S3E09 · India Blyth: Ball is Life

Now it's recording, so don't say anything that you don't like about me or Lachlan or Tyler 'cause I'll put your ears back. - Got it. - And we're back. Another episode of the Virtus podcast, again, change of hosts. We've upgraded again, downgraded from Lucy, upgraded from Lachlan and Tyler. Fair? - Fair. I mean, yeah, fair. - For those that don't know, and if you missed the title, our guest for today is India. India is one of our athletes at Virtus at the moment who is about to head back to America, back to college, so I

had to pay her in lunch, tie her to the chair, and tell her that everything's gonna be okay to get her to come on, but hey, we made it happen, we're here, we're settled, it took us like an hour to set this up, but we're settled, we're good. So lots of people will see India in the gym but have no idea about her, she's pretty quiet until the girl gang gets together and then they can't get them to stop talking, but we're gonna find out a little bit more about Indi, about college life, about basketball in general, about plans, about life, Indi's favorite thing to talk about herself, so we're captioning this character building exercise on the board.

Deal? - Sure. - Hey, she said something, that's a start. Now, traditional with me taking a podcast, 'cause traditionally I take the podcast for the people that don't wanna be on the podcast, or are not so comfortable talking about themselves, what's your heart rate currently? - Oh, I couldn't tell you. - Well, let's find out. - Oh. - No, we have to find out, this is the thing, ask Jazz. Jazz started like 100 beats, so if you're more relaxed than Jazz, we're winning. - How do you even use this? - You gotta hit the top right button.

For those listening along, I'll call it out for you, but. Yeah, then head down, now just hit it once, and then go head down, we're having some technical difficulties here, bear with us. - We should've run through this earlier, I think. - No, that's the whole part of a podcast, you can do whatever the hell you want for an hour, especially with those podcasts. And we are sitting at a nice 85, so we're stressed, but we're not too stressed, that's not too bad. - It's decent. - We'll see how that changes across the next 40 minutes, give or take.

All right, Indi, you know the drill, this is the one Kushy knew I was gonna ask. Tell us about yourself, who you are, what you do, what you're going through, not maybe it's just so deep, you know, let's maybe not start like that. - All right, I'm Indi Bligh, I'm 19, almost 20, I think I'm pretty much defined by basketball, that's what I think anyways. - Aren't all basketballers? - Yeah, so. - Baller, Baller's life? - Yeah. - Clearly never played basketball, so. - Yeah, I've been playing since I was probably seven or eight years old, and I haven't stopped since, so it's been kind of my life since then.

- What made you start? - My dad always played basketball, and then my older brother got into it, so it was kind of just... - Yeah, high level, local level, what are we talking here? - To start with. - Not for you, but for your old man. - Oh, good question. - That's why we're here. - I wouldn't say it was high level, but it wasn't, I think it was just local, but you know. He still plays to this day. - You're talking like Frankston, Westinporty kind of stuff, or like, you know, like NBL1, like. - No.

- All right, that's why I'm just, you know, we're finding out, Indi, you know, I know some basketball. - Okay. - Yeah. What position you play? - I'm a point guard. - What's your number? - 45. - I think what you knew I was going to ask, a segway, why 45? - So in the goat debate. - Oh, here we go, can of worms. - In the goat debate, I definitely lean towards the Michael Jordan side of things, so 23 is kind of basic. - That's what I think anyway, if you're number 23, he's one of those.

So Michael Jordan's high school number was 45, and then when he came back from retirement, after his dad passed away, he wore 45 for the Bulls as well. And then. - Not many people know that. You'd be surprised. - Well. - Now they do. - Now they do. - You're just teaching people, Indi. And I'm an avid fan of Donovan Mitchell, who plays for the Utah Jazz as of now. - As of now, yeah. - It could be a change in the works, we'll see. - Give it a week. Give it a week. NBA trade deadlines.

- Yeah, so 45, I've just been wearing it for a while and I'm sticking with it. - So male goat, again, this is a nice little segway into the next question. Male goat is Jordan, female goat. - In terms of? - Basketball. - Yeah, basketball, obviously, but Australian-wise, Lauren Jackson. - Of course. - Of course. - Worldwide. - Worldwide. I think I'd have to say, I'd have to say Sue Bird. - Yeah, that's mine too. - I mean, they're other great female basketballers. If there's anyone that I actually sit down and watch, it's Sue Bird. - Yeah, she was the one that I made a beeline when I was in the States to go to one of those places.

- On that note, when talking about basketball and your favorite things like that, who do you go for in the NBA? Yeah, I'm going to make you say it. - So I go for the New York Knicks. - We've had this conversation before for everyone playing around at home and I remember this conversation. - So my dad goes for the Knicks. So I was born into it, but when I'm following and I'm watching the NBA, I love to watch the Jazz. - Yeah. - I'm not going to talk too much about the Knicks and how bad they are because the Jazz might be that bad.

- That's right. We can skip over that part. - Talking about getting stuck into basketball, what made you stay in basketball? Because there's one thing to do it because your parents did it all or someone you look after did it. What made you stay then versus what made you stay now? As you said, you live and die of basketball. It is all his life. - I think ever since I started playing, I thought, you know, I'm pretty good at this. - Such a basketball thing. You'll dip tickets on yourselves. - So I thought, you know, I can get somewhere with this and that was pretty much my mindset.

