with good friend of yours, Liz Cambidge.

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Speaker 2: What was that experience like.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, the NBA's that's tough, Like it's the toughest league

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Speaker 4: in the world for sure. Definitely not the highest paid,

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Speaker 4: which is unfortunate, but definitely the toughest, you know, the

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Speaker 4: best of the best, lots of traveling, lots of games,

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Speaker 4: and mentally, like for me, I'm not and was not

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Speaker 4: naive to the fact that I'm not a big superstar

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Speaker 4: over there coming in going to you know, start and

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Speaker 4: play all these big minutes. My role would differ from

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Speaker 4: night to night in all three of my seasons there

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Speaker 4: two with Phoenix, on with Dallas, and some nights I

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Speaker 4: played twenty seven minutes. Some games I'd play seven, some

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Speaker 4: games I'd play thirty seconds at the end of the game.

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Speaker 4: So it was probably the hardest point in my career

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Speaker 4: to be in the d NBA because anywhere else, like

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Speaker 4: I can kind of predict, Like when I played in Europe,

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Speaker 4: I was the imports.

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Speaker 3: You know, I play big minutes. When I'm in Australia,

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Speaker 3: I play.

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Speaker 4: Big minutes, and so you know how much you're going

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Speaker 4: to play, so you know people rely on you. So

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Speaker 4: your game kind of mindset going in stays the same.

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Speaker 4: But in the d NBA you've got to stay ready

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Speaker 4: for when your numbers called all the time and it

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Speaker 4: might not be called, and you've got to deal with

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Speaker 4: that aspect, and then you've got to deal with if

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Speaker 4: it is called, and then if you do make a mistake,

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Speaker 4: and then you come off and you don't get an

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Speaker 4: opportunity for a while. Like it's the mental side is

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Speaker 4: really it's really hard.

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Speaker 3: And I learned a lot about myself over there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was probably It probably took me a good

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Speaker 4: year or so afterwards, after my last opportunity in America

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Speaker 4: to really mentally feel good again because it grapples with

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Speaker 4: your self worth a little bit if you let it.

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Speaker 4: But in saying that it's the best league in the world,

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Speaker 4: so like you're in the best league in the world.

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Speaker 3: You're one of one hundred and forty four women that

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Speaker 3: are playing in this amazing league.

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Speaker 4: So like, you know, winning a great opportunity and I

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Speaker 4: never took that for granted.

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Speaker 3: But it was certainly not easy.

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Speaker 4: But also met some really cool people and as you know,

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Speaker 4: as an athlete, you get to meet incredible people from

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Speaker 4: all over the world. And I have people that I

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Speaker 4: would call sisters till forever. So always good stuff to

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Speaker 4: take out of the low moments. As I mentioned.

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Speaker 1: Before, you talked about the fact that it's not the

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Speaker 1: highest paid league in the world.

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Speaker 2: What has that experience been like for you?

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Speaker 1: The fact that you have you've had the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: travel and to live overseas and things like that. But

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Speaker 1: a lot of the time it's a necessity because as

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Speaker 1: a professional female athlete you often can't have this stable

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Speaker 1: full time income and you might have to go and

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Speaker 1: do different things like that. What has that been like

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Speaker 1: for you and where do you think the biggest progress

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Speaker 1: could be made in that area in terms of equality.

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Speaker 4: Well, I think you can't be what you can't see, right,

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Speaker 4: So I feel like the media need to get around

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Speaker 4: us more like it'd be really nice. So that's one

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Speaker 4: massive thing. For example, the Vixens were in the Grand

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Speaker 4: Final and it was all about the AFL, like and

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Speaker 4: that's just one simple thing, like the Herald Son. Obviously

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Speaker 4: the AFL is huge, but like the Vixen's game was first,

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Speaker 4: so their first on the front of the paper needs

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Speaker 4: to be first before the AFL previews for the game

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Speaker 4: in three days like.

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Speaker 3: Just little, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 4: Like that's still so frustrating that we're still having conversation.

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Speaker 4: But as a female athlete, like I went back to

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Speaker 4: back to back seasons for twelve or thirteen years, Sis,

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Speaker 4: Like I'm telling you, it was so tiring. I didn't

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Speaker 4: realize until I stepped away for a second and had

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Speaker 4: a break for like three months for the first time

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Speaker 4: in thirteen years. But I was like, dang, Sis, you've

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Speaker 4: really gone back to back to back to back seasons

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Speaker 4: for thirteen years. Because as female athletes, we don't get

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Speaker 4: the luxury of having a month or two off. We

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Speaker 4: have to go from October to March playing in the

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Speaker 4: DEVNBL or overseas which is usually September to say April, and.

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Speaker 3: Then go straight to the d NBA or straight to

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Speaker 3: like a you know another Like it's all year round

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Speaker 3: for our career.

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Speaker 4: So the fact that you know, I mean, we do

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Speaker 4: it even tougher than the guys, I would say, and

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Speaker 4: we get paid less.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it sounds exhausting the fact that you did

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Speaker 1: that for so many years, And it's cool that you've

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Speaker 1: had a bit of a bit of time off to

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Speaker 1: kind of reflect on that and the toll that that's taken.

