How Two Women Built Athlete Funding That Works: AAF Founder Natalie Cook & CAN Fund Creator Jane Roos launch into it!

We sit down with CAN Fund founder Jane Roos to talk about the real cost of representing your country and why “showing up” is the most practical form of belief you can give an athlete. We connect Jane’s origin story and fundraising philosophy to why we built the Aussie Athlete Fund and how we can stop normalising pay to play sport. 
• Jane’s life-changing car accident and the mindset shift that follows 
• The early CAN Fund fundraiser and how small actions create ripple effects 
• Why athletes have “no plan B” and why they bring a country together 
• Donor journeys that work: invitation-based asks and meaningful touchpoints 
• The anger behind pay to play and why the system still persists 
• Creativity in fundraising: experiences, community events and supporters jerseys 
• Art as impact: Jane’s “Who We Are” national canvas concept 
• Reframing donations as “gifting time” and building belief 
To get involved please visit our website at www.aussieathfund.com and choose your impact. Whether that's as a corporate partner, teaming up with an athlete in our Million Dollar Challenge, buying a supporters jersey or signing up to host a great Aussie Athlete barbecue. Sharing the fund's mission or even an episode of this podcast is how we grow and expand the reach to better support these young athletes. Pressing the follow button means that you won't miss an episode and giving us a great review is how these athletes' stories travel further afield. 

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!
 
Website:      https://aussieathletefund.com/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/aussieathletefund/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/aussieathletefund

Be sure to check out our "Aussie Athlete Supporters" jersey at https://aussieathletefund.com/jersey

Thank you for tuning in to The Price You Pay podcast! To ensure you never miss an episode, hit that "FOLLOW" button and remember to leave us a like, review, rating or share the podcast with someone you know needs to hear the inspiring stories of athletes and their families giving their all for the dream! 

Transcript

Season Four Welcome And Mission

Nat Cook 0:04

Welcome to season four of the Price You Pay podcast, hosted by me, Nat Cook, five-time Olympian and gold medalist, alongside our star interviewer Sarah from Chatterbox Media. Through conversations with Aussie Athlete Fund recipients, we uncover what it truly takes to reach the highest echelons of sport in this country. We invite family and key members of the athletes' journey to round out the discussion, revealing hurdles like travelling up to 700 kilometres a week just for training as rural athletes, or the cost of international travel for a parent chaperone to accompany their child to a major competition. These families are committed to do whatever it takes to support their kids from the grassroots to the green and gold jersey. Come along for the ride and listen in to what dreams are truly made of.

Meet Nat Cook And Jane Roos

Nat Cook 1:05

And now over to our master conversationalist, Sarah. Woo! No doubt today will be a powerful conversation with the two visionary women I have in front of me. They're hardly letting me do my intro. Okay, that's how powerful these two are. Their ability to turn challenge into possibility is staggering, and the impact they make on the communities that surround them is phenomenal. In 2022, Nat Cook founded the Aussie Athlete Fund and helped fundraise over 754,000 direct to athletes in 2025 alone, alongside their flagship financial education program for those same athletes. And all of this inspired by Canadian pioneer in the space, Jane Roos, who began her support of Canadian athletes back in 1997. Jane Roos has been recognized by WXN as one of the top 100 women in Canada, while the Globe and Mail subsequently deemed her part of the most influential people in sport at the 36th Canadian Sports Awards. Jane grew up in eastern Canada as a track athlete and was devastated in her final year of high school when a severe car accident killed her best friend and left her not only with physical liabilities but the emotional trauma of overnight change. It was from that very hospital room that Jane raised her first dollars for athletes, raising $40,000 in her very first event. And she hasn't stopped powering since, raising more than $60 million for over 8,000 Canadian athletes through her not-for-profit, the CAN fund since 2003. Most recently, the fund supported 82% of the athletes at the Winter Olympics in Milano, Cortina. Welcome Jane and Nat to this important conversation where I'm sure a further vision will be set for athletes leaning into the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games for both of your home countries. So we're gonna play this as a guided conversation. Let's see. So feel free to jump in and collate ideas or provide sympathies when I'm sure you will