- Yeah. What about now? - Well, I like working hard and I, you know, being at college now, it's totally different from playing over here and I think I just love working hard. I like getting better. And I love, I love playing. - So what you're saying is I should make your sessions harder. Oh, that's all I'm hearing. I'm hearing more running, more kettlebell swings, more parallel drags. That was on the menu today. So with, when we talk about college and stuff, how did that, and I'm going to skip a few because we're on that note of college now, what were your approach to go to college?

Did you send out like, you know, a mix tape, hear my highlights, like, what does that kind of process look like to start? And then we'll go back to little Indian. We'll go there in that path as well. - So I, so people I've played with before, cause I've, I've played youth league and like, you know, seniors while I was still in junior. So I played with a lot of older women and so I've known a lot of them who have gone off to college too, and have talked to me about their experience and playing and, you know, seeing on their social media all that they get to do.

And I was like, yeah, that's, that's, I think, I think I might enjoy that. So I talked to my parents about it and they were, they got on board with it too. And then, then, so Twitter is like a really big thing in the basketball world. If you have a Twitter account and you upload your highlights or just your workouts or anything, and then you, you follow coaches, schools, a lot of that, then there's a lot of people that view videos. And if you like, if you make an effort to reach out to them, then they'll, they're not just going to annoy you.

So I reached out to a lot of coaches and then, so the coach that I actually had last year for my freshman year, he reached out to me. So I didn't know who he was or where he was at. So he reached out to me on Twitter and said, you know, I've, I've seen your highlights. I've seen, can you send me some, some full games so I can, you know, everyone can show you highlights, but yeah, send me, send me a full game so I can see what you're really back. And then, so I sent him two games and then he, he responded to me and was like, let's set up a FaceTime call.

And then, um, 30, 10 and 10 in those games, like, well, they were good games. They were decent games. They were alright. I wasn't going to send him my worst. Well, you never know. Sometimes we all have down days. We do. Um, and then, so I had offers from, from a bunch of different schools, but this, this coach, I really liked and, and you know, the scholarship that he was offering me was the best that I didn't offer. So yeah. Nice. Yeah. Um, where is college? It's in Montana, Montana, Montana. In Montana. What's living in Montana like?

Cause it's a little different world over there, us in general, but especially in Montana. Yeah. Montana is a huge state, but it's like, it's just made up of a lot of small towns here and there. So it's really different to living here cause it's really populated and busy and crazy, but it's totally different. What's the best part of living over there compared to here? I think for me, like living on campus and in the dorms, the social side of things, I love it. Yeah. What, what's a dorm look like? Cause for me and for potentially

other athletes and coaches they've had, people go over college and kind of experience that life and obviously depending on the college you go to and honestly the state that you go to, that college life can be quite different. Um, what's college life kind of look like for you? Like a day? Yeah. I don't know, run me through a week, like what's, what's it like living on campus? You live on campus too? Yeah. What's it like kind of living on campus? Like what's a day look like from like a, I know you do some studies, but I won't get into that as well.

But what does that classes look like, when it's training look like, like what's a week look like? So just going off last season, cause it'll obviously change this season. Um, so every day you have a certain amount of classes, so on a Monday you could have one class, on a Wednesday you can have three classes, like it's, it's different and classes start as early as eight, but sometimes you have your first class at 11 so you can get a nice sleep in. Yeah, have them shock me, you like to sleep in, shock, shock me. Um,

so our, so we used to lift at two to three and then after that you'd get ready, chuck your ankle braces on, head to the courts. Well, our coach made us wear ankle braces last season, so I already, I already would wear one, but he wanted us to wear, because he was sick of everyone getting, so he'd coach for a long time. Yeah. Just precautionary. Each to their own. Yeah. I didn't, I was fine with that. I didn't mind it. It wasn't my ankle. That ended up being a problem. Yeah. We're going to get into that too.

We're not quite up to that segue yet, but we'll get there. Yeah, so then we would head to the court at, so we would, yeah, we would lift from two to three and then, so this is in season and then the court would be used by the men's team and the volleyball team. So we would practice at five or six, I think it was six, I can't remember now. Semantics. We practiced in the night. I think it was six to eight was when we would practice, but on a game day you would have shoot around at around 12.

So like the middle of your day, if you don't have classes, we'd go and shoot around. What if you did have a class? Then you would shoot around earlier or later. But usually pretty much everyone could get there or they'd get there a little bit later. They'd shape their classes around practice, right? Yeah. Especially shooting at hoods? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Then you'd go to lunch, cafeteria dinner. Run me through cafeteria life because again, it's not exactly very common over here. Yeah, we've all seen the movies and things like that. What is actually living, eating, existing on campus look like?

What we see in the movies isn't actually what happens for the most part. So for us, so for my college, we have, they call it the special for the day. So that's whatever the chef's making for the day, but then you have your grill that's open too. You can order from the grill and you can get like cheese burger, breaded chicken sandwich, they call it. It's not a chicken burger over there. Mac and cheese, nuggets, fries. Just like your truck-stoppy condo. Yeah. Just all your fatty foods. America love. Pretty much. Yeah. And then like sitting arrangements, just sit on the table, find like, is it like a big hole?

