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The Price You Pay
Host Natalie Cook, Olympic gold medalist and five-time Olympian, shares the inspiring and untold stories of athletes who face financial obstacles in their pursuit of becoming Olympian's and Paralympian’s.
Discover the sacrifices, challenges, and unwavering determination behind their pursuit of greatness.
Be inspired by their resilience and determination to turn their dreams into reality.
The Price You Pay
09: Kickstarting Dreams: Stacey Hymer's Taekwondo Quest to Paris
What does it take to become an Olympic athlete? Stacey Hymer takes us on her incredible journey from a curious four-year-old discovering Taekwondo to preparing for the ultimate stage: the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Stacey shares the early influence of her father, Michael, and how he helped her transition from self-defense to competitive sparring. Gain an insider's perspective on the sport from the expert herself, like the unique point-scoring system that has led Stacey to international success.
Balancing rigorous training with everyday life brings its own set of challenges, especially during a global pandemic. Stacey and Michael open up about the trials of maintaining focus and motivation when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed due to COVID-19. They discuss the emotional and financial strains, and the crucial role of family support in navigating these turbulent times. Michael’s heartfelt recounting of the sacrifices made and the joys of supporting Stacey's dreams offers a poignant look at the often unseen aspects of an athlete's journey.
Financial backing is more than just a convenience; it’s a lifeline for athletes like Stacey. This episode also sheds light on the invaluable support from the Aussie Athlete Fund, which has alleviated financial pressures, allowing Stacey to concentrate on her training.
Discover how grants and sponsorships not only secure an athlete’s present but also pave the way for future success.
As Stacey gears up for Paris, she emphasised the importance of staying calm and focused, underscoring the unwavering support of her family and the broader community.
(SPOILER ALERT: STACEY WAS ANNOUNCED TO THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC TEAM ON MAY 22, 2024!)
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My name is Talika Clancy and I'm a proud Wiliwili woman, and I wish to acknowledge the land on which the Price you Pay podcast is being recorded Minnijin Country. We pay homage to the tradition of storytelling when we share athlete journeys and we extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Speaker 2:I'm Nat Cook, five-time Olympian and gold medalist. Welcome to season two of the Price you Pay podcast, where we explore the hidden costs and barriers young athletes face in their pursuit of sporting greatness. Come with us as we delve into the lives of young athletes and their families to better understand what it truly takes to reach their dreams.
Speaker 3:Today we get to chat to 24-year-old Taekwondo athlete, stacey Heim. Starting her sport at only age four, she has had a huge journey already in her current preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Currently, she sits with many medals from global events around her neck, has graduated with a science degree in food tech and nutrition, speaks for the AIS Good Village program, teaches private taekwondo lessons and has secured a sponsor for her run at Olympic qualification. She does all this while traveling to open competitions in America. Stacey is one busy woman, so what a privilege it is to be joined by her dad, michael, in order to get to know what it really takes to raise a champion like his daughter, stacey. So welcome to you both, michael. I know you don't love speaking as much, so we are going to make sure that Stacey gets most of the questions, but welcome.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 3:You are welcome. So, stacey, let's get warmed up, because as I learn more about you and what you've achieved already in your sport, I want to make sure we talk about this sport of taekwondo. My daughter currently is a yellow belt at the re taekwondo local club down the road, but somehow your sport sounds a little bit different. So can you just talk to us about taekwondo?
Speaker 5:yeah. So taekwondo is a combat sport. We use electronic systems. So for the olympics we're going to be using kp and p system. So it is electronic, uh, foot guards, electronic chest guard and head guard and when you kick it registers on the chest guard two points. If it uh kick to the head, registers is three points. If you do a spinning kick to the body, four points. Spinning kick to the head is, uh, five points or six points, one of them and you get. If you punch and the referee is like the look of the punch and it's got a good nice pop and key up to it, then that's one point.