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Speaker 1: I follow a few basketball pages still because I'm once

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Speaker 1: a baller, always a ball, you know. But a big

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Speaker 1: thing that I see in particularly with the WNBA, is

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Speaker 1: a lot of comment on social media, people saying who cares,

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Speaker 1: we don't want to see this all of that, and

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Speaker 1: it really frustrates me a lot. A lot of the

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Speaker 1: time I want to comment back to people and people

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Speaker 1: who comment that about my my sports, whether that's AFL

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Speaker 1: or rugby, whatever that is, like just come meet me

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Speaker 1: down in the field, like let's go have a run,

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Speaker 1: have a kick, run straight out in the kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: What's your response a lot of the time to those comments?

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Speaker 4: Honestly, like America is bad for that stuff, Like I

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Speaker 4: know it's in Australia too, it's terrible, but America's like

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Speaker 4: I think tenfold and it just it blows my mind,

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Speaker 4: Like why are you follow the page?

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Speaker 1: Then?

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Speaker 3: Why are you trolling it? Like I just yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: beyond me.

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Speaker 4: You know, all we're doing is out here, we're not

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Speaker 4: asking for the same money as Lebron James.

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Speaker 3: Like we're not doing that. The d NBA players haven't

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Speaker 3: been doing that.

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Speaker 4: That is, you know, asking for a fair share of

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Speaker 4: like the revenue stuff like you know, like the NBA

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Speaker 4: get like it's there's so much work to be done

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Speaker 4: and we're not stupid. But these people just come in

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Speaker 4: and comment and just try and drag everyone down. But

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Speaker 4: I don't think that people feel that their drag. People

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Speaker 4: just rise above it, you know what I mean. If

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Speaker 4: anything is like fuel to the fire, and there's always

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Speaker 4: going to be someone.

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Speaker 3: There's always going to be someone on any.

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Speaker 4: Topic, whether it be like Black Lives Matter or you know, female.

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Speaker 3: Equality or anything.

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Speaker 4: Like everyone has just got this extra confidence from social

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Speaker 4: media and the keyboard warrior vibes and have something to

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Speaker 4: say and they're not afraid of getting punched in the

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Speaker 4: face anymore. Just read to mean about that the other day.

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Speaker 4: So like that is right whatever, But if you know,

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Speaker 4: there'd be the first ones to.

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Speaker 3: Come and be like, okay, well George, can I have

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Speaker 3: an autograph?

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Speaker 4: Like wait, I recognize your face? No?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 3: What if you comment? No?

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Speaker 4: So, like I really like vocal in that sense, Like

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Speaker 4: I just I can't stand it and I've had to

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Speaker 4: really like you bite my tongue and like I was like,

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Speaker 4: do I get a burner account? Like no, I'm not

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Speaker 4: going to waste my energy, Like I can't do that.

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Speaker 3: It's so but Yeah, Honestly, if there's always going to.

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Speaker 4: Be someone on any topic, some people a group of

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Speaker 4: people that just go ham and I like it when

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Speaker 4: people are called out, but there's also better ways to

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Speaker 4: go about it as well at times, But I do,

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Speaker 4: I do like it when they get called out by

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Speaker 4: other people.

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Speaker 1: Yes, part of your career over in Europe included playing

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Speaker 1: in France and in Hungary. I'm interested to know when

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Speaker 1: you were in the huddle playing in Hungary, what's like

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Speaker 1: do you have like a is there something you can remember,

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Speaker 1: like as a big pump up, like a big moment

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Speaker 1: of what they would say in Hungarian? Like did you

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Speaker 1: learn any of the local language or anything like that.

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Speaker 4: When I was in France, I loved it because I

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Speaker 4: played their two consecutive years. Like by the second year,

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Speaker 4: I didn't need a translator. I understood the basketball.

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Speaker 3: Ingo and a lot of that, you know how, like

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Speaker 3: we talk Aussie slang like they're French slang a lot.

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Speaker 4: I couldn't speak it fluently for a long time, but

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Speaker 4: I could certainly have a good conversation with my teammates.

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Speaker 3: But I couldn't do that now.

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Speaker 4: But in Hungry, I thought that the language kind of

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Speaker 4: sounded like they'd swallowed like some gloggy milk.

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Speaker 2: It's feel like.

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Speaker 4: So I never really got into it, and I honestly

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Speaker 4: couldn't even tell you what some of the language is.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 4: My experience there was like not super great, and it

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Speaker 4: was really like, for the first time in my career,

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Speaker 4: I was like, oh, dang, this is a real job.

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Speaker 4: I've really got to just you know, go in, make

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Speaker 4: my money, work hard, and go home, you know, like,

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Speaker 4: which is for the first time in my career I

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Speaker 4: had to do that because a basketball like, it's not

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Speaker 4: a job to me. It's just I'm so blessed to

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Speaker 4: be able to get paid to do what I love.