Like what are we talking about? Yeah. Just grab your trace. Grab your slop and sit down and girls over there. Boys over there. Those over there. Yeah. That was a little bit of the baseball guys would sit over there. That's because baseball kind of sits like above, you know, as kind of like a baseball guy. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah. We're above basketball. Cut me through like your college itself, like quite a sporty college. What's the name of your college? He doesn't mention that yet. You know, shout out coach this, coach that, no. Like let's say

super college, like common college, like I don't know, like let's say NFL football, watch like Alabama or like you say like LSU and their new change. It was like crazy kind of stuff. And then kind of what is your college look like in comparison to those kinds of things? Because there's some pretty impressive facilities, but what are we talking about when we get to Myles? Yeah. So Myles community college I'm referencing today. So we're at JUCO, a division one JUCO. What's that? For people who have no idea what that is? So JUCO is two years, so it's a junior college and it's two year college and it's kind of, I guess a pathway into a bigger college.

So there's people who go JUCO for a year to seek out a better option than they got out of high school. Does that make sense? So that's more like American, but for here, because it's like we don't get the same exposure as you do if you go to high school in America, I think JUCO is a really good, a really good segue into that. So obviously your facilities aren't going to be as amazing as UCLA or, you know. Don't have an X-Box in your locker? No. Do you have your own locker? I do. Yes. So, you know, we have our locker room.

It's not huge, but it's like, it's a good size. It does the job. The courts are fine. Our gym is like upstairs and downstairs and it's got like, it's got everything you need, but it's not next level. Yeah. Yeah. It's not like college football life. Yeah. Cause that's a different ball game. Oh, that's. Is that the dream though? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you had to pick, if you had to pick three colleges. Yeah. Like as any, you can imagine they all gave you an offer. It's the same offer. Yeah. What are the three you'd like to pick from?

That's tough. That's why we're here. I'm thinking, I'm thinking like weather wise too, because in Montana it's freezing. Like winters, winters are freezing and snow, like the worst it got last year was minus 30 degrees Celsius. Yeah. That's chilly. So like it's freezing. And coming from here, I was like, Oh mate, I'm out. This, this is different. Someone who's a summer baby. That doesn't surprise me. Yeah. So I'm thinking like, you know, university of Arizona, Florida, like with all the old people. Well, sure. Oh yeah. I'm just, Oh, you know, LA just, I'm thinking weather wise.

Like Berkeley. Yeah. UCLA. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. I'm not saying that I got a great offer. Yeah. Yeah. Cover the bases. You know, keep them more happy. Yeah. There's not what we're here for. But here for decisions. Yeah. Um, so you lock a set up. Are you a clean locker girl or are you a messy locker girl? Depends on the day. Oh. So you're a messy locker. Well, yeah, I guess it depends. Like some days I walk in there, I'm like, what am I doing? What does it look like this? And I'll say, do that in here and I'll, and I'll clean up like, yeah, that's much better.

Or some like everything has its own little place like run me through your locker setup. So at the bottom I got my shoes. Last year I had shoe fiend. I'm going to get to this as well. Last year I think I had three or four pairs on the bottom. Go to us. What do you go through? I wear Westbrooks. Do you? Yeah. I didn't know that. Jordan. Why not? Yeah. Yeah. I'm a fan. There you go. I didn't know that before that. I was Kobe's but yeah. So yeah, I got into those and I like them.

Nice. Like it. All right. So we'll talk shoes. Yep. And then the tops kind of just where I chucked my clothes and my jerseys hang or backpacks. Yeah. You guys responsible for like your own jerseys, like wash clean, like do you have like cleanings that do that for you? Like bucket kind of stuff. We don't, we didn't do our jerseys only on the road you do your jerseys, but like practice gear. I don't know you're talking to me. So we just like change every day. Yeah. Cool. But that's depending on the team. But that's how our, our coach ran it last year.

Of course. Sure. Yeah. Now you mentioned being on the road and stuff like that. What does like, what's on the road? Like what's it look like, you know, from, or let's say randomly you're playing a Friday night or something like that. What's maybe the week leading up to that? What's the day look like? And then like, what's your travel time back? Like you're getting in buses, planes, like you're getting out at 2am like what's, what's that kind of look like? So it depends where you like we travel to and how many games cause like I was looking at our schedule this, this season and we have like six away games without a home game in between.

So fun. You're going traveling. Yeah. So we get on a bus and we, so we share the bus everywhere. Yeah. So we share the same bus as the men's team. So we're all on this big bus. It's a lot of fun. We're getting to the fun part later too though. I got like four or five things we're going to go prodding. Yeah. So, but you get your own like two seats, there's enough space for everyone to get their own two seats. So you can lay down. Like it's not, you're not just, well, maybe not some of the men you'd fit with extra leg space.

Um, yeah. So you know, you can lay down. That wasn't just like everyone's squished in there together, but you know, depending on if you've got two away games in like three days, you'd stay. So we would stay at like a midway point and then the morning of you'd, you know, take the rest to another hour, hour back. So what's the longest trip you got to take this season coming up? Seven hours. Nasty. Oh yeah, but we'd normally go up like the day before. Yeah, of course. So yeah. Still. Yeah. It's a 14 hour. Yeah. Yeah. What about, like what are the college users you kind of play against like on a similar kind of level, like what's the competition like?

Um, so because it's, because Duke has two years, like the schools and the players change a lot. So every year it's like, you don't know what you're going to get, it's different. But you know, we played against a lot of people who went D1 out of last season. So it's like, the competition's not bad. Like the competition's really good. Everyone thinks, you know, oh, it's Duke, it's not a four year, but you see a lot of people... Because Duke comes with that stigma. Yeah. It's kind of what like, I've never been over there, but that kind of like, from the outside looking in and have people like going over there and talking about it, like Duke gets that stigma.

