In The Huddle
The world of US college sport is both expansive and exciting, and international student-athletes are signing up in their droves for their shot at a scholarship opportunity.
In The Huddle is the creation of Study & Play USA, widely regarded as the GO TO experts in facilitating the best possible outcomes for all stakeholders in this industry: US college coaches and recruiters, local high schools, families of student-athletes and most importantly the student-athletes themselves.
So as you jog on the treadmill, drive to work, school or training, tune in to hear from industry leading experts, US college coaches, parents and student-athletes and learn how to best approach this pathway to maximise your opportunity and set yourself up for your most successful life.
In The Huddle
EP#51: Bridging High School and US Pathways: The Geelong College’s Approach To Connecting Sport & Academics
Ever wondered how student-athletes juggle academic excellence with top-tier sports performance? Join us in this inspiring episode where we sit down with Nathan Brown, the Director of Sport and Performance Pathways, and Adrian Blades, the Head of Career Development at Geelong College. Nathan shares his intriguing journey from professional sports to nurturing young talent, while Adrian discusses his shift from university admissions to forging meaningful student relationships. Together, they offer a unique glimpse into their collaborative efforts to help students thrive both on the field and in the classroom, preparing them for opportunities at US universities.
Discover the power of a united support network as we explore the critical role of parents, teachers, advisors, and coaches in student-athletes' success. Learn how this comprehensive team approach shapes students' confidence and direction, making the process as rewarding as the goal itself. Through compelling stories, we illustrate how belief and clarity can transform a student's journey, ensuring that everyone involved is aligned and working towards common objectives. This episode promises valuable insights into how a supportive environment can elevate student-athletes to new heights.
Lastly, be inspired by the story of Mimi Balan, a former Geelong College school captain whose leadership and passion have left an indelible mark on the US College Pathway program. We reflect on her contributions and the broader impact of mentorship and community engagement in fostering opportunities for future students. By emphasising the importance of stepping out of comfort zones and having a strong support network, we underscore how these elements provide parents and students with the clarity needed to achieve their goals. Special thanks to Adrian and Nathan for sharing their expertise and dedication to empowering student-athletes.
In the Huddle was created to give student athletes, parents and coaches an inside look at the journey through US college sport and all that comes with it the demands, the experiences, the excitement and the opportunities available to our student athletes from around the world Study and Play. Usa facilitates a comprehensive, customised approach for student athletes, andletes and families for their whole journey, from their high school preparation years right through to US college graduation.
Speaker 2:Hello listeners, alexia here to bring you the latest episode of In the Huddle from the grounds of the Geelong College. Today's episode really is a story of collaboration, about balance, about one school aiding their students to be the very best student athlete and person they can be, and it's no wonder they have such a strong history of graduates taking up the phenomenal opportunities in the USA as student-athletes. Here to discuss how they do this is Mr Adrian Blades, head of Career Development at the Geelong College, and his colleague, nathan Brown, director of Sport and Performance Pathways. Well, as I said at the Geelong College, and his colleague Nathan Brown, director of Sport and Performance Pathways. Well, as I said at the top just now, having worked with you both now for some time, it's really quite evident that your cross-department cooperation and collaboration really, you know it sets the blueprint for schools to help their student prepare for US University Pathway. Before we go into this some more, I'd like to start by both of you sharing your role here at the college. So, nathan, I might start with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks, alexia. Yeah, so my role is fairly new. I'm fairly new here at the college so I've got a long sporting background, professional sport background through the AFL and prior to that through schooling, I assisted in basketball at a state and national level as well. So I've ended up here at the college 12 months ago, part-time 18 months ago and then six months ago come on full-time, which is great. So I head up the football program and performance pathways, so that covers across all sports and and that's a new role within the school, an exciting role, and yes, we're sort of it's, it's a blank canvas and it's go take it where you want to take it and anything like that.
Speaker 3:And so for me, the last six months has been a lot of observation, a lot of learning, research, talking to people, having conversations, getting to know the lay of the land, the way the school works, everyone within it. There's so many special, particular skill sets within this college that I'm keen to tap into for our students and connect everyone. And so for me it's exciting to you know, circle back, I had a really good schooling experience at St Pat's College in Ballarat and to come and to go away and do some really good things in sport and then come full circle. It's something that one I love because of sport. I've got a lot of experience in the field and willing and and and I want to part um impart that to the next generation.
