S3E57 · Britt Cox: World Champion

Welcome back to the Virtus podcast and a very welcome to our very special guest, Brick Cox. Welcome. Thanks. I'm just another little, yeah, third wheeling. That's great. First, uh, I'm going to get you to explain you and what you do in a minute, but I, I think this is a verse first. I think this is the first world champ on the podcast. Actually. Well, we've had some pretty cool first time on the Virtus podcast. Actually two first in one day. First time on the Virtus podcast. First time training in the Virtus gym. Yep. Three course menu today.

Lift lunch podcast. Yep. Sounds like the perfect Saturday to me. It is a good Saturday. It's Saturday. God, it's like Sunday. It hasn't gotten there yet. It's okay. Yeah. I'm pretty sure this is a first. Like we've had some pretty cool guests, some pretty like immaculate people. And I reckon you might've just gone like right at the top. First world champ. Don't speak too soon. Pretty cool. Pretty cool. You called us cool. So we've got to reciprocate the favour. Well, I mean, I'm really stoked that you've done your research. I had no idea that. Well, I didn't think that you would know that I'm a world champ.

Most over-prepared, under-prepared person. Nice. Got no notes, but it's all up in the dome. If you don't write it down, no one knows if you miss anything. So exactly. There you go. But Brit, welcome. Welcome to notice. Welcome to the peninsula. Uh, not originally from anywhere close to here. Very long way away, which Tess and I are going towards near later. We're going to talk about that later too, but Brit welcome. So for those who don't know, Brit, Brit is a former mogul athlete retired, but still killing it. Mogul athlete. So down the slopes and up over the hills and things, the old knee scary.

So that's what I call them. And yeah, are we going to talk about Brit today and what Brit does now, what Brit has done and all the cool shit she did. And Brit's awfully nervous because she has no idea what we're going to talk about. I mean, I'm not nervous. I'm excited. You just haven't let me in on anything. I said, what are we going to chat about? I said, all things you, but Brit, you are the most experienced media trained podcast person currently on the couches. So I'm expecting you to end up taking over and then interviewing.

I don't know about that. I've listened to plenty of the British podcast episodes. So I think you've, you've got it down pat. Which for everyone so far. Well, maybe a little bit biased, but my favorite would have to be the episode with Alison Miles. It's okay. It's fine. This is only because I haven't yet listened to the ones you test. So I have a drive home after this. So I've got the podcast. Whatever you do though, do not listen to the Monday edition podcast. No, I find that hilarious. It's chaos, but it's just like the funniest thing.

Yeah. Adding this to the list, add it to the list. So we do a weekly podcast on a Monday usually. And it was a public holiday week. So we didn't actually do the podcast in the morning. So lucky and I and whoever else is around and feel free to jump on. We just kind of talk about a week and we talk a bit of shit for 25 minutes, give or take love that. So it's public holiday though. We didn't do it pretty much. Yeah. We have like a little structure we follow, but it's pretty free flowing, but it was a public holiday and we didn't do it.

And lucky wasn't around because he was away and I was like, well, I'm not gonna do it by myself. So I'll let out marketing and media manager, Georgia. I was like, George, you're in charge name. We'll do it later. We're going to hang out here. Watch your footy. Do it later. You do it with whoever's around. And then therefore tests and live Malachowski who you may, or you don't know, they are three of the most identical people. And when you stick them in a room, it is chaos. Like sit back and just watch the world. Okay.

I was having to bring it back on track. That was like the level of what was going on. I was having to be like, Oh, what's next on the list because we were just getting, there was a list of things that we had to talk about, but we were getting through so many rabbit holes and chaos and they're the best kind of conversation. That's what I got. Yeah. So give it a listen. Okay. I definitely will. I'll get it lined up. But the other thing is I'm like, well, why would I listen to a podcast with tests when I can just catch up with you and have a chat anyway.

Yeah. True. True. True. True. The worst part about that podcast is I was standing up there the whole time going, Oh, this is so bad. Cause I always kept looking at tests and tests was like, Oh no, I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep it. And these two here were just off with the fairies talking about all things. It was, but that's quite fun to listen to. Okay. You've sold me. This is number three podcast you've been on. It'll be four. I wasn't including the weekly. Sorry. So this is basically the Tess Rollie show. Yeah. Tess is co-hosting.

You've done more than jazz has. Really? Maybe jazz and I should do one. Yes. Jazz is updated and due for one now that she's finished uni. She, uh, as part of her character building for 2023, taking a few podcasts episodes is in it. So that's coming for her. And she got mentioned again of it last week. That's still on your list. I saw her doing, um, a bass performance. Is that right? She did like a little reel on there and she was so good. I was like, what are you talking about? You're amazing. I sent it to, I was like, we need more jazz content.

You can do it. You just got to like get coaxed into doing it. But you did yours. Steph's. No, no. You were in the room for Steph's. No, I wasn't. Oh no, Steph is in the room for yours. Yeah. Yeah. Harry's, which comes out on Sunday. That's exciting. Tomorrow. And for everyone listening, whoever knows when this one comes out, but the 2nd of July. Yeah. Where's the third? Uh, well, there's mine Harold's and then rundown the weekly. Oh yeah. True. Yeah. So this would be fourth. Yeah. This would be number four. So like I said, test rolly show.

Exactly. No, none of that. Who are you and what do you do? Who am I? So I really like this question because it's so open-ended. I mean, we could be really philosophical. You can answer it. However you want to answer it. I mean, I am a Yogi, so it's like, who was everyone? We are all just Adams. But if we're talking historically and sport related, I am Brit Cox. I'm four time Olympian, former world champion. So 2017 world champion in the sport of freestyle mogul skiing. So as I said, as an Aussie in a winter,

as a winter sport Aussie, um, a lot of people, when I say I'm, uh, was a winter sport athlete, they like, do you guys even have snow in Australia? Uh, but the reality is we have five, uh, ski resorts in Australia where we get to, um, we get to ski for about three months of the year. So I was lucky enough to grow up at one of those ski resorts. So it was pretty much on skis as soon as I could walk. Um, and then naturally, you know, followed my older brother around the mountain. That's how I got into freestyle skiing.

And, um, mogul skiing was one that jumped out to me the most loved it, loved competing, loved the excitement and all the different elements that were involved in mogul skiing with in mogul skiing. And yeah, once I, once I started competing, I guess I got the bug and, um, it sort of took off from there. Um, but I did actually retire from competitive mogul skiing. So I say I retired from competitive and mogul skiing, not skiing in general, cause I'd love to ski for as long as my body will allow me to. Um, but yes, retired from competitive mogul skiing in July last year.

So about a year ago now, um, and starting to move into a bit of work in live sport broadcast and, uh, still studying at university, a bunch of random different things and, um, just transitioning into that next chapter. Do you find that hard right now? We're going to talk about this a little bit later, but like it's fresh right now. Oh, it is very fresh. Yeah. It's, it's such a strange thing to be saying you're 28 and you're retiring. Um, but it's, it's scary and it's exciting. I think I'm trying to take a lot of the things that I've learned as an athlete, um, and apply them to this, this next chapter.

And I am trying to look at it as, yes, it's the next chapter. It's not, it's not the end. It's just things are different. I'm, I'm still the same person. I'm just applying those skills in different contexts and challenging myself in different ways. Um, but yeah, still very much involved in the winter sport, um, high performance winter sport community in Australia as well. Um, I'm a board member of the Winter Institute of Australia. Um, still very close with a bunch of my, my teammates and some of the young, young up and coming skiers coming through and trying to be a bit of an, I guess, an informal mentor in that space as well.

