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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
10: Chasing Arrows and Dreams with Kim Lavender
What happens when a casual "come and try" day turns into a quest for Olympic gold?
Kim Lavender, our Olympic hopeful archer, shares her remarkable journey:
- from discovering archery to competing at the World Cup in Turkey.
- firsthand account of mastering the technical aspects of her equipment
- the mental and physical challenges of aiming at a target 70 meters away
- the exhilaration of setting national records.
Transitioning from childhood sports like horse riding and netball, Kim found her true calling in archery later in life. We explore the emotional highs and lows of her journey, including the pivotal role of family support. Kim's mother, Rhonda, joins the conversation:
- sharing her perspective on the joy and tears of supporting Kim’s ambitions from afar
- candid reflections and heartfelt moments that highlight the importance of personal dedication and unwavering belief from loved ones
Balancing a demanding sport with life's other responsibilities is no small feat. We discuss the financial challenges Kim faces:
- from the costs of equipment to travel expenses
- critical support from her partner Erwin and her family
- the importance of the Aussie Athlete Fund (a lifeline for athletes like Kim aiming to make financial burdens manageable)
Tune in for an inspiring story of resilience, community support, and the unyielding pursuit of excellence.
Become a part of our athletes' success stories: Whether its a personal donation, a corporate partnership, a round of golf, or simply by spreading the word, your support has the power to uplift our athletes and inspire countless others!
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My name is Talika Clancy and my mob is the Willy Willy people. I am the first Indigenous beach volleyball player in the world to win an Olympic medal and I honour my ancestors in that endeavour. The host of this podcast, nat Cook, has been a guide for me and my family as I travelled the road to my sporting dreams. We wish to acknowledge the land on which the Price you Pay podcast is being recorded Minijin country, commonly known as Brisbane. We are inspired by the world's oldest living culture and seek wisdom from the people who came before us, the Yaggara and Drupal people. We pay homage to the tradition of storytelling when we share athletes' journeys and we extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first Australians.
Speaker 3:Welcome to season two of the Price you Pay podcast, devoted to bringing you the real stories of what it takes for young athletes and their families to realise their dreams. I'm your host, nat Cook, five-time Olympian and gold medalist. It's my mission to uncover the hidden costs, the sacrifices, and shine a light on the tenacity these athletes demonstrate on the road to their dreams. My vision is to create a sustainable funding model for our Aussie athletes. The time has come to go beyond just enjoying an athlete's performance to actually having their backs, both emotionally and financially. So while I'm off raising funds, doing what I do best, our pod partner, chatterbox, is talking to our athletes and their families. Over to you, sarah.
Speaker 4:Thanks, nat. These athletes and their families are in good hands. Today we sit down with Olympic hopeful archer Kim Lavender from the New South Wales. She was drawn to the sport in her early 20s at a come and try day and hasn't looked back since. She experienced immediate success in her first competitions and a major highlight was making it to the top eight of the women's recurve team event at the World Cup in Turkey in 2022. Most recently in 2023, she blitzed a national shooting record to win her state titles. It's now all about three World Cups to decide what female will represent that coveted spot in Paris in July. It's all full draw for Kim at this stage.
Speaker 4:Kim loves the community that surrounds archery and even met her partner, erwin, doing her favorite thing drawing back her arrow, releasing with confidence and nailing those targets. It is a pleasure to welcome Kim's supportive mom, rhonda, to the conversation today, as she continues to have her daughters back even though she is no longer living at home. So welcome ladies. Thank you for coming on the call. Thank you so much to be here. Okay, so, kim, you get to go first, but your mom looks very patient, so that's all right, and I think that archery is one of the least understood sports. So could you help us better understand what it's actually like out there as an archer? Like talk us through your equipment, the target that seems so far away that nobody can even see. Like just talk us through some of the ins and outs of archery yeah, of course.