Watching Your Child Chase Records

Nat Cook 3:10

relate to one another. But Nat, get ready because Jane gets more questions, okay? Got it. All right. So, Jane, thank you for making the time to chat. Lots of time zones to consider. I know you've been busy flying around the country with one of your daughters who is a budding track star, amongst other things. On the subject of track and fields, this was your sport all those years ago. What is it like watching your own offspring set track records and be a superstar in the sport that was once your 100% focus? Yeah, Georgia, I'm really lucky. Um, I have two daughters, and it's kind of unique because my grandfather, one grandfather was an artist, and my other grandfather was a really great athlete. I kind of got both of those talents, so I was kind of really lucky. Um, my older daughter is an artist, she's an entrepreneur, she's an academic, and she's you know, she's 21. But Georgia, our youngest daughter, is a thriving athlete. And so I kind of get to live vicariously through I'm back at the track, and I just feel like when I'm at the track watching her, it just feels like home. I just feel very um grateful that I get to be back there now watching her compete. And she's also a volleyball player. Her dad, as Nat knows, um, is a beach volleyball player as well. So it's been really great. I think, and and and I had um Georgia when I was 42. So I'm much older than all the moms and all the people that are surrounding us. So I feel like I kind of, you know, I I fundraise for the track club, I do all these things, and it's just been a pure joy. Wow. It's almost like, yeah, a gift, isn't it? Because

The Crash That Changed Everything

Nat Cook 4:55

I I started to think about this incredible part of your story where all I was just imagining you at the track, all your teammates as friends, you know, going to the gym, and then to have your your last year of high school, um, to have the car accident and lose your best friend. Can you put into words after all these years? And I know there's been a lot of reflecting for you and a lot of work that you've done, but what has transmuted in you after that accident? Yeah, I mean, she my my friend that pash, she was driving, she fell asleep with the w the wheel. Her name is Tina. And um it's a lot. It's when you survive an accident, there's obviously survivor's guilt. There's um, it took me about four or five years. I think the person, if you had met me back then, you wouldn't even recognize me now. Um, I think it took me a while. I surrounded myself with some really great people. I think there's always a couple of people that come into your life unexpectedly that change it, and you don't really, you're just so grateful after. And I would say there's probably about five people that without them I wouldn't be where I am today. And um I did a lot of work. I did a lot of um courses, self-discovery. I just, but I think what I tell everyone is the worst day of my life became actually the best lesson. Uh, I got this extremely extraordinary sense of life. And I figured out really young that you're only here once. Like there's a day you're born, the day you die, and that little dash is your life. I never worry ever, ever about the how. So I'm kind of awkward to be around, I feel like, with a lot of people, because I just go into what do you need to get done? Let's get her done. Why are you doing it? And that's how I live my life nearly with everything I do. So, where people worry and talk themselves out of things, I think because of what I got from the car accident, because I was the survivor, I'm the exact opposite. I just do everything, like I just think it and do it. I don't, why not? Like, you know, it's kind of like, what are you waiting for? I can't help but think of you, Nat, when she's saying that when she says people are uncomfortable around you in some way. And all I keep thinking about is 25 years of Nat being such an action-oriented person. Do you have anything, Matt, in your past like that, that really let you know that we only have this one life? First of all, 25 years of Nat. That should be a t-shirt, right, Jane? I don't know what uh Conrad, your husband. What would your yeah, what is how long have you been together, you two? Connor and I've been in each other's lives for 30 years. Okay, 30 years of Joan. I'm in a few years. And I started, I started his um, I started as his agent, his sports agent. Um he always just says magic and what does he say? We create magic, spreading magic and miracles, as he always says now. Uh magical miracles is what we're doing. Literally, um, this week I've had some emails where I've said my job is to create the golden dust, you know, the golden pixie dust, um, and create an environment where athletes can perform, but most importantly for me, create a financial economy. Um, to your question, which always um I find coming back to difficult, remembering what you asked

Hearing No And Choosing Action

Nat Cook 8:30

me. But the moment for me, and and yes, it aligns to the conversation we'll explore, is the day my mum and dad said no to me. It wasn't a physical um accident. Uh, my mum and dad couldn't afford to send me to Tasmania, which is a state in Australia, to play in the under-17 volleyball team. And it was the first time I'd heard no, because up until then I didn't know at the time. My grandparents had been paying, my parents had been paying, they were yes to everything, and then one day they just couldn't make the pennies add up and they said no. And I think that was life-changing for me in that moment to go, well, if I don't make it happen, then I don't go. And so I've spent that time from the age of 15, which is now 36 years, of making my life happen, uh, to do what my dreams are leading me towards. Excuse if I psychoanalyze you both now, but yours has a real sense of like, if it's not me, then who? Like a real, like, I've got to do this. Do you also have that, Jane? Where within your I've got this short life, do you also feel a sense of it, I've got to do this. It's gotta be me. I think I don't know if you've ever heard the expression like have do be. So I'm gonna have the right job, have the right education, do all these things and be happy. I think we live our lives in reverse. That's so I think what the car accident gave me was be do have. And I think what it gave me was this sense of who I'm gonna be in the world. And because who I'm being, and I always say what comes out of your mouth gives you your life. So what started out from a hospital bed, as you said, to create can fund was a sense of like, well, I'm here, I might as well do something. And so I think the being for me, I think what I got is who do I want to be? And I kind of remind myself daily, like, am I being like you're always gonna have problems, so why not have problems worthy of your life? And I think I have just such an appreciation for my life. Oh, that was a good quote. We should be writing that down. Problems worthy of your life. I love that. And so, with this sense of I'm here and this is who I'm being, can you recall when the vision of