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Speaker 4: So but in that moment, yeah, I think maybe like

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Speaker 4: I just kind of blocked out my Hungarian year and

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Speaker 4: forgot what the language was. But I had a lot

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Speaker 4: of I had like a Swedish girl, two Americans, my

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Speaker 4: coach was from Austria, so I'm actually a Serbian who

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Speaker 4: spoke really good English as well. So like, there wasn't

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Speaker 4: a lot of Hungarian spoken unless it was our captain

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Speaker 4: like yelling at our young babies, which I told her

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Speaker 4: off of doing that too, which didn't put me in

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Speaker 4: good stead for the rest of the season.

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Speaker 3: But you know, got to call things out when they're

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Speaker 3: not right.

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Speaker 4: You know, like I'm not someone to just fingers, but

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Speaker 4: like if something's not right and not being handled, well,

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Speaker 4: you know, you've got to stand up for what's right.

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Speaker 4: And I did, and you know, to the detriment of

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Speaker 4: the rest of my season. But that's all right.

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Speaker 2: You stood up for what was right exactly always now

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Speaker 2: for a quick half time break.

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Speaker 1: As a female athlete, it's often difficult to negotiate contracts,

394
00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,399
Speaker 1: lock in sponsorship agreements, and navigate different workplace issues. The

395
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Speaker 1: team at Workplace Law provide mentoring and advice when it

396
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Speaker 1: comes to addressing issues that may arise throughout your career.

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Speaker 1: I'm learning a lot from their team and love having

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Speaker 1: them on board as proud partners of the Female Athlete Project.

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Speaker 1: Back to Kayla, back on Australian Shaws. You made your

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Speaker 1: debut for the Opals in two thousand and eight, pretty

401
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Speaker 1: long time ago, pretty incredible career that you've had so far.

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Speaker 1: You've talked about how important that is the legacy of

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Speaker 1: the Opals and what a huge honor it is to

404
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Speaker 1: play for that team and the incredible women that have

405
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Speaker 1: come before you. What did that mean for you the

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Speaker 1: first time you got to put that jersey on.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so just brings to his my eyes actually a

408
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Speaker 4: little bit, just stuck in it back a bit here.

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Speaker 3: You know what it's like playing for Australia.

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Speaker 4: It's like that lifelong goal, you know at the start

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Speaker 4: of the game, listening to the anthem. The legacy that

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Speaker 4: the Opals have in particular, like I mean with your

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Speaker 4: Aussie sevens, you've created a legacy, like you know, winning

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Speaker 4: the gold in Rio like that was the first time

415
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Speaker 4: Izzie sevens had been in the Olympics. Like you you're

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Speaker 4: a part of starting a huge legacy for your your

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Speaker 4: sport in that in that sense, but the Opals have

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Speaker 4: had at least two in a bit decades of so

419
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Speaker 4: much success, so many medals, and so the pressure of

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Speaker 4: that is always really exciting to have to hold. And

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Speaker 4: because as em eli athlete, you know, like without pressure,

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Speaker 4: it's probably not fun, it's probably not great. Live for

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Speaker 4: that pressure, even though when you don't you know, succeed

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Speaker 4: under that pressure, it kind of starts and hurts even more.

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Speaker 4: But when you do it, like it's euphoria. But yeah,

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Speaker 4: the legacy, the legacy piece is really important to me

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Speaker 4: because you know, some of these these and these incredible

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Speaker 4: women like paved the way for us not only with

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Speaker 4: the Opals, but with playing overseas.

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Speaker 3: In Europe and making more money in Europe and playing

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Speaker 3: in the d NBA.

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Speaker 4: Which has allowed us to go do those things like

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Speaker 4: Michelle tim Sandy Brondelo, who's now my coach, you know,

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Speaker 4: Trish Fallon who's our team manager for the Opals, and

435
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Speaker 4: so to be a part of such a history and

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Speaker 4: to have won medals with the Opals myself is it's.

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Speaker 3: Something that's really humbling. I still pinch myself.

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Speaker 4: I've worked really hard to get here that on had

439
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:33,680
Speaker 4: to battle a lot of lows, a lot of self doubt,

440
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,920
Speaker 4: a lot of mental challenges to get to where I've

441
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,240
Speaker 4: got to. And I'm so thankful for all of those

442
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,040
Speaker 4: loas because it's made me really strong and resilient and

443
00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:46,520
Speaker 4: the player and the woman that I am today that

444
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 4: I can, you know, sit here with you and say, yeah,

445
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,320
Speaker 4: I've been able to achieve all these things, you know

446
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:52,840
Speaker 4: what I mean. Like, it's just I still pinch myself

447
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:54,359
Speaker 4: and I'd still have things on my list that I

448
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:54,639
Speaker 4: want to.

449
00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,840
Speaker 3: Achieve and you know, goal setting.