Speaker 5:so most people don't even see archery until it's on at the olympics. So maybe once every four years and they might get a 10 second glimpse of it. Um, essentially I'm a recurve archer, so we are shooting 70 meters away, so that's about four, five school buses back to back um, and we are trying to shoot a small apple. Essentially it's like the center of the target that far away. So for us any minute change is a big difference on the target. So I think it's one millimeter difference. In us is the difference between a nine or a 10 on the target so huge? So we do a lot of training trying to, I guess, make ourselves as consistent as possible, so then we can obviously get higher scores.
Speaker 5:The way it works when we go into competition is that we shoot 72 arrows at 70 meters and we are ranked first to last based on our score after those 72 arrows, and then we go into head-to-head match play. So essentially your first ranked will verse your last ranked. If you win the match, you'll go all the way through to the gold medal match and then, if you lose the match, you you'll go all the way through to the gold medal match and then, if you lose the match, you're knocked out, and those matches work by. If you shoot three arrows, the highest score of those three arrows get two points. If you draw, you get one point, and then it's first to six points overall, and then if you're tied on five sets, you do a one arrow shoot off. So then it's essentially closest to the middle. You win the match and then you're on to the next one.
Speaker 4:So shoot off, so then it's essentially closest to the middle, you win the match and then you're on to the next one. So it's all very much high stakes of that little minute details towards the end. So you, you started off at a come and try day, so clearly you didn't know all the ins and outs of what it takes to do all those things that you just said. So my innocent thought is well, if you have that little site thing, clearly you, you just line that sight up with the target, right.
Speaker 5:Well, that would be the easy thing to do. Unfortunately, archery is not that easy. So, essentially, we have a lot of form changes and a lot of things that we do in our bodies and trying to get it right and, I guess, as consistent as we can, because when you shoot the arrow, you don't know what the weather is going to be like as well. So if it's windy, your arrow is going to get blown off. Also, the humidity can impact your arrow. If it's sunny, it can change things as well. So there's all these little things that actually impact where the arrow is going to go on the target, and it's not always just you.
Speaker 4:Right, and is it like light as a feather, this thing that you're holding up? You know, I just interpret it like get that little sight of my eye on there and hold it easy. Go, let go of course.
Speaker 5:So my bow is about 40 pounds at the moment, so I think that's about 20 kilos. So obviously we're pulling that back about 72 times in a competition. But we've also got practice as well. So I'd say about 100 times ish for a competition. A general training session can be anywhere from 200 to 300 arrows even more, just to try and keep our physical fitness up for being able to handle that bow in a competition. And generally you're holding that at full draw for a couple of seconds as well. So the longer your draw length is, the more poundage you'd be pulling back as well. So you'll find a lot of the men will shoot higher poundage because their draw length's longer. And you'll also find that the higher poundage, the quicker the arrow gets to the targets. Then the less variation in the weather and the wind to impact that arrow and these are all decisions that you make when you realize what your style is essentially yes, so generally your draw length is not going to change because that's based on your body.
Speaker 5:But then, as you, I guess, build up that strength, you'll start making decisions in terms of how much bow weight can your body handle to get into the position it's strongest in, and then you need, if it's not, then you need to be able to, I guess, build up your strength to get into a strong position and to be able to handle the mass weight of the bow as well as the poundage of the bow. So the mass weight is actually physically how heavy the bow is, and then the poundage is how much when you start drawing the bow, how heavy that is as well I promise mom, we're coming to you.
Speaker 4:I just have a couple more interest. I'm just really interested in this. So what kind of training do you have to have to lift something that heavy for, like you say, say 72?
Speaker 5:arrows. So 72 arrows just for competition, but like a general training week, for me can be anywhere from 1500 to 2000 arrows, just depending on what the training load is for that week. So essentially we do a lot of shooting to get those arrows out. We will also do SPT, so that specific physical training where we'll be holding our bow at full draw for 20 to 30 seconds trying to build up that strength. We also go to the gym when we do a lot of other activities there, so trying to build up a lot of our other muscle groups to support a lot of our shooting.