Building CAN Fund One Ripple

Nat Cook 11:05

the CAN Fund came into focus? Or was it like small little steps inching you toward it? Yeah, I mean, when when we did the when I did the fundraiser in the hospital and got the nurses involved, it was kind of funny because that wouldn't happen now. But I remember getting having the party, and even then I wasn't sure what I was gonna do with this money, and I thought, oh, I'm just gonna help a few athletes. And athletes would come by my house in Toronto and they would give me receipts. And it was really kind of just that's how it started. And then people were saying, like, well, you should do something more official, you should, you know. So we started doing big parties, and um I don't know, it just I think every action kind of created a ripple effect, like a reaction. And then when we got charitable status in 2003, uh CBC was doing a story on us, which is the national broadcaster in Canada. And it was we've had three documentaries on CBC. And I don't know, like people just showed up, like one of the biggest talent agencies or advertising agency taxi showed up, and then all of a sudden we got charitable status, and all of a sudden, you know, we're going into Athens and we funded 244 of the 266 athletes, and then you know, MasterCard showed up and gave us a massive donation, and then individuals started showing up. So I have this saying to my girls and to people, and just say, just show up. When you show up, you give people permission to also show up. Wow, that's really powerful. What's cool there, Jane, is um Taxi have just done our first promotional video for our Aussie Athlete Supporters jersey with a partnership through a worldwide published publicis, our marketing agency. So the fact that Taxi did yours in 2004, and um that they've been doing our work as well is pretty exciting. Your the synergies between you are so interesting because Nat's story of like really feeling the like the financial pain herself, whereas for you, Jane, it was almost like raising it for others. Um, what's the even question there? I I guess I'm quite curious. Like, what keeps you iterating and inspired year after year when it's uh in a way a plight for others? Yeah, I mean, I think because of the car accident, like it all comes back to that always. It's kind of like the it's like my landing page. It kind of I think the car accident gave me this, not knowing it until after the fact, like you know, looking back now, but I feel like it gave me this sense of really respect. Like I've always been an entrepreneur, so Can Fund is really like I'm more of an entrepreneur than like like a I mean I run CanFund for sure, but my entrepreneurial sense, like owning a gallery, being an artist, being

Why Athletes Matter To A Nation

Nat Cook 14:15

a speaker, for me it's just like why not me? And why not impact other people's lives? People ask me a lot, like, why do you care so much about athletes? And I just say they have no plan B. Most people go after what they think they can get, athletes go after what they want. They're completely unreasonable. And I think they're one of the few people I know in Canada are athletes can bring a country together. And I think as Canadians, we have so much. And I was at the Sydney Games in Australia, and Australia is very similar. You have so much. And I think that there's so few people that get to wear the maple leaf on the world stage, and kind of like you know, when people represent your country, that's your return on your investment. Like and the way CanFund works is when you donate, you get a tax receipt, and we find out which athlete you supported. So there's like a journey of your donation. And ironically, most of our donors have stayed because CanFund is very different. Like there's 86,000 charities in Canada, but most of the charities are disease and disaster, which are all very important and all serve a purpose. But CanFund's one of those rare charities where people have said to me, like, you know, this country has given my like my grandparents came here, or my great-grandparents came here, or can't I'm so proud to be Canadian. It's very similar, I'm sure, as I'm so proud to be Australian. I'm like, this country gives us so much. And our athletes don't want to handout. They give so much, they inspire everyone and future generations. So it's a really unique um world that I live in, and and so do you guys, that you're helping people achieve their dreams at the same time, they're inspiring others to achieve their dreams. They're giving Canadians pride and meaning. And so few so few people do that. So, and because we've now funded nearly every athlete who's ever competed for Canada, you just you see now the the like at the at the last Winter Olympics in Italy, we funded a a cross-country skier by the name of Xavier McKeever, and his mom Milane was a CAN Fund recipient in 05. Oh wow. So the legacy is so massive now. So I don't know. I it's just I just think that was my purpose to help people succeed. I mean, I'm having a legacy moment just when Jane speaks about 2000 net, just the impact that she was having in this space while you're as an athlete living the initial dream. Like, are you feeling that kind of moment where now this dream is like living in you? And I don't know, are you feeling that? Like