Yeah. Like brushed to the side, whatever. You know, shit quality, shit quality, like stuff like that, so. But yeah, it's nothing like that. You know, obviously you'll play a few teams and you're like, oh, no good, but you play teams that you're like, these girls can ball, they're good. It varies. You know, it's the same as here. You know, you play bottom of the ladder, you're like, oh, no good. And then you play top of the ladder and you're like, these guys can ball, so. What's your kind of like, not what's your favourite thing to line up against, but like, what kind of vibe do you go and go like, I'm going to have a night tonight?

Like what has to happen for you to have those feelings? I don't, I don't know, to be honest. Just every night I'm just going to rock up and have 30, like, do that? No. Like my first, so the first game that we played last season, it was a non-conference game, so they weren't like, they weren't in our conference, they're not in our league I guess you would call it. I was so nervous, I was like, and it was a home game too, so I was like, you know, I've come from Australia all the way here. Yeah, you're the import, turn up or go home.

First game, home game, everyone's in the stands watching, I'm like, oh. How many are we talking? This is pressure. This is my home stadium, like seat, I don't, I honestly don't know. We're talking like, but it was first game, so like Frankston Stadium or like, you know, like you're rocking up to like Rod Laver. Yeah, no. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like we're talking 2000 people, five, like, uh, I don't, honestly, I don't know. We'll research after we will, um, we won't, but you know, sure we were, um, yeah, so like going into that first game, I was like, oh, everyone's going to be watching.

Like I feel like pressured and it was my mum's birthday too that day. So I was like, so I got to play good for my mum today, shout out mum, yeah. And I remember I was just like so nervous and then, so I started that game and I like, I got my first basket and I was like, oh, like run me through what happened? My first basket, so my, so the first thing I shot three missed, airball miss or like just throw up a brick, you know, hit the rim brick like, yeah, but like full brick or just like nearly, Oh, it was a brick.

I can see it. Okay, sure. Let's see it in your eyes. It was a brick. Um, yeah. So, but you know, we got an old board and kicked it back out. So then I was still at three, so I was like, all right, let's just fake this. It didn't work out for me last time. Fake the three and then just a little layup and after I did that, I was like, all right, I'm it. You're off. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good to go. First game points. Talk to me stat line. What were we talking? 25. Of course it was.

Minutes. In how many? What do you play on average? Minutes. Well, I only, I only got to play a couple of games. Yeah, sure. We're gonna get to that next. Yeah. I think that's play. Sorry. I couldn't tell you. But I think maybe 30 maybe, maybe less. I could be totally wrong. What kind of style of basketball do you like to play? Fast. Fast pace. If you can pair yourself to like an NBA athlete or like WNBA athlete, like who are we talking? And I haven't seen, I haven't seen a lot of your plays, so I have seen your highlight videos.

You probably don't know that, but I have seen them, but I haven't seen you play enough to like pick one for you. So you're going to have to give me some here and I'm not going to let you get away with it. Yeah. It's just a bad question. Whoa. Okay. You know what? I'm outta here. We're not, we're not moving on past this. Yeah, but you're making me compare myself to like an NBA player. You're just better than them all? No. I said WNBA too. Come on. We don't. Yeah, but if like, I don't, I don't watch WNBA as much as I watch the NBA.

Whoa. Don't give me that face. What face? People listening can't see that face. What are you talking about? That's the face of, Oh, you're a female athlete and you don't watch the WNBA. Okay. There. That was the face. Moving on. We're not moving on past the NBA question though. All right. Oh, are we talking like a Lamello, like a creative type? Are we talking like a, like play maker? Are we talking a corner three? Like what do you like to play like? Well, I liked, I liked the three balls. Everyone loves three balls. Yeah. Um, but I like, you know, I got to bring the ball up.

The court and get our team and our offense, you know. Do you like having that control? Yes. Or does it freak you out? Well, I've been a point guard since I've, since I started playing. Yeah. But point guards sometimes don't like to have the ball, they like to do their work off the ball. I mean, I, I mean, I don't mind either. I just, I just hate to forget. Shocked me. Who would have thought? Who would have thought? Yeah. But you know, I like, I like bringing it up, like setting us up and making sure we're actually going to run through, we're going to run through.

I think I know the answer. You being a point guard who likes three is offense or defense? Offense. My thoughts are, you know, double check. I'm still not letting you pass the CBA question. Yeah, it's coming. Um, you've been here long enough now that I'm pretty stubborn. Yeah. That's such, it's just such a hard question because I'm going to say it like I'm not even like them. Well, they're not going to know that. I'm just going to, I'm just going to say Donovan Mitchell just because he's my, he's my, no, he's my favorite player. Like if I was to sit down and watch someone play, it would be him.

Yeah. In my mind, I'm thinking like, are you a Luka? Like body up? Are you a Trey? Like creative? Are you like even like nearly like maybe like a drew a holiday, like defense base? Like that's kind of what I'm thinking about. We'll go with Donovan. I know it's nothing like that for people who haven't been at Virtus. This is probably Indy's least favorite thing is Indy and I have very similar humors and she like hates it, but like she kind of loves it. So those kind of like belly laughs, they happen a lot. Hey, it's a good thing.

It's a good thing. Talk about what's next. What do you want to do? She got one, one, you left JUCO and we're going to go back and play lots. Yeah. Yeah, we are. We are. We definitely are. Um, well I'd love to move on to a four year school. That's the goal. Yep. Had offers, had inklings. Like what are we talking here? You don't have to spill all the beans, but well, like how far out from like, let's say next season, how far out do you kind of like, do you have an agent? No. I didn't think so.