Um, so it's still very, very much connected. And then through wanting to work in a live sport broadcast and communications, also staying connected to sport. So wearing a few different hats at the moment, but, uh, yeah, still, still very much in that sporting industry. Self-proclaimed mother hen. Yeah. Well, I guess when my first Olympic games 2010, I was the baby of the team. So we kind of came full circle by Beijing, 2022. Um, I had a bit of experience under my belt and, um, I just, it's just a little bit, no worries. I just casually rocked up to Beijing Olympics.

No worries. Yeah. No, just like, I mean, the mogul skiing team is a very tight, tight knit bunch of people and we'll, you know, it's an individual sport, but we traveled together. We trained together. Um, we, we lived together and we spent so much, especially throughout COVID was so much time, um, living in each other's pockets. So we became really close. And I guess by the time I got to Beijing, there are a few younger teammates who are competing in their first games. And I, you know, I just felt like I wanted to pay it

forward and, and I guess teach them some of the things that I learned as an athlete and, and hopefully, um, make their experience a little bit better. And, um, yeah, I think I had some really great mentors throughout my career. So I kind of wanted to pay that forward. Yeah. We're actually talking about the importance of mentorship this morning. And I can see it from the rowers in that we lack that space at the VAS of having that older rower to kind of model yourself off and replicate those elite behaviors. And so the importance of having Brit in that space, like still at the VAS mentoring the young kids coming through, it's so important.

Well, I was really excited when, uh, one of the, um, performance managers at the VAS asked if I'd be interested in being a mentor. I was like, absolutely. I'd love to, because I think that's, if I think back to why I wanted to be, um, a mobile skier and, and take that as a, an elite career from the very beginning, I, I really wanted to have a positive impact on the people around me and especially young people. I wanted them to be okay to, you know, step outside their comfort zone and not necessarily go with the status quo.

And, um, I wanted to inspire other people to do that and to push themselves into, you know, you don't have to be like everybody else. Um, and you know, a little kid from a small country town in Australia can become a winter sport world champion. And I wanted to inspire people to do that. And that's something that I really came back around to for my last Olympic cycle into Beijing was the, this is why I started, what started this, this whole journey in the first place and kind of came back to that and being like,

yeah, I'm, I'm still working towards being the best athlete I could possibly be and the most competitive mobile scare and getting absolutely every little bit out of it that I could. But at the same time, I want to be, I have an impact on other people by leading by example and being a mentor, um, and just, yeah, a good teammate, really. Um, so now that I've finished, I've retired from competitive mobile skiing, this is another way that I can kind of stay connected to that value and, and give back to the sport. And if there's

one kid that can appreciate, um, or one athlete that can appreciate what I have to offer then, and it makes their career or their journey that little bit better than that, that makes me happy. So I love it. I could listen to you talk for hours. I'm infatuated. Like I like, it's something that I've never been in round and involved in from like a sport point of view, which also I find to be cool. Well, sport's so cool. It's like, I think, you know, people talk about you grow from adversity in a sport. You're pretty

much putting yourself in that, in that every single day, deliberately to grow and to become better in so many different ways, whether it be physical or mental, emotional, all those kinds of things. So I think, yeah, there's so many special things that come out of sport. And for me, my journey with that mobile skiing team, we got to go through those, um, those obstacles and hurdles together. So, you know, one day you might have a tough day out on the mountain and your team are there to see that and support you. And the next day it's them and you can support them and so on and so forth.

So you develop this appreciation of each other's journeys as well. So even though it is an individual sport, you get to the Olympic games, the pinnacle of your sport, and you're happy to see them succeed, even if they're your competitor. Like take, for example, my teammate, Jakhara Anthony winning the gold medal in Beijing. I wanted to win a gold medal more than I wanted to breathe from the age of eight years old. And I watched my teammate achieve that goal right in front of my eyes. But I was so excited because I'd seen Jack go through her career and all the obstacles and challenges that she'd had along the way, but also how hard she worked.

And so, so many people like came to me like, what was that like to watch? And I was like, it was fricking awesome. It was so cool to see that and to see our entire team be so excited for that. And also to know, like there's so many other little kids back in Australia who are going to be watching that and be inspired as well. I'm like, well, that's like, you know, if it couldn't be me, then like, that's the next, the next best thing is to watch my teammate and great friend achieve that as well.

There's nothing better than watching friends do cool shit. It makes me so happy. It's so cool. How did you two meet? How did we meet? Just through the VIAS? I think it was VIAS. I think I was like walking across the gym floor one day and we're just like, hi. Oh, really? Oh, actually I think Rodney was like, oh, Britt Cox is on the floor. I was like, oh, who's that? He's like, uh, one of the coolest moguls person ever. I was like, okay, cool. I'm going out there. And I think I went out and I was like, hi, I'm Tess.

And you're like, I'm Britt. That's big for you. Yeah. I think I, I really, I remember that now. Yeah. Rodney loves you by the way. Really? Yeah. He thinks very highly of you. Maybe that's just because we talk about skiing whenever he's in. Yeah. Which is awesome. Yeah. He's a good guy, but yeah. There's quite a few good eggs hanging around the VIAS. Yeah. We tend to pick them well. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. That's good. But yeah, that became friends there. Then we just hung out. I see Britt on the gym floor every now and then.

Yep. Check in. See how you're going. It's good. It's good to have those people checking in on you. Yeah. I think it's good that we find that balance at the VIAS where it's like, yes, it is an elite environment and everyone's striving to be the best possible, but then we're also humans and we just like to connect and communicate. And I think so many people in there have similar values and share those values. So it's easy to connect with those people, right? Yeah. A hundred percent. And sport, it does become a bit of a bubble where you see those people so much as a time.

It's so cool, but so exhausting. Yeah. Britt, for those who have no idea what mobile is, how would you describe it? It's actually really hard to describe. So one of the best things about mobile skiing is that it involves so many different elements. So mobile skiing as a winter sport is a judge sport. So the course is about 250 metres long. The pitch is probably, I don't know, about 28 degrees. And the course is broken up into... I was like football field. Wait, no. Let me just go back to snow. I'm like 250 metre pitch. So you need to call me out if there's anything you don't understand.

I'm just going to watch Tej just try and like do this in her head. Watch the monkey just like put the cymbals down and be like, listen. You seem to like me where like someone's off. Is it Simpsons? Yeah, it's the Simpsons. And it's like the monkey's clapping. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's me. And then it's like, wait, no, pay attention. Listen. I mean, don't speak too soon. You guys are going snowboarding soon. I'm terrified. I feel like Tess is a bit natural. So do I. She's going to be so good. I reckon I'm going to spend more time on my ass, but anyway.

I'm looking forward to the videos. I'm going to get one of those turtles. Liv said that there's turtles that you can wear. Please don't do that. Why not? This is what the podcast is. This is Liv and Tess. This is a good like segue. Yeah, right. I mean, I'd love a photo. Just a photo? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't think I can be seen hanging around the mountain with you if you're going to wear that. But if you don't wear that, let's do it. Okay, cool. Sounds good. I'm not going to go within 10 metres of that thing.