Speaker 3:So as you're competing. Can you see a scoreboard? You know how. You're just trying to explain all those points as you're like sparring is that the right word? Yeah, with someone as you're doing that, can you actually see the points tallying?
Speaker 5:yeah. So usually we've got about two screens, one on each side of the court. So where you are on the court you'll be able to, like at the corner of your eye, just peep, peep out to the side and and look and see, like the time it will be two minute rounds and if you win the first two rounds you've won the fight. If you win the second I mean so if you win the first, lose a second you go into the third round and whoever wins the third round wins. But you definitely see the scoreboard and the time and you also have warnings. So if you get five warnings in one round, then you're disqualified from that round and then you go on to the next round.
Speaker 5:And how do you get a warning? Oh yeah, so warnings, you get warnings for many things. One could be kicking too low below the waist. Another warning could be stepping out. Another warning, um, if you do, say, an illegal move like kicking behind the head, and I'm sure there's a lot more, but I those are probably the top main three to look out for so when you're starting out at age four, are you starting out typically like what I describe my daughter doing, like the local club and like what's that transition from that local?
Speaker 3:Like my daughter says to me Mom, it's self-defense, you can't contact anyone. So all of a sudden you're telling me you get points for contacting. So where does that distinction come in?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So when you're a kid you do learn a lot about that self-defense, because you're learning like basic movements and it's just like enabling your body to practice, because you learn patterns. You tend to learn more of the traditional side of taekwondo and then as you get older, say, probably blue or red belt, then she'll be introduced to sparring and then that's when you see a lot of kids um, decide if they want to go down the sparring route. Or then that's when you see a lot of kids decide if they want to go down the sparring route or the traditional route, which is the poomsae. So for me, when I was younger, that's when I decided okay, I enjoy sparring, I'm going to go down that route.
Speaker 3:Thank you for that. That helps a lot. So I'd love you to introduce your dad into the conversation. Hopefully this doesn't put you on the spot too much. I don't know who will be more embarrassed by this, but I'd love you to share a memory that you have of dad that you would say has helped you be a better athlete or human.
Speaker 5:Well, there's two vivid memories that come to mind, or actually three now.
Speaker 5:So the first one is we would do home training and one thing is each time we got tired, so we would just do it in our living room, and each time we would kick, like your feet would be really cold and you'd kick and you'd sting my feet and I would start crying and my tail would tell me like, come on, like, kick harder, do it again. And literally I just started crying because I didn't want to kick the bag, because it would hurt my feet. Another thing was I didn't enjoy going to Saturday morning sparring sessions, and so what dad would do is he'd kind of bribe me with snakes or like chocolate after training, and that was just one of the things you know probably just made a bit more enjoyable as well. And lastly, at competitions, like you kind of look out for your parents at competitions when you're younger, like like, where are they? And I and I just remember always as soon as I like I see my parents, like dad would always be like come on, like, like, kick harder.
Speaker 3:You know dad, you were, you were into it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
Speaker 3:I love that. And so take us back, dad, for a second. I mean, you've raised this accomplished woman. I don't know what you're feeling as you're hearing her speak. You know, literally she's 24 now. So can you bring us back to little Stacey, four years old, like, how did she even go to that first Taekwondo lesson? How did that all come about?
Speaker 4:and how did that all come about? Well, stacey, at the age of four. She was at the right age to commence taekwondo, but prior to that, at primary school, she was always determined, she was always sports orientated, she was resilient and the teachers enjoyed her personality, even to the point where she became the school master. So no one was allowed to have a fight, she was the mediator.