I didn't think so. Yeah. So like colleges potentially like get in contact with you. Like what are we kind of timelines are we talking? Honestly, it's like, it's fluid, right? Yeah. Yeah. But I just like, for me, I would have to get some film, some college film that I can actually send out. I'll come stand in the stands with an iPhone with a baseball hat on. There it is. Um, yeah, I just need to get some film that I can sign, get on the court, need to get more than three games. So segue, we led that nice.

So we made it there. What happened last season? Run me through or run everyone through because I know, but yeah, so after, so we talked about my first game, so that was a non-conference game. So then the next games we played were now our conference tournament. So we traveled to North Dakota and we stay in this like big casino, hotel place that has like just this court in the middle of it. So all, every team in the conference goes and stays here, you know, it's a hotel for a couple of days and based off of last season standings is who you play in this tournament.

So you don't play everyone, you just play this person and then you go in the winner's bracket and you play like, it just depends. So I got two and a half games in and I was point guard, bringing the ball up the court and she's kind of tried to do a sneaky and sort of come behind me and tap the ball. But instead she's kind of tripped me up and came in front of me, but took my arm out. And so as I landed, I didn't like, I couldn't brace myself. And it just, my shoulder dislocated and that was that.

What happened? What was the damage? That was all. What was like, what was the damage? So obviously like we know as SEC coaches and some do listen to this, like that mechanism, but for those that potentially don't know, like what happens, obviously from a shoulder point of view, when you land like that, like what happened to you? So just my shoulder came out of place and I'm looking at it and it's over here and I'm like, yes. That's not where it's supposed to be and so everyone's coming onto the court. So I've fallen and my teammates tried to pick me up and I was like, don't, like, don't touch me.

I've tried to be nice about this and I'm like, don't, just don't touch me. And I'm kind of just on the floor trying to figure out like, it feels like something doesn't feel right. And I hadn't looked at it yet. And I was like, you know, sitting there. And from, I've never dislocated a shoulder, but from what people tell you, you don't really realise until one, you either look at it or two, you go, I think something hurts, but I'm not sure what. Yeah. So it was like, something felt wrong with me, but I wasn't like, I couldn't pinpoint it straight away.

Yeah. So I couldn't lift my arm and I was kind of lopsided like this and then I've sat up and it's kind of just like laid in front of me like this and I was like, I can't move my arm. And so at this place, there's different venues that you can play at and the venue that I was at didn't have an athletic trainer at the time, so, and it didn't, it didn't just pop back in. It was out and it was stuck. It wasn't coming back in. So we're on the court and they're like, well, you know, everyone, everyone, there was so many people around me.

Like, I just don't remember. Yeah, basketball was a craze a lot that we talked about in injuries, like something happens and then there's literally 15 people on the court. So many people around me and I was like, I don't know, like my coach was, I was just, my coach was next to me and he was the only one that I was paying attention to. Um, and he was just saying like, it's fine, like take your time. Stay here as long as you need this, that and the other. And then, so I got in a car

and we drove to the next venue that had the athletic trainer and so I'm sitting in the car like lopsided, like tears rolling down my face and I was just like, Oh, this is horrible. This is terrible. And so, and this whole time I was just thinking, I'm like, I'm on the other side of the world. I was like, my parents are sleeping right now and I'm just like, oh, this sucks. And so I've gone into this, this other venue and the athletic trainer's there and he's like, he, he gives me one look and he's like, Oh yeah, you've done it good.

And I was like, Oh great. Something you'd probably don't want to hear from an athletic trainer. The face he gave me, I was like, Oh, okay. This is a good one. I've done it here. Yeah. And so he took me like around, around the corner and made me lay on the floor and he starts like yanking my arm in different directions and it wasn't going back in and here I am howling. I was like, Oh, this is the worst pain I've ever felt and it's just not going back in. And he's like, all right, take a big breath.

We just, this one, this one will go back in. And as it went back in, I was like the worst, but the best pain, like it's hard to describe because as it went back in, it was like a relief, but it was like, Oh that hurt. Is it like, this sounds really weird. Is it like, is it like when you're like sit on your hand and then all the blood rushes back to your fingers? Is that what I feel like? You know what I'm talking about? I get what you're talking about. Is it like that? I don't know.

I'm just, I'm trying to visualize it. Like imagine that in my head. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Okay. I guess. I guess like water running down your leg kind of because all the feeling and sensation comes back. Yeah. Yeah. The damage from that's obviously dislocation, but what damage happened after that or during that technically. Are we talking about my, uh, my labrum? That's where we're trying to go. Yeah. So I had a tear in my labrum and it was just, remember how big it was? No, it was like three centimeters. I think. Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty big.

So anything sideways or like, so I could shoot afterwards, like just find anything forwards. I was like, yeah, this is fine. But if someone passed it to me this way, like I couldn't, I couldn't go back that far. All those movements were like hard or they hurt, like you'd get to here and I'd be like, I can't go any further like it hurts. So that's game three of first year college. Yeah. What does the rest of first year college look like from there? A lot of... Besides being very sad. And lonely. Um, just a lot of sitting on the sidelines, sitting on the bench.