So we're good. I'm good. Well, we'll just be like running up to a kid with one on and being like, oh, give me that for two seconds. Chuck it on. There you go, sir. Moguls pitch. 250 metres. The course is divided into three sections. So you have the top section of moguls, which are, I was going to say small mounds of snow, but they're not always small. So bumps of snow. We're not doing this by the way. Why not? Because I like my kneecaps inside my body. I wouldn't have just rolling. That would hurt more to be honest.

These bumps of snow that are spaced between three and a half and four metres. And there are three lines of moguls on the course. So you're skiing over the moguls from left to right. So you've got the first top section of moguls. There's roughly eight to 10 moguls into the top air. So that's a jump, the first jump. There are two jumps on the course. So the course is divided into three sections of moguls with two jumps in between. So you've got top section of moguls, roughly eight, top air, jump, landing area, 16 metres of chopped up snow.

And then you're straight back into the moguls again. There's probably about 30 moguls in the middle, into the bottom air, bottom jump, landing pad, landing area, it's another 16 metres. And then the bottom section of moguls, usually the bottom section's a bit smaller, you know, six moguls or something. When you're skiing a competition run for mogul skiing, you need to perform different tricks or skills on each jump. So you can't do the same jump on the top air, the same skill on the top air that you do on the bottom air. Two different skills. And when you're skiing down the course, there's generally three lines of moguls and you pick one line, you need to ski in that line.

If you deviate from that line, it's a deduction in your turn scores. What else can I tell you? The judging system is based on 60% your turns technique, 20% your speed, and 20% jumps. So the jumping is judged kind of like diving in gymnastics where you have a degree of difficulty chart. So the harder the trick is you do, the more you can be awarded, but given you do the trick well, so sometimes it works in your favour to do an easier trick and do it well, rather than doing a more difficult trick and stuffing it up, basically.

Is speed a time thing or a look thing? Both. But when I'm talking about that 20%, it's a time thing. So it's then there's a formula based on the pace at time, which is however many I think it's for the women, it's roughly 9.3 metres per second. And then I think for the men, it's 10.8 metres per second or something. And then that that gives you your pace at time, depending on the length of the course. And then your points are calculated based on how your time compares to that pace at time. Then, yep, turns, you're looking for legs and feet pinned together, any leg splits, so seeing daylight between the knees is going to be a deduction.

I know a fun fact. That's why you wear the patches on your knees, right? Actually, kind of, but no. So the patches actually, the knee patches actually highlight your angulation. So the judges are looking for carving an angulation of the lower unit. And if you're wearing knee patches, it kind of highlights that. So it's a little bit of a hack. But it can, if you do have your legs, your skis pinned together, it can show like, yeah, you've really got them together. But then it can also highlight if you have a leg split. So kind

of you got to play on your strengths and weaknesses there in terms of like knee patch placement and the colour and that kind of thing. Then you also want to have a stable upper body. So even though there's lots happening with the lower unit, range is another thing that the judge is looking for, the absorption. So they want to see really dynamic absorption with your skiing. You've also got to have a stable upper body, which requires a lot of core strength, core strength, stability, that kind of thing. So with all the things that are going on, landings, jumping, you need to have a lot of strength, obviously strength and power, agility.

There's that sort of explosive speed element. You're doing it's roughly 30 seconds, it takes roughly 30 seconds to complete a mogul run. So there's kind of that anaerobic system being used. But then at the same time, you're doing roughly eight, eight or more training runs in a day at sometimes at altitude. So you do need to have a good aerobic base as well to be able to handle the demands of the sport and to be able to train effectively sometimes your hiking jumps and that kind of thing. So I love that there's so many different elements.

And then at the same time, wrap that all up into a competition performance environment. And there's so much mind over matter that goes into it and mental skills, mental prep. So I love the variety, but probably that performance on demand element is the thing that I love the most. - Sick. I love it. What is one or two things you wish more people knew about moguls? Because one thing to see you go down a hill and do a few flips and things, but like as an athlete and a very good athlete at that, like what's the one thing or two things or however many you want to come up with that you wish more people knew about moguls?

- Probably two things come to mind immediately. One is that the physical capacities that are required for the sport or required to be able to do the sport well. I think that's something that a lot of people don't see because you just see once every four years, you see mobile skiing on the Olympics on television and you just say, okay, cool. They do this really like it's a bunch of cool stuff. They're skiing fast, they're jumping, they're doing tricks in the air, but to be able to do that requires a lot of physical preparation. And as I was talking about the speed, strength, agility.

- Pretty well-rounded athlete. - All of those kinds of things. But in the mental skills training to be able to to do scary jumps and go upside down. - Flips and tricks. - Perform under pressure as well. Like it's not just performing a skill, it's like you're performing it under pressure, under lights. Like you're having to tick off boxes in each of those three sections. - That too, exactly. And it's like the transition from jumps into moguls. And so I think, yeah, I'd love people to know more about the various elements that go into mobile skiing.

That there, and also the fact that, you know, people do only see generally in Australia only seeing mobile skiing once every four years on the Olympic games. But we compete on the World Cup circuit every year from basically December through till March. You're on the road pretty much every week at a different location, competing on the World Cup tour and then world championships every two years. So there's a lot that's going on and it's such a cool spot to watch. - Yeah, it is. It's pretty cool to watch. - It's something that you can also

just watch in one go from the bottom as opposed to some of the longer Alpine skiing or ski cross, sport across, that kind of thing. Where if you're at the bottom as a spectator, you just see the finish. Whereas mobile skiing, you get to see the whole thing. - Is there a run that is your absolute favorite that you've done? What was it? - So do you mean competition run that you've done? - Yeah. - Or a course in the world? - Competition run that you've done and then favorite course. - Okay, so I think my favorite competition run was in 2017 and this was actually, it was a good year.

- It's before COVID happened. - Yeah, that's true. - It was a good year for you. That's what I was getting at. - Ah, sorry. - He's done his research. - I told you. - Now I'm like, what's coming next? But it was a good year. But this particular event was the test event for the Olympic Games. So it was on the course where the Olympic Games would be 12 months later. So it was a World Cup, but they call it a test event. And at that particular event was a nighttime competition. And I've been having a great season, was just wanting to continue keeping that ball rolling.

And I remember that night in particular, I had an okay qualifications round earlier in the day, made a few mistakes, but felt like there was a few things that I could fix up. I qualified in the first place. So with mogul skiing, you have a qualifications round. So you complete a run top 16 from that run, go through to the finals, you get another training session before finals. And then everyone's scores are wiped clean, those 16 ski again, the highest place qualifier will be the last person to drop. So it goes in reverse order from qualifying results.

So I was the last person to drop in finals. And it's sort of the same thing again, top six from that final round, then go through into the super final. And again, highest place qualifier from that round is the last skier. So going through the rounds and this season, I really started to apply a lot of the mental skills and performance skills that I'd kind of adopted from yoga. Bit of a yogi and I've been practicing a lot of studio back in Melbourne and starting to use a lot of like breath work and breathing techniques meditation to just bring me into the present moment.

And I remember that night so well, because I was trying to use all of my senses to get myself in the present moment up there. It was it was a night event. So dark the courses on the lights. I remember being up in the start area. And just looking up at the stars in Korea, I was freezing cold, like negative 20. Standing up there just like looking at the stars, okay, braces bringing me into the present moment, breathing and seeing my breath in the air because it was so cold, stomping my feet on the ground. And I just remember feeling like I just knew exactly what I needed to do in that run.

