May 18, 2026 • 45 mins
Kids’ sport is supposed to be fun. So when did it start feeling so serious?
This week, Simon and Lachy are joined by Olympic champion and mum Libby Trickett for a conversation about pressure, competition, quitting, sideline parenting and why kids don’t need to specialise early to succeed. Libby shares what she’s learned as both an elite athlete and a parent - and why the best thing we can do is help kids enjoy movement for life, not just chase the win.
HOSTS
Simon Pryce
Lachlan Gillespie
GUEST
Libby Trickett
You can listen to Libby's podcast Sportish here.
PRODUCERS
Produced by The Wiggles and Mylk Media
Madeline Joannou
Nick Webb
For more Wiggly fun, visit:
The Wiggles 🌏 http://thewiggles.com
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Apple Music 🎧 https://music.apple.com/au/artist/the-wiggles/7066283
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Facebook 🔴 http://facebook.com/TheWiggles
TikTok 🟣 http://tiktok.com/@TheWiggles
Twitter 🔵 http://twitter.com/TheWiggles
About The Wiggles' Podcast - Wiggle Talk
Welcome to Wiggle Talk, the ultimate parenting podcast brought to you by The Wiggles! With over 30 years of experience in early childhood education and a global legacy of entertaining and educating millions of children, The Wiggles are now stepping into the world of parenting to share their journey as parents themselves. This podcast is designed for parents seeking expert advice, relatable stories, and practical tips on raising toddlers.
In Wiggle Talk, you'll join Simon and Lachy, beloved members of The Wiggles, as they explore the real-life challenges and joys of parenting. From handling toddler tantrums to nurturing your child’s early development, Simon and Lachy invite guests to share compelling conversations that will provide valuable insights that every parent can relate to. Whether you're struggling with sleep routines, picky eating, or simply looking for fun and educational activities to do with your little ones, this podcast has got you covered.
Every episode also features founding Wiggle and early childhood expert Anthony Field, who will answer listener questions on topics ranging from child behaviour to effective parenting strategies. With decades of experience and a passion for helping children thrive – as well as being a father of three - Anthony offers trustworthy advice to help you navigate the complexities of raising a toddler.
As parents, we know that the journey can be both rewarding and challenging. That's why Wiggle Talk is here to support you every step of the way. Whether you're a new parent or have been on this journey for a while, you'll find a wealth of information and inspiration in each episode. Plus, you’ll hear from famous friends of The Wiggles who share their own parenting experiences and tips.
So, tune in to Wiggle Talk and join The Wiggles as they swap their skivvies for candid conversations about parenthood. Let's work out this parenting thing together, with a little help from the experts in early childhood education!
About The Wiggles
For over three decades, The Wiggles have been a beloved cornerstone of children's entertainment, captivating and educating millions of preschoolers—and their parents—around the world. Known for their high-energy performances, catchy songs, and colourful characters, The Wiggles have built a global legacy rooted in the power of music and movement to inspire early childhood learning.
With a mission to make education fun, The Wiggles create content specifically designed for pre-K, preschool, kindergarten, and nursery school age groups. Their unique blend of music, dance, and educational content not only entertains but also helps children understand the world around them. Generations of fans who grew up watching The Wiggles are now sharing that same joy with their own children.
The Wiggles’ impact is truly global: they’ve achieved billions of music streams and YouTube views, and have sold m
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Wiggles acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia
and their connections to land, see and community. We pay
our respects to elders, past, present and emerging.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to Wiggle Talk, a podcast for parents. I'm Simon Price.
I wear the color red in the Wiggles.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I'm Lachland Gillespie and I wear the color purple
the Wiggles.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Yes, the color purple. That was a moody, wasn't it. Yes?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
And a musical Yes, it's Fantasia, I think on Broadway.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Really we're not talking about that today, are.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We We're not. We're talking about sports, yes, And we've
got Olympic champion Libby Trickett and she's going to talk
all about her children, all about sport and what it
can give to children and how to keep it positive
from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Because for a lot of families, sports starts out as
something very simple, a Saturday morning game, a lesson after
school away which we need at home, is to burn
some energy and then before you know it starts to
feel a lot bigger. There can be pressure, comparisons, big
emotions on the sidelines, and that constant question in the
background of whether our children are actually enjoying it or
(01:12):
whether we've made it a little bit too serious.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
This will be great. Libby won seven Olympic gold medals,
including four gold, and since retiring from Elite sport, she's
become a familiar voice in conversations about sport, pressure, participation,
and family life.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Libby now co hosts Sportish with Georgie Trickett, a weekly
podcast about sport through a more inclusive lens.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
So today we're talking about what we actually want children
to get out of sport, our parents can help shape
a healthy experience from the sidelines, and how we keep
sport feeling like a place of joy, confidence and connection
rather than piling up on all the pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So let's get right into it right now. No pressure, Nope,
Libby Triket welcome, do wegal talk.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
It's such a thrill to be here, and of course
I have to the obligatory. My kids are just absolutely
dying at the fact that I'm getting to talk to
you today, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, we're very excited to talk to you. Before we
get it. How many children do you have?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Now?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I have.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
I have wait, one.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Must be quite a few. That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We are coming to Brisbane in June. If you'd like
to come to the shows, you are more than welcome
to you.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
So, you know what's so interesting to me because I
thought the Wiggles, you guys, obviously I'm talking to you.
I thought you had a sweet spot of like maybe
two to five. My ten year old still loves you, guys,
and she's still so engaged with everything. She still wants
to dress up. So if you ever want to make
(02:45):
bigger sizes of the merch, yeh, copy will absolutely love to.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh that's pretty well, you all have to come along
to the show then that'd be great.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
We'd love to see you there. Is that?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Because do you think she connects with the younger girls
now the group with Luch and Sahai.
Speaker 6 (03:01):
And absolutely I think that's a big part of it
for sure. I funnily enough, remember at twelve, so the
original original Wiggles, yes, who you know? My favorite was
Greg no offense Anthony obviously loved Anthony as well, obviously,
but I remember the Wiggles movie coming out and I
(03:23):
watched that on repeat at about twelve, which is just
weird to think now, But yeah, it's so funny to
now see her be in that phase as well. But
I think, yeah, I mean, I have loved seeing the
kind of evolution of you all and bringing in the
younger females and obviously Big Strong John.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
My boys love Big Strong John.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
All of them kind of connect to it in different
ways at different stages, and it's been really cool to
kind of see that, which is weird thinking that I'm
forty one now and you know, watch the original version
of the Wiggles and then to see them and continue
to enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It's Yeah, it's really beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Actually, that's lovely.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Big Strong John was just in here, just.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Between us. He looks much bigger on television.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
It's adding suits and AI and things like that.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
There's no competitive purpleness here at all.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
It's not a competitive sport here.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But we are talking about sport today. You have experienced
sport at the highest of levels and now kind of
looking at it through the lens of being a parent too.
Has that changed the way you think about what sports
should give children.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Yeah, it's been a really interesting kind of progression for
me as well, because I think when I very first started,
like I was one of those kids who was just
obsessive competition. So I can see how that happened. And
that's that's why when I talk to parents about their
kids participating in sport, it's so important for me to
(05:05):
communicate the fact that if your child will want to
be an elite athlete, they will like that is just
going to happen because of the type of human that
they are. And yes, we can help around the edges,
and that's really great, and you know, you want to
support your child's interests for sure. But what I want
to see with my kids for sure, but you know
(05:27):
with the general population as well, is just being so
much more relaxed and it being so much more around
participation because I think if we give more access to
more kids, take the pressure out, allow it to be
really fun and inclusive, then we're going to see more
kids involved for longer, which gives more children the opportunity
(05:50):
that if they want to take it to the next level,
they absolutely have that opportunity. But what we're seeing is
that kids are specializing too early. The pressure and the
intent and joining academies and the cost, like all of
these things are creating barriers to kids not only participating
in sport, in the first place, but then creating that
lifelong love of it.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
And so, yeah, I guess that's why we created.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
This podcast, is to change those conversations around sport and
what it is and what the actual value of it is,
because we know so few people actually become elite athletes,
Like it's like zero point zero zero zero zero three
percent of the population an olympian or an elite athlete.
But we can all have that beautiful connection to movement
(06:38):
and sport and social connections and obviously the physical and
mental health benefits of participating in organized sport.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So I guess then it starts to rely on us
as parents to see those cues from your children about
which direction they want to take it in and not
to force that competitiveness on your child if it's something
isn't coming naturally to them at the time. And you're
saying just that engagement, the enjoyment, the fulfillment of playing sport,
either whether it's an individual sport or a team sport,
(07:08):
is the most important thing to encourage, is that what
you would kind of say?
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Yeah, absolutely, And it's been interesting because you know, the
more that I've sort of spoken around sport and early
specialization and personal best times and what those mean. A
lot of people resonate with that and appreciate kind of
someone who has been an elite athlete talking about it
in those terms.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
But then there's always, inevitably the people who are.