Speaker 5:We do a lot of work with our legs in the gym too, trying to, I guess, work on that core stability and our leg stability to be stable when we're shooting. And then obviously the main thing is really just out of the range and shooting as much as we can. So when we do get to those 72 arrows that matter all those match play arrows that matter is that they get them off well. We can be as consistent as possible wow, thank you, I'm getting it.
Speaker 4:It's coming. It's coming. Okay, mom. The thing is, we were talking about how heavy these things are. Now tell us how costly some of this equipment is this? When is this?
Speaker 2:when, all of a sudden, you get called in Rhonda well, I'm pretty sure we bought the first, the first kit for Kim um, because we all sort of went to the, went to the fun day and we all enjoyed it. So we went and bought, yeah, three kits um for kim. That didn't last very long because it wasn't good enough. Um, I've still got mine, but I haven't shot for a while. It was good enough for me because, but you know, and realizing that when you first start off, you're only shooting sort of 20 and 30 meters, so you don't actually need to be shooting 70 when you start, and I don't think I advanced past 30 meters, to be honest, like you need a lot, of, a lot of strength to be able to shoot that distance.
Speaker 4:Um, in terms of the cost of your your um set, like your equipment that you bought. Versus what?
Speaker 2:well, that was, yeah, that was probably about 10 years ago, and I think it was like $350 or something like that. Um, that's probably without the site.
Speaker 5:I think it was a little more than that. I think it was about $800 per setup. Oh, was it? Was it that much?
Speaker 2:good job mom, inflation, not even inflation, yeah, but it was, as I said, it was 10 years ago, um, and I guess by the time, yeah, you buy the bag and the site and then the arrows is separate and they've got to be set up. So, yeah, probably would have all added up and your quiver and all the bits and pieces. But, uh, and kim will probably tell me I'm wrong again, but you know, for for one of her setups now would be over $5,000. Yeah, and she's got two.
Speaker 4:So yes, and and I mean it's a good thing, I wanted to know that, because it kind of lets us know that if I was a 10 year old or young kid who didn't have a job and I was really passionate about archery, I couldn't afford even 300, let alone $800 for that initial kit.
Speaker 4:So you know, knowing how important it was that you were passionate alongside Kim, how do you, as a parent, sort of make that call about what you're going to invest in with your kids when it comes to, like, sporting equipment or things like? How do you know she's not going to get over it in a couple weeks?
Speaker 2:well, you don't, do you? It's like any sport really, um, but you know we all enjoyed it, I guess. So you just said we, yeah, we, we kitted all of us out. Kim's the only one that's progressed on yeah, um, and you could always sell it if you had to. Yeah, there was always, you know, that option because they're standard kit, really.
Speaker 4:So as long as you find somebody with the same draw length, you could always sell it and knowing the kind of kid, like daughter, that you had raised, would you, what was your thoughts? Did you think? I think she's taking to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was pretty obvious early on that she had taken to it. I must say, I never expected her to go as far as she has, though I thought it would just be, you know, a fun sport to do some local competitions. Didn't think that she'd ever get to be the national champion, let alone be trying to get to the Olympics.
Speaker 4:What do you think about that?
Speaker 2:I'm very proud it's emotional, isn't it?
Speaker 4:It's beautiful.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 4:I see that in you. I'm getting it with you Because in a way that you know, she's surprised, maybe herself, but it's so nice when somebody shows you what's possible, isn't it?
Speaker 2:It certainly is. Yeah, she's always been very dedicated, though, and committed, so that's her nature. She puts her mind to something. She'll see it through.
Speaker 4:Awesome, love it. See, we can have a cry right away, kim. Yes, we can, my mum will be on a cry by now.
Speaker 5:Yeah, as soon as I see someone crying, I start crying. So if mum starts, I'll be off Lucky.
Speaker 2:we're only listening and not watching. For those of you who wonder why our voices are quivering.