I was so sure of every single turn, every body position that I needed. I felt confident, I was ready to go and just loving, loving mogul skiing, loving the excitement of it. I remember being up in the start gate, there was I was the last person to drop. So there's someone in the gate in front of me and I'm getting ready, I clicked into my skis and going through my pre comp routine. And there's generally cameramen in the start gate that's filming whoever's about to drop and cameramen was there filming the person in front of

me who was in the gate and I'm just getting ready and then that person drops and I like to get in the gate pretty quickly so they can have a look at the line and look at the snow texture, get ready to go. And here this cameraman was kind of in the way and I just remember I was I just got in the gate and I was just thinking about my skiing and my run. I got got in there and was standing in the gate ready to go. I pushed out and it was like everything just happened in slow motion.

It was a little bit like an out of body experience and it's now I didn't know it at the time but that's what people describe as flow stay. And I still remember that run so like so well it just it was like I wasn't even doing anything but everything was just working and happening and I could feel the snow going under my skis like it like a conveyor belt and then all of a sudden I crossed the finish line and I'm like I feel like that was the best run I've ever done. And it was

just such a good feeling and I knew when I got to the bottom like regardless of what score came up I'd done everything I could and I was that was the best run I could have done in that moment the best possible run I could have done. So I didn't you know I didn't really care what score came up because I've done everything again. Do you remember the score? 80 something I know I won that event. Yeah you did in a flow state of course you're gonna win that. Yeah and then I spoke to some

of my coach afterwards and he was like like what just happened up in the start gate and I was like what do you mean he's like you literally just shoulder charged the cameraman out of the way and stomped over the cables to get in the start gate and I had no recollection of that whatsoever because now I realize I was so just in that flow state in the moment. Yeah so that was a pretty cool pretty cool feeling. That's awesome. I love that. That's such a good story you're a great storyteller by the way. My favorite part about that whole little interaction was just Tess looking at you like a little child.

I was like tell me more. I find myself kept looking at her just kind of looking up at you going this is awesome I love this. Yeah well like I'm well my role is to put the athlete at the starting gate but then it's like what happens in the race I can prepare them as best as possible. And then it's on them. It's on them so like your ability to just lock in and find those little techniques of okay I'm going to focus on my breath I'm going to notice things around me I'm going to pick up on all these little senses that are going to set me up for success.

I know I've done all the training I know I've ticked all the boxes like I'm here right now. I just think that's so powerful as an athlete. Absolutely because like I think in that moment you've got everything that's happened before all the training you've done in the gym visualization the on snow training for me water ramping acrobatics all that kind of stuff and then you've got this outcome that you want to achieve and both of those are really important but at that point in time like all you've got is you and what's up here. Yeah

so you've got to just accept and go with it and bring yourself into the present moment and do everything you possibly can to have that that best run that you you can do to get an outcome. There's no point in that moment in time and thinking about that. Yeah that's so cool. And so yeah yoga has been a really fantastic thing for me to be able to I guess learn some tools and some tricks to be able to bring myself into the present moment. I think it's not valued enough in the sporting industry that ability for an athlete to just lock in.

Easier said than done. Yeah and you can pick or I can kind of pick up on those athletes that are aware of it and will invest time in that space because they know that it'll give them that extra edge to just be able to shut off all the external cues that might take them out of the zone and just sit there and get do their job. Yeah and it's like it comes it's accountability too right. Yeah like this is it's not in this point in time it's not my SNC coach's job to perform it's not my technical skill-based coach like I am here this isn't just me doing it and I need to take responsibility for that.

Yeah. Do the best I possibly can in that moment. Yeah. Yeah but I think as well it's one of the things that people talk about flow state and it's tricky because the more you try to achieve flow state the less likely it is to happen and I've been caught in that trap before too is like oh that felt so good I want to feel that that flow state again and I'm trying to get there and you're trying too hard you're thinking about flow state rather than the actual feeling of or the the skill that you're trying to achieve.

Yeah. That's taking you out of the present moment. Did you pick up on that post that run you're kind of hunting for it too much to find flow state in next runs? Yeah I think I've reflected on it even in different competition seasons of like oh that I tried to do what I did last year and it didn't work and realizing it wasn't because I was trying to do though what I did the year before it was literally because I was trying to achieve flow state not whereas the year before or the season before or the competition before I wasn't trying to achieve flow state I was trying to do the best mogul skiing run that I could do.

Yeah. Yeah so good. Catch just catch 22 I guess. Yeah but awesome that you recognized it and just like took a step back and just be like no I'm just going to ski. Yeah sometimes you do just need to remember that I'm just going to ski and yeah have fun skiing. Yeah I love it. Favorite location to ski? Favorite favorite competition venue is Deer Valley Utah and if anyone is ever in Utah in January February go to the Deer Valley World Cup they have moguls and aerials freestyle skiing. I might have to add that to my list.

You should absolutely. I thought of it earlier when you said you're doing it. That works out nicely. I actually think that slides in. So they call it the the super bowl of freestyle skiing and it's like it was my first ever World Cup was in Deer Valley and it's under lights so the lights basically down the fence on the side of the course so it'll be a nighttime event so everything else is dark just the course is lit up so it kind of looks like a theater and then they draw a massive crowd so people can actually walk to the bottom of the course so you get a lot of a lot of people coming up to spectate.

Awesome music they have a big VIP tent food like that kind of thing and just yeah it's like a big freestyle party and so it's such good energy when you're there as a competitor in the start gate and there's like massive crowd down the bottom and the course is lit up and it's a it's a gnarly course as well it's steep the moguls are huge it's called Champion it was where the 2002 Olympic Games were Salt Lake City Olympic Games so a bit of a beast of a course but good fun to ski. Rumor has

it that's what started bits of passion too actually yeah a little bit of my research 2002 games oh look out well I was leading me down the path actually because when you brought up you I was like I know what I'm gonna do what made you start what gave you the spark so I said as I was saying earlier I grew up in Falls Creek Victoria so very very lucky to grow up in that environment where skiing was our school sport and when I'd finished school at the end of the day my brother and I

would jump on the mountain and ski until the lifts closed so mum and dad ran an accommodation business on the mountain which allowed us because they worked on the mountain that allowed us to grow up in that environment and really we're really lucky to be able to do that but obviously being a snow loving ski loving family we were pretty keen to watch the 2002 winter Olympic Games and they were in Salt Lake City Utah so I watched that on telly as an eight-year-old and I specifically remember watching Alyssa Camplin win the gold medal in

aerial skiing so not my sport but I just remember seeing this this girl compete and jump and do these awesome flips and twists and to see her win that gold medal and how happy she was and excited and I was like what an Aussie like an Aussie chick can do that she can reach the absolute pinnacle of her sport in winter sport and that was me to me was really inspiring not long after that I was competing at the inter schools competitions at Mount Bulla and I heard that well actually saw her training there on

one of the ski runs that was next to where my inter schools competition was for mogul skiing it's my first ever year competing in mogul skiing in the school events and she was training there on this next to the the run that I was on so I actually waited at the top of the chairlift during one of her training sessions because with my result sheet from the piece of paper from the event that I competed in and I waited there until she came up Lisa and then got her to sign my result sheet and she