Speaker 4:So we went to halls at the age of four and they do an introductory session, and Stacey put on her white dough box, which was too big, so we had to fold it back and Stacey had big blonde hair and she passed her induction. She got to keep the white belt and the uniform and she had a huge smile on her face waiting to get into the room to interact with the other kids that were there. So she started really at primary school, then went to halls and then later on, as she progressed through the belts, the coloured belts, she started sparring and then, when Stacey got to Black Belt, we found we needed to go elsewhere. So we went to another club where she met well, we knew him, who's a very good instructor and an Olympian himself, paul Lyons.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And Paul saw in Stacey there is something there, the smallest one amongst the group of young men, all boys that were highly ranked in the sparring field. And Stacey was slightly intimidated by being with these boys, Tiny girl, these boys. And I said to Stacey, don't worry, your time will come, your time will come. So I used to draw a circle and say your time will come. And then the time came Stacey. She created her own name in the sparring world. She was resilient to everything, she trained hard and as she went along, poor Paul passed away and our next step was to go to Paul's friend who had a club Notorious, and he took Stacey and he could see there was something in Stacey as well.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 4:So from the age four she progressed along, went to one club and then we were forced to go to another club. So she from a young girl, she was just resilient and even when she used to go and compete and she had a big block of blonde hair, before the match had started the coaches and the referees had to try and weave her hair through the helmet. Yeah, so that would take up a moment.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But then she got started.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 4:So she was continually, always. She always had a smile leading up to the mat, had a smile coming off the mat and she also congratulated the other competitor. But on the mat she was a different person. She changed?
Speaker 3:Yeah right, did you feel that change Stacey, like when Dad's talking about that? Did you kind of feel like two different people?
Speaker 5:Well, you just kind of get into that fight zone. You know you'd be friendly off the mat. But as soon as you get in you're like okay, I'm, I'm going to kick you, like I'm gonna fight you. So you just have to get into that prep yeah, and thank you, dad for that.
Speaker 3:Those stories, actually I just totally had this visual of you at school, at primary school. Can you remember Stacey being that mediator kind of person like. Do you remember those days?
Speaker 5:yeah, I like I was always like I was always hanging out with all the guys and girls and like some days I was hanging out with my girlfriends and then other days I was like playing soccer with the guys and then, you know, I was constantly just like, everywhere I was, you know I was always a person to bring like a whole, um whole, you know, cohort together and you know, like little kids, you just sometimes you do muck around and sometimes pun trance would happen, but like you, just you just jump in, you know, you just you know sort it out, and then you'll just become friends again. So it's fine.
Speaker 3:I like that. Yeah, it's nice to hear that you can flick like there's two different things going on, you know, like you say, like on the mat, one thing's going on and then off. It seems like you have a good understanding of where it fits. Um, as you described your sport, actually it made me think more about almost like boxing. You know when you're saying timed rounds and everything. I then want to know more Stacey about how you believe this sport, this sport in particular, has helped you in your life.
Speaker 5:Well, it's helped me prioritize quite a lot. Like you know, during school, you know what's important. This week, okay, it's finishing this task, and then next week, okay, go into training, prepare for a competition or whatever it was. It just helped prioritise. You know what's important getting those tasks done. That's really helped.
Speaker 3:Is Taekwondo as disciplined as I think it is? Is it in particular particular? Does it help you be disciplined in all areas of your life?
Speaker 5:yeah, most definitely like discipline in you know rocking up to training on time. Discipline in you know making sure you're wearing the right uniform, even though sometimes I can be disorganized or know run late to classes, like my coaches know there's always something going on. But yeah, just making sure that you know being organised on top of it. That was always something that you know like you just put your efforts in. Everywhere you go. You know whether it's work, you know uni studies, whatever it was, you're just always on top of it.
Speaker 3:I saw you in some of when I was researching you that you compete against Korean athletes in this. I just imagine Taekwondo is popular there. When I went there with the archery team it was almost like the discipline that we're speaking about is like baked into everyday life. Did you have you noticed that as you go to different cultures with your sport, yeah, most definitely, and especially korea.
Speaker 5:Like it's just their way of life. It is so, you know, everything is quite disciplined and yeah, they like they do have fun, you know, sometimes, but they're the way they structure, like their training and their uni. It's like training is their life and uni is like accompanying it. In a way, like here, it's total opposite, where, like your uni is your life and your training is, you know, accompanying that. So just learning. You know the different cultures, especially in Korea. Like you, you do see why and how they're so successful in this sport, because their training is just like so.