Speaker 4:There's just like lots of tears in our eyes and I suppose thank you for sharing that, mum, because I think it just shows how much is in it for everybody and how everyone cares about what you do, and this is why we want to invite families on, because it does it impacts a lot of different people. So, kim, when we think about you starting archery in your 20s, tell me how that happened, because was were you a sporty kid? Was this just another thing that you tried, or was this like a left field type thing to try?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think it was a bit left field. So I'd done a few sports growing up. So I'd done a little bit of horse riding. I've got quite a lot of family who live on the country so I did a little bit of that. I'd also done tennis growing up. I was okay at tennis but kind of never progressed to competitions.
Speaker 5:I started doing netball in high school and that was kind of it. And then in my early twenties I was still doing netball. They only wanted to do the games on the weekend. So I was kind of doing some running in between to try and, I guess, fill in that space for some kind of activity, but found running a little bit solo. So I guess I was kind of on an adventure to try and find a new sport that was somewhat social but still solo. You could still train when you wanted to, and I had done archery once before in kind of that high school age group and and I remember enjoying it.
Speaker 5:So I kind of just went out to Sydney Olympic Park and did the come and try session and really enjoyed it and then I guess dragged my parents along at one point to be like oh, I really enjoy this, Do you want to come do it with me and we did a few sessions together and after that it was kind of history really, because it was kind of like, well, when can I go next? And I'd be trying to drag my parents out early morning on a weekend to go shooting and they were kind of like, oh, I just want to stay in bed and sleep in a bit more. So then I started going out myself and then it was kind of, I guess, the more you put into archery, more you get out of it. So I started just training and training to kind of see where I could take it. And here I am, I guess eight years later or however long it's been, Wow.
Speaker 4:So I guess this kind of is pointing toward the fact that you could do it with your parents. To me, archery is unique in its ability to be done at different stages of your life. So talk to me a little bit about being in your 20s doing this sport, versus maybe the mentality that you had trying tennis way back then.
Speaker 5:Yeah for sure. I think as a kid, just starting any sport it's just about having fun. And then I think in your 20s it's obviously still the same. You kind of just, I guess, testing that boundary a little bit more in terms of, well, how far can I go, how much can I push, and kind of see where you end up.
Speaker 5:I think as a kid you're probably a little bit more restricted in terms of that, because you've got schooling. You're obviously a lot more reliant on your parents to, I guess, be taking you to all the training sessions, what equipment they can afford, what coaching they can afford, what competitions can you go to. And I guess as an adult, it was probably a bit more on me to be making those calls in terms of, well, do I want to be putting this much training in? What competitions do I kind of see happening? What equipment do I need to buy, to purchase in order to be able to get to these competitions? So I think it was a lot more on me to be making those calls in terms of where I wanted to take archery.
Speaker 4:Do you feel that responsibility that you speak of? Do you see it as pressure, or did that have you take more ownership?
Speaker 5:Definitely a lot more ownership. Did that? Have you take more ownership? Um, definitely a lot more ownership. I had a really good well, I had multiple good coaches at the time to kind of talk me through that process and what it was like.
Speaker 5:My club, sydney Olympic Park Archers at the time had some of the best shooters in the country and still does so. I think that was quite good in terms of, well, I can see where they are and where they're progressing and kind of where they were, I guess, a, a couple of years ago. So, looking at how much they were training, whether or not I could commit to that, a lot of them were older than what I was as well, so they'd been working full time jobs. They were also balancing, I guess, trying to figure out how much they could work to how much they could shoot, and try to see where they could go as well. So I think that was quite inspirational for me in terms of, well, at that time I was also working a full-time job, so trying to figure out, well, can you fit archery into that routine? Does it not fit? How much training can you fit into that when you're still, I guess, trying to progress to something more.
Speaker 5:And I think when I first started it was more well, let's just go on the weekend and see how I go. And I guess it kind of just grips you in terms of, well, I get this much better if I train this hard, how much better if I put an extra day into that? And then I guess over time it's slowly progressed and progressed and progressed to training. I think it's 40 hours a week or something crazy at the moment.