Speaker 7 (07:36):
Like, oh, you know, pbs are really important to talk
about setting goals, and it's like cool, of course, like yes,
we want to teach our children to be able to
set goals and create that grit and resilience, which again
sport can give those opportunities to do for sure, but
it's just taking.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
That intensity out of it.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
And again, like I have already five very different children,
but just talking about my three older girls. Poppy, my oldest,
she loves swimming, but she's a bit anxious, so we
have to really kind of talk to her about trying
new things and putting herself into uncomfortable situations, and we
talk really specifically and consistently about those sorts of things,
(08:21):
and she's starting to make the connection that even though
she does feel anxious or she does feel nervous, that
she can move herself through that and once she's actually
done the thing, she feels so good and we talk
really openly about that.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Then I have my middle.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
Daughter, Eddie, who is like froths on competition, Like she
is just all about it. She is so amped. She
wants to know her PBS. She wants to know what
competition she can go and do, and she's doing all
different sorts of sports. And then there's my third girl
and my middle child, Bronte, who is just so unbelievably creative,
(09:03):
which I just do not understand. I don't have a
creative bone in my body. Like, she wants to make
things and draw things and paint and build like. She's
a really fascinating human and has almost zero interest in
sport whatsoever. So I'm trying to find things that can
engage with her. And yes, it kind of requires me
(09:24):
forcing in adverted commas her to get her body moving.
I've kind of made a rule for her that she
just has to choose one sport whatever. It doesn't matter
what it is, she can choose whatever it was. She
was doing gymnastics, she's decided that that is not what
she wants to do, and she is enjoying swimming enough,
so she's like happy to kind of do that once
(09:44):
a week. But yeah, it is Simon, as you said,
like you have to be able to respond to each
child and encourage them in the different ways and recognize
where they feel uncomfortable and try and support them through
those uncomfortable situations which inevitably arise throughout life.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Just going back a second, you said you were naturally
really competitive, but for you growing up, and did you
start swimming straight away or did you have a full
range of things and were you kind of pushed to
be competitive or is that you know. I've got kids
all about the same age too, and I find that
fascinating how to get them to be competitive. But did
(10:26):
that just come naturally to you?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Well, so I'm the youngest of four kids. So I
grew up.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
In North Queensland, in Townsville, and so wherever my older
siblings were going, I was kind of there. And we
were at the pool a lot because it's obviously very
hot up in Townsville.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So I learned to swim really young.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
I was probably about one when I learned to swim,
and only about four when I joined my first club,
purely because my siblings were there already and I was
apparently part killing annoying if I wasn't able to race myself.
So once I had one race. I was stoked and
kind of happy to be there, but otherwise I was
pretty annoying apparently, But for me getting to compete at
(11:13):
club night, like as soon as that whistle went for
me to go for my race, Like, I just absolutely
fell in love with swimming, you know, whether it was
actually racing or just being in the water, I just
loved everything about it. But to your point, Lockie, like
I absolutely did every sport I could get my hands
(11:34):
on growing up, and I think that was one of
the most amazing things that my mum was able to
give me was access to as many sports as possible.
So I was doing tennis, and I did gymnastics and athletics,
and when I moved into high school I started doing
rowing and touch footy and all of these different things.
(11:54):
All through high school I was doing multiple sports. I
was probably doing about two to three sports a year,
including swimming, and that went all the way through up
until grade twelve. And I remember in grade twelve that
was the first year that I'd made an Australian junior
team for swimming, and I had been invited to go
(12:15):
to a particular sprint camp with a bunch of other
young female sprinters, and I had to make the decision
between competing for my school at GPS running athletics and
going to this camp, And obviously I chose the camp
because it was such an amazing opportunity. But you know,
all the way through school, I was doing multiple sports,
(12:36):
and I think again, there's that kind of misconception that
you need to specialize really young in sport to be
one of the best, and that just time and time again,
like the more athletes that I've spoken to, the more
that you realize how broad their kind of experience with
sports and actually learning skills in different movement is so valuable.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
One of the reasons I think I was really good
at swimming is because I did gymnastics at a young
age and got strong and flexible, which just contributed to
my swimming in.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Such valuable ways.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
But yeah, to your point again, there's something very innate
for those really high performers. You know, I'm sure you
guys can speak to your own experiences. I mean that
would be so interesting to understand, Like, were you guys
singing and dancing and performing at a really young age.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
No, I wasn't. That's my point.
Speaker 8 (13:34):
That's really interesting yeah, and well, yeah, I mean that
is quite interesting because and it wasn't really encouraged, but
I guess it found me anyway because it's innately who
I am.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And so that's also what we're talking about. If there's
something you're going to do in life, then it will
probably find you and maybe you know, so as parents
we probably can allow that to be as well. And
like you're saying, you can achieve that from doing a
multiple different things, whether it's all sports plus arts plus singing,
whatever it is, you'll find your place and your way
(14:07):
just by giving all that experience. Because in my head,
knowing what you've achieved in your life, in your swimming career,
I think all you did from the young age was
swim ye yes, because of how how can you achieve that?
So that's a very different way of thinking to make
sure as parents would give our children a really well
rounded idea of sports and arts and all kinds of
(14:28):
things to get them to try out because they're going
to benefit each other.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Yes, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
And you know, talking about Bronti and I'm you know,
in inverted coom is forcing her to do some sport.
I'm also forcing my older girls to do music because
I think that again activates things in their brains and
makes them think differently and exposes them and as importantly
makes you realize what you do and don't want to
(14:54):
do right, like if you don't like you know, my
mum maybe played piano when I was like seven. I
absolutely hated it. I had to do one as Dedford.
I completely stuffed up the start of it. I felt
so embarrassed and I never wanted to do it again,
and I never did.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
But it was a great experience.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
For me to understand more about myself. And I think
when we are more exposed to different opportunities, the thing
that really lights us up and that makes us passionate
and excited finds us. And I was super lucky that
I found swimming at such a young age. You know,
that was absolutely the thing that lit me up from
(15:36):
the very very beginning. We always talk about swimming being
my first love. But the thing is we don't have
to take it so seriously at such a young age.
There's so much time for us to be serious about
competition and life as we get older that like, let
(15:57):
kids be kids, Let's give them that access, Let's give
them the opportunities to compete. Maybe they find out that
competing is not for them, and that's cool. How do we,
you know, support them to have those opportunities. But that's
so interesting someone that you weren't kind of because I
imagine the same for you, like that you were just
shows at.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Home in the very beginning.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, Simon told us the other day he did ballet
when he was about fourteen, didn't you.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I did.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I did do ballet and I still to this day
have no idea why it helped.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
It helped.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, well it helped, it helped. Yeah, maybe my poise,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I love this chat so much, Liby, this is this
is so good. But what are the science to look
out for if it is starting to be too much
for a child in a sport or in an activity.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah, I mean it's such a great question because and
this is so like something that I deal with on
a day to day basis, Like you know, I have,
as I said, I have five kids, all just so
different and their personalities.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
It's so funny because I especially because I.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
Had three girls to start with, I just assumed naively
that they would be all the same. And it's really
quite you know, it's just a cookie cutter and you
just get to parent them all the same way, and
that's just absolutely not the case. And so that's been
a really interesting evolution for me as a parent. But
I think the most important thing that I've learned along
(17:26):
the way.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Is that you have to check in regularly, and I.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
Use behavioral responses as data points for me and I go, oh,
that's interesting, she's really tired, or she says that she
doesn't want to go to This was the situation that
we had with my middle daughter Eddie, after the Matildas
did such an amazing.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Job a couple of years ago in Brisbane. She was
obsessed with soccer.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
She desperately wanted to play it, so we of course
tried to give her the opportunity signed her up and immediately,
basically immediately, she was like, I don't want to go
to training.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
She only cared about doing the game on the weekend.
And I did find it really interesting that at oh gosh,
she would have been five at the time that that
were doing training and games on the weekend, and I
just already thought that was probably too much. So I
had to keep checking in and every training session it
was just like, I don't want to go.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I don't want to do this. I don't want to go.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
And so that became a very obvious point, and you know,
you have that opportunity as a parent to go. Do
I force them through the season, you know, we signed
up for it and try and teach him that resilience
and grip part of it. Or do we just allow
the fact that she's five and that it's okay that
(18:47):
she can say, actually, this isn't for me. And that
was hard because you have to communicate that to the
team and you don't want to let them down, of course,
but yeah, you have to check in constantly with your kids.
