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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
How Isabella Crosbie Found Her Voice Through Artistic Swimming
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A 14-year-old trains like an elite athlete, then goes back to Year 9 homework. That’s the reality for Isabella “Bella” Crosbie, an artistic swimmer (formerly synchronised swimming) on the 2026 Australian Youth Training Squad, and it’s only half the story. We talk with Bella and her mum, Carissa, about what a real training week looks like, from club sessions and high performance hours to the unglamorous nightly stretching and strength work that builds results over time. If you’ve ever wondered how artistic swimming athletes prepare, Bella breaks down the land work, the “land routine” practice, and the mindset that keeps her consistent.
Carissa takes us back to the beginning, when Bella was so shy she avoided school performances and needed a teacher beside her just to participate. Sport became a confidence plan before it became a high performance pathway. We explore how team culture, coaching support, and friendships helped Bella move from fear to excitement, including a remarkable twist where she met a “cousin” through the sport and discovered they really were family. It’s a candid look at youth sport psychology, confidence building, and managing competition nerves when the stakes keep rising.
Then we get honest about athlete funding and the price families pay to keep Olympic dreams alive. With interstate travel for Australian Institute of Sport camps in Canberra, national championships, and international competition, costs escalate fast. Carissa shares what it takes to fund the dream while working full-time, volunteering, fundraising, and even running a dog-sitting side hustle, plus how programs like the Aussie Athlete Fund and Elevate 32 help athletes learn sponsorship, social media, and storytelling skills. If you care about Australian athletes and the road to Brisbane 2032, hit follow, share this with a friend, and leave a review so these stories travel further.
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Welcome And Why These Stories Matter
Host Nat CookWelcome 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 jerseys. Come along for the ride and listen in to what dreams are truly made of. And now over to our master conversationalist, Sarah. Woo!
Meet Bella And Her Results
Conversationalist SarahToday is sure to be a special one. With 14-year-old artistic swimmer, which used to be called synchronised swimming, and proud member of the 2026 Australian Youth Training Squad, Isabella Crosbie. Starting in the water at age two, Bella chose artistic swimming over water polo and has since won team gold at the Australian Championships in 2025 and represented Australia at the World Aquatics Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Athens. During the school term, Bella trains 20 to 25 hours per week and then travels to Canberra in her school break to train at the Australian Institute of Sport. Whether it's her single parent mom gemming her swimming costumes for 14 hours or volunteering at her local club while maintaining her full-time work to help her daughter get to competitions, this duo works hard to fund the dream. So welcome Carissa and Bella to the Price You Pay podcast. You made it. Oh, I know. Now you can exhale, ladies. So, Bella, you get the first question. And I am really curious. I do want to learn about how you got into artistic swinging, but I'd love you to describe your training week, like the one you've just had, so we can imagine what it's like to be in grade nine in high school, while somehow fulfilling an incredible training schedule.
Training Week And Daily Discipline
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieWell, we're we just had nationals who are in pre-season right now, so it's not like the same as what it would be usually. Like usually we focus more on routines, but now it's like getting back into it and building up our strength again. Okay. But this week I think I trained like 10 hours maybe with my club and then three hours for high performance. Then like you also do like at-home stuff, like at night I do like stretching by myself and strength and stuff. And me and my cousin like like go to school before school to like do strength and stuff.
Conversationalist SarahAnd do some people, Bella, you know how it would just rem you just reminded me of how when my daughter plays her instrument, she plays with a whole bunch of different people, and some people practice and some people don't. Would you say some people train and do their stretching at home and some people skip it sometimes? What would you say?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieYeah, I I do think some people like do a lot more than others sometimes, but it like depends on like your school schedule as well. Like I know like we're all in like different years, so like a lot of the girls are like studying for exams right now, so they might find it a lot harder.
Conversationalist SarahAnd what kind of person are you? Are you the kind who does it sometimes, doesn't do it others? What kind of person are you?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieI do stretch every night and do strength every night, but like, yeah, I'm the kind of person who does do it.
Conversationalist SarahI knew it. You know, I just knew to ask you that. Um, yeah, I can see that you work really hard. And so one last question, because I, as I was learning more about your sport, I really didn't take into account the fact that it's not just the pool work. So there's like, are you in the gym? And then, like, I know your schedule is a bit abnormal, but what's normal when it comes to how much gym work do you do versus like you're saying stretching, land work, and then pull work?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm, so yeah, at the start of training, we do like land, so we do like activation, like stretching and a lot of strength work, but we also when it comes to like routines, we land your which is like when you basically do the routine on land instead of the water, so that you can like it's easier for you to like know where to go. Right.