Speaker 4:So so when you're talking about that balance, about full-time work so that you can pay for it, how do you do it? When the cost increases in terms of your travel costs, the equipment gets better, as mom described, and yet in theory, you need to work more to pay for that, then how are you?
Speaker 5:how do you balance that?
Speaker 5:So a lot of the time it's you squirrel away as much money as you can, so when you do need to go and buy archery stuff, you can.
Speaker 5:We're pretty lucky this year that archery australia is covering most of our travel and accommodation overseas, so that's really good that we don't have, I guess, that added financial pressure of us having to cover all of the trips we're going on this year. And I think for me I've been pretty lucky about finding jobs that are flexible for my shooting so I can still work, I guess, 30 hours a week with some of those and still get enough income in to be able to support. And then it's also coming back to mum on birthdays and Christmas and be like hey, mum, can I have some money to buy some archery stuff like? For me it's generally arrows, so like one set of competition arrows all fully set up is probably about a thousand dollars and you generally go through maybe one of those a year, maybe two, depending on what competitions you have, so or how many you break throughout the year as well. So it's always, I guess, trying to get money from family and friends if I need it to support my archery goals got it cool.
Speaker 4:I like hearing how that works and I want to hear a little bit more from you, mom, in that. How do you support your daughter Like she just mentioned the Christmas, asking for gifts and things like that. But talk to me even like deeper, like how do you support your daughter in her sporting dream when she doesn't live in the house anymore? Like what does that look like?
Speaker 2:Well, yes, obviously I support her financially, emotionally as well. I also go along to competitions If I can. I've been to a few of them, been to Brisbane a couple of times, went to Singapore, I've been to quite a few in Sydney. So I do try to be a spectator, although it's not much of a spectator sport. You see a heck of a lot of backs and the targets so far away you can't even really tell what their score is until they've finished, finished, the end and how do you speak with her?
Speaker 4:I've been out there. I remember being in Shanghai out there with the archers watching their backs trying to figure out what was going on in those screens that they kind of positioned some scores. So what do you say to your daughter when she's finished shooting, for example?
Speaker 2:Oh well, mostly it's well done yeah.
Speaker 4:What if it's not well done? What if it didn't go well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I guess we talk through that, yeah. Yeah, we're pretty good at talking through it when she's calmed down around, you know why it didn't go well. You know whether it was the wind. You know why it didn't go well. You know whether it was the wind, you know, or whether she was having second thoughts or doubting her own shots and things. So I guess I try not to coach her, because she's got enough coaches, but I'm a bit of a just sit back and listen, I guess if she needs to download about things.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's what I do.
Speaker 4:Well said. So that's. I do want to know, kim, about your focus and you know, do you develop the focus? Is it the same kind of training that you do in the gym? When we talk about consistency focus, Is there some sort of Jedi-like training regimes that you adopt to be able to concentrate?
Speaker 5:I think it really just comes to all the training you do at the range and you focusing on your shots themselves. A lot of the time. Archers will have a process for every shot and whether or not it's a physical process that you're focusing on certain body movements through the shot, or whether or not you have mental cues. So essentially we try and have the same mental cue for every shot so we can kind of follow that timing and then the execution of the shot. So it's trying to be consistent as we can for those 72 arrows or however many we need for match play. So I wouldn't necessarily say it's Jedi like training, but it is very much. We train so many arrows at the range to, I guess, hone the mental side of our shooting as well as the physical.
Speaker 4:So I think you're alluding to a routine. I think, when I think of other sport, that you've developed this routine. Now my question is when the wind is up, or when you're not feeling your best, or when Kim's not her best, does your routine go out the window? Has it ever gone out the window? Let me ask you that.