And that's certainly becoming more apparent as my children are
getting older and at school and there's more activities and
more homework and more commitments just in general. And I
(19:10):
think again, it was middle of last year and I
had to make the call because I'd just had my
fifth baby, and you know, I was dealing with newborn
life and a husband who works away four days a week,
and so I had to make the call and say,
I can't get you to school early enough to do
these like dance troop sessions, and I had to make
(19:32):
the call as the parent and say, we can't do
that as a family right now. And so it's that
constant give and take of understanding where your child is
at the time and their development. Is it a matter
of pushing through and teaching them that grit, which I
had to do with my oldest daughter recently because she's
got on the touch footy team for school and then
(19:53):
decided that she didn't want to do it anymore. And
I said, actually, is this just anxiety? Is this just
you saying that you don't want to do it because
it's new and you're feeling like a little bit behind,
which I suspect it was. We're still working through that,
so I'll keep you both. But it's that constant check
in and that constant conversation around how they're feeling, observing
(20:17):
their behaviors, are they sleeping well, I don't think there's
any magic bullet and understanding fully if they're ready for things.
But it's just that constant check in, constant gathering of
like data and information about each child and understanding when
to push and when to kind of just hold them.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, it is tricky, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Because every child is different, like you're saying, and you're
experiencing that firsthand with five of them, are all seemed
very different.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
But I wonder, is.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
There an age where competitive sport is right for child?
I know it varies, but that organized competitive sport like
you're experiencing ash my little boys five, he just wants
to play and have fun, which he just want to
do the game on the weekend. He wouldn't want to
do the training because it'd feel too much like work
and competition, I think, But.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Yeah, is there an age? Is there a kind of
sweet spot?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
I think again it depends on the child and really
trying to understand them as a human being because they
are also individual. My seven year old or so she's
eight now, my eight year old, she again just wants
to compete.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
That it's all she wants to do.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
She's kind of starting to make the connection that if
she trains, then she gets to compete even better and
faster and gets to do more tricks because she loves gymnastics.
Whereas my oldest daughter, we're really just gently exposing her
to more types of competitions. You know, it started with
school competitions and then it's just moved ever so slightly
(21:55):
outside of that bubble and we're just continuing to see
what her limits are and where, you know, push those boundaries.
I guess what we do know, Like we see in
the research that in Australia there's about seventy percent of
kids at the age of twelve who are involved in sport,
and by the age of twenty we see that number
(22:16):
drop down to just twenty percent of people participating in sports.
So we know for a fact that there is a
huge participation drop off in sport, usually around the age
of thirteen and fourteen. And we also know that girls
are overrepresented in that number, and we want to look
at that information and understand it and understand that research
(22:38):
to see what bits and pieces are contributing to that
drop off. So we know that definitely putting too much
pressure on kids and getting them to specialize too early
is a massive reason that kids are dropping out. We
know that accessibility and cost is a huge thing inclusivity,
(22:59):
So having opportunities for kids who might be disabled or
you know, have different challenges allowing access for them. We
know that uniforms for young girls who might be you know,
starting to get their period and not wanting to wear
all white pants is something that's really important, and there
are a number of sports that are making those changes
(23:20):
to make girls feel more comfortable, which is wonderful. But
certainly the biggest ones that we see is that hyper
competitiveness from too young an age, you know, ranking from
the age of ten and not, you know, them funneling
them into different levels of teams, whereas most.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Kids just want to go and play with their friends.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
You know, even at ten, eleven, twelve, they're just wanting
to be there with their friends.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
So allowing that, allowing that there.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Is a kind of a participation track that people can
go down, would be wonderful. But also parents' behavior on
the sidelines, there's a massive one. Parents just yelling at
their children. Either what they think in their mind is feedback,
but actually it's just aggressive yelling from the sideline. And yeah,
(24:09):
again we're trying to educate people that that is not
going to lead to the outcome that you hope it.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Will physically for kids and their bodies. Is that another
reason why trying everything is a really good idea. Is
there an age where they physically should then start I
(24:37):
suppose it's linked to then concentrate on one.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
I honestly lucky.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I just think all through school allow kids to play
as many sports as possible. I don't think any child,
whether they think or are showing potential that they could
be the next Arian Tipmas or you know, kids don't
care for me in the swimming sense, so you know,
(25:04):
it's always all about Emma McKeon or Mole O'Callahan.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
In our household. So but yes, even if they are
showing those signs during school, I.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Just would almost intentionally hold them back from you know,
not saying that they don't compete at nationals and they
don't try and you know make junior teams or even
make the Australian team. That's great, but I would honestly
just allow them to experience as many sports as possible.
(25:35):
And I think that's really important, not just mentally, I
think that's a really important part of it. But we
know physically that so many kids are getting repetitive stress
injuries from a really young age. You know, they're getting
shin splints and the amount of like acls being torn,
particularly in young women, is like unbelievable, and we're trying
(25:57):
to understand what is contributing to that, but certainly early
specialization is playing a massive role in physically how our
kids are developing. And I just think if we're able
to allow them the space to learn different skills and
develop their body in loads of different ways, that's going
(26:18):
to make them a much more well rounded athlete and
will actually if they do decide to take it to
the next level once they're kind of through school, then
you know that's going to serve them really well for
the long term physicality of their sport.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yea, yeah, you can always put on a pair of
tights at the age of fourteen and head to the
local ballet school as well.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
You know, totally.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
But my boys did that up be Stokes?
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Yeah? Absolutely, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
You know, parents on the sideline though, that is a
whole different ballgame, isn't you know? Recently I was at
a park and they'll play. I didn't know anyone playing,
and they're about twelve years old, and the boy was
crying and I heard his father say to the boy,
don't you ever cry again just because you lost. I thought, wow,
what impact is that having on the child? Because it
doesn't actually relate to sporting me, And that's a whole
(27:08):
bigger issue that this child is going to have to
contend with in life because of that kind of attitude
from a parents. And I don't want to be negative
towards a parent. We all deal with things in different ways,
but that really struck a chord with me as a
really tricky thing for that child to navigate through life
with that kind of mentality.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
Yeah, I mean, you're being very kind. I judge everyone.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
I'm just mostly we've all kind of grown up with
that expectation and roles and gender stereotypes, and I just
think it's so important to be able to be more
open minded again about what empathy is, and what kindness is,
and what masculinity and femininity is. And you know, I
(27:54):
grew up as an incredibly tom boyish girl, and you know,
I loved sport. I preferred playing with boys. I thought
they were more simple and a little less complicated at
that young age.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And obviously, like.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
We grow and we evolve, and you know, I have
the most wonderful village of women now, but like back
in the day, it was just like boys, just a
little less complicated. In my opinion, we just got to
run and play sports and that was really fun. There
is still that expectation that young boys can't express sadness
or feelings or we've been talking about this recently on
(28:35):
our podcast, that particularly women, but I think everyone needs
to have those spaces that they can express anger because
anger is a normal emotion and we need to be
able to express that in a positive way where it
moves through our body rather than you know, get stuck
and then become bitter and resentful and judgmental like maybe
(28:58):
I do sometimes, and we need to do that in
a positive way. You know, we saw Coco GoF at
the Australian Open this year smashing a tennis racket in
the back where she thought there wasn't any cameras, and
I think people were really quite judgmental about her being frustrated.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
And it's like, no, she's put everything on the line here.
Speaker 6 (29:20):
She has trained her butt off for who knows how long,
and she's moved through the stages and she's angry, and
that is okay. She's angry either because she didn't think
that she performed, she didn't execute on what her level
could be. Perhaps there's so many reasons why you can
be angry in those situations, and she tried to do
(29:41):
it in a respectful way. You know, she talked about
how she did that on the court one day and
she was really disappointed in herself. So she's made a
conscious decision to go to a place that she thought
was private and to express and move through that anger
in a way that was not going to affect anybody else.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
And that was a private moment.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
And I actually think having us having as you know, spectators,
having access to that, I mean, it's one of the
reasons I absolutely bloody love sports documentaries and the access
that we get to these athletes now is so cool.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
But I digress.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
I just think that is such a beautiful way to
show someone moving through that anger and in a really positive,
not harmful to other people way. So yeah, it's an
interesting thing that I think we're kind of navigating. I
think as parents of a certain age, and yeah, we
want to be able to show you our kids that
(30:39):
they can express anger and disappointment, and this is again
one of the beauties.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Of being involved in sport.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
But when the parent comes in over the top and says,
you can't be upset that your team lost, I mean,
that's just yeah, that's going to build up someone who
becomes emotionally stunted and isn't able to navigate those big
emotions as adults.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
We've fascinating weekends of cricket lately. We've just started under
under elevens have it's the first year that can get out.
When you're out, you're out, and it's just fascinating watching
all the boys. They get really upset and they've had
to happened all season because it's just such a last season.
They added their twenty balls and they come off and
(31:24):
retire and it's really interesting. What what to do. I
leave it for a few minutes. I watch what Jasper
does and sometimes are throwing the battles, so something happens.
It is our little world. And then I go over
in time and just sit down and have a chat
with him. And mostly he's been really good this season,
which has surprised me a bit because it's just so
(31:45):
hard for them.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
They're navigating huge emotions, right, and especially when it's gone
from being able to play as many balls as they're
allowed and then having the opportunity to get out. And yeah,
I keep saying this to my oldest daughter, like she's
practice pancake. I don't know what I'm doing with her. Like,
even though I've been a parent for almost eleven years now, right,
(32:08):
I'm learning every step of the way how to parent
a nine year old, ten year old. She's about to
turn eleven, so almost eleven year old. Like, you're constantly learning.