Leaving The Green And Gold Better

Nat Cook 17:15

how interesting this conversation is just trans transcending a lot of decades, actually. Yeah, well, this is the fourth season of the Price You Pay podcast, and I've always won. I've said to Sarah the whole time, we need to get Jane on. Jane's inspired. Um, everything she's doing for Canadian athletes is what I want to do here in Australia. And uh I read a book, Jane, called Legacy, which is about all blacks rugby league, so the black and white, and and it there was a line in there that said, an all blacks' job is to leave the black and white jersey in a better place. And I read, How do I leave the green and gold jersey in a better place? And that's come from the field and the sand uh for five Olympic Games in 20 years, now to helping educate, network, um, empower the athletes to learn how to fundraise uh themselves and raise for them at the same time alongside them to match their efforts and roll up our sleeves. If if an athlete's prepared to show up and do a barbecue, the great Aussie athlete barbecue, then we'll show up and we'll put sausages on the barbecue and help them. So the fact that Jane was there in Sydney watching the maple leaf on her husband Conrad's chest, inspiring me to want to help the green and gold through to 2032, um, has all been watching Jane's work, being inspired by Jane's work. And the fact that I was the athlete in it, struggling, that would have loved a CAN fund, is why I do it every day because I see the athletes come to me asking, I can't afford the $8,000 to represent Australia. And the bit that gets me, Jane, and I keep evolving this is the pride we give our nation wearing our jersey, yet we pay the price, we pay to play, is the bit for me that's unAustralian and doesn't make sense. So how do you rationalize that where it is the only place in the world where we all come together, especially in the world's position like it is now, we compete um for medals and yet we pay to play. Yeah, I mean I think in the very beginning you're kind of in that earlier stages of like, I feel like when I first heard Can Fund, we really rocked about the taxi ads, the CBC, you know, at that point 70% of our athletes were living below the poverty line, and

Donor Experience And Unreasonable Hospitality

Nat Cook 20:00

gradually carding what a stipend from the government gives to Canadian athletes through Sport Canada. Um I think what I've done in with CAN Fund is I've really focused on our campaigns, creating really meaningful opportunities for people to probably get more out of what they're getting, as opposed to maybe actually supporting the athletes. I always say that we do our best work when nobody's watching, when nobody's cheering. I think that's in life. I mean, with if you're an entrepreneur, you need seed money to start your company. Uh, if you're, you know, when you watch anything, everyone needs a break. Everyone needs someone to show up for them. And I think with CanFun, the language we use a lot is, you know, for women, we have a program called CANFUN 150 Women that I launched in 2017 because most of our donors were men. And it was like, just be the woman you needed when you were in the thick of it. And we asked women to give $150 or more, and they get a tax receipt. But you know, and just now at the last Winter Olympics, Piper Gillis, who won a bronze medal for Canada and figure skating and has an incredible story. She overcame cancer. She was our first CanFund 150 woman recipient in 2017. So, you know, and then we have monthly donors who just it's theirs, they gift you know, a monthly allow uh uh number, whatever it is, ten dollars to up to five hundred dollars or more. I feel like what we've done with CanFund is really forget about the you're actually supporting someone be better. And I don't use words like sacrifice, I don't use a lot of words like, oh, yeah, the money that the athletes get, they use it for new equipment, coaching, travel, similar, right? But I think All the athletes that compete for Canada, it's their choice, but what they do for a country, you it's hard to measure that. So the programs we create give people a reason to give and they feel really good about it. And I think that's what I'm most proud of with Can Fund is the creativity we've had to create to bring people on. But at the same time, our donors have stayed because they're like and we do little touches like Canada Day is July 1st in Canada, and we have about 80 athletes call donors. Um they get 10 donors each and they call and say, Thank you for being such a proud Canadian. And it's so easy for them to do that, and the donors love it. Like they're just like it's the little touches. My favorite book this year is called Unreasonable Hospitality, and I recommend it to everybody. I've given out about 30 copies, and it's all about it's your job to use your talents to make the world better. And be unreasonable. So my words for 2026 is unreasonable generosity. Oh good. And it and it's it's one of one of my favorite quotes that one of my coaches told me, my track coach, was the easiest things in life to do are the easiest things in life not to do. And I feel like that's what we all live with, right? Like it's easy to show up for other people. It's easy to do things that are kind and generous, but it's also just as easy not to. Because you can just justify, like, why would I do that for them? They're not doing it for me. But that's not the world I want to live in. Gosh, I can really feel the distinction that you're making. You initially said it around the predominant ask for money is done in a completely different space than what you are doing, in terms of I really hear the journey of the donation there in that it's like the inspiration. You're calling out something in people that's a little bit different than what's being called out when you support like our children's hospital, for example. Um, and I think that's it could look the same, but it's not. It's actually, I don't know if you're feeling in that. I know you're writing a lot of notes because you're something's coming up, but you can just feel the difference in this style of generosity and what you're calling on people to do. And did that come naturally? Like, were you? I don't even know how to say this, but were you ever angry in the in the process of this at any time around the fact that athletes were below the poverty line or whatever? Or have you always led from a place of come toward me? Oh, look, she she's like, how do I talk about my anger? Um, I think,