Speaker 3:Yeah and um, you know, working with the young people, young people and trying to make them the best they can be yeah, both on the field and off the field. So that's sort of my role here. Um, yes, we're go go go with the football program at the moment. We're halfway through the season and that's going really well. But then the other side in the background is this performance pathways, which is connecting current, past students and beyond in the school. Yes, because effectively that's what we're here to do. We're a school, we're educating the future.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely about so exciting times for me yeah, awesome, I suddenly want to go to the geelong college um over to you, adrian um.
Speaker 4:So my background um, it's interesting with uh, franny was just saying about his background never saw myself in the education sector when I left high school, so I wanted a career in politics at the time when I was 18. I was certainly quickly disavowed of that idea by the time I was about 22. Ended up finding my way into the Victoria Tertiary Admissions Centre in tertiary admissions. So my background's in university admissions and so worked in a broader sense with schools across Victoria. Particularly at that time I moved. I grew up in Melbourne, moved to the Ballarat Peninsula in Geelong, and for the first three and a half years my wife and I lived here. I was travelling four hours a day, so it was not sustainable. And then my wife will tell you about things happening.
Speaker 2:My wife and I lived here.
Speaker 4:I was travelling four hours a day, so it was not sustainable. Yeah, and then my wife will tell you about things happening by osmosis, or what I call planned happenstance in careers. My wife found this job. She wouldn't even tell you how she found the role. So I came home one day from actually watching a football final and she said could you do this job? And it read perfectly. And then five weeks later I got offered the role.
Speaker 1:So I've been here ever since.
Speaker 4:That's nine years ago, so 2015 I started and it's been the most exceptional role I've had in my career, so incredibly rewarding. The one thing that VTAC didn't give me was that individual relationship. We do what Brandy's talking about and what the privilege that we have in here is. Actually that Sam and I have here is we get to work individually with students, we get to know them as people. At our open days, I sort of talk about how we have a really belief-based system of careers. We want our students to come leave meetings with us feeling inspired, feeling like they believe they can do anything they want. That's really important and I think sport being a big sports fan myself, understanding the value of what sport gives to students, if it's done correctly, if it's done collaboratively, if it's done positively, that's a really good value that sport can bring, and so every day here is an opportunity.
Speaker 4:This is an exceptional organisation, exceptional community To me. I remember the feeling I had on the first day I walked in in January 2015,. I'm part of something that's bigger than me and I didn't know anyone then. We obviously built a lot of relationships in the last nine and a half years. At that point you felt like you're walking to an organisation that is exceptional in so many ways and you're part of something that's integral to the Geelong community. That's a really important thing.
Speaker 4:Not having grown up here and in terms of what we've done in the US colleges, it's something. The fundamental principle, I think, of Careers is about students understanding opportunities they have. The US college system is exceptional in so many different ways. It's what I would call professional level sport, and students are getting opportunities that they would not get in too many other environments, and so what we're passionate about in here is facilitating that, and a number of students in recent times have said these discussions have just come up through career meetings and now they're pursuing opportunities, and that's where the really great relationship we've had with you have come in studying by USA. But for me, I think career is about opportunity, and basically in the end, students can then their parents can then direct that opportunity for themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And if we can support it absolutely. There is being a sports fanatic myself. There is a competitive arm. I do want us, the careers department, the job, to be the best at this.
Speaker 1:Absolutely no question about that.
Speaker 4:But the main outcome of that is our students are getting great opportunities. Yeah, and I couldn't say more highly what Brownie's done in the short time he's been here, in the 12 months or so he's been here. Again, you're an elite athlete, knowledge, brownie, having been in the system as well, what you share with our students, what you share with us because I think, fundamentally, knowledge should be shared. We've got our own expert knowledge in here, sam and I over the eight years we've done US College Pathways. Rainey's got his expert knowledge as an elite athlete and someone who understands about leadership and the value of that in a sports context.
Speaker 4:I mean, collingwood is just actually a really fun little football club as well and if you look at it from an outside looking, there's a reason that club is successful, more than just having good players, and the Brownies come from that environment, learn from that and they share knowledge with us, we share it with them and we share it with Brownie, and then the outcomes for our students are pretty exceptional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead, I'll just jump in.