And I think it's.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
Okay to say that to your kids.
Speaker 6 (32:22):
And I think it's okay to kind of communicate that
and go, hey, I'm working this out just as much
as you're working this out. And I actually think that's
a really wonderful way to connect with our children because
it shows them that we're not perfect, and we're able
to ask for help and we're able to work things
out on the fly and go, hey, actually that didn't work,
(32:44):
or the way that you responded in this situation didn't
suit me, or the way that I wanted you to
kind of talk to me about it, and allowing them
to give you that feedback, which can be really confronting
the time sometimes that I'm like, I love that you're
giving me feedback, but not all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Oh that's funny.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
And I think is it important not to always when
we talk to our children, not always focus on the
results in the way we talk to them, which is
probably what you're talking about too.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Lucky.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You know, when your child gets out, that's a finite thing,
but you could still talk about that shot that your
child made that you know, actually talk about the positives
within the game that they played.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
Absolutely, And I think it's really important to acknowledge how
they're feeling.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
Obviously, that's a kind of the first step.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I totally get it, like that's really that's a bummer,
Like I understand that and not try and yes, oh
it's fine, you're fine, it's everything's great, Like you're able
to sit with them in that sadness or frustration or
whatever it might be.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
But then, yeah, exactly, Simon. I think then you kind
of go, oh.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
But how did you feel when you walked out onto
the pitch, or how did you feel, you know, when
you hit that great ball, or how did you feel
putting your goggles on behind the blocks, or how did
you feel my yeah again, my eight year old, she
talks about it really nicely.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
She got a leotad for the first.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
Time to compete for gymnastics, and she's very expressive. Sometimes
she just keeps talking, but very in touch with her
emotions and she's like, oh, I just felt so good
pulling on this uniform, and I'm like, that's awesome, mate.
Like it doesn't matter what she goes and does over
(34:36):
the weekend at the competition, but she felt so proud
that she just got.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
To pull on the uniform.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
And like, they're the things that we need to highlight
and ultimately more than anything as parents, once we you know,
have seen them compete, you know, we don't have to
give them feedback or you know, critique them or tell
them how they can improve on nless they're like specifically.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Asking for that advice.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
The only thing that we as parents need to say
is I loved watching you play, like I loved watching
you race. I loved seeing you light up when you
walked out onto the field. Like that's the stuff for
our kids that we need to kind of really highlight
more than anything, because you know, I know how hard
it is like for me watching my kids swim, I
(35:27):
could bloody give them a whole like portfolio of information
of proof, and I have to really push that down
inside because I know that that's not what they need
right now, That's not how they wanted to connect with me.
They just want to know that I was there that
you know, I can give them a little thumbs up
(35:47):
from the sideline, and you know that.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
I just love watching them do their own thing.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Like it's not about me wanting them to be an
Olympian or wanting to win or anything like that. It's
just I get to connect with them in their passions
where they're at at that time.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
How did you feel is a great way to frame
a question. It's a really good starting point I think
for any parent when they wanted to talk to their child.
And I guess that then gives you an understanding if,
like we spoke about earlier, if your child is not
really responding well to that sport anymore, you'll actually have
all that sort of like you talked about as well,
that data built up to go, Okay, I think this
(36:26):
is not just because I'm feeling scared or nervous. This
is actually something where they really don't want to be
involved in this anymore, and we won't push them to
go down that road anymore. We'll find something else.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
You create a better idea of who they are as people,
rather than projecting onto them what we kind of want
our hopes and dreams, because I think, you know, every
parent has an idea of the things that they would
like their kids to be interested in, because we have
passions and we have things that we love and we
would love to be able to share that with our kids.
(36:59):
But what is even more fulfilling as a parent for
me is to see them be their own humans. Like
it just it blows my mind that they are an
actual human in tiny, tiny forms and they get to
grow and evolve and discover their own interests, you know.
(37:22):
Again coming back to my middle girl, she Bronti is
just she loves to read, and I just that wasn't
my experience at school. Like I really didn't enjoy school.
I found it quite difficult. I thought I was dumb
for a really long time. Whereas I can see her
grow and develop and not that she loves school because
(37:43):
she's only in grade one and she's still kind of
getting comfortable in her skin at school, I think. But
now that she's really starting to get into reading, you
can see her start to form ideas of her own
and it's just so fascinating to watch. And I think
that sense of curiosity as parents is just the best
(38:04):
thing that you can kind of approach parenting with.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Schools getting better at it too. I just started Schools Experiences.
We started a new school too for Jasper. But I
love that they just get the whole variety of sports.
Speaker 6 (38:17):
Yes, and honestly, Luckie, that's a hill I'm going to
die on, is bring back winter and summer sports, because
so many sports these days, you know, there's twilight seasons
and rep seasons and you know, I mean swimming is
definitely guilty of it, like encouraging kids to swim all
year round. And I just think we need to bring
(38:38):
back winter and summer sports. And so you know, cricket
has played over summer, and soccer is over winter. Same
with netball and athletics and all of those sorts of things.
Speaker 5 (38:48):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
I know the school that my kids are out, they're
so encouraging of kids to participate in as many sports
as possible, and they're wanting to field as many teams
for the kids that are interested. It doesn't matter if
you've never played before, it doesn't matter what your skill
set is at They're trying to cater for every kid
(39:09):
who wants.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
To be involved. And I just really love that concept.
Speaker 6 (39:14):
Because I think for a very long time, particularly with
private schools, there was that sense of you know, that
high performance, you want to get a scholarship, and again
that contributes to that pressure cooker environment for kids in it.
I really think it kind of hampens their ability to
stay engaged and in love with the sport because it
(39:35):
just becomes too much, especially when you know, school starts
to get more serious and you know there's more pressure
socially and not even mentioning you know, smartphones or you know,
internet and social media and all of those different things
that they will start having all of their kind of
attention pulled towards.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
So yeah, I do feel like schools are doing better.
Speaker 6 (39:59):
I think there's still an opportunity to expand on that
more broadly. But I also think we should bring back
ball sports, Like why isn't that a thing anymore?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Tunnel bal, European handballs, loved, European handble.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
European handble is that.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
What it's like soccer but in an indoor court. The
goals one of the great games.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
European hand it's a little of all okay.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
And you're like soccer but with your hands and you
throw it and you.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
Have teams, we we.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But sport does give that, you know, which is what
we want for our children, that sense of inclusion and belonging.
And I know that's what you talk a lot about
on your podcast. Sports is play well and so that
that's really what the foundation of all this is with
what we're trying to talk about today and why sport
is so important in our lives and our families lives
as parents remove ourselves from it, our children to be children,
(41:01):
to play sport and get that sense of belonging which
sport offers.
Speaker 6 (41:05):
Oh absolutely, And you know it's not just about our kids.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Again.
Speaker 6 (41:11):
Being my sister in Laura and I Georgie, you know,
we're women in our forties, we've finished having kids.
Speaker 5 (41:18):
We're wanting to reconnect to sport.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
And I think if we have that foundation and we're
able to provide that foundation for our kids to create
that lifelong love of sport, then when you get to
your forties, you're more likely to go and try something new.
You're more likely to go and reconnect with the things
that you love. And you know, maybe I.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Don't know if you guys feel this way.
Speaker 6 (41:42):
But you know you need to start to get a
bit more sore and your back blows up and you're
trying to you know, manage things physically. So we're trying
to find new ways to connect with our bodies, to
connect with our friends socially. And I think that if
you can create that platform for kids to really engage
with it and fall in love with sport at whatever level,
(42:03):
and it might be you know, umpiring, or it might
be sports administration or coaching and volunteering, like, there are
so many wonderful ways that we can connect with sport.
And yeah, that's what we're really passionate about, is creating
that lifelong love at whatever level, in whatever way. Yeah,
it's a really positive thing.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Awesome, Thank you Livy so much, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
Thank you so much for having me. This is such
a thrill.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
We could chat with you all day.
Speaker 6 (42:31):
I've been saying I want to know everything about the Wiggles.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
We moneed a couple of days. Yeah, but so great
to chat with your Livy. You know you've achieved so
much in the sporting field and obviously achieving incredible things
as a mum as well.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
So you're a great mum.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So well done, well done on well done on life.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Well right back at you guys, Thank.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
You, thank you Livy. That was a great chat somewhere.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
Yeah, really great sport is great.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Sport is great, and you know what, you know, Livy
achieved like you said, point zero zero zero zero zero
three percent, Like as an elite athlete, the highest achievement
you possibly have sport winning gold medals for your country.
But to look at sport in that real kind of
whole way that only a few of us are going
to achieve that elite level, but there is so much
(43:28):
enjoyment you can get from sport. And as parents, we
need to remove ourselves a little bit from that our
own competitiveness and wanting to you know.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Live your life through your child or whatever.