450
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 4: Could be really great, but to actually go and get

451
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 4: your goals, there's it's undescribable when you actually reach a goal,

452
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,480
Speaker 4: you know, Yeah, when you reach the highest goal you've got,

453
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,800
Speaker 4: like you know, kids and making goals like I want

454
00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:13,640
Speaker 4: to play for Australia.

455
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:15,679
Speaker 3: I want to go to the Olympics. But that was

456
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:17,240
Speaker 3: me as a kid. That was you as a kid.

457
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,400
Speaker 3: And when you get to that goal, you're like whoa,

458
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:21,520
Speaker 3: Like I.

459
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,240
Speaker 4: Actually just did that, and you know, because you're working hard,

460
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,400
Speaker 4: but it's like wow, do you know what I mean,

461
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,879
Speaker 4: it's like almost it's almost hard to fathom.

462
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually had that chat with Elliot Green or

463
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,240
Speaker 1: was that feeling after we won gold of feeling like

464
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:37,080
Speaker 1: it didn't actually happen to me? It was like I'd

465
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,600
Speaker 1: always aspired to be that person and then you actually

466
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,719
Speaker 1: tick that goal off the list and you're like, whoa,

467
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:42,399
Speaker 1: that's epic.

468
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,720
Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's why I really I really try to

469
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,160
Speaker 4: engage with the young girls because we were once those

470
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:51,520
Speaker 4: young girls, you know what I mean? And I would

471
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,480
Speaker 4: have loved to have had like an Opal or someone

472
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,719
Speaker 4: like where I am now talking with me and having

473
00:20:57,760 --> 00:20:59,879
Speaker 4: access to them and so I really felt like it

474
00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:01,640
Speaker 4: was important to be able to do that and talk

475
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 4: to these young young girls about you know what it takes,

476
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,400
Speaker 4: the commitment, you know, culturally, you know.

477
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:08,399
Speaker 3: Confidence huge.

478
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,399
Speaker 4: Every camp I do, I've got mums coming up to

479
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:12,240
Speaker 4: me and they're like, oh, my daughter doesn't have like

480
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,480
Speaker 4: all the time. Like the confidence thing is such a

481
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,080
Speaker 4: big issue. And when I grew up, like social media

482
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 4: wasn't really like I started MySpace when I was fifteen,

483
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 4: you know what I mean.

484
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 3: Like these kids are on iPhones.

485
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:23,440
Speaker 4: At three, Like I did have my first phone took

486
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,160
Speaker 4: grade nine, and I think that really has changed things

487
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,960
Speaker 4: in society, and for these kids growing up, there's so

488
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,800
Speaker 4: much extra added pressure. And so if I can just

489
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,359
Speaker 4: come in and like help in a small way or

490
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,440
Speaker 4: have a small impact that potentially could be a big

491
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,399
Speaker 4: impact later on or straight away a big impact, Like

492
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,680
Speaker 4: that's that's what I want to do for these young girls,

493
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 4: because I feel sorry that they've got to have all

494
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 4: these extra pressures. It was hard enough being a teenage,

495
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 4: you know and having these goals. But I when I

496
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 4: was younger, people often ask me like, did you always

497
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:53,640
Speaker 4: know you wanted to be a basketat player? I was like, oh, yeah,

498
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 4: I was tall and that helped. But like I could,

499
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,640
Speaker 4: I could play. I wasn't like a baby giraffe, even

500
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:02,000
Speaker 4: though sometimes I move like a baby dry but but

501
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,040
Speaker 4: like I just feel like I just knew that that's

502
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,399
Speaker 4: what I wanted to do, and I didn't really I

503
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:06,479
Speaker 4: just had horse blinkers on.

504
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 3: Like I missed out on house parties.

505
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 4: I missed out on school formals, I missed out on

506
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:11,800
Speaker 4: hanging out with my friends. So I was doing school

507
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,200
Speaker 4: holiday camps and at the time, like I was like, yeah,

508
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:14,439
Speaker 4: this is.

509
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:14,880
Speaker 3: What I'm doing.

510
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, like whatever, Like I'm just poop and I'm signed

511
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 4: basketball and so you know, it's you've got.

512
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 3: To love it.

513
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,240
Speaker 4: There's there's too much work involved. If you don't love it,

514
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,199
Speaker 4: it can't be a chore, you know what I mean. Like,

515
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 4: if you're really passionate, just go for it.

516
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,280
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? You no girl?

517
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,680
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah, And it's amazing to see the word.

518
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 1: We talked about the tournament you had in Cans recently,

519
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,719
Speaker 1: but you also did a twelve week online program recently

520
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: where you worked with a lot of young girls and

521
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: had athletes from a whole range of different sports and

522
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:46,359
Speaker 1: the athletes were able to come on and share some

523
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 1: things with these girls.

524
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 2: What kind of things did you work on with the

525
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 2: with the young girls.