The Pay To Play Anger

Nat Cook 25:00

well, to go back on the the ask, right? I love no. I collect 10 no's a day. I love asking for money. I love cool calling. That makes me a little bit of an anomaly, I think, with people. I love asking for money. I just love you. Give me a phone number, I will call them. And I have so many stories about just random calls I've made. Um, but I also ask like it's an invitation like, do you want a cup of coffee? Yes or no? There's no attachment. I think that's a big lesson, also coming from the car accident way back when is you could be committed to your passion, but not attached to the results. So when the ask comes with uh attachment, people can feel that, right? So I'm like, Do you want to do one cup of coffee? Yes or no? The anger, you know, I'm people will find this really unique for me to say this. I'm not a huge fan of the Olympic Games themselves, like like the watching of them. I get really upset. I feel like it's that one time when these athletes are, there's just so many rules around them and so many blackouts, and so lack of, I don't know. I think if people knew that it's $80,000 is the average that every Canadian athlete pays to represent their country annually, that it's the bank of mom and dad, that, you know, it's just ridiculous what athletes are asked to pay to compete for their country. I think that the Olympics are beautiful from a standpoint of to be at the games represent your country is an incredible honor. And just to get there is a major accomplishment. And then to actually be competitive and win a medal like Nat did is an insane accomplishment. But I do think that when I'm watching the games and I see like these ads, and I'm like, oh, I don't really know if that's true. And because when it's your life and you get you taught, like I think the coolest thing with CAN Fund is that we have funded over 8,000 athletes. You know, people joke that like I know athletes' parents' names, their postal codes, where they live. Like, you know, like I just know every athlete so well. Um, not as much as you know, now because there's just so many of them. But I just I look at them as our client. And so I just don't understand like what Natalie said earlier. Like, I don't understand how they're just expected to perform on any given day, pay all this money, represent our country, go into debt, and I don't know. And I've got the anger coming. I love it, Jane. That's the uh she she spaced it out. Your evolution, like uh there's an evolution for me too, as an athlete getting frustrated that I had to ask volleyball for money for my flight when all the coaches and everybody else got their flight paid for. Um, and they're there to watch and criticize my performance. Um, so I've had different layers. I mean, have you recovered? No, no, no, we've not recovered. Um, but this will be in the public domain, so that's all I'll say about that. But that was a different level of anger. Now it's um now I have been inspired by your statesman. We have we used to say statesman, the stateswoman stewardship on the evolution of uh, you know, we're trying to be creative in how we ask, we're trying to offer the invitation. Everything you say is hitting the same mark. We have 46% in Australia athletes below the poverty line of a combined income of $23,000 Australian dollars, right? And uh then they come out without jobs, without we call it superannuation, it's RSPs, I think, because they haven't had time to work. Uh, there's all