Speaker 5 (43:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
They people haven't talked about that where you didn't achieve
things so you're trying to push your child in a
certain direction. But we just need to children be children
and let them find it and give them options without
giving them too much to do. Yes, yes, yeah, but
so maybe it's not about doing all different sports within
(44:01):
a week. It's for a couple of years, you do
cricket and then maybe you try something else or yeah,
you know, instead of trying to do it all at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, I still think I'm going to make the Australian
Open tennis one year.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
But yeah, well I think I think you can do it.
I always thought because I love golf, yeah that I
joined the seniors tour.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
Yes, well I'm almost too old.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
There's some good money on the tour. Would have to
just have to beat.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Not about the money, that love for the sports, you tiger.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
You could get there with your swing.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Yeah, well I think I left it too late. People
ask me how long will you be a wiggle for?
And I said, well, as long as my knees hold out.
I've had one fixed.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Hold on to the other one. Please for all our sakes. Look,
that's it for wiggle Talk today. Thank you for Libby
Cricket for joining us. Now, if you'd like to hear
more from Libby, you can check out her podcast Sportish
and there is a link in our shown And.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
If you know another parent who'd enjoy the conversation, send
it their way. And if you haven't already, just give
us a quick rating interview.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
You know it really helps.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Thanks for listening to wiggle Talk. It is a podcast
for parents, sure is.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
Thanks Bye bye
The Wiggles acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia
and their connections to land, see and community. We pay
our respects to elders, past, present and emerging.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Welcome to Wiggle Talk, a podcast for parents. I'm Simon Price.
I wear the color red in the Wiggles.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I'm Lachland Gillespie and I wear the color purple
the Wiggles.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Yes, the color purple. That was a moody, wasn't it. Yes?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
And a musical Yes, it's Fantasia, I think on Broadway.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Really we're not talking about that today, are.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We We're not. We're talking about sports, yes, And we've
got Olympic champion Libby Trickett and she's going to talk
all about her children, all about sport and what it
can give to children and how to keep it positive
from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Because for a lot of families, sports starts out as
something very simple, a Saturday morning game, a lesson after
school away which we need at home, is to burn
some energy and then before you know it starts to
feel a lot bigger. There can be pressure, comparisons, big
emotions on the sidelines, and that constant question in the
background of whether our children are actually enjoying it or
(01:12):
whether we've made it a little bit too serious.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
This will be great. Libby won seven Olympic gold medals,
including four gold, and since retiring from Elite sport, she's
become a familiar voice in conversations about sport, pressure, participation,
and family life.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Libby now co hosts Sportish with Georgie Trickett, a weekly
podcast about sport through a more inclusive lens.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
So today we're talking about what we actually want children
to get out of sport, our parents can help shape
a healthy experience from the sidelines, and how we keep
sport feeling like a place of joy, confidence and connection
rather than piling up on all the pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So let's get right into it right now. No pressure, Nope,
Libby Triket welcome, do wegal talk.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
It's such a thrill to be here, and of course
I have to the obligatory. My kids are just absolutely
dying at the fact that I'm getting to talk to
you today, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, we're very excited to talk to you. Before we
get it. How many children do you have?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Now?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I have.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
I have wait, one.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Must be quite a few. That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
We are coming to Brisbane in June. If you'd like
to come to the shows, you are more than welcome
to you.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
So, you know what's so interesting to me because I
thought the Wiggles, you guys, obviously I'm talking to you.
I thought you had a sweet spot of like maybe
two to five. My ten year old still loves you, guys,
and she's still so engaged with everything. She still wants
to dress up. So if you ever want to make
(02:45):
bigger sizes of the merch, yeh, copy will absolutely love to.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh that's pretty well, you all have to come along
to the show then that'd be great.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
We'd love to see you there. Is that?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Because do you think she connects with the younger girls
now the group with Luch and Sahai.
Speaker 6 (03:01):
And absolutely I think that's a big part of it
for sure. I funnily enough, remember at twelve, so the
original original Wiggles, yes, who you know? My favorite was
Greg no offense Anthony obviously loved Anthony as well, obviously,
but I remember the Wiggles movie coming out and I
(03:23):
watched that on repeat at about twelve, which is just
weird to think now, But yeah, it's so funny to
now see her be in that phase as well. But
I think, yeah, I mean, I have loved seeing the
kind of evolution of you all and bringing in the
younger females and obviously Big Strong John.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
My boys love Big Strong John.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
All of them kind of connect to it in different
ways at different stages, and it's been really cool to
kind of see that, which is weird thinking that I'm
forty one now and you know, watch the original version
of the Wiggles and then to see them and continue
to enjoy it.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It's Yeah, it's really beautiful.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Actually, that's lovely.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Big Strong John was just in here, just.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Between us. He looks much bigger on television.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
It's adding suits and AI and things like that.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
There's no competitive purpleness here at all.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
It's not a competitive sport here.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But we are talking about sport today. You have experienced
sport at the highest of levels and now kind of
looking at it through the lens of being a parent too.
Has that changed the way you think about what sports
should give children.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Yeah, it's been a really interesting kind of progression for
me as well, because I think when I very first started,
like I was one of those kids who was just
obsessive competition. So I can see how that happened. And
that's that's why when I talk to parents about their
kids participating in sport, it's so important for me to
(05:05):
communicate the fact that if your child will want to
be an elite athlete, they will like that is just
going to happen because of the type of human that
they are. And yes, we can help around the edges,
and that's really great, and you know, you want to
support your child's interests for sure. But what I want
to see with my kids for sure, but you know
(05:27):
with the general population as well, is just being so
much more relaxed and it being so much more around
participation because I think if we give more access to
more kids, take the pressure out, allow it to be
really fun and inclusive, then we're going to see more
kids involved for longer, which gives more children the opportunity
(05:50):
that if they want to take it to the next level,
they absolutely have that opportunity. But what we're seeing is
that kids are specializing too early. The pressure and the
intent and joining academies and the cost, like all of
these things are creating barriers to kids not only participating
in sport, in the first place, but then creating that
lifelong love of it.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
And so, yeah, I guess that's why we created.
Speaker 6 (06:15):
This podcast, is to change those conversations around sport and
what it is and what the actual value of it is,
because we know so few people actually become elite athletes,
Like it's like zero point zero zero zero zero three
percent of the population an olympian or an elite athlete.
But we can all have that beautiful connection to movement
(06:38):
and sport and social connections and obviously the physical and
mental health benefits of participating in organized sport.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So I guess then it starts to rely on us
as parents to see those cues from your children about
which direction they want to take it in and not
to force that competitiveness on your child if it's something
isn't coming naturally to them at the time. And you're
saying just that engagement, the enjoyment, the fulfillment of playing sport,
either whether it's an individual sport or a team sport,
(07:08):
is the most important thing to encourage, is that what
you would kind of say?
Speaker 6 (07:13):
Yeah, absolutely, And it's been interesting because you know, the
more that I've sort of spoken around sport and early
specialization and personal best times and what those mean. A
lot of people resonate with that and appreciate kind of
someone who has been an elite athlete talking about it
in those terms.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
But then there's always, inevitably the people who are.
Speaker 7 (07:36):
Like, oh, you know, pbs are really important to talk
about setting goals, and it's like cool, of course, like yes,
we want to teach our children to be able to
set goals and create that grit and resilience, which again
sport can give those opportunities to do for sure, but
it's just taking.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
That intensity out of it.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
And again, like I have already five very different children,
but just talking about my three older girls. Poppy, my oldest,
she loves swimming, but she's a bit anxious, so we
have to really kind of talk to her about trying
new things and putting herself into uncomfortable situations, and we
talk really specifically and consistently about those sorts of things,
(08:21):
and she's starting to make the connection that even though
she does feel anxious or she does feel nervous, that
she can move herself through that and once she's actually
done the thing, she feels so good and we talk
really openly about that.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Then I have my middle.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
Daughter, Eddie, who is like froths on competition, Like she
is just all about it. She is so amped. She
wants to know her PBS. She wants to know what
competition she can go and do, and she's doing all
different sorts of sports. And then there's my third girl
and my middle child, Bronte, who is just so unbelievably creative,
(09:03):
which I just do not understand. I don't have a
creative bone in my body. Like, she wants to make
things and draw things and paint and build like. She's
a really fascinating human and has almost zero interest in
sport whatsoever. So I'm trying to find things that can
engage with her. And yes, it kind of requires me
(09:24):
forcing in adverted commas her to get her body moving.