Speaker 5:Of course, I think everyone's had shitty competitions or really bad competitions at times and everything goes out the window and I think over time it's starting to learn. When things do go wrong, what do you fall back on? Do you keep going kind of in a panic state and keep spiraling, or is there a point you realize that and you can pull yourself back to whatever your normal routine is and follow that? I think in a way it almost you've got that consistency and almost like a safety net in that routine and in that process that you can fall back on when things do go wrong. I think, on the flip side, if your routine isn't as solid in your mind and you don't have faith in that, that's when things can go wrong as well. So that's why we do a lot of work and being able to follow our process, no matter what, or like when the wind picks up, when your arrows start drifting, what can you do, I guess, different in that process or that routine to make sure that the outcome is what you want it to be?
Speaker 4:Got it. I was going to ask Kim this question, but I think, mum, you might know. If you don't, your daughter will interrupt you and help you.
Speaker 2:if you don't know, but do you know what she used her green and gold scholarship money for? Did she ever tell you oh, she bought.
Speaker 4:I know she bought more equipment this year, so I'm assuming she put it towards that. Okay, was that right, kim? Was that what you used?
Speaker 5:it for, partly towards equipment. But I also did a trip to queensland at the end of last year one of the clubs up there is known for not really having any wind and I was trying to shoot scores for qualifying scores to make the Olympic trials. So I spent a lot of my money on that to try and then get scores for Olympic trials that were in January, and did it help? It definitely helped. I didn't shoot scores there, but I think it helped a lot in terms of some fine-tuning, some technical things I was working on at the time and even, I guess, that mental pressure of being so close and yet so far from the score that I needed. I think I shot. I think there was eight competitions out there and I'd shot like four or five scores within like six points of what I needed or something like that. I don't remember the top of my head, but a lot of scores that were very close but then weren't quite there.
Speaker 4:Did that help you for your January?
Speaker 5:I think it helped me in terms of like being able to come back and, I guess, regroup and then shoot the scores back in Sydney, for sure, at my home club, before then going off to Olympic trials in January.
Speaker 4:And I kind of asked that question. I decided to ask it to you, mum, for a second, because when we think about Christmas time or gifts, when she comes to you for help, all of a sudden she has money coming from different resources now saying that her travel's paid for, and obviously that gives you a great um you know sigh of relief, because it doesn't have to come.
Speaker 2:Definitely a sigh of relief this year because you know when she went to World Cups a couple of years ago she was contributing towards the travel expense.
Speaker 4:So you know that was all adding up, yeah and had you as a family had to make decisions financially like, have you had to really sit down and budget for Kim's dream?
Speaker 4:uh, no, probably lucky that we didn't have to do that got it, got it and so, yeah, and I think that kind of illuminates that everyone has different circumstances. So thank you for sharing that, and that's why we love to talk to a whole host of families and real people to hear what their situations are like. Not everyone is in their late 20s like Kim on this journey. Even from a wisdom perspective, her sense of perspective, I imagine, is quite different than if she was 14. Um, so it's really nice.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure that would have been much different for Kim.
Speaker 4:She's always been mature at age eight too oh yeah, she, yep, she's always been a mature girl, yeah where did she used to put her discipline and focus prior to this sport?
Speaker 2:probably schoolwork reading, writing. She used to write stories, just have a computer and she'd be beaving away writing a writing stories. Hopefully when she gets through archery she'll come and come back to it and write stories again and I think that's a good.
Speaker 4:That kind of leads to my. My final question actually in about you, kim, and your dreams. So cause mom alluding to these other dreams, like it's not just one dream that you have in your life? And so what are your dreams for this sport? And and, if you want, you can tell me you know a more global view of some of the dreams that you have for your life, but do they differ from what you used to dream?
Speaker 5:about when you were growing up? For sure I don't think I'd like when I was 14 or even younger, I ever thought I was going to be in this position trying out for the Olympics in any sport, let alone archery. I mean, I think I was somewhat sporty and maybe okay at some sports, but I don't think I'd ever found, I guess, my sport. And it wasn't until I started archery that I was like, oh okay, well, let's see how far this can go. And I guess even at that point I was never sure that I would take it this far or be this far. So I think that's quite interesting in itself in terms of, I guess, when you really put the effort in and try hard, how far you can actually go, how far you can actually go. Obviously, my goal for this year is to make the Olympics, but we'll see how it goes. We've got a tough couple of months coming up. We've got a lot of competitions ahead, so we'll just see how it goes from there.