526
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 4: So I think there's a few areas that are pinnacle

527
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 4: because I feel like as athletes, you grow up and

528
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,720
Speaker 4: it's like physically your body has to be this, this,

529
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 4: this and this, But we don't talk about the mental

530
00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 4: side hardly enough. And I think that's slowly changing but

531
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,359
Speaker 4: definitely needs to keep changing more. You know, mental health,

532
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,439
Speaker 4: how you think, what thoughts you're thinking, like, you know,

533
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:14,720
Speaker 4: positive self talk, things like that. So we had a

534
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,199
Speaker 4: big mental health aspect on that. We teamed up with

535
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 4: a Stitch in Time from Perth, greg Hire former NBL

536
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 4: Player Championship went over there. So he's got a great

537
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 4: charity that yet focuses on mental health and so he

538
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 4: teamed up and ran a program for us, like a twelve.

539
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 3: Week program like a you know, say you know you can.

540
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:32,879
Speaker 4: Go through strategies of how to really get through some

541
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 4: tough times, which was great. We had about eighty something

542
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,199
Speaker 4: girls do that complete up to incredible numbers because they

543
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:39,879
Speaker 4: didn't have to do that.

544
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 3: That was just part of my program, which is awesome.

545
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:43,440
Speaker 3: I took them.

546
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,879
Speaker 4: Through like a bit of self care, you know, like

547
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 4: skin stuff. I took them through cooking, you know, because

548
00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 4: that's important too. Like I'm a vegan, but I wasn't

549
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 4: like you have to be vegan everyone. I was like,

550
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 4: this is what I do as a vegan. This is

551
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,760
Speaker 4: why it felt good for my body to become a vegan,

552
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,959
Speaker 4: you know, taking outdariy blah blah blah, all that stuff.

553
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 4: And then the had some of the girls trying the

554
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 4: vegan recipes that sent me, you know, their version of it,

555
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 4: and it was incredible because it's off the court too,

556
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 4: you know, like I wanted to engage them like this

557
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,200
Speaker 4: is how I live, this is what I'm doing, this

558
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,360
Speaker 4: is how I think, and when I'm not thinking right,

559
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,439
Speaker 4: this is my strategy to get back on the right track.

560
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 4: And that's all really important stuff for these young girls,

561
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 4: you know, so and we as athletes, you'd still go

562
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 4: through it. I'm sure you still have times where you

563
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 4: know you're feeling like, oh my gosh, I can't do this,

564
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 4: I'm not good enough.

565
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 3: Isn't that crazy.

566
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 4: I've been a pro athlete for fourteen years and I

567
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:30,720
Speaker 4: still have moments of oh my gosh, I'm not good enough.

568
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 2: Like what that's crazy?

569
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:32,160
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?

570
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 4: So for these girls to hear, Oh my gosh, she

571
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 4: still feels that too.

572
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:37,639
Speaker 3: Oh it's okay, all right, I just have to have

573
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 3: a quick bounce back. Cool, all right, I've got this,

574
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 3: do you know what I mean? So they can relate

575
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 3: to us as a leade athlete.

576
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so powerful And I love the passion. You

577
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,239
Speaker 1: can just see it the way that you talk about it.

578
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,400
Speaker 1: It's so incredible. I absolutely love it. And it's really

579
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,479
Speaker 1: cool that you're such an incredible role model for these

580
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 1: young girls. And I think when I look at you,

581
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: when I watch you play on the court, that's the

582
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: thing I love watching as well. How passionate you are.

583
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 1: You just so everything. You can just see all the

584
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 1: emotions all over your face. You've got the chess bumps going,

585
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 1: You've got everything going on. And I love watching that

586
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:05,640
Speaker 1: avalue no heights.

587
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 4: I needed urpin If someone scores a three and I'm

588
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 4: getting hyped, like, please have the nurupan ready.

589
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 3: Like every time I chest bump someone, I'm like, oh

590
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 3: my head, Like no.

591
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 2: Regrets though, no regrets, no regrets.

592
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 3: If someone gets a good snap, that what.

593
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:22,200
Speaker 1: It's all about back to the opals. I wanted to

594
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 1: play an audio clip for you.

595
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 5: Australia in the hostile atmosphere.

596
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: So looking at twenty eighteen, you went over to Spain

597
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: for the World Championships, coming off the back of Rio,

598
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 1: which we won't dwell on but lost in the quarterfinal

599
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 1: to Serbia. Heading into the twenty eighteen World champs what

600
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 1: was the feeling like in the group as you were

601
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: preparing for that tournament? So different staff change, coaching staff change,

602
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,320
Speaker 1: which I think was a real relief for a lot

603
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,639
Speaker 1: of us, and that's a lot I'll say on that.

604
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 1: But so culturally it changed, It shifted for the better culturally,

605
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: which is great, and we had a few different faces,

606
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 1: but a lot of the core group was still the same.

607
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 1: And so going in to twenty eighteen was like a

608
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,359
Speaker 1: real you know, we jumped from second in the word

609
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,199
Speaker 1: World to third after that, and we'd been second for

610
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: like a chunk of time, so we wanted to really,

611
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 1: you know, push our way back up to second. Obviously

612
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: USA are quite fine front on the first first part

613
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 1: of the ladder, so we really wanted to jump over

614
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: Spain again.