Are you a woo girl? You were like a towel thrower? Like what kind of sideline player are you? Yeah. You're like... Yeah. Well, I've never had to sit on the bench for like all this time, you know, for a full game and just be like, Oh, that's not what I'm saying, but like, you know, having to sit on the bench like game after game and just watch, you know, I could do was just little pick me ups here and there for my teammates that were down, but otherwise it was just... Yeah. It's funny you say that cause I kind of felt the same way when I broke my leg, like this is way, way back.

Like I'm pretty sure I actually stopped going to games, like the NDAs, I can't do this anymore. Like I'm just obviously you don't need that same luxury, but I have the same feeling like this just sucks. Yeah. Talk about training and then college life. So obviously you're, you're the Australian import, you're, you're the big dog in town now. How does that kind of like affect you when, when you can't get on the court slash can't practice, like can't show off like the things that you want to show off, like what does that take or does it take the toll or like, how does that make you feel going through the rest of the season?

Cause what, how long were you over there after that still? Oh, so that happened in November and I was there until mid May. Yeah. So it's a long time to just be kind of just there. Yeah. Talk to me about that kind of period. Well, when it first happened, I was like, I was obviously really emotional and like probably the first week or two after that, I was just like, I wouldn't say I was depressed, but I was down in the dumps, like I was like, this sucks. And then I had, you know, you walk around the school and then front be like, Oh, you know, how are you?

And then throughout the season, throughout the season, it would be like, Oh, I wish you're on the court. And I was just like, and I was like, Oh, you know, if I could, I would. And this was like every week after every game they'd be like, Oh, I could have used you out there. And I was like, Oh, you reckon? No shit. Yeah. So I like, it sucked. It really sucked. But then I kind of just had to get over myself. Yeah. Did you have something to kind of like focus on instead of that? I

think I just focus my energy into like, if I was playing and someone else was injured, I think like, I would want them to help me out. So I'd be in the gym, rebounding for others, like, or I don't know, I think I just try and stay positive, like for them. So, you know, everyone has crappy games, so just be up and you know, get around them. Like, I just had to focus my energy into the rest of my teammates. So, you know, I couldn't play, but I could help them play. Yeah. Did you have

something like away from basketball to like do or like a hobby you picked up or like, cause I know like, obviously, as we said before, ball is life. And we say that jokingly, but it literally is life. Like, did you have something away from basketball that kind of acted like it's exit, like an exit for you? Sorry. I just think like the social side of it was really good. Like I had a lot of friends, I had a lot of people I could talk to and lean on. Cause you're an introverted extrovert. Well, yeah. Yeah. I guess.

Yeah. So, you know, just, I think the friendships and the relationships that I made really helped. Yeah. Yeah. What's where, let's say we compare it to like, what school did you go to high school? Like here? Mount Aaron. Mount Aaron. Let's say, let's compare like Mount Aaron, like your cohort, not like who they are, where they come from kind of stuff, but like your cohort of Mount Aaron, like people wise, what does that look like compared to like college? Oh, it's so different. Like, you know, high school, you'd go to school for your six hours and then you'd go home.

And that was me. So then on the weekends, like I was, or every night or even before school, like I was playing basketball. I was training. I was... You were that gym rat. Yeah. I was, I was just, basketball's everything. You were a DJ. You wouldn't catch me at a high school party. Like I was, I was playing basketball. So like, like I had my, my group of high school friends and I still, I'm still close with a few of them, but college is just different in the sense that like you live with them. You're all in this, you're all in the dorms, like you're all on campus.

And then the same people you're in class with are your teammates or you're cheering for on the sidelines. Like it's really different. So it's more intimate in a sense if that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I think the bonds that I made there was so much stronger than the ones I could ever make in high school. You spend more time away from doing the thing that you're there to do as well. On that note, what's, what's like post 9pm college dorm life look like? Now you don't need to divulge any secrets or, you know, any keg stands you've been doing, but actually now you're still under 18 over there, under 21.

Sorry. Yeah. Um, so during the season, like no one, well, you know, you shouldn't drink, you shouldn't do it, you shouldn't party. And especially during the season, it's like, and you're not a big party or a drinker or anything like that either. Like that's not you. No. So, you know, during the season, it's not crazy. Yeah. And because you've got a game. What's crazy though? What's crazy? Define crazy. Everyone. Everyone in the one. So we call them quads, like our little apartment type. Everyone in the one quad going absolutely crazy. How many is like everyone? Like, what are we talking here?

30, 40 like? It's like hard to move, like you're in this one spot and you're in this one spot for a long time. Clench your feet. Yeah. So it's just crazy. It's loud. Like everyone's just enjoying themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Do you like that side of it, even though like you don't have to like be in that side of it? Is that what you mean? Like you enjoy that kind of social aspect? Cause I know you like that kind of extroverted without being like the class clown kind of thing. If you know what I mean. Yeah. Um, like I don't hate it, but it's not like, it's not my, it's not my ideal.

Yeah. Like I would go, I'd show my face for a little bit. Yeah. And then smoke won't get the hell out of it. And then I'd be like, all right. No, I wouldn't even say bye. I just get out of there. No, stay. Don't. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Or I'd have to make up some excuse. Like, Oh, I just need to go grab because they're very like Americans are very outgoing, very outgoing. So if you're not, not that I didn't enjoy it, but it was like, Oh, like why are you leaving? It was like, Oh no, I just got to go grab.