Speaker 3:So not not entirely different, but it's just like the way it's structured is very different training it almost feels like they train off the mats as well, meaning they're training the discipline in how they walk to school. You know, in all areas it's sort of really ingrained in all areas. And that's sort of my next question, because I could just focus on all the great things that sport has given you. But would you also say that there's been some challenges, like what would you say about sport or living this kind of sport life that has challenged you.
Speaker 5:Well, definitely I'm like trying to balance out. You know, growing up you want to have a social life, you want to see your friends. You know, balancing with family, balancing with training and studying, working and everything else that has always been quite a challenge. But you know, once you just start like going into it and working out, you know what's your, what's your priority where, and then creating a routine. It did become easier over time, um, but also, like you know, going into like those COVID years, just that mentally challenging years of, just you know, constant uh training, like not seeing your friends, and you know it was just a bit weird time and obviously had to prepare for the olympics, so those, those times were definitely challenging. How?
Speaker 3:did you deal with the delay of the olympics?
Speaker 5:it wasn't great. I didn't like it. I really wish the olympics was in 2020, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that would have. Really. I think we're only gonna start to unravel that. You know how that really impacted athletes. You know, in other sports some athletes even retired during that time. In that one year difference, people that are not in sport don't really realize a difference that it can make. So thank you for sharing that Because, yeah, it's not all roses as you say, which some people think it is. So, dad, you're back on, you ready. Yes, I want to know what it takes to support as a parent. What does it take to support a career like Stacey? So we talked about resilience. She's's determined, I can tell it's very self-motivated, but still, what's the physical, emotional, even the financial support needed?
Speaker 4:the emotional side and the physical side it affect. It affects our family, but we don't want to show that to Stacey. So if Stacey in her younger days she needed to be driven so mum and dad taxi, we would be the taxi drivers, but at the same time that wasn't pressure on us, we enjoyed it. It was the pressure on Stacey that we could see in the car she was going to training and so we would do that and I miss those days actually to take her. Now she has her own licence and she could drive around. I have to ask her for permission to come to training.
Speaker 3:Who gets to drive? Does she drive you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so that emotional side it's always there. We want to support our daughter and we understand what she's going through. So we walked with her along the same path. But she was the competitor. We were just tagging along and if she needed us she knew her family was always there for her. So we never tried to be the coach she has good coaches. We just wanted to fill in little gaps as we went along and we miss her when she goes overseas, because she spends a lot of time overseas and we look forward to her coming back and give her some good homemade cooking as well.
Speaker 3:But what about her finances, like how does she travel when she's young as well? How did she do that?
Speaker 4:Well, when she was young, we had to take from one section to support her in the other section. So we had to financially balance things. And when she was young, in her younger stage, she would travel interstate. One parent had to accompany her.
Speaker 4:We couldn't afford two so we had to share a room um same room and um it. It wasn't easy, but we just dealt with it because we knew with Stacey was on a path and we needed to support that path and the last thing we wanted to do is just not be able to support her and she has to drop off that path.
Speaker 3:So it wasn't easy, but we loved it and still there thank you for saying that, because that's sort of a message that's been coming through really beautifully is the privilege, like how nice it is, but you have other children as well, and so, yeah, how do you, how do you do that as a parent? How do you mix all their different journeys?
Speaker 4:well, one advantage. I suppose it's an advantage, but it just happened that Stacey's older brother he was into taekwondo as well. He was into football, he was into everything. So we understood what at his age, what he needed to do. The younger daughter, victoria, she was also into sports. She was also into sports. So we had a house full of sporty type people and we had to find pathways for them as well. And it just turns out that Stacey was more determined to stay along her path.
Speaker 4:So, it wasn't easy. They were all at school at the same time, so obviously there's schooling costs, transport costs, everything. But we loved our children and we just wanted to help them to find that that path that they needed to go down.