Creative Fundraising That Actually Sells

Nat Cook 28:50

of those things, but now it's the career. I love fundraising, I love asking people for money. Um, I just have my I have the gold volleyball that I take to sometimes give away, sometimes auction, sometimes sell in raffles, and it raised its biggest amount of money last week. Jane got $25,000 for my gold volleyball that I creatively spun experiences. Like, and not only they have to take me to dinner, they have to, you know, and then they can invite other people. And then there was hotel rooms, not for me and them, but just hotel rooms. Um, and it created this opportunity for $25,000. And that's the magic, that's the uh creativity that I love expanding and expanding the athletes' mind so that they can then do it for themselves as well. That's one of the things I've really enjoyed. We've we've created an Aussie Athlete supporters jersey so that all the family, friends, and supporters can show up in 2032 in the same uniform instead of making their own t-shirt, and um created a community event like the barbecue so that athletes can sell something to their donor to say, Hey, I'll come and talk to your friends, and so they expand their network. Um, so it's been I'm not as artistic as you, and your paintings have been awesome. But you're an artist too, actually. This is are you two separated at birth? There's a lot of and and you're kind of both a little alien-like. I'm not identify as an artist. Jane does. I do art, I love art. This is Jane's. Yeah, we've got it on the wall. Jane, well, you know, it's a podcast. We're gonna do it's a live showing. It's a live showing. Yeah, yeah. Look, look, look, look, look. Nelson Mandela. Well, it was deepest fear. Deepest fear painting. We have Jane's painting

Turning Art Into A National Campaign

Nat Cook 30:40

on our wall. There you go. That's real. I know. What's funny that you're saying that because my in my maturity, um the project I'm working on right now, it's called Who We Are, and it's never been done in a country before. And I'm asking Canadians to give one word, describe what Canada means to them. And their word is going to go on a painting that I'm doing. So I have two 10 feet by four feet canvases. So it's $25, a minimum $25 donation. Your word goes on a canvas. The painting's called Who We Are. I hopefully want to one day hang it in the National Gallery of Canada. The painting will travel across the country on display, and we're gonna we're doing a book that will come commemorate everyone's word, like name, hometown, word. The charitable partners can fund. My goal is a million people, so to raise 25 million through this painting. So I feel like it goes back to what I was saying earlier, like fish where the fish are, be laser focused. And I feel like I know with CanFund that I can do these paintings, or I could use my art, or I can use artists, or I can create things that are very kind of unique to CanFund and the painting, people who are giving a word, because you know, there's been a lot going on in the world right now. And I'm just saying, as a country, let's do a canvas for our country, let's do a canvas for Canada, and let's share who we are because Canadians are very humble Canadians, and yes, you get so they get twenty they give one word, $25 tax receipt. And we had a gentleman just give $8,000 for his work because that's what athletes get from us twice a year. And the goal, like I I just want to see this through. Like it's a crazy bold dream to get a million Canadians to give one word, and it's starting to take it's starting to kind of gain momentum. And you know, that's what I mean. Like, I don't think fundraising has to be so you know, gold, silver, bronze. It doesn't have to be so um rigid rigid. It's like that's what I think unique is in any charity that I've I mean, I watch different charities around the world, but the ones that I fall in love with and I really like are the ones where you know they're creating stuff that is meaningful and at the same time impactful. That's a good message. The creativity, which again is amazing for you to hear because you are a very creative person, but sometimes you get locked into the way it's always been done, and your mind takes over sometimes. And so it's great to hear about these initiatives that do work. So the canvases sit in your house and you add the wood, or other athletes add the wood, or no. I'm doing the words, so the canvases are in my studio, my gallery, and I haven't started them yet. I wanted to I want to get to half a million words first because I'm one of those people like I'll start to paint it and then I won't want to stop. So I don't want to start painting it and then just do like a hundred thousand words or something. I want to like start it and we're gonna film it. And so everyone just gifts a word on what Canada means to them, and I'll put all the words on the painting. And I've been doing that for years. Like in my art world, you know, I've done paintings where I just did a huge one for a farm in Ontario where the great-grandparents bought the property, and now the families live there, and it was like family recipes and nicknames and music and like all like just their whole heritage and everything that means something to them is now on a canvas. So, in my art world, that's what I normally do. So now I'm just combining CanFund and art and Canada and a collaboration. Love it. It reminds me a little bit of your artists of your jacket when you had the names of yeah, like being surrounded by those names of gold and how that kind of like inspired you because there's so much in it. My favorite favorite piece of our Olympic uniform is our opening ceremony jacket, and on the inside of our jacket are the names of all the Olympic gold medalists from Australia. So that is a special um piece of clothing, and we my name and Carrie's name will always be in every jacket. Um how was your name spelled? So you're joking. Oh well, come on. I love it. James need to hear my joke, but uh sometimes think you're funny five years later. Sometimes in like you imagine it's a long piece of material and it gets stitched. So my name happened to be stitched in the dart, so it was Natalie Ook, and it was you know, that cut the C out. The C is cut in. Yeah, so that's okay. Sometimes you get stitched up in life and in fundraising and in uh in your sport, it doesn't quite work, and you just got to get on with it. So um I I really love um that initiative. When I went to World Expo, uh the English pavilion at World Expo um had a big round pavilion, and you sat in the pavilion, and all they wanted you to do was choose a word on the world and put it into like a a word cloud. And I never saw the we never saw the result. I just put my word in. Like some people would say, hungry, it's lunchtime, right? Just random words, and other people would put world peace. So um, I'd see this as uh great