Speaker 1:I mean I know Alexia wants to touch on how your roles intertwine as well to aid the students and student-athletes, but I think two words that just jumped out from both of your responses then was inspiration, or inspiring, and opportunity. So opportunity is just I love that word because I think there's a lot of anxiety around. You know a school student coming into a careers office not really feeling really anxious about not knowing what the next step looks like for them out of school. I think if you've got, and again couple that with the idea of. I think if you've got, and again couple that with the idea of. I think as Australians we can tend to be a little bit, I guess, self-deprecating or too humble sometimes not realising that we're good enough for some of these pathways. So I think if you can instil some inspiration and confidence and some knowledge around what's out there with opportunities, I think it's just really important. Yeah, I think you guys are leading the way in that because I think it's just a really important thing for kids.
Speaker 3:And we're also finding. What I'm finding quite quickly is, as we're starting to fill in the blank canvas and paint all the pictures is in turn, a lot of it is you don't know what you don't know, and that's the same with the student and quite often, the parents and their family, because that's their support network. So part of our job is to educate our parents as well and our family. We've briefly talked about it, adrian is creating a team around this athlete or student, because that's what you do in the professional world. You know, you look at tennis players, you look at athletics and you know, even now in AFL, it's not so much about the club, it's about creating the individual athlete support network around them and their own team and now, effectively, that's what we're doing here.
Speaker 3:We've had numerous meetings. We sit around the round table here, round table meetings with mum and dad, you know play agents sometimes, and you know teachers here, careers advisors and experts, and we're all on the same page and that's the best outcome is that everyone's on the same page. We're moving all in the same direction. Here's what we need to work on, here's what you want to do. These are your skill sets. What are you looking forward to? And there's just that discussion and you see it. You see it in the, in the students eyes as they leave and the parents eyes as they leave this office.
Speaker 1:Just clarity, yeah, clarity, and then, with clarity, builds confidence and direction and they're like, yeah, okay, it's one of the most powerful things that a kid can have, isn't it? You know? Yeah, clarity, because there is so much there's so much chaos absolutely and unknown and worried about.
Speaker 2:You know what they feel like. They have to know what they're going to be doing or whatever that is. And for what you just said, then, nathan, that's what we see with our student athletes that we work with, you know, from all across Australia, southeast Asia is that when we have a student athlete where we have, we're working with them, we're working with mum and dad, we're working with their school, so we've got a relationship with their school. From the academic side of things, we are in touch with their coaches you for whatever sport they are, and then also having us. This is what I say to the our student athletes is look at all these people that you've got in your corner, you know here to support you. You're the one you know delivering and out there training and and studying and whatever it is. But what an amazing thing to look around and see that you've got all of these people here in your corner. Yeah, absolutely Leads to the best outcomes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that's a wonderful summary. I think one thing, I think one of the gifts you can give a young person or anyone in life to be honest is give them belief. I had a parent at a meeting about five or six years ago. She said her daughter left your meeting with you just believing that she could do anything. And that's that belief.
Speaker 4:And I remember this is a former john college student um, his name's uh, what one person. He graduated here in 2015, he got the opportunity to speak to an assembly in 2019 and I'm paraphrasing this, but for me, it left a indelible mark on me. He basically said believe in yourself, back yourself in and get the people around you that will believe in you. And he said that team-based approach.
Speaker 4:And the one thing I've seen observed with both of you, chris and Alexia, in the last six or seven years we've probably worked together, is that you're and I see this with Brandy and with Sam we're all educators. That's what we're here to do. We're here to educate. We're here to do. We're here to educate. We're here to support and give these young people the gifts of belief, because if you get a young, no matter what their interest is, whether it's sport or whether it's in other areas of their vocations, if they believe that they can do that and achieve it. A lot of very common discussions with medicine, for example high academic requirements, testing interviews. So what we say to students here is you can do it If it's not straight away.
Speaker 4:we'll roadmap it, You'll get there.
Speaker 2:It's putting that in place for them, yeah.
Speaker 4:Get them to visualise that outcome, and because the one thing we do at Geelong College really well is that we include our parents in all of our discussions. So the parents are really clear. We're accountable to the parents and they're really clear on what we're telling their children and how phenomenal it is for a parent to see that the school, the teachers, the educators, the support people, the role that you play as agents, is because it's about belief. You've got a group of people. It goes back to what Lachlan said, that if you've got people that believe in you, you think you can achieve anything. I think that's very powerful.