615
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 3: And so at a world event, you know that the.

616
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 4: Toughest opponent is to play the host nation in a

617
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 4: quarter or a semi, and of course we got Spain

618
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 4: in the semi, so to beat them with eight thousand

619
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,880
Speaker 4: screaming fans was incredible. But everyone was so ready. We

620
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,959
Speaker 4: were so ready to take out to take back our place,

621
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 4: to prove.

622
00:26:57,880 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 3: A point because we're good enough.

623
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 4: I just only wish we had an extra twenty four

624
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 4: hours to prep because for the gold medal game, because

625
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 4: we had like three games three days, like quarter sents

626
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 4: gold and by the gold medal game from the energy

627
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 4: and the enthusiasm from winning the night before, like we

628
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 4: were all kind of cooked for the gold medal game,

629
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,199
Speaker 4: which sucked. But that tournament itself was probably one of

630
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 4: my most favorite tournaments to be a part of. That

631
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,639
Speaker 4: Spanish game was my favorite game to be a part of.

632
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 4: The emotions, the high, the highest of high. It was just.

633
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 3: Get tierriy. No, I haven't cried yet, but I think

634
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 3: I answered your question.

635
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 2: No, I love it. I love it.

636
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,119
Speaker 1: From there, heading into Tokyo, which is now going to

637
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: be in twenty twenty one, obviously we're a little bit

638
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 1: of a way off and you will have the WNBL

639
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: season to prepare, what do you think that'll look like?

640
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 1: And do you guys take confidence from both that World

641
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: Champs in twenty eighteen and then that the Commonwealth Games

642
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 1: gold as well?

643
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 4: Right, absolutely, I think that comm Game's gold really helped

644
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 4: us for the World's as well.

645
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:02,920
Speaker 3: I forgot to mention before, but yeah, twenty twenty one, I.

646
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 4: Mean, thank goodness that there's still talk of an Olympics,

647
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 4: because the thought of it not being there at all

648
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 4: would just crush us, like all athletes all over the world.

649
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 4: So our goal hasn't changed, our vibe hasn't changed. Unfortunately,

650
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 4: the only training camps we've had have been on Zoom Call,

651
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,439
Speaker 4: so we're planning on a pretty big lead up depending

652
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 4: on how Corona is vibing. But yeah, our mindset is

653
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 4: we're still hungry. We're still gunning for that, you know,

654
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 4: a medal. Obviously, process don't get too far ahead of ourselves,

655
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 4: but we know we're good enough and were we want

656
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 4: to walk away with a medal.

657
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 3: Obviously of a preferred color, but just we'll say a medal.

658
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:44,239
Speaker 2: I like it.

659
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: As you've been in the squad for a pretty long time.

660
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: You're co captain of the Boomers, but now with the Opals.

661
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: You're also part of that leadership team as well, which

662
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: is a pretty huge honor.

663
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 2: What do you think you've learned.

664
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: Throughout your career that's prepared you for that leadership role

665
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: and as a leader for the younger, younger girls that

666
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: are coming through the Opals, what do you how do

667
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: you see yourself and what do you think you bring

668
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: to that group.

669
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 4: So I never thought that I would be a part

670
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 4: of the leadership group of the Opals. In my mind,

671
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 4: I was just happy to be there when I was younger,

672
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 4: really just so stoked to be there. There was just

673
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 4: some incredible talent ahead of me, and just so happy

674
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 4: to be there.

675
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 3: Even just the squad's like, oh incredible.

676
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,560
Speaker 4: So to sit back and you know, look at my

677
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 4: journey and reflect and then to think, well, I'm actually

678
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 4: in the leadership group now, it's like it's a little overwhelming.

679
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 4: But I love it and I embrace it pretty intensely.

680
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 4: I love making sure that my young'ins feel really comfortable.

681
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 4: I know, back in the day, there was like a

682
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 4: you know, a bit of a hierarchy, so to speak.

683
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 4: Not that it was outwardly spoken about, but there was one.

684
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 4: And so I like to make sure that now my

685
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 4: youngines don't feel that type of hierarchy, like, yep, I've

686
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 4: achieved some more stuff on my resume, but we're all

687
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,160
Speaker 4: on one page here. I respect you as my which

688
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 4: as I respect you. Let's all battle together. We need

689
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 4: each and every single one of us to be on

690
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 4: and so I make sure that everyone's feeling really comfortable

691
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 4: around me, everyone's in a good headspace, and that's.

692
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 3: Kind of my role with it, and I just like,

693
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 3: I love it.

694
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 4: I love getting everyone prepared mentally, like ready to go,

695
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 4: checking in with people, and you know, I have the

696
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 4: people that checking on me too, because sometimes I forget

697
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 4: to check in on myself. But yeah, making sure the

698
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:27,480
Speaker 4: people around me are ready to go and in a

699
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 4: good mindset like is, especially the young ones, is so

700
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 4: important to me because I didn't really get that.