We have a different upbringing, a different life. Yeah. Totally different. We don't like, our parents didn't necessarily like grow up in a college environment either. So like it's not just like generational. Yeah. Yeah. And then lastly, I know you got to go to go babysit because you have a two little siblings to go look after. Yeah. Yep. And an older brother. Family life. And another younger sister, but she's not young. You're three. You're family five. Well, family seven. Oh, okay. I don't care. There's five children. I didn't know that. I feel there's only four. There you go.

There you go. Yeah. Talk to me about coming back over here now, like from like a character point of view, obviously you're going to go through a lot of like character building, like doing a podcast with Mitch on a Friday afternoon, but talk to me about like, have you noticed the change coming back here now? And just like the way that you might interact with friends or family or like, what are the changes that you notice that you maybe not necessarily like grow up or like what things you came back with that you didn't have going over there?

Like, what does that look like? Um, I, okay, so like I'd never been away from my family for that long. You have a pretty tiny family too, right? Yeah. Yep. That's the vibe I get at least. Yeah. Yep. So I'm like, my family's close and I'm close to my parents. I'm close to my siblings. So like leaving them in the first place was really hard. Yep. So saying goodbye, like at the airport. Waterworks. Yeah. Like just solving. Yeah. And utter mess. Yeah. And so I thought like, Oh, I'm going to get, I'm going to get crazy homesick over there.

And I'd only got homesick around Christmas. Yeah. Like when, like my youngest sister got really sick and she was in hospital. So, um, but otherwise like I was enjoying myself. Like I was busy every day. Yeah. I was very busy. Did you have to kind of like be in the moment when you come to that stuff? Like, Hey, I should go check in with mum or does it just come naturally? Um, cause I feel like, I don't know, from the outside looking in, it'd be hard to kind of like separate those two worlds and just be like so involved in one and be like, without forgetting about the other one.

Yeah. Or like when you leave high school, you lose half your friends cause of that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. No, I get what you mean. Um, I would like, it's hard to like sit down and find a time where it's like quiet, like let me call my family. Yeah. Um, I'd like, I'd call them a couple of times a week at least sometimes every day a week. Like it just, it would just depend. But yeah, like, and especially having younger siblings too, like I always want to check in growing up so fast, um, like

I would, you know, I missed my younger brother Hunter's like his first day of school and like all these things and I was like, Oh, that sucks. But by product. Yeah. So coming back, like, you know, the month before I was coming back, I was like, I haven't seen my, I was like, this is going to be so weird. Like I haven't been in person with my family for like 10 months now. Was it weird? Like at the airport, like seeing them again, I was like, this is kind of like surreal. Like it's, it's weird, but you know, after a few days was just like, it was normal again.

So did your mom and dad like make a shrine in your room or something at home and just like, was it like really neat and tidy? Like weirdly, my sister took my room, my sister took my room, so my two younger siblings like sharing a room for the time being. So I have my own bed, big dog status. So after, honestly, like after two weeks here, I was like, Oh, I'm ready to go home now. I was like, I love you guys. Like I was busy every day over there and like I had like all, like I'd built my life over there.

If that makes sense. Like I have this new life, I guess that's over there. And so coming back was like, it was great. Like I love seeing my family and catching up with friends and all that, but like, it's just, yeah, I know you mean, it's just not the same, so I could, it was hard to like adjust coming back. You get used to being independent, having your own space and doing what you want. Yeah. That kind of stuff. Yeah. Not having to live by someone else's schedule, I guess. Yeah, exactly. So coming back here, like I do a lot of babysitting, like, yeah, I love it.

I know you love it. Well, I love them. So, and then I come to Virtus like, you know, four or five times a week, that's go to the stadium, get some shots up, which we are going to go to next week and you're gonna see how good my stroke is and how bad my handles are. Deal. Sure. Yeah. So it was like, it was honestly, it was a really big adjustment. Like as it was harder than I thought it would be. Yeah. And then I feel like I've been here forever. Yeah. I can't get rid of you.

We're about to, but it's been a while. Soon. It's been a while. Soon. Soon. Let's not talk about it. So yeah, but you know, when the time comes to say goodbye again, like it's going to be hard, but. Yeah, I might cry. No, you're not. I'm ready to go. I might. No, you're not. Oh, I'll rock up to the airport. I'll call your mum. When she's flying out. So yeah. Talk to me about Virtus life. So how'd you get on a Greg in the first place actually? My mum did. So we actually, I don't think I know this.

I just Greg just got kind of like handballed you my way. So I'm going to have to remember names. So we go to the chiropractor in Somerville and my mum, is his name Sam? My therapist. Yeah. Sam Thomas. Shout out. Yeah. Yeah. Sam does wonderful things Virtus and he probably should investigate about a finders fee because he's seen so many people this way. So Sam, thank you. We love you. Yeah. So yeah, Sam's to thank. So then he came here, saw Greg. Blew your mind. He does that to people. Yeah. He was just like my dad coming home after that.

Coming home after that, dad was like, he's like some mad scientist type. He is a little bit. I was like, that's a good way to put it. It's not even mad science. It's just, it's good science technically. Yeah. It's just like, it's just a different way of doing things that not a lot of people get access to. And you know, we can't as much as we'd like to just like plaster Greg's head on billboards because that'd be fantastic. Yeah. So, saw Greg. Yep. Started training. Yeah. We did. Haven't stopped since. Yeah. Can't get rid of you since.