Speaker 1:I think, also showing them how to showing them the path and showing how they can possibly do it, because, as Nathan said, maybe they don't know what they don't know and don't know how. Once they know how, oh wow, now I believe. Okay, I get that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty cool and you can see that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then what I'm able to sort of from my past experiences, you go, okay, you sit down with the athlete or the student and go hey, these are your options, these are what I think you can get to and give that belief, and what I'm going to impart on them in hindsight is that you know, it's actually not about where you end up. What you end up valuing is your journey Correct. And so that's why I say to our athletes and a lot of them are footballers it's like what do you want to do, what do you want to be? Like there's no one else in the room except you and me. You can tell me anything. They're like we'll pay afl. And it's always like okay, absolutely love that, love that.
Speaker 3:Now, yeah, I can't promise that, but we're gonna have a we're gonna have a crack, yeah, and this and what you're gonna, what you're gonna learn and everything you're gonna learn and value as you get older is during this part part, this journey, that you're having to crack ups and downs, and you're going to end up such a better person, human being for it, yeah. So it's actually not about where you end up, it's about the journey Now with you guys. There's no greater journey than you know, getting right out of your comfort zone and getting overseas in the big bag world, and you know, and it's all about that. It's the growth and the experiences you get to see you jump out of your little box and you know whether you end up, you know, on the tennis tour or you know, or you're doing great things in the Olympics or whatever it is. You've been on this amazing journey and then you're going to be this whole rounded person for life, rather than sitting inside your box here in Geelong.
Speaker 2:And that's what we see. A lot of families that we meet with or they even see it after their son or daughter has started their, you know, college career. You know, in the US, the pathway that they go on to get there. So, like you're talking about, you know, if you want to become an AFL player, the pathway that you go on to get that. For our student athletes that's such a big personal growth development pathway, regardless of the outcome in the us, what they have to go through.
Speaker 2:So obviously there's the obvious things of balancing. You know being a high level athlete and you know particularly year 11 and 12 in high school academically. But they're talking to coaches in amer. You know they're having to schedule appointments, organise themselves, arrange them, you know, send follow-ups, communicate well and unless you know a student has had a part-time job they've had to go for an interview for or have had. You know a lot of them haven't had this experience before, where they're one-on-one with an adult that they haven't met, having to talk about themselves and put themselves forward. That alone and those types of things is just setting them up for their most successful life. You know, and it's similar to what you're saying, we see it as well.
Speaker 1:I love what you've said because, yeah, it's not this podcast, not about my journey. It's decades ago, but you, you know, I went to become a professional tennis player via the american system and came out with more than that, in my opinion after a couple of heart operations, a couple of things I weren't planning on happening, a lot of ups and downs. And here we are, 20 something years later, saying, hey look, we believe in this pathway. It's awesome. Anyone should give it a crack, even though I I had those. So the journey itself was just worth it. Not straight or perfect In the ups and downs, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so embracing all that comes with trying to get towards a goal is pretty awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's it. You don't know. And yeah, and, as I said, a lot of people would be interested to go back and have a look at everyone that's gone through the US pathways in the sporting sense, because you know they've gone over there for a specific sport, but they probably ended up being, you know, something else and greater. Just because you open up doors, you open up different pathways and you find a lot about yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You go, hey, that's what I am, that's who, I am all that kind of stuff. Or you, that's what, that's what I am, that's who, I am all that kind of stuff. Or you come back to australia and you, you know, you're walking, totally, you're confident, you've got this self-belief, you have this, this whole round of this worldliness that you've learned overseas, on you by yourself. We're talking about young people, young adults, going away from their comfort.
Speaker 3:We're talking about comfort zone yeah mom and dad correct that's a a big one, huge, and you do have to grow up quickly.
Speaker 1:You've got to have a choice.
Speaker 3:Which is a big, big thing yeah.
Speaker 4:And you can also see even in the meetings that were held yesterday and chatting to some of the students and friends afterwards that they feel like and I think what you said, Chris you create a roadmap for them.
Speaker 4:So this is how you get there. You tell them how, but also provide the aspirational side. Yeah, and these students and parents go. Yeah, we've got a group of people around us who really believe in us and I think just, and they also know how to help us get there. There's no guarantee to this, but here's the options I can do this.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's someone I know from there's a year 11 student I've met from outside the school and his whole dream again is to play AFL. And all mum wants and I've had some really passionate chats with mum about this and all she wants is for people around him to buy into his dream. She knows it's not guaranteed I think there's 60 afl players that you drafted but she just wants people around him to believe because you just don't know yeah, absolutely, you never know on draft night next year his name gets called out um. You just don't know. And that's giving them that opportunity and that belief. I just just think for me I've mentioned this word a lot I just think that belief in the roadmap that we all do all of us as educators do is such a powerful tool and a powerful tool's not the right word such a powerful motivator, because I think in life, if you believe and you know there's people around you that believe in you, that is just so powerful and you can achieve anything you want.