Gifting Time And Giving Belief

Nat Cook 36:35

initiative. I just think it's you I think when you can find like you know, to go back to your why, right? Like, why am I doing this? So, you know, we all have the same amount of day time in the day, and and a lot of things that we've done with CAN Fund is we've shifted away from the ask saying, can you support our athletes for coaching, food, equipment, travel, blah, blah, blah. And we've really got into like every second counts, the seconds in our lives matter, you know, and our athletes are chasing these seconds, you know, and a lot of them make a podium, don't make a podium, qualify, don't quite qualify because of these seconds. So every donation is gifting them seconds. So we say to people, you can't buy time, but yes, you can with CanFund, you're gifting time and you're giving our athletes the time to prepare better, rest more, eat properly. And I think when you can change the conversation, you know, it goes back to what we talked about early on. Like I could name probably five people who really had an instrumental role in my life after the car accident. And with, and I just think we all could be that for somebody else. Like we can all make somebody better. And I think that's the gift your charity gives, our charity gives, is like how many times in your life do you actually get to give some money to make somebody better? And and they they're complete strangers, you might meet them, you don't, but it's because someone showed up for you. So a lot of the conversations we have now are you know, show up for our athletes, show up for the people in your life, show up for your country, just show up. And what our athletes do is they give us all reasons to celebrate. So we've gone into this like celebrate the moments, celebrate what it means to watch these athletes. And I think what happens at the Olympics is people actually get to see these people that we've gotten to know years before. And you've watched them overcome incrazy obstacles, go into debt, sleep in cars, do all the crazy stuff they have to do. But if you ever asked an athlete, is it worth it? And they all say yes. Because it's bigger than them. And I think that's the magic that your charity, our charity, creates is getting people to understand that life is supposed to be bigger than you. It's supposed to be something of you know, unreasonable generosity, like and it's everything. It's you you know, you don't get to pick and choose, you do it every day. And I think that's what you know. I've been doing this for a really long time, and and yeah, it's not easy asking people to care about athletes, um, especially when they see them competing and they're so healthy. And but I think what people do understand is you're helping some it's like it's you're helping a person's potential, you know, people just need a chance. And that's what you're doing, that's what we do, you know. And because I think I was at Darling Harbor in Sydney when I read that quote, like, oh, who is it by? Like, I want to be so used up and like at the end of my life and hand like and hand a candle to another person. It's a quote in Darling Harbor, I forget the guy, and I've written it out a hundred times. And you know, it's it's stuff like that that just shows up in your life, and these words that make you want to be more effective. But I've I'm hearing in in what you're sharing, this unreasonable generosity for me is really being called out because of the values-based ask. Like you're you're basically when you said it's hard for people to relate to the athlete, I'm like, well, it's not because you've actually shown them how connected they really are when it comes to time, like just the way that celebration, um, like even overcoming. Like, I think about when Nat and I watch different kinds of performances, we both cry. And I think it's because there's something about people rising to the occasion or um being there for their moment, or whatever. We might have different reasons, but there's something about it that connects us, and it has nothing to do with how fit we are at the moment, or even our artistic talent, or we can dance. Do you know? It's actually about the fact that it's it's a humanity connection. So I'm feeling like a real distinction in the way that you're calling out unreasonable generosity, which is we got like I just read that Eric Ed Sheeran was like basically homeless and slept on Jamie Foxx's couch back in the day, and it helped him. Like, I just think anyone that's achieved their dream or something that they want to create, it's because somebody else showed up for them. And I think that's the message here, like just show up for somebody so they can be better. And I think we all want to feel when you gift money, when you gift your time, when you gift um your talents or your mentorship, there's there's something very there's a little bit of selfishness in that because it makes you feel good and you want to feel good, like you know, like there's so many things in the world that are distracting that aren't good. And so the fact that you can make another person better or takes give somebody, I think the biggest word that athletes share with CanFund is belief. Like they say that the money is awesome, it does like it's it's people don't understand when you have no money and you want to be the best in the world. What a call, we call it the CanFund call, and you tell someone you're getting $8,000, they're just there's tears, there's relief. But I think at the end of it, the athletes say the gift of can fun is belief. And when someone believes in you, that's I think that one of the greatest gifts you can give somebody. That's really cool. Well, and that's uh I thank you for showing up, not like every day, and of course, that um accident, as you said, um changed your life because since then you've shown up every day, you've shown up for athletes every day from 9097, and you're still going. And I know you've probably tried to slow down a little bit because you, but it can't, it's the calling in you, and thank you for showing up for inspiring across the oceans to me, and so that I can continue to um support the next generation in the green and gold. So there'll be nothing better than the the Can Fund um painting hanging in the Canadian gallery, and in 2032 the Green and Gold Aussie Athlete Fund painting hanging in our national gallery. That's a great um uh that's inspiration right there. I've just got to find a few athletes that like to paint. But that's the humanity and the globalness of the message.