Conversationalist SarahIs the land almost like gymnastics? Would I be visualizing it looking a bit like that or different?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm I'd say like, yeah, we probably do like a lot of strength work as well and a lot of flexibility stuff, like they would. Yeah, right.
Conversationalist SarahYeah, I'm just visualizing like yoga, gymnastics meets strength. Um, yeah, it's it's as I discover how much time it would take, it's incredible what you do. So thank you for sharing about a normal training week and even that, like you say, it changes depending on what where you're at with your training and um competition. So, mom Carissa, um, I'm really happy you're here to be able to share the journey with us from your perspective because you're so integral. Um, you know, literally being on this journey with your daughter for the past 13, 14 years. So, can you share how you you both discovered artistic swimming and why you thought team sport would be good for her?
From Shy Kid To Team Sport
Mum CarissaYeah, um, so when Bella first started school, she was just really, really shy. Um, so the teachers found it difficult to kind of move between activities because she would just kind of cling to the teacher. Um, so like some examples, like when she was in Kindi, they had the end-of-year Christmas concert, and Bella was the one that was sitting on the um teacher's lap facing towards the blackboard, not towards the parents, and she just refused to, or like not refused, but she was just too scared to participate. And then um, like another example is she was doing dancing, and we all went to a um dance concert, thinking, Oh yeah, Bella would be on the stage like any minute, and we're waiting, waiting, waiting. And we went through two hours of this dance concert, and Bella never came on stage. Um again, she was just too scared. Um, another example, like there was just so many, um, you know, they have their uh school athletics carnival, and um Bella was the one that um ran the 50 metres, but she was running it with a school teacher, so the school teacher ran the race with her. So it was just like a pattern that was kind of happening. So um they just recommended to me that I start looking at sports just to try and build her confidence. Um, so um I started looking like all the different options that were available. So she tried lots of things: t ball, tennis, calisthenics. Um, she did netball for a few years, she did diving. Um, she also did music and art as well, but like we were trying to focus on the on the sports. So then she did water polo for about six years. Um, so she really loved that. Um, and I actually thought that was the sport that she was going to keep doing. So she joined a new water polo club, um, and they didn't have many girls at the time, it was um based at a boys' school. So she ended up playing in the boys' division of the state league competition. Um she was the only girl in that competition. So by this stage, like she built up quite a lot of confidence um from playing sport. Um, but then just one day I saw an ad in the local paper for a come and try at our local club, and it was in the school holidays, and um, she was already doing swimming and acrobatics at the time, so I thought, oh yeah, like you know, just go along and have a go, see what artistic swimming's like. Um, and yeah, she just loved it. Wow.
Conversationalist SarahThat is an amazing journey. Is that actually quite? I was just thinking about what it takes to play water polo, and then you know, like treading water feels like a very important part. Bella, would you would you actually say that that when you started artistic swimming, you were already ready for it a little bit?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieYeah, like I'd always loved swimming and stuff, and I was like kind of good at it, and so all the like skills I had built up from all the sports that I had done, like helped me, like especially in water polo, like yeah, like treading the water, it helped.
Conversationalist SarahAnd mom, thank you so much for sharing what it's like through that journey of like a child clinging to the teacher. And I have to say, Bella, I was curious, do you remember when mom tells that story, or do you just are they just stories for you? I don't remember. Yeah, that's it's fascinating. I I have stories like that of my daughter too. So, and she often doesn't remember them. So I thought, I wonder if Bella even remembers. So this question might be interesting, Bella, because you're you know, you're just in your own body and you're 14. But I know that it's been written, like mom said, that you considered yourself extremely shy growing up. And um, like mom described her perspective of putting you in sport, but can you figure out what it is that allows you to perform on the world stage at only 13, because you were 13 when you did that, when you used to be too daunted to get on the stage for the dance competition? Like, can you figure out what changed within you?
Friendship, Confidence, And Performance Nerves
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm, when I started Cynco, like a lot of the girls, we became really close really quickly, and we like we started at it like all together, so we kind of like grown up with each other and we're like extremely close. And so it like helps having like support and also the coaches, like they're always there for you and help you.