actually looking back on it now it was the middle of her training session and she took the time out to come over chat with me sign my result sheet and I still have that piece of paper today but so seeing and meeting her was really inspiring to me and I guess like kind of made me feel like yeah I I want to do that I want to be the best in the world at something I didn't really know it at that time what it would be but yeah after I guess starting to compete in mogul

skiing events like I very quickly fell in love with the sport and the variety and the adrenaline and excitement of it so yeah Elisa was definitely a huge inspiration to me in the in the early days what's like a moment from the early days where you realize that this actually might be a chance of me being able to do something cool like are you reflected on that going what was the moment I thought this is this is doable um because like I think as I mean we've all played high level sport to an extent obviously

not to the extent we're not wearing any green and gold uniforms but local battlers over here local battlers over here um we all have this moment as a kid where like we want to do really well at sport we think hey I'd love to do this for a job but like what is there a moment you can remember for you that you thought you know what I think this is actually possible like I can do something pretty cool with this to be honest I think it was watching Elisa the Salt Lake City Olympics like I

think um my yeah that was my my sort of first look in it seeing an Aussie succeed in winter sports and I think we're really lucky in Australia that Australia has had such great success in winter sports which is really cool to see we have a rich history of um success both in World Cup and Olympic games for freestyle skiing in particular so I saw that and was like okay that's achievable but I also feel like I was surrounded by I think you know my family were always very supportive very encouraging um definitely encouraged me

to dream big particularly my dad like always very much the kind of person that encouraged me to follow my dreams and I look back on that now I'm so grateful and so grateful for their support I mean my I didn't actually travel you know a lot of people when I was young they growing up in a mountain they would do back to back winters and we didn't do that we had some holidays we'd go camping and I remember my when I first made the development team my parents actually sold their caravan so that we used to go camping it so I could go on that first um first trip.

So what you're saying is you had no choice to be good. No no I just I just had support. Naturally talented look at me go down some little bumps. No I just had support like my family were just supporting I had an older brother I was chasing him around the mountain so I wasn't I don't think there was like a particular moment other than I never really I just I didn't doubt it from a young age I just I'm my parents I guess instilled in me that you know all you can do is work hard

and try hard and like at the end of the day that's that's all you can do is try train hard try hard and then I mean the rest like that's up to the judges. Yeah did you almost have like a full circle moment like you had that moment with Alyssa was that right and then you're now obviously Olympic champion did you have that full circle moment with like someone coming up to you training and you're just like yeah this is cool. Okay well like couple of things there I'm not Olympic champion oh like world champion

yeah but yeah I knew you were gonna say that so first of all yes like seeing like seeing little kids watch Jack at the Olympics and even when I you know I go up to the mountain and I get kids that come up to me and we sign their helmet and stuff like that to me is like it's so cool because like it's not for me it's not the attention or anything like that it's the fact that I have the opportunity to influence them and have I can look at how much just that small interaction

with Alyssa how much that I guess changed or like sent me on that trajectory in my life path and so now like knowing that looking back like that's I just see those little opportunities of like there's a kid that's excited to watch someone mobile seeing I'm of course I'm gonna chat with them and take the time like because the impact on that could be huge I don't know like I don't know what it'll be but why not like yeah you know and just I appreciate anyone that loves sport like I have time for them yeah

100 that's what we're kind of seeing or why I'm so passionate about the work that I'm doing in the AFLW is that we're just starting to get like women role models in the AFL so it's like how important it is for the AFLW to succeed so that we continue to have those female role models in the sport so that girls and young women continue to participate in Australian footy so I think it's really cool that you're just like yeah I want to be that role model absolutely quote evolving that's reading it up you can't be

what you can't see yeah yep that shit on t-shirt I think that goes that goes in line with like I'm quite a visual learner as well so that kind of ties in with that but and it's not just within your sport as well I think that's something I learned throughout my career is I always tried to look at people that did whatever it was that they did really well and figure out okay what do you do to to be to be good at what you do basically and and learning from lots of different people like

oh that person's excellent at that particular thing so I'll draw a little bit of inspiration from them or them or just you know learning from a bunch of different people in different areas of my life so yes Elisa was my role model or inspiration in the beginning but then I started to realize like actually I can learn from so many different people whether it be other athletes or teammates competitors people in different sport like that kind of thing I think it's not it doesn't just have to be within your sport who would be your top

three that you've sort of drawn little nuggets from along the way um she loves the word nugget it's so funny it's a good word isn't it she got picks like rides herself up for and goes next that's what I got nicknamed for for a little while we should do a podcast and see how many times in the podcast I can say nugget nugget it's a good word to say as well nugget okay so um tough to choose I feel like it's always changing um I had some really I've had some really good coaches in my

career like really interesting people that I've learned so much from so I'm gonna yeah maybe I can group them together and take coaches yep uh I'll allow teammates as well um now you're fencing I can't group teammates teammates oh yeah this is a time so obviously Elisa in the beginning was very inspirational to me um then I'd probably say so my my coach I had two coaches for the majority of my career uh Steve Disovich and Jerry Grossi and they were the kind of coaches that would show up every single day with they would match

my passion and determination towards a goal so that was something that was really um good for me in terms of working towards my goal we were all on board we knew what we were trying to achieve and we were doing everything with absolutely everything we could every day towards achieving that goal um but then towards the end of my career I started working with a different coach named Kate Blamey and I think at that point in time I uh I was ready for something new something fresh and um Kate taught me so much about not

just the technical aspects of my sport but just kind of life in general and uh I learned she was very much the kind of person that was like I'm looking after the athlete for sorry the person first and the athlete second um so that was that was really important for me and I think something that's helped me in my transition out of out of sport yeah um and I'd also say I'd group Alice and Miles in that category as well as someone that's very much like let's look after the person because a healthy happy person

is going to produce the you know the best possible outcome on the daily performance for training environment um so Ali would be in there uh I've worked with a bunch of different psychologists mental skills performance coaches that have all added value in my career um so yeah this is obviously a lot more than three but just heaps of arbitrary number top three top five top seven against who are your favorite people in the world family yeah family members my brother he's been super supportive from day one always kind of come back to him and rely

on him uh my housemate amazing athlete Hannah McDougal um she came into my life later in my career but um is someone I've learned a lot from as well so yeah just so many people and I think that's the thing is like it's okay to ask for help and learn from people around you like that's yeah I think that's really probably been that's just been a common theme throughout my career is just always trying to learn from different people of what they do well yeah how they do those things well yeah I think being a

keen learner is such a strong suit of yours or like trait of yours and that's probably something that set you up really well for the elite environment because it is ever-changing and so you're constantly having that open mind and like keen to learn off whatever coach is coming into your life in that time and notice their strengths and draw on that yeah or learn off teammates or like yeah I just think that's a really cool quality that you've got thank you I think that's just like I just I guess I'm curious and I'm also very

happy to admit when I don't know something yeah and look like ask for help and advice from someone that does know it you know yeah that's that's part of it I wasn't I didn't grow up in team sport but we definitely operated as a team in the mobile in the mobile skiing team so yeah yeah there's that and then I would also say something that I probably learned and I'm still trying to learn is yes it's it's okay to learn from other people but also know that that they might be good at one thing in

particular but that doesn't mean you have to do everything like them or you know like pick and choose and also realize that you are your own person right yeah and and that you have strengths and weaknesses as well so yeah back yourself I think we're talking about it over lunch that we would all respond so much better to a leader that's able to acknowledge when they don't know something than someone that carries on thinking that they do or want to like come across as they do and so yeah just having that ability to say hey