I've kind of made a rule for her that she
just has to choose one sport whatever. It doesn't matter
what it is, she can choose whatever it was. She
was doing gymnastics, she's decided that that is not what
she wants to do, and she is enjoying swimming enough,
so she's like happy to kind of do that once
(09:44):
a week. But yeah, it is Simon, as you said,
like you have to be able to respond to each
child and encourage them in the different ways and recognize
where they feel uncomfortable and try and support them through
those uncomfortable situations which inevitably arise throughout life.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Just going back a second, you said you were naturally
really competitive, but for you growing up, and did you
start swimming straight away or did you have a full
range of things and were you kind of pushed to
be competitive or is that you know. I've got kids
all about the same age too, and I find that
fascinating how to get them to be competitive. But did
(10:26):
that just come naturally to you?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Well, so I'm the youngest of four kids. So I
grew up.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
In North Queensland, in Townsville, and so wherever my older
siblings were going, I was kind of there. And we
were at the pool a lot because it's obviously very
hot up in Townsville.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
So I learned to swim really young.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
I was probably about one when I learned to swim,
and only about four when I joined my first club,
purely because my siblings were there already and I was
apparently part killing annoying if I wasn't able to race myself.
So once I had one race. I was stoked and
kind of happy to be there, but otherwise I was
pretty annoying apparently, But for me getting to compete at
(11:13):
club night, like as soon as that whistle went for
me to go for my race, Like, I just absolutely
fell in love with swimming, you know, whether it was
actually racing or just being in the water, I just
loved everything about it. But to your point, Lockie, like
I absolutely did every sport I could get my hands
(11:34):
on growing up, and I think that was one of
the most amazing things that my mum was able to
give me was access to as many sports as possible.
So I was doing tennis, and I did gymnastics and athletics,
and when I moved into high school I started doing
rowing and touch footy and all of these different things.
(11:54):
All through high school I was doing multiple sports. I
was probably doing about two to three sports a year,
including swimming, and that went all the way through up
until grade twelve. And I remember in grade twelve that
was the first year that I'd made an Australian junior
team for swimming, and I had been invited to go
(12:15):
to a particular sprint camp with a bunch of other
young female sprinters, and I had to make the decision
between competing for my school at GPS running athletics and
going to this camp, And obviously I chose the camp
because it was such an amazing opportunity. But you know,
all the way through school, I was doing multiple sports,
(12:36):
and I think again, there's that kind of misconception that
you need to specialize really young in sport to be
one of the best, and that just time and time again,
like the more athletes that I've spoken to, the more
that you realize how broad their kind of experience with
sports and actually learning skills in different movement is so valuable.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
You know.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
One of the reasons I think I was really good
at swimming is because I did gymnastics at a young
age and got strong and flexible, which just contributed to
my swimming in.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Such valuable ways.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
But yeah, to your point again, there's something very innate
for those really high performers. You know, I'm sure you
guys can speak to your own experiences. I mean that
would be so interesting to understand, Like, were you guys
singing and dancing and performing at a really young age.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
No, I wasn't. That's my point.
Speaker 8 (13:34):
That's really interesting yeah, and well, yeah, I mean that
is quite interesting because and it wasn't really encouraged, but
I guess it found me anyway because it's innately who
I am.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
And so that's also what we're talking about. If there's
something you're going to do in life, then it will
probably find you and maybe you know, so as parents
we probably can allow that to be as well. And
like you're saying, you can achieve that from doing a
multiple different things, whether it's all sports plus arts plus singing,
whatever it is, you'll find your place and your way
(14:07):
just by giving all that experience. Because in my head,
knowing what you've achieved in your life, in your swimming career,
I think all you did from the young age was
swim ye yes, because of how how can you achieve that?
So that's a very different way of thinking to make
sure as parents would give our children a really well
rounded idea of sports and arts and all kinds of
(14:28):
things to get them to try out because they're going
to benefit each other.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Yes, I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
And you know, talking about Bronti and I'm you know,
in inverted coom is forcing her to do some sport.
I'm also forcing my older girls to do music because
I think that again activates things in their brains and
makes them think differently and exposes them and as importantly
makes you realize what you do and don't want to
(14:54):
do right, like if you don't like you know, my
mum maybe played piano when I was like seven. I
absolutely hated it. I had to do one as Dedford.
I completely stuffed up the start of it. I felt
so embarrassed and I never wanted to do it again,
and I never did.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
But it was a great experience.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
For me to understand more about myself. And I think
when we are more exposed to different opportunities, the thing
that really lights us up and that makes us passionate
and excited finds us. And I was super lucky that
I found swimming at such a young age. You know,
that was absolutely the thing that lit me up from
(15:36):
the very very beginning. We always talk about swimming being
my first love. But the thing is we don't have
to take it so seriously at such a young age.
There's so much time for us to be serious about
competition and life as we get older that like, let
(15:57):
kids be kids, Let's give them that access, Let's give
them the opportunities to compete. Maybe they find out that
competing is not for them, and that's cool. How do we,
you know, support them to have those opportunities. But that's
so interesting someone that you weren't kind of because I
imagine the same for you, like that you were just
shows at.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Home in the very beginning.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Yeah, Simon told us the other day he did ballet
when he was about fourteen, didn't you.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
I did.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I did do ballet and I still to this day
have no idea why it helped.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
It helped.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, well it helped, it helped. Yeah, maybe my poise,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I love this chat so much, Liby, this is this
is so good. But what are the science to look
out for if it is starting to be too much
for a child in a sport or in an activity.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah, I mean it's such a great question because and
this is so like something that I deal with on
a day to day basis, Like you know, I have,
as I said, I have five kids, all just so
different and their personalities.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
It's so funny because I especially because I.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
Had three girls to start with, I just assumed naively
that they would be all the same. And it's really
quite you know, it's just a cookie cutter and you
just get to parent them all the same way, and
that's just absolutely not the case. And so that's been
a really interesting evolution for me as a parent. But
I think the most important thing that I've learned along
(17:26):
the way.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Is that you have to check in regularly, and I.
Speaker 6 (17:30):
Use behavioral responses as data points for me and I go, oh,
that's interesting, she's really tired, or she says that she
doesn't want to go to This was the situation that
we had with my middle daughter Eddie, after the Matildas
did such an amazing.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Job a couple of years ago in Brisbane. She was
obsessed with soccer.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
She desperately wanted to play it, so we of course
tried to give her the opportunity signed her up and immediately,
basically immediately, she was like, I don't want to go
to training.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
She only cared about doing the game on the weekend.
And I did find it really interesting that at oh gosh,
she would have been five at the time that that
were doing training and games on the weekend, and I
just already thought that was probably too much. So I
had to keep checking in and every training session it
was just like, I don't want to go.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
I don't want to do this. I don't want to go.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
And so that became a very obvious point, and you know,
you have that opportunity as a parent to go. Do
I force them through the season, you know, we signed
up for it and try and teach him that resilience
and grip part of it. Or do we just allow
the fact that she's five and that it's okay that
(18:47):
she can say, actually, this isn't for me. And that
was hard because you have to communicate that to the
team and you don't want to let them down, of course,
but yeah, you have to check in constantly with your kids.
And that's certainly becoming more apparent as my children are
getting older and at school and there's more activities and
more homework and more commitments just in general. And I
(19:10):
think again, it was middle of last year and I
had to make the call because I'd just had my
fifth baby, and you know, I was dealing with newborn
life and a husband who works away four days a week,
and so I had to make the call and say,
I can't get you to school early enough to do
these like dance troop sessions, and I had to make
(19:32):
the call as the parent and say, we can't do
that as a family right now. And so it's that
constant give and take of understanding where your child is
at the time and their development. Is it a matter
of pushing through and teaching them that grit, which I
had to do with my oldest daughter recently because she's
got on the touch footy team for school and then
(19:53):
decided that she didn't want to do it anymore. And
I said, actually, is this just anxiety? Is this just
you saying that you don't want to do it because
it's new and you're feeling like a little bit behind,
which I suspect it was. We're still working through that,
so I'll keep you both. But it's that constant check
in and that constant conversation around how they're feeling, observing
(20:17):
their behaviors, are they sleeping well, I don't think there's
any magic bullet and understanding fully if they're ready for things.
But it's just that constant check in, constant gathering of
like data and information about each child and understanding when
to push and when to kind of just hold them.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, it is tricky, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Because every child is different, like you're saying, and you're
experiencing that firsthand with five of them, are all seemed
very different.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
But I wonder, is.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
There an age where competitive sport is right for child?
I know it varies, but that organized competitive sport like
you're experiencing ash my little boys five, he just wants
to play and have fun, which he just want to
do the game on the weekend. He wouldn't want to
do the training because it'd feel too much like work
and competition, I think, But.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Yeah, is there an age? Is there a kind of
sweet spot?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Yeah, it's a great question.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
I think again it depends on the child and really
trying to understand them as a human being because they
are also individual. My seven year old or so she's
eight now, my eight year old, she again just wants
to compete.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
That it's all she wants to do.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
She's kind of starting to make the connection that if
she trains, then she gets to compete even better and
faster and gets to do more tricks because she loves gymnastics.
Whereas my oldest daughter, we're really just gently exposing her
to more types of competitions. You know, it started with
school competitions and then it's just moved ever so slightly
(21:55):
outside of that bubble and we're just continuing to see
what her limits are and where, you know, push those boundaries.