Conversationalist SarahLove that. Actually, this might be if you're okay with it. I know there's a really cool story about someone that you met in your training who's now on your team. Do you feel comfortable sharing with one of your now closest friends who's kind of a family member, maybe?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieOh, yeah. Um, so me and my cousin, no, well, we call each other cousins, but we're third cousins. Um, we met Thusinko because she joined my club, and then her mum like spoke to my mum about her old last name, and then they figured out all the family members, and then turns out we're third cousins, and so we organized a little family get together for our grandparents, and yeah, and now we're really close, and we go to the same school, so we're like, Oh my gosh, that is special.
Conversationalist SarahThat is, and I and I can hear as you share how important these friendships and relationships are to you, and so I know I'm harping on about it a little bit, but I am quite curious um around this idea that you perform like a team routine whilst also maybe considering yourself a bit shy. Do you um see performing easier than say meeting a new person?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieWell, I feel like since I've like done it a bit more than I used to, I would find it easier. Like, I'm sure like when I started, I probably would have found it way harder. But now that like me and my team are really close, we support each other and stuff, I feel like they're both really nerve-wracking, but like in different ways. So like competing is like, oh, thinking about all your corrections, and like there's that m thought in your mind, like, oh, what if I muck this up? What if I muck that up? But when you're when I meet a new person, I just get really nervous.
Conversationalist SarahAnd when you were at the world aquatics um recently, tell me about how you felt just before performing. How do you go with nerves?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm I used to be really like a lot more nervous. Like I was like so scared, like really scared. But then after that, like I don't get scared. Like now I'm like excited to perform, and I'm excited to show people like what we've done.
Conversationalist SarahOh my gosh, mom, can you hear that? What a chant, isn't that exciting? Just to hear it almost is like the building blocks of courage, you know. You you can see how it develops. And so thank you for that. And I think we're all learning from you, Bella, as you describe your journey.
When Costs Explode With Camps
Conversationalist SarahAnd look, Mom, those world aquatic um swimming aquatic championships were in Athens. Okay, so that's a real far trip away. So it does beg the question: how tough has it been to fund your daughter's sporting dream so far?
Mum CarissaUm, yeah, I've I found it very um difficult. It wasn't part of the plan. Um and I think when she first started, I actually had no idea how expensive the sport would be. I just thought it was it like going to be like, you know, a netball where you just pay a couple of hundred dollars a term. Um, but we found out very quickly that it wasn't going to be that. Um, and then I think like, you know, when we f first started to go to nationals, obviously the cost increased a little bit. But I think it really hit me when she first got invited to like a training camp at the Institute of Sport. And I thought, oh my gosh, this is going to be like every school holidays. And all of a sudden, like the costs just suddenly uh started to blow out. Um and I had no capacity for that. Um, you know, I'm still trying to pay a mortgage. Um, so I'm working full-time. Um, so just to help with that, I took on um a side business, I set up a side business. Um, so Bella and I look after dogs occasionally. Oh, okay. Um so yeah, that helps um pay for it. I'm always on the lookout, you know, for for grants and sponsorships. Um, anything that kind of comes across the table, I'll I'll look at. Um, any like little bit of extra side income that I can make, I'm always on the lookout for that. Um, we do a whole heap of fundraising, both at Bella's club and um like for us personally as well. Um, and then you know, I approach the accounts and they gave a small amount um of money. Unfortunately, they only do it once, so you can't reapply.
Conversationalist SarahUm but just change your just change your name, Bella and apply again. I'm just checking. Just kidding, just kidding. Loopholes. Um, wow, okay, so this wasn't on your radar, um, Krista. And so it's it's good to mention that because at first, if you think other parents are thinking, well, it's just like any little camp at school holidays, and then all of a sudden the costs. So that very first time when you realized there was a big camp, was that a Canberra camp? One of the So here you are in Perth and you're gonna fly across the country to Canberra, and you see that amount of money, and you didn't budget for that. Like, how did you even pay for the first one?
Mum CarissaUh, I probably use savings, so I can just draw down on my savings. That's the only way I've been able to do it so far.
Conversationalist SarahUm Bella, when you're hearing mom talk about this, were you aware of this at the time? Well, obviously, you're part of the dog sitting and everything, and it's really hard when you're growing up to think about finances, that's a big word. Um, but did you know that this was gonna be a hard part about your sport, the money part?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm, probably not at the time because like I wasn't like when I first started, obviously I didn't think like I'd keep going into like all these new teams and stuff, but like then as I went on, like yeah, it kind of like became obvious that it was gonna cost a lot, and then now that I'm like a bit older, I like understand a lot more.