Speaker 3:So I don't regret anything at all love it, I love that and I think that's it. It's a whole story, isn't it? There's the challenge and, like you say, as a parent, you're up for it, which is beautiful. So, stacey, talk to us about because we're on the topic of you know the money that it takes. Talk to us about securing a sponsor. So how do you even keep up with that side of things? When you're studying're training, you're speaking at schools, you mean, you're doing private lessons there's so much going on for you. How do you even secure a?
Speaker 5:sponsor. Well, to be honest, I didn't actually start looking for sponsors too much later in my career and that was purely because, um, you know, lack of knowledge and going in like you know how to get a sponsor and things like that, and during uni as well, like I just had so much on my plate. You know you don't necessarily have time to just think about all those things, but all the sponsors that we have been able to secure have all been like family and friends who have been really supportive and, you know, want to support me and want to to support. You know my journey and you know where I'm going, what I'm doing. So, yeah, it like I say like thanks to all those people who have actually like put in you know, a bit of money on the side for me, because you know everything counts along the way. Um, but yeah, securing, like you know, massive sponsors and things like that is really hard yeah, and receiving the green and gold grant.
Speaker 3:Where did that sit like? When did that happen in your career and and how did that impact your journey? Well, it.
Speaker 5:I received it, uh, last year and to me that's a bit like later in my career, considering like I'm 24 now, compared to probably some other athletes who are much younger than me. But, you know, just like having that security there is kind of like a massive weight off my shoulders and just to really like relax and, you know, just do what I've got to do, which is training, you know doing well, overseas and wherever, and so, just like, allow me to just really focus in on that and not worry about, you know, having to find sponsors or having to, you know, find other sources of income and then I can just, you know, enjoy my time resting and, you know, doing like community talks or, you know, focusing on my students doing PTs and things like that, things that I enjoy, rather than just like trying to find any random job just to fill in the gaps, just to get some money, you know, or pay for petrol, you know things like that Like how many?
Speaker 3:here's some math skills for you. How many private lessons approximately would you have to do to equate to the grant that you got?
Speaker 3:do round numbers, round it up 10 000 more right, it's actually sometimes, you know, like you say, these are the things you love, which is really cool. But yeah, like, when you think about how many hours of private lessons you would have to do, it's pretty amazing to see that, like you say, the weight that it takes off of you is really interesting. And so, when it comes to sponsorship, have you found what has been the because there's like a community inside of winning the grant that you know, know, there's sort of like an education around sponsorship? Has there been any um, almost like what's the word? Like golden, like gold nuggets or anything that you've gotten from that around securing sponsorship?
Speaker 5:um, it's also like the structure on how to approach sponsors and say like, and then just having a conversation with them and then having just that background knowledge to be able to like pull something out and to so that they can respond and like grab something from it. So just having the structure, like moving into and approaching you know people for sponsorship that's been the really big key that I've taken out of it and then something that they can like either hold on to or you know something you can email through, just so that they can like visually see you know what's going on, what they're actually supporting. Yeah, right.
Speaker 3:So, dad, last question you're doing well. When Stacey was going through COVID period, when she said it was a real struggle, how do you support or how do you, how do you respond to her, or how does the family respond to her when she's in the struggle?
Speaker 4:COVID. For Stacey was very difficult because I recall when she competed overseas and she flew back to Australia she had to isolate for two weeks in Sydney. So during that time she was doing her assignments for uni in the hotel, having food delivered to her and we had to sing from Melbourne to Sydney for her. And so for Stacey, we felt for her. But she's a happy-go-lucky type person. She understood and she took the advantage of doing her assignments, which the university were fantastic to allow her the time to do that. So when COVID was over well, for her two-week period of isolation, it was fantastic just to pick her up from the airport and bring her back. The home.
Speaker 3:Cooking is good for her, yes and I've just realized not only were covid was hard for everyone, but being melbourne-based, is even more challenging stacy in terms of lockdowns and just that consideration, the number, like the statistics, of people that dropped out of sport, and girls in particular. At that time, the struggle was real. Um, and so did you feel your family support. Like dad keeps mentioning the home-cooked meal, what does a home-cooked meal mean to you?