Brisbane 2032 Dreams And Legacy

Nat Cook 44:00

it's like it's not bordered at all and yeah it's incredible what you're both doing. Yeah I mean I mean and the funny thing is with 2032 I was thinking maybe Georgia might be competing there you never know track or volleyball or who knows but um we I don't even go to the Olympics because when the games are on we're fundraising for the next group so and it's when everybody cares so it it's it's interesting too because when I'm here in Canada watching you know we're we're already fundraising now like when once the Winter Olympics started in Italy we were on to LA like we've done like every winter athlete that applied to CAN Fund that competed in Italy was funded able bodied in para. So people like why don't you go I'm like well because I don't need to be there. I'm not a tourist I need to really take all this energy that this country is gifting watching these athletes compete and get them to care more to fundraise you know for the LA kids. So it's never ending right it's a constant cycle and um but you can work from your laptop in our you know in Brisbane from our house I will be in Brisbane. I was gonna say I hope you give yourself a gift if your daughter wants to make it if she makes it if she's lucky enough to experience that could you imagine their daughter like Conrad competing in Sydney 2000 and Georgia competing in Brisbane 2032. Australia that would be like well that's what we've been joking about that like there'll be both Australian Olympians will both bring um the opportunity for them to compete for Canada. She might compete for volleyball just saying sorry she's I want to be in in I think Australia will be a great and you can stay with us you can stay with us everyone hears that everyone heard that that's an awful we're not quite Jamie Foxx I don't know that my couch will be as good as Jamie Fox's button I don't care we've got a mic anyway you don't sleep when you're at the games like everyone's just going like you just it's just like you go to bed at like at three to get up to you know um when we stayed in when I watched Conrad and Sydney um I think it was Samsung did like a home stay and I ended up staying with a couple in Kooji Beach Fred and Rachel Orr. We're still friends with them I stayed at their house and then when I first got there she's British he's um USA but also Australian and Canada. So they did this big flag ceremony and it was just wonderful. So um my I have the fondest memories of the Sydney Olympics I still think today I've only gone to three Olympics but I still think Sydney was the best. How about your story about 96? I know I went to in 96 to see what the Olympics was like and I was a security guard at the beach volleyball venue and I had like the weirdest outfit and I did not know even where Australia was at the time and I met Nat's brother we have a photo together but only in about 2015 did he find the photo and realize we'd met but the family that I stayed with in Atlanta at that time um I've been in contact they're like my other family and you're so right it's about the connections and the community and it it's everlasting it's really deep. It is a special time and obviously that's why we're um supporting our athletes to be better to get their shot on the world stage to be part of this magical event we love to love and we've just decided you are you're coming to Brisbane for 32 Brisbane and we're laying out some foundations for manifestation that's good. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do for the red and white even when I play against the red and white I you know I know that we're up against the CAN fund as well and all the support of um what you've created and uh we hope the Aussie athletes um are benefiting and and now you know Jane this is where it all started this is why I started it thank you for all you do thank you thank you guys thanks for having me on the show today it was awesome catch up and that's a wrap on another episode

How To Support Aussie Athletes

Nat Cook 48:30

of the Price You Pay podcast. We hope these stories move you to want to be part of these athletes' journeys. It is our mission at the Aussie Athlete Fund to create a sustainable funding model to support our athletes for both their financial wellbeing and the education to stimulate their own localized economy. To get involved please visit our website at www.aussieathfund.com and choose your impact. Whether that's as a corporate partner, teaming up with an athlete in our Million Dollar Challenge, buying a supporters jersey or signing up to host a great Aussie Athlete barbecue. Sharing the fund's mission or even an episode of this podcast is how we grow and expand the reach to better support these young athletes. Pressing the follow button means that you won't miss an episode and giving us a great review is how these athletes' stories travel further afield. Be listening for the next captivating story of what it truly takes for these Aussie athletes to live their sporting dream