I guess what we do know, Like we see in
the research that in Australia there's about seventy percent of
kids at the age of twelve who are involved in sport,
and by the age of twenty we see that number
(22:16):
drop down to just twenty percent of people participating in sports.
So we know for a fact that there is a
huge participation drop off in sport, usually around the age
of thirteen and fourteen. And we also know that girls
are overrepresented in that number, and we want to look
at that information and understand it and understand that research
(22:38):
to see what bits and pieces are contributing to that
drop off. So we know that definitely putting too much
pressure on kids and getting them to specialize too early
is a massive reason that kids are dropping out. We
know that accessibility and cost is a huge thing inclusivity,
(22:59):
So having opportunities for kids who might be disabled or
you know, have different challenges allowing access for them. We
know that uniforms for young girls who might be you know,
starting to get their period and not wanting to wear
all white pants is something that's really important, and there
are a number of sports that are making those changes
(23:20):
to make girls feel more comfortable, which is wonderful. But
certainly the biggest ones that we see is that hyper
competitiveness from too young an age, you know, ranking from
the age of ten and not, you know, them funneling
them into different levels of teams, whereas most.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
Kids just want to go and play with their friends.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
You know, even at ten, eleven, twelve, they're just wanting
to be there with their friends.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
So allowing that, allowing that there.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Is a kind of a participation track that people can
go down, would be wonderful. But also parents' behavior on
the sidelines, there's a massive one. Parents just yelling at
their children. Either what they think in their mind is feedback,
but actually it's just aggressive yelling from the sideline. And yeah,
(24:09):
again we're trying to educate people that that is not
going to lead to the outcome that you hope it.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Will physically for kids and their bodies. Is that another
reason why trying everything is a really good idea. Is
there an age where they physically should then start I
(24:37):
suppose it's linked to then concentrate on one.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
I honestly lucky.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I just think all through school allow kids to play
as many sports as possible. I don't think any child,
whether they think or are showing potential that they could
be the next Arian Tipmas or you know, kids don't
care for me in the swimming sense, so you know,
(25:04):
it's always all about Emma McKeon or Mole O'Callahan.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
In our household. So but yes, even if they are
showing those signs during school, I.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Just would almost intentionally hold them back from you know,
not saying that they don't compete at nationals and they
don't try and you know make junior teams or even
make the Australian team. That's great, but I would honestly
just allow them to experience as many sports as possible.
(25:35):
And I think that's really important, not just mentally, I
think that's a really important part of it. But we
know physically that so many kids are getting repetitive stress
injuries from a really young age. You know, they're getting
shin splints and the amount of like acls being torn,
particularly in young women, is like unbelievable, and we're trying
(25:57):
to understand what is contributing to that, but certainly early
specialization is playing a massive role in physically how our
kids are developing. And I just think if we're able
to allow them the space to learn different skills and
develop their body in loads of different ways, that's going
(26:18):
to make them a much more well rounded athlete and
will actually if they do decide to take it to
the next level once they're kind of through school, then
you know that's going to serve them really well for
the long term physicality of their sport.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yea, yeah, you can always put on a pair of
tights at the age of fourteen and head to the
local ballet school as well.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
You know, totally.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
But my boys did that up be Stokes?
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Yeah? Absolutely, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
You know, parents on the sideline though, that is a
whole different ballgame, isn't you know? Recently I was at
a park and they'll play. I didn't know anyone playing,
and they're about twelve years old, and the boy was
crying and I heard his father say to the boy,
don't you ever cry again just because you lost. I thought, wow,
what impact is that having on the child? Because it
doesn't actually relate to sporting me, And that's a whole
(27:08):
bigger issue that this child is going to have to
contend with in life because of that kind of attitude
from a parents. And I don't want to be negative
towards a parent. We all deal with things in different ways,
but that really struck a chord with me as a
really tricky thing for that child to navigate through life
with that kind of mentality.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
Yeah, I mean, you're being very kind. I judge everyone.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
I'm just mostly we've all kind of grown up with
that expectation and roles and gender stereotypes, and I just
think it's so important to be able to be more
open minded again about what empathy is, and what kindness is,
and what masculinity and femininity is. And you know, I
(27:54):
grew up as an incredibly tom boyish girl, and you know,
I loved sport. I preferred playing with boys. I thought
they were more simple and a little less complicated at
that young age.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
And obviously, like.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
We grow and we evolve, and you know, I have
the most wonderful village of women now, but like back
in the day, it was just like boys, just a
little less complicated. In my opinion, we just got to
run and play sports and that was really fun. There
is still that expectation that young boys can't express sadness
or feelings or we've been talking about this recently on
(28:35):
our podcast, that particularly women, but I think everyone needs
to have those spaces that they can express anger because
anger is a normal emotion and we need to be
able to express that in a positive way where it
moves through our body rather than you know, get stuck
and then become bitter and resentful and judgmental like maybe
(28:58):
I do sometimes, and we need to do that in
a positive way. You know, we saw Coco GoF at
the Australian Open this year smashing a tennis racket in
the back where she thought there wasn't any cameras, and
I think people were really quite judgmental about her being frustrated.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
And it's like, no, she's put everything on the line here.
Speaker 6 (29:20):
She has trained her butt off for who knows how long,
and she's moved through the stages and she's angry, and
that is okay. She's angry either because she didn't think
that she performed, she didn't execute on what her level
could be. Perhaps there's so many reasons why you can
be angry in those situations, and she tried to do
(29:41):
it in a respectful way. You know, she talked about
how she did that on the court one day and
she was really disappointed in herself. So she's made a
conscious decision to go to a place that she thought
was private and to express and move through that anger
in a way that was not going to affect anybody else.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
And that was a private moment.
Speaker 6 (30:04):
And I actually think having us having as you know, spectators,
having access to that, I mean, it's one of the
reasons I absolutely bloody love sports documentaries and the access
that we get to these athletes now is so cool.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
But I digress.
Speaker 6 (30:17):
I just think that is such a beautiful way to
show someone moving through that anger and in a really positive,
not harmful to other people way. So yeah, it's an
interesting thing that I think we're kind of navigating. I
think as parents of a certain age, and yeah, we
want to be able to show you our kids that
(30:39):
they can express anger and disappointment, and this is again
one of the beauties.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Of being involved in sport.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
But when the parent comes in over the top and says,
you can't be upset that your team lost, I mean,
that's just yeah, that's going to build up someone who
becomes emotionally stunted and isn't able to navigate those big
emotions as adults.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
We've fascinating weekends of cricket lately. We've just started under
under elevens have it's the first year that can get out.
When you're out, you're out, and it's just fascinating watching
all the boys. They get really upset and they've had
to happened all season because it's just such a last season.
They added their twenty balls and they come off and
(31:24):
retire and it's really interesting. What what to do. I
leave it for a few minutes. I watch what Jasper
does and sometimes are throwing the battles, so something happens.
It is our little world. And then I go over
in time and just sit down and have a chat
with him. And mostly he's been really good this season,
which has surprised me a bit because it's just so
(31:45):
hard for them.
Speaker 5 (31:45):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6 (31:46):
They're navigating huge emotions, right, and especially when it's gone
from being able to play as many balls as they're
allowed and then having the opportunity to get out. And yeah,
I keep saying this to my oldest daughter, like she's
practice pancake. I don't know what I'm doing with her. Like,
even though I've been a parent for almost eleven years now, right,
(32:08):
I'm learning every step of the way how to parent
a nine year old, ten year old. She's about to
turn eleven, so almost eleven year old. Like, you're constantly learning.
And I think it's.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
Okay to say that to your kids.
Speaker 6 (32:22):
And I think it's okay to kind of communicate that
and go, hey, I'm working this out just as much
as you're working this out. And I actually think that's
a really wonderful way to connect with our children because
it shows them that we're not perfect, and we're able
to ask for help and we're able to work things
out on the fly and go, hey, actually that didn't work,
(32:44):
or the way that you responded in this situation didn't
suit me, or the way that I wanted you to
kind of talk to me about it, and allowing them
to give you that feedback, which can be really confronting
the time sometimes that I'm like, I love that you're
giving me feedback, but not all the time.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Oh that's funny.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
And I think is it important not to always when
we talk to our children, not always focus on the
results in the way we talk to them, which is
probably what you're talking about too.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
Lucky.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
You know, when your child gets out, that's a finite thing,
but you could still talk about that shot that your
child made that you know, actually talk about the positives
within the game that they played.
Speaker 5 (33:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
Absolutely, And I think it's really important to acknowledge how
they're feeling.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
Obviously, that's a kind of the first step.
Speaker 6 (33:37):
I totally get it, like that's really that's a bummer,
Like I understand that and not try and yes, oh
it's fine, you're fine, it's everything's great, Like you're able
to sit with them in that sadness or frustration or
whatever it might be.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
But then, yeah, exactly, Simon. I think then you kind
of go, oh.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
But how did you feel when you walked out onto
the pitch, or how did you feel, you know, when
you hit that great ball, or how did you feel
putting your goggles on behind the blocks, or how did
you feel my yeah again, my eight year old, she
talks about it really nicely.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
She got a leotad for the first.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
Time to compete for gymnastics, and she's very expressive. Sometimes
she just keeps talking, but very in touch with her
emotions and she's like, oh, I just felt so good
pulling on this uniform, and I'm like, that's awesome, mate.