What, what have you enjoyed about training at Virtus? Oh, obviously getting my shoulder stronger back to normal. Well, it was probably stronger than it was before I had done it in the first place. And then I just think it's fun. I like working out. I like, I like lifting weights. It's fun. Yeah, we do. Mitch is great too. I know he was waiting. He was waiting for it. He made me sick. He was sitting here giving me puppy dog eyes. Say it. No, Mitch is great too. Thanks. Thanks. I like training. We vibe. It's fun. We vibe.

You only like go to throw fists for me when I give you chin ups and things like that. Saw the eyes darting. Yeah. Yeah. Hello, Tyler, everyone. We're nearly done, don't worry. What don't you like training about, Virtus? Nothing. Do you have to leave us? Yeah. When are you leaving actually? So today is the 19th of August. I think this will come out Sunday night, but when are you leaving? On the 30th. Getting close. What are you going to do between now and then? Figure out when I'm packing. What am I taking this time around? I love how you said that like in American too, like what am I packing?

Oh, it wasn't even close. I know it wasn't, but that's okay. Like last time I took like a lot of clothes that I never wore. Like I lived in trackies, they call them sweats, but sweats, trackies. I lived in those in a hoodie like almost every day. I think you live in that now, nearly. Yeah. Well. Yep. Yep. I'm not going to argue. Yeah. Yeah. So I got to figure out what I'm taking and I've got a lot of requests to bring back some white Tim Tams. They are a crowd favorite. A crowd favorite? Yeah. I want a hoodie, so you have to bring back the next time you come back.

All right. Yeah. Gotcha. All I wanted to kind of talk about was like Virtus things, like, you know, what have you enjoyed about like, I don't know, obviously Virtus and for those that haven't been to Virtus, like we are a little bit different of a gym. It's not necessarily like your anytime fitness, there's a lot of machines and stuff like that. It's more like people-based and we say this all the time that we're more in like a people business than we are gym and training and stuff like that. Like what have you enjoyed about that

kind of like circle aspect and like your little wrist strap posse and your little 90 amp girl squad that drive me out the wall in a good way? In a good way. In a good way. Well, I think you can tell it's very people-based as soon as you come in here, like, um, you know, the programs that you make for me are very personalized and I think, you know, instead of going to your 9am at F45, like, you know, it's kind of, it's more personal here. It's more inclusive. Yeah, and I think you are someone who kind of like strives on or like is not motivated by connection, but like thrives on connection.

Yeah. You like that part of it. Yeah. So I think, you know, everyone's looking out for everyone. Everyone's happy to have a chat, have a, you know, shout out Jeff. Yeah. I was waiting for you to say that. I was so waiting for you to say that. So for reference, Jeff, he's not going to listen to this and this is the second time I'm talking about Jeff and he refuses to listen to the podcast, but Jeff is a basically retired New York American guy who could not be more America, literally rocks up in sweats, has

a latte in his hand in his aviators, has his Under Armour sweat on as well, and just does three band rotations, eight band rows, maybe a trap, but they're lifted for lucky and then pops himself in the lounge chairs and puts his feet up and watches the stocks. So Jeff and Indi, they've had some chats and anyone who trains around kind of 9am on a Tuesday or Friday, y'all get stuck talking to Jeff once. Who's your favorite Virtus client? Cause we're not going to do our little quick five 15, but who's your favorite Virtus client? Who do you along with the best?

Rach. Who's your favorite Virtus coach? Mitch. Good answer. And Tyler. Tyler's sitting in the background going, ah, excuse me. What's your favorite lift? Ooh, I like, we started doing hip thrusts, but then he threw them out of my program. So I have to say dead lifts because that's the heaviest I get to get. Character building ones. Yeah. No chin ups, no bench. Nope. And an upper body. No sir. I am not doing it. What's your favorite, let's say recovery modalities. What do you like to do? What do you get the most out of? Walking. Walking. Yeah.

I know you've used them. Yeah. That would be really good. Yeah. It would be like within 10 minutes of the ice bath. Well, Tyler keeps trying to get me to do it and I'm just, you got to do one before you leave. Like when he jumping in. One before you leave. We, you know, first step, normal tech, second step, icy. Right. We'll see. One before you leave. What's one thing you would recommend to people or some advice you would say to some potentially young basketballs who are looking at college and looking to going down that path to kind of progress?

Like what is something you would give them? Well, I think it's cliche, but you have to work harder than everyone else. Yeah. It's brutal. It's cutthroat. Yeah. All through high school, I would do my 6am practices before school just because I was busy that night or I wasn't busy and I had home, like all those things. Like you got to, you got to work harder than everyone else if you want to get somewhere with it. Yeah. It means doing your chin ups when you don't want to do chin ups and doing your running. Mitch says we've got to run today.

Yeah. It's never too busy to run. We got rid of those Nike shoes pretty quick too. Yeah. You just never know what you're in for. I think that's it. Any more for any more? No questions we had to talk about? Your college friends gave us nothing? Just nothing. We're going to wrap it up there. Deal? Yeah. You survived? I did. You didn't hate it as much as you thought you would? It wasn't terrible. Win for me. I'm taking that running down. Thank you for coming on. We will do some stuff before you leave video wise, but that's all I've got to talk about.

So we're going to wrap it up. Thank you for listening. Anyone who's still listening and you know, in our mannerisms that we end up going out on tangents, but I'm not sure who's next year. Next week's guest Tyler, what do you got for us? That's not too sure. That's a surprise. So stay tuned. This will come out when it comes out and I hope you enjoy listening and thanks Indy. - Thank you.