Speaker 5:I think it's quite interesting as well because a lot of my family sorry, a lot of my friends who are similar ages to me just kind of what life stage they're at as well, because they've obviously been working full-time jobs. Now they've probably got partners, they're married, looking at having kids soon too. So I think, in terms of where my life has gone compared to them, that's quite interesting and it's probably taken me a bit of time to stop kind of comparing where my life is like to where their life is, because obviously I can't be, I guess, like trying to buy a house at the moment because I'm not working full-time and I'm trying to balance out trees. So I think that's been quite interesting for me, trying to look at what everyone else is doing and, I guess, focus on my goals and not doing a lot of comparisons as well. So my boyfriend has been very supportive in all this as well, so he's been very good in terms of well helping top up some of the money that I don't have, if it's going away for competitions and things, or helping me buy equipment.
Speaker 5:We do have a dog as well, so, like if he ever gets injured, he does a lot of work in terms of, I guess, paying some of the vet bills if we need to. So I think it's trying to, I guess, a bit of give and take, and he knows that once I finish archery that for me it's probably back to full-time work and we can go a bit more 50-50 on a lot of the, I guess, the income and the spending that we have as a household. So it's been quite interesting balancing all of that and being really open, I guess with my mum, but also family and friends, in terms of, well, we're at kind of different life stages but archery is kind of taken over at the moment. So there's a few other things that are on hold while I'm trying to pursue that goal hold while I'm trying to pursue that goal.
Speaker 4:I'm glad you brought up your boyfriend as well, because obviously he's a massive contributor to your dream. So that's good on you for bringing that up Because, like you say, it takes a village to make these things happen. I do have to ask one more follow up question about. A lot of times we hear about athletes going to the Olympics who watched it when they were young and and they saw something and then that you know started this trajectory of what they wanted. Are you telling me that you'd never watched the Olympics or you'd never really dreamed for that?
Speaker 5:I don't know if I dreamed for it. Specifically, I think I watched the Olympics. I remember watching the Olympics as a kid. I remember Melissa Wu in 2008, actually for the diving Like she's probably one of the first people I really remember watching.
Speaker 5:I don't remember watching a whole lot of sport like as a kid growing up like there was I think there was quite a lot of sporty people in my family, like mum played netball. My nan still talks about when she came to Sydney as a runner, like when she was a young kid as well, so she's always reliving those memories. My uncles were quite good at football and tug of war from memory. Mum and then my dad is very much on like the horse side of things, so he does a lot of like camp drafting and Mum and Dad met playing polo cross at the time. So I think I come from quite a sporty family, but not necessarily like a high-level sporting family. So I think it was more just go about having fun and more from a recreational side of things, and it probably wasn't until I started archery that it was like okay, well, there's obviously World Cups, there's Olympics. Where do you go from here if that's something that I want to do? Awesome.
Speaker 4:Thank you for that. That's a really unique perspective and I think that it's amazing for people to be able to hear your story, see parts of themselves in you. I think it's hope that there was recently a Canadian figure skater who I think she was 40. She just won a world championship and I think again, like her, doing that at that age really just shifted what was possible. So I think the same can be said with you and this dream and I love that message about not comparing as well, because that's a lesson across every medium that it's really comparing to other people really is the thief of all joy. So thank you for reiterating reiterating that, and I can really hear mom intelligence, her wisdom, um, and it makes sense that she's so successful. So I really want to thank you both for being so open. I really wanted to have a cry today, rhonda, so thank you it wasn't my intent, but you know, I know, but it was special but truly to both of you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for how you support each other and for sharing your story, Thanks.
Speaker 3:Sarah, thank you for joining us on another episode of the Price you Pay podcast.
Speaker 3: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.
Speaker 3: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. 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.