Speaker 1:And the one thing I do love about the american system with.
Speaker 4:I've got a brother who lives there and and you mentioned earlier, chris, the humility that australians are probably expected to have, don't see that as much in the us. I just find the us people to be very aspirational and these coaches want you to achieve, they want you to get to the best level possible and they resource it. That's what I like, one as a sports fan, but also someone who's really engaged in seeing our, because it's really important from our perspective here that the students are going to a place they're happy, safe and supported and then they can excel at what they do. And to see what I've seen of the American system, there's a lot of good things about it.
Speaker 1:Spot on. Absolutely well said, now, that is so true.
Speaker 2:Well, I was just having a little giggle to myself is that I've got this list of questions here and we're just. I didn't even need to do it. You know, we're just. This is fantastic, this is exactly what it should be. But I guess I do have a and we've touched on different points of it. You know, adrian, but specifically at the Geelong College and we work with schools all across Australia, right, and we have for many, many years, but the Geelong College have had so many student athletes over the last decade in particular, pursue the US college pathway and have great success with that. Why do you think that is? And I know we've touched on different points of it, but I just want to be direct and ask you that question.
Speaker 4:Why is a really good question? Because it's from my knowledge. I started in 2015 and sam and I've worked together since 2016. I'm not aware of any particular program that the school had in place before then. Um, so I'm aware of a couple students who did go to the us from here that were here prior to 2015. Um, I think for me, it's just just when you, when you, when you speak to an athlete who's really successful, really good at a sport that's played internationally, I think it just started for just discussions and let's have a look at it. The person I started working with in 2015, we decided to run the SATs.
Speaker 4:I think from and that was about just providing opportunity to not just colleges but students interested in US pathways and I think that, for me, triggered that idea of, well, if we're running SATs. That was back in 2015 when we first ran them and then we said, well, let's look at these, let's look at why we're running them and that's why we were filling out our sessions and we were running four or five in that year and we've run them ever since. But that's probably triggered it for me and I'm thinking and obviously, having a really good knowledge and interest in sport, it's just grown and it's just again comes back to that idea of having an opportunity and I don't get the impression it's a. Chris. You can probably talk to this in your experiences not sure if it's widely known still outside of across Australia, potentially I don't think it's that widely known.
Speaker 4:The points you made at your presentation a couple of nights ago to the general one is that a lot of what you do is probably trying to educate people about these are actually opportunities for people, and what we want to do at the John Collins College more generally is make sure our students are aware of every opportunity they have. And if you've got a really talented athlete and one thing I'm keen to grow is the non-athlete pathway. That's a work in progress, and so for me, I think it's just grown by just osmosis in a lot of ways and grown through discussion. And then our first student went to the US in 2016,. And then what happens is, in a school like this, people talk, it's a community, people talk, and then one student goes over and that student was quite a well-known student within the school.
Speaker 4:He went over and a couple of other students went over that year as well. I think the real fire starter for our school and someone who's very well known to you, Mimi Balan yes, she's probably been the fire starter. Mimi is obviously was school captain at Geelong College, a very high profile family, well known to the community. Her oldest sister was a school captain as well and Mimi's got a passion and a drive that I just have so much respect for, Absolutely, but also a passion and a drive to help others, not just herself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very selfless.
Speaker 4:I still remember a funny story with Mimi. I remember one day just walking through the course and I was looking a bit tired one day and Mimi was actually starting to instruct me on how I should do my job and my life. And it was just her and I. It was just that moment in time of her and I just happened to be the only two people in our places there at the school and Mimi can be quite direct, but I knew it was coming from a real good place.
Speaker 4:But that also showed to me a little bit of it was a bit of a regressive role for a while, yeah, and I think when Mimi and Mimi became an advocate for the US College Pathway and also you worked with her as well, and then she became an advocate for the work you do as well, and I think probably Chris, I'd like to say that's probably where our relationship started to grow. I think, if I pick a point in time, we had some shoes going in 2016 and 17, but Mimi was the real fire starter. There was another student. She was definitely active in supporting her application as well and she's an ambassador.