I actually don't know what I'm doing here like but I want to learn like absolutely teach me how or I'm going to go and do some research or talk to some people that might know the answers I think that's awesome to see in other people so then you can come back the next day and say look what I learned and yeah and then it's like yours yeah it's yours right yeah yeah that's yeah love it I was just enjoying watching you guys talk I was just like oh my gosh this is so good I love

just sitting and watching people talk and interact yeah um we're going to slightly veer okay and you get to talk less about skiing life and less more about brit life right how'd you find yoga well yoga I was thinking about this the other day because we ended up being in a yoga class together which is really cool we ran each other on the street first at like 5 45 in the morning you know how I knew it was you actually is I recognized a jacket and like a long lulu jacket and I was like um

I'm maybe they're going and I don't really know where I'm going so maybe I'll try and like connect with them I was like oh hey it's brit lemon jacket surely they're going to somewhere yoga related yes I think I had the same thing with you I was like lulu puffy I was in a bright purple jumper so oh bright purple jumper that makes sense I was I was she was standing out yeah I'm a lulu ambassador well I think everyone in the room had some connection yeah right then I was just like I've seen this

face before oh from the vertice podcast yeah um yeah so yo yeah that I was thinking about the other day because I haven't been in yoga classes too much lately but I've been practicing yoga every day um for probably the last five years or so but I did my first my introduction to yoga was probably 2012 I did a I did do a class with um a group that were called at the time they were called chicks with sticks so it was just a skiing program for any and every woman to be able to skate

up it um in the mountains in Australia just a bunch of girls that got together and skied which was really cool and I did some kind of like guest coaching for them and they ran a yoga class in the afternoon so shout out to Jane Basie who was a teacher of my first ever yoga class and Zoe Jabour um and I just I remember being like this feels really good I love like moving my body and she was a great teacher and that she came around and kind of modified for everyone in the class to

suit the practice towards them and where they were at um so like yeah this is really cool and then started to sort of dabble with classes at various places different studios around the world at wherever I was competing or training um and then in 2015 I moved to Melbourne and not far from where I was living was a yoga studio called at the time as KX Yoga um it's now called here yoga but I remember going there and first class I ever did at that studio was taught by Nikki Grimsdale and he is anyone who's

sort of in the yoga community in Melbourne you know he's one of the the boss teachers he's so good and just has the most creative amazing sequences so I was thrown right into like some great classes there with Nikki and um not long after that the studio was started being managed by um Sarah who ended up buying out the studio rebranding it to what it is today which is here yoga and I I kept going back and practicing there because there's a bunch of great teachers I loved the community and I just loved the way

that my body felt when I did yoga it was kind of I saw it as kind of like I guess a bit of a supplement to my training but it was also a place that I could go um where out of everything that I did as an athlete in a judge sport where you're always performing and training hard it was somewhere somewhere I could go where I wasn't performing I was just being and just just doing yeah just doing and enjoying um it's a beautiful studio like up on this first floor with these big arch

windows where the light comes in it's just a nice place to be um and being an athlete that's on the road a lot of the year um it was some place that I could just come back to that felt felt like home and I always remember like I lived I've lived in various places in Melbourne but this yoga studio has always remained constant and so I always said to people like I don't feel like I'm back home in between training camps until I've been back to the studio like this is home for me and uh

ended up doing a bunch of yoga there and I slowly started to learn that yoga was more than just the physical practice of the asana and there were these like pranayama techniques and breath work techniques that I learned but I learned meditation techniques and how to be in the present moment and it was more than just the shapes it was the transition between the shapes and how that felt and it became like a moving meditation and I just it sort of opened this window just so much more than what I thought it was initially um

so I thought you know love to one day I'd love to do my yoga teacher training but I was always training for mogul skiing and I was always away um but after the 2018 games I had a bit of an injury I broke my elbow and had to have a little bit of time off training so I was actually based in Melbourne for a significant chunk of time and I thought right it just it lined up well with in that studio we're running a teacher training so I signed up and did my yoga teacher training

while I was doing my rehab um and that for me was a really profound experience it was with that teacher that I was talking about Nikki Groomsdale and then the the studio owner Sarah Metzger and they were amazing teachers to run me through that that course um I met a bunch of great yogis as well through that experience where we did every weekend for I think roughly eight to 12 weeks and then a week intensive over in Bali at the end to to get my qualification so um that was the yoga teaching side of things

but then after that um I it's 20 I think it was 2016 so I did my teacher training 2018 2019 like got back into competing again and started to have some pretty bad issues with my back my my lower back um and to the point where I was having to do really long warm-ups before skiing just to get my back moving and to feel comfortable it was sore every morning um really had to reduce the volume that I was doing on snow and I kind of thought like oh this is just because I'm getting older

and then I was introduced to I call him now my yoga guru so he's a teacher in Sandringham named Duncan Ewing at the yoga arts academy and started practicing with him whereas his his yoga teaching style or asana style is very different it's more one-on-one quite traditional approach um it's it's one-on-one teaching so he's always adjusting you modifying like hands on adjustments and um I started going to see him from the recommendation of a few other skiers who had been practicing with him my teammate Brody Summers uh Lydia La Sala and he'd helped them work

through some injuries so started practicing with Duncan and my body just changed so much after working with him uh and my back issues dissolved I was able to get much more hip range uh than I ever had before in my career which is actually really important in mobile seeing to have that hip range um the absorption but then that allowed me to that took a lot of the pressure off my back and it just I felt like I was moving so much more so I think going to see Duncan kind of prolong well it I

don't know if it prolonged my career but it made the last couple years in my career a lot more comfortable and um I was able to do more volume on snow again and um travel days were a lot more a lot better because before that I was having to travel a day earlier than the team to have a day on the other side to get my back good again before I'd go on snow and train and then I went back once I started training working with Duncan um I didn't have to do that anymore because

my back was a lot better so yeah there was that side of things um and what a part of his practice allowed you to kind of like from a body point of view like make some really big inroads that you noticed um I think very very much that hands-on approach uh one-on-one yoga he would tailor everything specifically to what I needed I think there was a lot of deep hamstring work um and that sort of allowed me to get more twisting like QLs opened up kind of uh that sort of thing and I think with

him he'd give is like crazy he'd just look at me and go oh you injured your shoulder like didn't you and I'm like yeah how did you know that but he's just got great knowledge of the body and how it moves he'll watch me uh watch me practice and sort of see sticking points and things like that and and tailor my practice to that so it's almost like an SNC coach of yoga um which is really cool and he'd give me different uh different postures to work on pre-skiing and say you know this is really

good to do at this point in time and I do that every morning before training religiously like a 25-minute sort of thing every morning when I woke up before I did any sort of training or anything like that I do sort of a 25-minute yoga practice um and I still do that today so awesome what would you like to do with yoga like now that you've kind of out of sport you in yoga like what for you is yoga something you want obviously you're going to pursue it but from like a maybe like a deliverable

or like a get yourself in something is there anything you want to do with yoga I've done a little bit of teaching here and there but at the moment for me it's just it's part of life really like the asana practice is something I do every morning but it's also for me it's just like a way of living and um you know when like I said before some of the the mental skills or I don't even know what you want to call them but just perspectives or ways of looking at things that I've learned through

yoga philosophy is kind of now I see them showing up in my daily life and the choices I make and things like that so it's just yeah I guess a part of who I am and um I don't think it has to be this like spiritual it can be if you want it to be kind of thing but it's just like I think yogis are about you know be kind to others and to yourself look after your body and um yeah it's it doesn't you don't have to over complicate it do you have a question