Speaker 5:it's just like it's just comfort. You know you're just eating good food and you don't need to worry about like if it's good or bad. You just know it's good for you, you know, and you're just in the company of your family.
Speaker 3:But it's, yeah, it's just enjoyable so, lastly, as Paris approaches, um, I'm excited because we're going to be there watching. So obviously, for you as an athlete, it's a whole different preparation than people like me who go to watch. So what is your mental prep been like this time around, versus all the uncertainties surrounding Tokyo?
Speaker 5:Well, this time around I'm just trying to say, like, as calm and relaxed as possible and I just want to treat it as if, like it as it's just a normal day. Because, like in the lead-up to, you don't want to for me, I don't want to like overthink things or, you know, become too nervous, or because then that ties into, like, you know, having a bad sleep or you know just something that you're freaking out about. So if I can just stay as cool, calm and as collected as possible and just enjoy my training and enjoy being in the environment with the other athletes, those are the things that will make me perform well. And so, comparing to Tokyo, a lot of things weren't going well.
Speaker 5:Environment wasn't good, I couldn't probably lean on some of the people that I usually would, and then by the time I got in there, you know, could like as much as I tried to stay as content as possible inside, I was a little bit frantic and very nervous because it was just so like unknown to me and I just had no idea, like, what I was about to step into. But this time around I do have a lot more confidence. I've a lot more confidence in my team, like who's in my corner and you know just to be, just to go out there and actually like, have a really good game strategy and just confidence in my fighting.
Speaker 3:I can hear in you the it's the hardest thing to say to an athlete that doesn't have it, but you can see the value of experience. You know the fact that you've been through that challenging period, and do you work on your mindset with someone, or have you over that period, or is this just something that you work on through books or um, how do you, you know, how have you sort of come to this place where you're a lot more light-hearted, you sound a lot more, um, confident?
Speaker 5:well, I first started seeing like sports, like um, before Tokyo, because that's when I kind of realized like, okay, my thoughts aren't where it needs to be and I just didn't know how to like get myself out of that and then so I carried that through all through Tokyo and after Tokyo and then once I started like back into training and everything, I just maintained it throughout and those like all the strategies that I was getting from it was really helping, and so each competition I could just see myself, you know, become more relaxed, more like a better fighter, clear-minded person and even just like enjoying training. Little things that just helped along the way. I knew that my mental strength was a really big key.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Well, you two well done. Thank you for explaining or sharing your journey. It's very exciting for us to be able to know your journey, stacey, and get behind you and Dad. Just seeing the support that you've put behind someone as resilient and determined as Stacey, you can see that it does matter. You know, like that kind of stuff like you say, a home-cooked meal can be so meaningful. It's a lot more than just a meal. It means that somebody has thinking of her, has her back. She doesn't even have to question the meal, she just loves it. So thank you so much for sharing your life with us.
Speaker 2:We appreciate it thank you, thank you thank you for joining us on another episode of the price you pay podcast. We hope we have inspired you with this insider's look of the challenges faced by aspiring athletes, the highs and lows of playing sport at such an elite level and what's possible when you are so devoted to your craft. It's our mission at Aussie Athlete Fund to create a sustainable funding model to support our athletes for both their financial well-being and the education of their own athlete economy. To be part of the journey, please visit our website at aussieathletefundcom and choose how you would like to be involved, Whether it's a corporate partnership, teaming up with an athlete in the Million Dollar Challenge, or even hosting your own event to raise funds, or maybe even a game of golf.
Speaker 2:Choose your own adventure. If you know someone who would benefit from listening to this episode or this show, please send it to them now and before you go. Pressing the follow button on our show makes a massive difference. Rating us for season two means more people get to hear these stories, which helps us have a much wider impact. Join us next time for more captivating stories of triumph and resilience on the next episode of season two of the Price you Pay.