Speaker 4:I know there are people who still reach out to Mimi now and her parents about the US College pathway and then recommend you recommend the glorious department and I think it's just grown from there. And looking at the facilities over there, you educate yourself along the way, yeah, and just looking at the opportunities and hearing the feedback from the students who've gone over, that's when you sort of that interest grows and they're going well. If it works for students like Mimi, let's look at it for these, and you pick up their knowledge of sport in career meetings and go. How about this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, have you thought of this yeah.
Speaker 1:And here's another alumni who's done it and here's their contact details and that has a lot of impact.
Speaker 4:If I was to pick a moment in time for us as a careers department, it would be Mimi. Yeah, that's fair Mimi being well-known within the school environment, well-known to me personally and school captain and a very proactive, positive school captain and someone who's not afraid to sort of share her experiences and someone who wants to help. You know, she's also, fundamentally, Mimi wants to educate people as well. Yeah, and I think she's then that I think from that point that was Mimi graduated 2018 to 2019. I think the momentum for our school has pretty much continued since then. We had some good success before.
Speaker 4:Mimi, but I think the numbers have probably increased since then. Since then, and with Brandon coming on board in the last four months working with us, and with Ryan as well, it's going to another level right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I think just on that with Mimi last year, or every year this time of year, we've got returning athletes back from their US summer break and she was kind enough to come and join us at that and we sat her on a panel with other student athletes returning to talk about her experience and we asked her one question 20 minutes later.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Captivated audience, absolutely. You could hear a pin drop.
Speaker 3:And still to this day, who?
Speaker 1:was that girl that?
Speaker 4:she was impressive. She needs to work for you.
Speaker 1:I don't think she's. We sort of can't stop mimicking what she's going to do. She's going to do Absolutely. But, she's a credit to the school and obviously herself yeah and her family and that's going to yeah, you can't really put a value on how much she's inspired, other kids here, yeah.
Speaker 4:I would agree, and I think she goes wider than that. Yeah, someone's told me she knows half of Miami and she has been a leader within the student program, in the rowing program but more broadly in the student board at the.
Speaker 2:University of Miami, and she's been involved in the recruiting for them as well. You know, which is incredible.
Speaker 4:Yeah, just the family itself, because her older sister, lily, was actually a great athlete in her own right, decided to go into more of a political line and went to Cameron, was actually doing rowing coaching herself. Leadership runs in the family, yeah, yeah, and they're a very humble family. But in terms of you know, mimi, I think for you as well as us, and I think it's obviously helped find the relationship John College has with studying and playing USA as well, because it all then pretty much grew, and so I think, the two big influences. In terms of the momentum, Mimi, a few years ago we had some good numbers. I need to go back and check, but I think we're in the range of 30 to 40 students prior to this year that have gone to the US since Sam and I have been working here and again, with Brownie coming on board, and the numbers we're looking at at the moment, I think, lexi, you've had what's it? 30 meetings in the two meetings.
Speaker 2:Yes, I do.
Speaker 4:Well done, yes, thank you. I think that again there's a couple of to me, a couple of really again moments in time, Brownie coming on board and again that really collaborative approach you have. We're all on the same page, yeah, and I think now we're getting, and I guess I think the sports precept and the sports scholarships is going to help all that. Yeah, Personally, I think sports scholarships at this school, um, it's great that we've finally got them and, and I think it can only grow I mean we're.
Speaker 4:If we're going to the leading school now, I just think what we're going to do after this, absolutely that's like perfectly summed up right there so we've got a careers department here um adrian sam and the level of care for their students and their
Speaker 3:families is second to none. And then it's that they sit in that beautiful space of seeing the transition from school to life beyond school. And that's a great space because a lot of people here in education we're brilliant people, teachers and do amazing things with these kids. And then it's shake their hand at the end of year 12 and good luck type thing, where these guys are following it through and making sure that there's the support beyond. And then that's what I've sort of identified straight away. It's like, okay, as a sports program here, what are what are we actually trying to achieve? Are we trying to win games here against melbourne schools or are we trying to make amazing athletes beyond? What are we actually? What's our core, fundamental? So that's where and that's evidently that's where we'll pass the door and careers on the door. And it's like, hey, I need to talk to these people because these are these performance pathways, my role, that that's that these guys have been doing it for a long, long time.