I just love it I'm just like loving hearing it all yeah you're an awesome yoga together yeah I'm shocking at yoga I'll be like twisted in a little but this is what I mean it's not like yoga is not about being good at it like you just do it yeah I know I just feel my hamstrings and it hurts just be gentle okay she's gonna find her hamstrings first yeah they don't quite work we're working on it we worked it out with use our hips now yeah it was a big ordeal but we're good we're

starting to move a bit better but yeah I did yoga for a little bit kind of coming out of lockdown um and yeah I really enjoyed it and it was it like it was just that space of you could completely shut off from everything else that was happening in your life and just for 30 minutes just like nicely move your body like not having to I don't know hit a certain heart rate or like feel like I feel attacked well pointed me don't have to hit a heart rate I hate it but it's like you

can just sit there and move through the session and it's just really grounding in that way but yeah I just don't that heart rate stuff kills me go for a slow hit a heart rate of 155 to 160 that was a pointed attack at me and I knew it you didn't know that but I knew that was that was a bar being thrown across the chair yeah you keep showing up yeah that's just some part of it yeah but I've started to rebel my favorite part is the like the realization of oh shit yeah he

was right yeah I came in this week I think I did was it um a 10k run on Tuesday and my average heart rate was 160 something or other and like for 450 paces yeah and I was like why how's like it's worked it was my favorite moment for as long as I can remember I was like see I was like why was that easy and you're like because we did all of this stuff beforehand do the work and get the reward yeah but I do every time with the hamstrings and yoga you do the

work and you get the reward I'll have functioning hamstrings is that what you're telling me okay cool maybe not hips they're too far yeah what did you call them inverted retroverted yeah but no introverted yeah yeah well I this is the thing I actually what surprised me with working with Duncan yoga is like I kind of I'd gotten to the point where I kind of accepted like oh this is just the way my hips are on my back it doesn't move like I thought oh yeah I've always thought okay I've got a long femur so

getting that hip range in vocal skiing is just it's just not gonna happen or it's too hard whatever but actually working with Duncan realized that like over time I was able to change that and get that hip range and um and modify it so it's like people say like oh I can't like I can't touch my toes I can't do this it's like you know you just gotta my least this is one of my least favorite quotes is the first step is acceptance well it's fucking not the first step is yes okay I am identifying

I identify and understand but I can change this yeah it just doesn't have to be the black and white way that you think it is I thought all right my backs I just can't do anything about it well no actually I could and I was able to feel better than I had earlier in my career so yeah it's like I run like a mini fridge okay let's adjust that no I made a mistake one day I told Tess that she runs like a mini fridge because she did she was like short stock in across the

side that's just what it looked like like a nugget like a nugget with legs it was like a passing comment like a few weeks after I saw her running because she was getting some hamstring stuff and we're trying to identify a few things and when we're actually doing the session as she was finishing off I actually had to take a phone call and we I was on the phone all the way back to the gym and then it was like a week and a half late I was like oh yeah I forgot to tell you

actually and I like just like drive by just like hey run like a mini fridge and she's like I was like I what and as soon as I said I was like oh no did that discourage you or motivate you more um it made me highly aware of my running technique and guess what now I don't know what I look like we're efficient am I now a taller fridge a little bit yes it doesn't really matter what you look like as long as you we are efficient we are an efficient runner and that you're hitting

those heart rates yeah it was actually yeah I was impressed with my run this week I was like god it worked it worked yeah yeah and we caught a mini fridge for a little bit fisher and pikel every now and then yeah that's only when I run with ollie though um fisher and his pikel because he also kind of runs like a fridge okay sure stocky cross the sides when you see it you know it if you're like walking around alba park in the next like month or so and you see someone run and you

you'll see like oh that's what it looks like yeah it'll just be me it's like one of my favorite things to do and like I don't really ever get up to the city but like obviously there's a quite an active community around the city and it's a little bit more enclosed you see more people being active I love watching people move around and be like oh yep you've got a sore hamstring your back hurts it's like one of my like people watching but like as an ssc coach it's like on steroids people watching identify some

things I just see people like if only they did yoga yeah people say to me like they've got some sort of injury or something like that I'm like oh you could have prevented that so you're like me when I'm like oh I've got sore hamstrings you're like you're friendly shit did you all right Britt we are going to talk a little bit about Britt's future life and what you're excited for and then I've got some quick questions from the community oh I have a question go on then how has your definition of success changed from

while you're an athlete to where you are now oh that's a good one oh that is a really good one and definitely continues to change definition of success changes on a daily basis right what is your definition of success to always be growing continually growing and learning I love that I get I think for me my definite now today my definition of a success my definition of success is living by my values and always making choices based on what my core values are I would say that's my definition of success if you had asked me

what my definition of success was six years ago I would have said winning an Olympic gold medal that was my definition of success and that that was my definition of success for a very long time and when I didn't achieve that goal it hurt like hell but that probably started that process of me learning and growing and figuring out who I was as a person who didn't have that and discovering that I am more than just that but I can still something that I actually I actually don't have control over winning any sort of sporting

accolade or any sort of external accolade right because I can't control what other people do I can't control the conditions of the course I can't control how the judges interpret my skiing all I can control is the choices that I make on a daily basis given my you know the context the external environment where I am in that at any particular point in time and whether or not I'm making those choices in alignment with my values or not in alignment with my values so I think that's my definition how long did it take you to

come to terms with not winning a gold medal a long time I mean it's still tough it still comes up like every now and then it'll pop up in my mind of like oh what if and that kind of thing but actually yeah I think the night of that event so I went into 2018 as I went into that season as world number one and world champion so there were people had big expectations on me and like probably like none of those were as big as the expectations I had on myself and that night when

I didn't achieve that goal my brother said to me he was like this is actually I know it's really hard right now but you will see in time you will see that this is an opportunity for you for growth and I now you know look back on that and I understand what he meant by that and it definitely took a long time to get to that point where like yeah I would have loved to have achieved that and ticked that box that goal that I set for myself as an eight-year-old but it doesn't define me

and there is so much I am so much more than that and there's like so much more ahead of me so that I can be excited about yeah so I think it's it was it was a tough lesson but a very important lesson yeah what are you excited for oh um I am excited for so a nine to five oh yes and no um I did have the opportunity to do a bunch of work in live sport broadcasts over the last 12 months which has been really fun really cool to see how different sports operate

and um yeah athletes in different sports and kind of what goes on behind the scenes of telling the story of sport um it was pretty cool it was pretty eye-opening um but you know also starting to do a little bit of stuff in sport governance as well um obviously Australia hosting their 2032 Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games um then obviously Com Games Victoria 2026 so there's some really exciting stuff happening in high performance sport in Australia in the next decade so um I'm I really want to stay connected and involved in that space I'm

part of the AIS high performance 2032 plus strategy um so that's you know for all sport now leading up to 2032 and beyond um all high performance sport so cool to be connected in that way um on the board of the Olympic we need Institute of Australia which is obviously I'm very closely connected to that organization as an athlete contracted athlete with them for over 10 years and um staying involved with the team there but still studying Bachelor of Communications um nearly done nearly done one subject to go so home stretch um and then yeah