701
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,120
Speaker 3: When I was a young opal.

702
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 4: I didn't get you know, my captain coming out to

703
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 4: me and my leadership captain coming up to me and

704
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,360
Speaker 4: be like, hey you good cis like you've got this,

705
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 4: you did this, this and this world.

706
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 3: Don't ever think you're going to be great. Like I

707
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:46,120
Speaker 3: didn't have that.

708
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 4: I had my own head, my own thoughts and my

709
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 4: own nerves and anxiety, and it was harder, and so

710
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 4: essentially I was not super helpful to the team like

711
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 4: I could have been because I was already thinking negatively

712
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 4: because I was so nervous and didn't feel like, oh,

713
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:04,400
Speaker 4: do you know what I mean? Like, so now I

714
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 4: make sure the young girls are all like ready to go,

715
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 4: let you good sees.

716
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 3: I believe in you.

717
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 4: You've got this, and just it's that positive cultural mindset.

718
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 4: We're all on one page.

719
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:14,240
Speaker 3: You've got this together. The sisterhood.

720
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 4: The sisterhood is such a thing with the Opals right

721
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 4: now and it's incredible. And so I think we've done

722
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 4: a great job from the top, like from the coaching staff,

723
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 4: through the leadership group and down.

724
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 3: Of really just emulating that culture all the way through.

725
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 3: And it makes it.

726
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 4: Really fun to play and to be successful together because

727
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 4: you ride the highs and lows, but you know, once

728
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 4: you get to those highs, it you know euphoria.

729
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 3: So yeah, girl, I love.

730
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: That you've been able to take what you were Like,

731
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: he's a young kid, and you're like, I was anxious

732
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 1: and I was nervous and this is how I felt.

733
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: And you're like, Okay, now that I have that experience

734
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 1: where I can sort out my own game. I know

735
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: I can rock up and I can prepare and I

736
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 1: can hit those clutch threes when I need to.

737
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 2: So that means that means I'm now ready.

738
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: To be able to help those young girls so that

739
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: you can make them more comfortable and then they form

740
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:01,720
Speaker 1: and then as a team, you're way better.

741
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 3: Right. It makes makes sense right then, because they're essentially

742
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 3: helping me because they're making the team look good, and

743
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 3: we're the team, so we all look good, like it

744
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 3: just makes sense. And then everyone's having fun. You know.

745
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 4: It's just a good culture to kind of and I

746
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 4: know the young girls that we've got in our group

747
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 4: now will keep doing the same and creating the same culture.

748
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,320
Speaker 4: We've got beautiful young athletes in our Opals team at

749
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 4: the moment, so I've got no doubt that that.

750
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 3: Culture will continue, which is such an exciting thing, you.

751
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 2: Know, Yeah, very special.

752
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: I'm in a group chat with a couple of basketball

753
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 1: girls and I said that I was having a chat

754
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: with you this savo, and the question that I got

755
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: was the ponytail is gone.

756
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 2: You've gone short.

757
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 3: My mom was like, don't do it. The young girls

758
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 3: are braid. I was like, Mom, I don't wear the

759
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 3: braid for the fans.

760
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 4: I wear it because I like it, and of course

761
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 4: the fans life that's great, but no, I just been

762
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,120
Speaker 4: rough on everyone and it kind of for me resembled

763
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,920
Speaker 4: like a rebirthing, you know, and like I felt like

764
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,760
Speaker 4: I just wanted to feel fresh. And it was the

765
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 4: right time, Like two days before my hair dress appointment

766
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,640
Speaker 4: to come here. I was like, it's time. I feel

767
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 4: like I can do it. And then my hair dress

768
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 4: was like, so she did it, so you got no regrets.

769
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 4: So she was cutting it and I was like, well,

770
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 4: I guess it's too late now. But now I love

771
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 4: it. It's so easy, and I mean I've got a bit

772
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 4: lighter because bones have more fun apparently, but I have

773
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 4: fun anyway. So it's I had it Maddie was in

774
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 4: Eve before and I had it in a high pony,

775
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 4: but half my mullet was out.

776
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 3: But I tried to do it in a little mini braid,

777
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 3: and it's like, it's not great, but I might rock it.

778
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 3: I might rock it. For the fans that are really

779
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 3: upset about my braid.

780
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:42,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, they the people want to see it. They want

781
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 2: to see it.

782
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 3: People are like talking about my new look. It's a

783
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 3: real vibe.

784
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 1: Every week on the show, I have a question from

785
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 1: a five year old and from my grandma, so I'm

786
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 1: going to play them to you. The first question is

787
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 1: from five year old Freedom, Hi Kaylor, what's the sir?

788
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 4: This shot you ever made?

789
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 1: Oh?

