Breakfast Bonus: Sport for kids

Welcome to the Breakfast Bonus Podcast - an exclusive online only chat released each weekday. 

We don't want to force our kids into playing a sport just because we like it, but sometimes they find their own way there.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Coast Breakfast Bonus Podcast with Tony Jason, Sam you.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Do, thanks so much for joining us on The Coast
Breakfast Podcast. Today. We want to talk about sports, and
specifically the sports that you get your kids or your
grandkids involved in and you.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Can't help but kind of push them in the directions
that you've been in.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
But even if you don't want to do that, even
if you're determined not to push them into that direction,
sometimes they end up there anyway. And I'm going to
give you an example of my world. So as a kid,
I did play a lot of sport because our I
don't know and Tartannucky everyone played everything you know, basketball, rugby, netball,
we did surf, life saving athletics.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
That it's because you guys didn't have TV.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
That was it. That's what happens when you're in a
rural community. Anyway, the two major sports I ended up
sticking with and playing to quite a high level with
both netball and cricket. But with cricket, any parent will
know it can be quite punishing in terms of being
the parent because there are big, long days they are
at cricket sometimes. I mean I would go to cricket

(00:58):
when I was at high school. I would play from
nine till twelve for my school. Then I would go
to club cricket and I would play from one till
about six pm. That is a very long day, it is.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
But here's the thing. Jeff Street lover of cricket, Now,
I was the same. I played representative cricket, very passionate
about the sport. My dad, God bless him, he hated
cricket and he was there every weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
But that's interesting that you then stuck with cricket when
it wasn't your dad's sport. So you take me as
as a cricketer. I went to university on a cricket scholarship.
It's in my blood and all of my family loves it.
But I thought, you know what, I'm not. I'm not
going to make my kids play cricket one because it's
punishing to stay in there as a spectator for so long.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Especially with my batting skills. You know, Dad did turn up.
Oh Wallace gets up for his big moment, third ball
out back on the sideline. Dad's still there on the
sideline watching the rest of the team.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
I've got to watch four hours without you even featuring.
So I thought to myself, I'm not going to push
her in that direction. And I felt the same about netball,
was like, if they want to play hockey, absolutely, especially
because I've got at least one vertically chilling child. Anyway,
what do you do? I held off with cricket, held off,
and then my daughter said to me, oh, Mum, we've
got this cricket day at school. Can I sign up?

(02:08):
And I mean, yeah, she can do it. She probably
won't enjoy it next minute. Naturally good at cricket, and
we're in it for the long haul. So what I'm
saying is, even if sometimes you have the best intentions
of saying, oh, don't go down that path, your kids
are going to be naturally interested and sometimes naturally talented
at sports that are already in them in their nature.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Look at my little boy. We've never been a rugby family,
and he literally doesn't know which way to run. He
doesn't know what a sideline is. He's not interested. But
I'll tell you what, because he's seen me play basketball
on our outside hope, he is gravitating towards that sport.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Now you might want to you might want to sort
that out because running's involved in quite a few sports
knowing which way to run, even basketball.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
And the funny thing is like this is we need
to be smart about this. We need to look at
our kids genetics and go, you have no hope at basketball,
Like look at me. Someone should have discouraged me from
an early age. I was coming at six foot sex
foot with shoes on, which is probably.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
About do you know what that's That's another great point
you bring up, why are they playing sport? And I
don't think you have to start playing basketball and think
I'm going to be in the NBA. Sport gives you
so much more than just a career pathway. It actually
teaches you how to be part of a team, and
you know, in real life as an adult you I

(03:23):
feel like I know people that haven't played team sport.
I haven't learn how to lose, how to share properly,
how to bend because other people need space sometimes like
it's it's so much more than just a career.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
One hundred percent agree. But I think also success in
that sport will also make it enduring as well if
you're good at this. So I think it is very
important to type cast. So for me, what sports should
I have played as a vertically challenged, quite stocky, you know,
short necked, short legs, large torso where would you put me.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
In front row? You played rugby, No terrible at rugby,
so you're a weakling. You were physical and basketball I
think you you could have played rugby sad. You were fast,
you had focused, You're prepared to work on your physical frame.
I'm surprised you went the basketball way. It's a physically jealous.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
The more I think about it, I think I was better.
I look at myself. I was David Boone, you know,
short stocky. All I needed was a mustache and I
could have been a great batsman.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
But you did play cricket and it did work out.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
It wasn't good enough, means just sleep.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Thanks for listening to the Coast Breakfast Bonus podcast. Get
your days started with Coasts Feel Good Breakfast, Tony Street,
Jays Reeves and Sam Wallace.