Speaker 3:And from the very first meeting with these guys it's like, okay, these are these, these two brilliant people that care and get it and you know, willing to open their arms to, to me and the sports program and you know, and from there it's just like, hey, what are we actually doing, what are we doing for these people now and how you can work together yeah.
Speaker 2:And you said that before when we were having a chat, before we started the podcast, and I really liked what you said is about, when you started here, just tapping into the resources you have here. It's not about going out and we need this, we need this, we need this. It's like we've got so much here and let's tap into that. Like I hadn't heard it put that way before, I just thought it was brilliant?
Speaker 4:Yeah, did it also shock you, brandy, with me in particular, my almost obsessive interest in sport? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:And going on to everything it's careers and it's non-sport and sport, on to um, to everything it's careers and it's non-sport and sport. But we're lucky in australia in particular is that we're such a sporting nation and to get out of our comfort zone as young people.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're going away from our families, going overseas, doing all these great things, but sport is the one thing that is our comfort zone so when you go overseas, you got sport, you're in a you, you're over in a massive country, wherever it is, with new people, different culture, um, the competitiveness, the professionalism is on the line and all that kind of stuff that goes with doing all that stuff. But one, one comfort zone that you will always have is your sport. So that's what I love about this sport and the connection of sport with life and you know careers and and everything like that. So, um, yeah, it is, it is good, I love it. I love that you know when, on someone's journey of where, who I'm going to be in life, using sport as that, you know their ship their vessel to take them beyond is awesome because there is that safety net for them.
Speaker 3:It's something you see it with the kids, like the stress and the exams and just being a teenage kid, social media, all that kind of stuff. And then as soon as they jump out on the ovals or in the basketball courts, it's like phew. Yes, you know, the shackles are off and they're in a moment in time where they're just blown off steam and they're enjoying it. It's just what they do.
Speaker 2:And in the moment right. Not thinking about everything else and all those other worries. And yeah, it's so healthy, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 4:That's a really great description of all of that the security and safety of sport.
Speaker 4:It's just that common international sport. It reminds me of a couple of examples one in sport and the performing arts. I know a performer who once said to me when he's on the field he's in the zone. That's him. He is a footballer for that time he's on the field. And then there's another person I met earlier this year who's an elite level dancer. So there's a lot of commonalities between dance and performance. And she said to me she said she's actually a fairly quiet person, but she said to me, when she's in music theatre, that's who she is, she's just in the zone, that's who. And she just loves it and just gets so immersed in it. And I just love hearing those stories because of the passion and they're doing something they're passionate about and I just think that's what career should be anyway. Just do something you love and enjoy it.
Speaker 4:Have a crack, have a crack, and so, yeah, that was a great summary, Brandy, about what sport means to people and what sport means to the community. And I actually think we've had that debate around COVID. I mean all the concessions that the NRL, the AFL, in the Australian context needed to make in order for those competitions to run. I think it just defined what sport meant to all of us at that time as well.
Speaker 1:When it was taken away the freedom. We realised what we missed, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, in summarising, you know, this has been an absolute treat. Okay, it was not. Where we've gone and spoken about the different angles that we've taken has been an absolute treat. Okay, it was not. Where we've gone and and and spoken about the different angles that we've taken has been brilliant, and I think when we look back and listen to this podcast, we're going to be. You know, the main themes are going to be belief, having a crack, getting out of your comfort zone, um and and, and finding people around you that can help put a roadmap in place, like. I think they're the key takeaways that certainly I have got from this podcast. So, you know, I'd like to thank you both. You know, adrian and Nathan. It's been, like I said, an absolute treat to have you here, and you know I've now got. I think we should take in the huddle on the road more often.
Speaker 4:I also wanted to congratulate and thank you as well for the work that you do and, as I said, the one thing I've said about the work you do is you're educators as well. You're giving people a roadmap, the clarity of information that I've observed even just the last few days, but well beyond that. People leave feeling clear, feeling like they've got a really clear roadmap and they can help with their decision-making as to why this is an option and how to navigate it. And I think, for the parents particularly, that means a lot to them and I think that's why we all work so well together, because I think, fundamentally, we're all educators and we're all collaborative and, to summarise your point, alexia great point we all believe in our students, correct?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Best jobs in the world right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Pretty lucky students, correct? Yeah, best jobs in the world, right? Yeah, absolutely lucky. Well, thanks again to you both appreciate it.
Speaker 4:Thanks guys.