What would be your ultimate athletic achievement?
My ultimate goal would be to first and foremost represent Australia at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020, and then to win an Olympic gold.
Any tactics for tackling the pressures of excelling in your sport and in the classroom?
Given such a demanding sport and degree, it is always difficult to achieve a balanced and stress-free life. Fortunately, I have a great support team of family and friends that allow me to have time away from sport and studies. This has been crucial in giving me some ‘breathing room.’
What does being a part of the Elite Athlete Program and earning a scholarship mean to you?
Being part of the Elite Athlete Program allows me the opportunity to excel at my sport without compromising my studies. Having the support from the program and earning the scholarship allows me to be flexible with my studies, as the staff will do everything they can to make sure I can complete my course on time.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I draw my inspiration from my parents, who were able to do so much with such little support. Given that I am extremely fortunate enough to be presented with ample opportunities to succeed with water polo and my studies, I am inspired to work as hard as they did to both achieve and exceed my potential.
My first memory of swimming in a pool was when I was doing swimming lessons at Col Jones in Hurstville. I would have been very young and can’t recall exactly how old I was but I remember being in a class with my brother and we were both in floaties in a little spa pool. I really enjoyed swimming even at such a young age and I remember moving up classes really quickly.
You’ve been selected in the Senior Aussie Sharks squad for European Tour starting with a training camp in Dubrovnik before a test series against Serbia. How have you been preparing for this camp and what do you hope to get out of this experience?
The European Tour lasts for 8 weeks which is almost twice as long as any junior Australian team trip I have been on. To prepare for the training camp and to start the tour off it really came down to making sure I was at my fittest, as our schedules are based around two consecutive days of one gym session and two pool sessions followed by a third day of just one pool session. The only way to deal with such high volumes of training whilst on tour is to try and mimic that back in Sydney so that your body doesn’t get shocked whilst you’re overseas. I hope that, for both me and the team, we are able to grow together and form a tight unit as over half the team is on their first senior men’s tour. Although we have important tournaments and games scattered throughout the tour, all the work is leading up to the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary starting mid-July.
I have always been passionate and fascinated by sport and helping others and it just seemed like studying physiotherapy would be the perfect mix of both. Especially in such a demanding sport like water polo, our physiotherapists have essentially performed miracles to be able to get everyone ready and at 100% come game day and this is definitely something I want to give back to the sport and others once my water polo career ends.
In 10 years’ time I see myself graduated as a physiotherapist and hopefully have started up my own private practice. Within that space I also would love to be able to have represented Australia at the Olympics and to be married and have started a family.