790
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 4: That's a great question. So the last one I can

791
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:15,280
Speaker 4: remember in a game because we do half court shots

792
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 4: on game day but I won't count them. So in

793
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 4: a game, it was probably between the half court and

794
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,719
Speaker 4: the three point line and the shot clock was running down. Well,

795
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 4: actually it was about to be halftime. We're playing against

796
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 4: New Zealand in India. Last year at the Asia Cup,

797
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 4: it was like this time last year. I actually know

798
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,240
Speaker 4: a bit earlier August last year, and it was against

799
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 4: my coach guy, my Melbourne Boomers coach guy because he

800
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 4: coaches New Zealand. And I threw up this hail Mary

801
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 4: and it almost broke the backboard, but it also.

802
00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: Switched amazing.

803
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,439
Speaker 4: That the furthest I'd made a shot in a hot

804
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,800
Speaker 4: minute bit of a hal Mary.

805
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:57,360
Speaker 2: How good? Next question from Rannie.

806
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 1: Hi Kaylor, what has been your great challenge and what

807
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,360
Speaker 1: do you think gets taught you about yourself.

808
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:05,760
Speaker 3: Great question, Granny.

809
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:11,959
Speaker 4: So, my greatest challenge has been between my ears, so

810
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:16,919
Speaker 4: my mental thoughts and dealing with stuff that I thought

811
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:20,359
Speaker 4: about myself, my self worth, Worrying about what people thought

812
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 4: about me, worrying about always trying to prove myself as

813
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 4: a basketballer, worrying about people liking me through my twenties

814
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 4: and you know, teens was really debilitating. But I also

815
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 4: and still now like sometimes I can let that creep in,

816
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 4: But as mentioned before, I'm really mature now, so no,

817
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 4: I've definitely learned strategies and better ways to handle those

818
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 4: thoughts and to bounce back really quickly quickly from those thoughts.

819
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,240
Speaker 4: But it's certainly taught me that I'm a lot stronger

820
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 4: than I've even realized, and that I am pretty resilient,

821
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 4: and those thoughts are not of me. They're not They're

822
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:00,040
Speaker 4: not what I.

823
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,160
Speaker 3: Should be thinking. And I try and teach the young

824
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 3: kids that as well, that that's no way to be thinking.

825
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,080
Speaker 4: You've got to really to switch back to, you know,

826
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 4: positive thoughts all the time, and those negative thoughts can't

827
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 4: consume you because it's not the true you, and you

828
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 4: can't let those negative thoughts, whether they're coming from yourself

829
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 4: or someone else, determine yourself worth.

830
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really powerful and I think it's yeah, really

831
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 1: cool that you are now able to use that and

832
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:28,359
Speaker 1: what you've learned for that next generation too.

833
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:29,959
Speaker 2: Are you doing an incredible job?

834
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 3: Thank you girl, you too? I love you?

835
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,920
Speaker 2: All right. I've got three would you rather questions for you?

836
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 2: Number one?

837
00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 1: Would you rather win by making a buzzer beater or

838
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:40,799
Speaker 1: a big defensive.

839
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 3: Stop buzzer beater?

840
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 1: Oh? All right, they've had a bit of a think

841
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: about that one. Number two, would you rather have a

842
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: trophy or a pair of shoes named after you?

843
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 2: There are shoes, all right? Have you thought about that before?

844
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 1: No?

845
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:56,440
Speaker 4: I just like think that's you know, to have some

846
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,480
Speaker 4: cool feet. Heats always like legit, So.

847
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that. I like that.

848
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 1: And final one number three, would you rather slinkies for

849
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: arms or swords for legs?

850
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 3: Swords for legs?

851
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 2: What about when you walk on grass?

852
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 4: Well, you just like you get into the gravel and

853
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:18,400
Speaker 4: the and be standing up nice.

854
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 3: And straight English? Yeah, I know you just have better

855
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,759
Speaker 3: grip swords like yeah, sword legs?

856
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 2: Nice? Great? Love it.

857
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: Before we finish up, where can people find you on socials.

858
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 4: Ah, this is what I'm talking about. S Franny Cag

859
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,800
Speaker 4: on an insta is me handle. I don't really tweet.

860
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 4: I kind of just like retweet things. But Kayla George

861
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 4: on twenty two on twitch, I'm very much on instagrammer,

862
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:48,319
Speaker 4: so if.

863
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 3: You're going to follow, do it on the grand at

864
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 3: see Franny Cag.

865
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:52,600
Speaker 2: On the ground.

866
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,120
Speaker 1: Can't wait to watch you playing for the Boomers. It's

867
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:57,799
Speaker 1: going to be epic. I think you guys are in

868
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: for a really good season and then heading into your

869
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: preparation for Tokyo. Good luck with everything there. I've absolutely

870
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 1: loved chatting with you today. Your personality is so infectious

871
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: and I love your passion for everything you do. And

872
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: thank you as well for being vulnerable and opening up

873
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 1: about what you've been through.

874
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:15,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really appreciate it.

875
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 4: Good luck to you with your AFLW Olympic prep and

876
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 4: everything else you're doing.

877
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:19,840
Speaker 3: Your Superstar.

878
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. We'll catch you on the

879
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: next episode. You can find us on Instagram at the

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Speaker 1: Female Athlete Project.