Like it doesn't matter what she goes and does over
(34:36):
the weekend at the competition, but she felt so proud
that she just got.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
To pull on the uniform.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
And like, they're the things that we need to highlight
and ultimately more than anything as parents, once we you know,
have seen them compete, you know, we don't have to
give them feedback or you know, critique them or tell
them how they can improve on nless they're like specifically.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Asking for that advice.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
The only thing that we as parents need to say
is I loved watching you play, like I loved watching
you race. I loved seeing you light up when you
walked out onto the field. Like that's the stuff for
our kids that we need to kind of really highlight
more than anything, because you know, I know how hard
it is like for me watching my kids swim, I
(35:27):
could bloody give them a whole like portfolio of information
of proof, and I have to really push that down
inside because I know that that's not what they need
right now, That's not how they wanted to connect with me.
They just want to know that I was there that
you know, I can give them a little thumbs up
(35:47):
from the sideline, and you know that.
Speaker 5 (35:50):
I just love watching them do their own thing.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
Like it's not about me wanting them to be an
Olympian or wanting to win or anything like that. It's
just I get to connect with them in their passions
where they're at at that time.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
How did you feel is a great way to frame
a question. It's a really good starting point I think
for any parent when they wanted to talk to their child.
And I guess that then gives you an understanding if,
like we spoke about earlier, if your child is not
really responding well to that sport anymore, you'll actually have
all that sort of like you talked about as well,
that data built up to go, Okay, I think this
(36:26):
is not just because I'm feeling scared or nervous. This
is actually something where they really don't want to be
involved in this anymore, and we won't push them to
go down that road anymore. We'll find something else.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that's the thing.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
You create a better idea of who they are as people,
rather than projecting onto them what we kind of want
our hopes and dreams, because I think, you know, every
parent has an idea of the things that they would
like their kids to be interested in, because we have
passions and we have things that we love and we
would love to be able to share that with our kids.
(36:59):
But what is even more fulfilling as a parent for
me is to see them be their own humans. Like
it just it blows my mind that they are an
actual human in tiny, tiny forms and they get to
grow and evolve and discover their own interests, you know.
(37:22):
Again coming back to my middle girl, she Bronti is
just she loves to read, and I just that wasn't
my experience at school. Like I really didn't enjoy school.
I found it quite difficult. I thought I was dumb
for a really long time. Whereas I can see her
grow and develop and not that she loves school because
(37:43):
she's only in grade one and she's still kind of
getting comfortable in her skin at school, I think. But
now that she's really starting to get into reading, you
can see her start to form ideas of her own
and it's just so fascinating to watch. And I think
that sense of curiosity as parents is just the best
(38:04):
thing that you can kind of approach parenting with.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Schools getting better at it too. I just started Schools Experiences.
We started a new school too for Jasper. But I
love that they just get the whole variety of sports.
Speaker 6 (38:17):
Yes, and honestly, Luckie, that's a hill I'm going to
die on, is bring back winter and summer sports, because
so many sports these days, you know, there's twilight seasons
and rep seasons and you know, I mean swimming is
definitely guilty of it, like encouraging kids to swim all
year round. And I just think we need to bring
(38:38):
back winter and summer sports. And so you know, cricket
has played over summer, and soccer is over winter. Same
with netball and athletics and all of those sorts of things.
Speaker 5 (38:48):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
I know the school that my kids are out, they're
so encouraging of kids to participate in as many sports
as possible, and they're wanting to field as many teams
for the kids that are interested. It doesn't matter if
you've never played before, it doesn't matter what your skill
set is at They're trying to cater for every kid
(39:09):
who wants.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
To be involved. And I just really love that concept.
Speaker 6 (39:14):
Because I think for a very long time, particularly with
private schools, there was that sense of you know, that
high performance, you want to get a scholarship, and again
that contributes to that pressure cooker environment for kids in it.
I really think it kind of hampens their ability to
stay engaged and in love with the sport because it
(39:35):
just becomes too much, especially when you know, school starts
to get more serious and you know there's more pressure
socially and not even mentioning you know, smartphones or you know,
internet and social media and all of those different things
that they will start having all of their kind of
attention pulled towards.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
So yeah, I do feel like schools are doing better.
Speaker 6 (39:59):
I think there's still an opportunity to expand on that
more broadly. But I also think we should bring back
ball sports, Like why isn't that a thing anymore?
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Tunnel bal, European handballs, loved, European handble.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
European handble is that.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
What it's like soccer but in an indoor court. The
goals one of the great games.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
European hand it's a little of all okay.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
And you're like soccer but with your hands and you
throw it and you.
Speaker 4 (40:31):
Have teams, we we.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But sport does give that, you know, which is what
we want for our children, that sense of inclusion and belonging.
And I know that's what you talk a lot about
on your podcast. Sports is play well and so that
that's really what the foundation of all this is with
what we're trying to talk about today and why sport
is so important in our lives and our families lives
as parents remove ourselves from it, our children to be children,
(41:01):
to play sport and get that sense of belonging which
sport offers.
Speaker 6 (41:05):
Oh absolutely, And you know it's not just about our kids.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Again.
Speaker 6 (41:11):
Being my sister in Laura and I Georgie, you know,
we're women in our forties, we've finished having kids.
Speaker 5 (41:18):
We're wanting to reconnect to sport.
Speaker 6 (41:21):
And I think if we have that foundation and we're
able to provide that foundation for our kids to create
that lifelong love of sport, then when you get to
your forties, you're more likely to go and try something new.
You're more likely to go and reconnect with the things
that you love. And you know, maybe I.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Don't know if you guys feel this way.
Speaker 6 (41:42):
But you know you need to start to get a
bit more sore and your back blows up and you're
trying to you know, manage things physically. So we're trying
to find new ways to connect with our bodies, to
connect with our friends socially. And I think that if
you can create that platform for kids to really engage
with it and fall in love with sport at whatever level,
(42:03):
and it might be you know, umpiring, or it might
be sports administration or coaching and volunteering, like, there are
so many wonderful ways that we can connect with sport.
And yeah, that's what we're really passionate about, is creating
that lifelong love at whatever level, in whatever way. Yeah,
it's a really positive thing.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Awesome, Thank you Livy so much, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (42:26):
Thank you so much for having me. This is such
a thrill.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
We could chat with you all day.
Speaker 6 (42:31):
I've been saying I want to know everything about the Wiggles.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
We moneed a couple of days. Yeah, but so great
to chat with your Livy. You know you've achieved so
much in the sporting field and obviously achieving incredible things
as a mum as well.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
So you're a great mum.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
So well done, well done on well done on life.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Well right back at you guys, Thank.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
You, thank you Livy. That was a great chat somewhere.
Speaker 4 (43:03):
Yeah, really great sport is great.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Sport is great, and you know what, you know, Livy
achieved like you said, point zero zero zero zero zero
three percent, Like as an elite athlete, the highest achievement
you possibly have sport winning gold medals for your country.
But to look at sport in that real kind of
whole way that only a few of us are going
to achieve that elite level, but there is so much
(43:28):
enjoyment you can get from sport. And as parents, we
need to remove ourselves a little bit from that our
own competitiveness and wanting to you know.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Live your life through your child or whatever.
Speaker 5 (43:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
They people haven't talked about that where you didn't achieve
things so you're trying to push your child in a
certain direction. But we just need to children be children
and let them find it and give them options without
giving them too much to do. Yes, yes, yeah, but
so maybe it's not about doing all different sports within
(44:01):
a week. It's for a couple of years, you do
cricket and then maybe you try something else or yeah,
you know, instead of trying to do it all at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, I still think I'm going to make the Australian
Open tennis one year.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
But yeah, well I think I think you can do it.
I always thought because I love golf, yeah that I
joined the seniors tour.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
Yes, well I'm almost too old.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
There's some good money on the tour. Would have to
just have to beat.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Not about the money, that love for the sports, you tiger.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
You could get there with your swing.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Yeah, well I think I left it too late. People
ask me how long will you be a wiggle for?
And I said, well, as long as my knees hold out.
I've had one fixed.
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Hold on to the other one. Please for all our sakes. Look,
that's it for wiggle Talk today. Thank you for Libby
Cricket for joining us. Now, if you'd like to hear
more from Libby, you can check out her podcast Sportish
and there is a link in our shown And.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
If you know another parent who'd enjoy the conversation, send
it their way. And if you haven't already, just give
us a quick rating interview.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
You know it really helps.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
Thanks for listening to wiggle Talk. It is a podcast
for parents, sure is.
Speaker 4 (45:12):
Thanks Bye bye
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