Fundraising, Sponsorship, And Learning The Hustle
Conversationalist SarahI bet. And then with the Aussie Athlete Fund, Bella, have you learned some things, or does mom kind of take the charge of that? Like, do you get involved with any of the fundraising or learning about that stuff?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieYeah, um, well, it's really good having the Aussie Athlete Fund because like especially the Elevate 32 program, like we learned about a lot about social media and how to like seek sponsorships and about like interviewing techniques and stuff like that. So I feel like I can like put my input into all of the stuff.
Conversationalist SarahWell, you're doing really well. How am I doing? Are my interviewing techniques okay? You probably know more than me. Oh my gosh. Um, okay, mom, I want to go back to you for a sec because you said some really amazing things about how resourceful you became. Um, maybe that's like necessity breeds that skill, but would you say you had that in you before, or have you been surprised at your own capacity as a parent to do this fundraising gig?
Mum CarissaYeah, it's definitely um something I had no about, no idea about before. Um, it's definitely out of my comfort zone. I don't like asking people for things. You know, I've raised Balabar myself. So um, yeah, to ask other people for anything um has pushed me out of my comfort zone. And I certainly felt very uncomfortable, particularly last year when we were trying to raise funds for her to go to the world championships. Um, you know, I'm drawing on like um old school lists and whatnot and contacting all the parents to see if they would help. So for me personally, that was very uncomfortable. Um it's becoming easier, but I still do find it very difficult. Um, but you know, I've sent off quite a few emails now to various people. Um Bella was able to um hook up with a local real estate agent, and um, she got interviewed a few months ago by her. Um, there's there's opportunity, just opportunities slowly presenting themselves, but yeah, it's a lot of work to try and sort of make these connections. Um, so I'm usually kind of doing it late at night um after all the running around and whatnot, just to just to try and help us.
Conversationalist SarahGosh, I mean I the thing is one day you're both gonna wake up and realize that you know, Curissa, you got a a degree in entrepreneurship, basically, and fundraising. And Bella, even when it comes to um whether it's storytelling or interviewing and all these skills that she's having to grow in order to do live this sporting dream. My last question on that, Chris, for you is around when you go to bed at night, how much do you worry about this part of it? Every day. Every day I feel it. Yeah, feel that in you. And I think there's something really special about you two in terms of like the duo, like the sense that you're in it together. I really feel that stronger than even some other families because it's you two. Um, and so I'm curious.
Why Mum Keeps Backing The Dream
Conversationalist SarahUm, you know, why is it so important to you, Carissa? You know, you volunteer at the club, you're already so busy, you work full-time. What is it for you to be a hundred percent there for your daughter's dream?
Mum CarissaUh, I can just see how much she loves the sport um and just the growth that um I've seen occur. Like, like from a uh a young kid that used to kind of hide behind everyone and now being on the world stage, it's just I've just seen like that transformation, and it's just I love it, and I want to keep um supporting that possibility as much as I can, and you know, she's aiming for Brisbane 2032. I want to be there, I want to try and support that dream. Um, yeah.
Conversationalist SarahAnd to hear her say that she went from being so scared to perform to actually excited to show what she's worked on. Um, the last question is for you, Bella. I I wanted to also comment that while you're transforming, just look at mom and her transformation, being able to ask people for help, you'll see, is hard for a lot of people. So mom is really stepping out of her own comfort zone. So you're like both is like powerful duo. So Bella, I hear I heard 2032 in there, but I'm curious what your ultimate dream is for your sport. What's your dream?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieUm, yeah, I really want to go to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, but like also just like having fun with it, even if that doesn't happen, like enjoying it as you go and like having fun with my friends.
Conversationalist SarahAnd your cousin? Is she on your team currently?
Isabella "Bella" CrosbieYes.
Conversationalist SarahImagine that. The cousins on there. Oh, that's a good story, don't you think? Yes. That is so cool. Well, girls, I have been uber impressed with your interviewing capacity. So you've been working hard. And so sometimes we're we really don't know what we're capable of until we do it. So thank you for being brave. I know that you weren't sure what it was going to be like. So I hope it was a good experience. And hearing your story is really important because I promise you there's more people that grew up like you, Bella, than we know about. So thank you very much for sharing your story. Thank you, sir.
How To Help Aussie Athletes
Host Nat CookAnd that's a wrap on another episode 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 well-being and the education to stimulate their own localised economy. To get involved, please visit our website at www.aussieathletfund.com and choose your impact. Whether that's as a corporate partner, teaming up with an athlete in our Million Dollar Challenge, buying a supporter's 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.