wanting to do a little bit of work in kind of management consulting leadership um organizational change that kind of thing so if you just briefly summarize why you're passionate or excited about each of those things what does each of them bring that one maybe doesn't oh yeah that's okay sorry no um this is really cool because I did just have you read the book ikigai I didn't see it on the shelf but no I mean I haven't read any of these it's kind of like this Japanese concept that you have like these different elements of

your life that kind of cross over like you've got your passion your vocation um so there's like what uh what you love what you can get paid for what's your passion uh and they all kind of cross over with each other so I guess I'm in this space in my life right now where I'm kind of just figuring out what those things are and finding a balance between them um which I think is sort of that thing they say like the one you know you might find something that kind of ticks all of those boxes

but they're always changing so you never really get there you never really achieve it's always about working towards it you never reach the goalpost the goalpost yeah exactly yep um and something that I've learned since I've retired from sport is that um life is not as black and white as sport is gray does exist yeah yeah it's gray but um so it's I guess having like a little bit of trust in that and patience um and be like okay it's good to have a goal and to work towards it but knowing that things can change

along the way and being able to adapt and and modify as neat as you know maybe um so what what I'm passionate about it each of those things is one I want to work in live sport broadcast because that's exciting I love the aspect of storytelling and finding out about the the human behind the athlete and the story of you know what actually got them to to the start line or the start gate and you know what who are they outside of their sport um so particularly around Olympic and Commonwealth Games sports so I'm passionate

about that and um being on you know in sport governance kind of side of things is like you know what other you know how can we see Australia continues to succeed and grow on the on the world stage of sport um and learning about that kind of things and then I guess in the sort of management consulting side of things it's like uh continuing to challenge myself and grow and learn on a daily basis like that's something that I really want to do and um be exposed to a bunch of different industries um but also

learn about leadership and that kind of thing teamwork and um yeah just keep on learning learning for everyone at home I told you this is pretty cool yeah yeah you can see all of these skills that you've obviously developed as an athlete just really you're like super aware of them and you're like this is a strength of mine so I'm going to utilize this in moving into my next phase of life and it's also retiring has I think exposed my weaknesses a lot as well yeah this area is it okay like what I've been so

focused on you know I've been so focused on one thing for such a long time of like now yeah being trying to juggle a lot more a lot more things and I guess for me my sport always took priority and it was kind of like easy to make decisions because it was always about like what's actually um what's going to make me a better mogul scare whereas now it's like I'm trying to do so many different things and um and figure that out so that's maybe one of the weaknesses that I'm working on um I

think yeah I'm like maybe working at nine to five next year like people have told me okay it's not it's going to be more than nine to five but just having yeah that that kind of lifestyle will be very different to me but I'm also excited like I think yeah it's something new and it's a new challenge so yeah it's that space for learning and growing exactly not being scared of weaknesses but being excited to like learn about them and make it a strength yeah absolutely yeah yeah love it do you have any final questions

before I go quick fire what's your favorite lulu lemon tight oh these ones before we go quick fire but I'm in let's go that was my first question oh really I'm wearing I think these are the wonders the aligns I love the aligns they just do such a good job yes yeah the alliance I used to scheme these all the time I literally for the last like 10 years of my career under my ski pants was always so good love that yeah oh who's going to fall over first meet your eye on the slopes I

really wish I was coming up to the mountains with you guys I'm sorry I'm so excited and petrified for you guys great yeah from playing along at home Tess and I go into the snow next week and I've been in the snow once in my life and it wasn't even real snow so I'm going to I've got this in the bag yeah I've got this covered I'm going to try and learn and snowboard but I will spend more time on my ass than I will standing up so oh but I'm excited to be shit I'm

excited to be bad at it that's I like getting better I like the challenge when you aren't learning anything new that those initial stages are really fun because you progress so quickly yeah that's what keeps you coming whereas like when you and Tess you'll you'll appreciate this like with the numbers that you go through with the rowing team of like when you're at that level you're making like one percent change 0.1 change over six months and you're like oh yeah you can't even see it like two weeks ago Tess and then you're like this shit

is awesome Tess had a very groundbreaking moment what happened um we ran like a rapid heat block and we ended up seeing like these huge performance gains that is so cool and it was just like I even had Rodney come up to me and we were having this big physiology brain nerd out session and he was he was like looking at all the numbers and he just sat there and he was just like Tess this is this is magic like how how how unicorn yeah unicorn she gets called the unicorn yeah I'm the unicorn how

did that feel uh it was huge I was just like it's one of those moments where you just sit back and you're like I actually did I did good I did good I know yeah it was a bit affirming that you're on the right track yeah well it's one of those things and I for us like we don't really know if our work pays off until it pays off like yeah realistically like without you know being black and white like we don't know if something works until it works or it doesn't work so other than

that we're just like on the edge the whole time yeah in anything we do we're literally without with how we see having some guided information and some you know breadth of knowledge behind it is we're basically throwing shit at a wall and hoping it sticks if it sticks like we just don't know but there is in the business of human movement yeah there's so many variables we're in the business of change and change takes time and change can be very very fast so many things can be very very slow yeah even just in so we

ran that heat block with one group of athletes in one week and we saw those huge responses we ran the same heat block in another group of athletes the following week did not see the same response so it's like we do we like we constantly throw out ideas and if it works great what was it yeah what was different between the two groups yeah yeah and it may not it may or may not have been anything to do with your work in there like yeah maybe they were they are partying or yeah what were they

doing right it was the training that they'd done for the previous two months before they got into the chamber enough for recovery you know who that was yeah interesting you mentioned that mrs doesn't eat enough over here oh yeah but that's don't let him know that oh are you going to get on my case as well yeah about test not feeling yourself properly i mean you can only help yourself it's like the yoga thing all over again this is mama bear coming down i'll be walking past it on the gym floor and you'll be there

exercising you'll be like have you had lunch yet exactly can you please i always skip lunch you know the worst excuse that tes has is like oh i have food i just didn't eat it i forgot to i fully pack an exciting lunch and then i just don't it's like you running a program for your athlete but they're not doing it oh that hurts too i like this keep going this is so good but yes yes it is exactly like that all right quick fire ready so these come from the community of people that i've

chatted to over the last week okay who does the community people consist of so vertice members and clients athletes uh secured afiw athletes my friends and my family awesome you gotta have to think of a couple too just oh okay just like shorts ship like nice questions ready let's go all right what is a winter olympic village like oh winter olympic village uh aside from the obvious bloody freezing yeah uh really cool each one's been different yes which is awesome vancouver was in the city so it's like a little mini city uh sochi obviously up

in the mountains usually have maccas yeah in them not at the last games so they're not as glorious as the summer ones they just no i think they're just smaller small yeah but what's cool is like you're walking around and you just see all these athletes from different sports and i remember at vancouver um so this isn't very rapid fire but i knew you were going to do this anyway so i'm going to keep you on don't worry i've got about 30 with this slovakian ice hockey player and he is apparently the tallest person in

the league at the time and i'm there as so he's the tallest olympic athlete at the games i'm there as the youngest olympic athlete at the games and got a photo together and like just those novel things it's just really cool awesome uh as an athlete as a contracted athlete what's the pay luck ah wait this came from one of my 15 year old athletes so 15 year old athletes literally that's really cool um so when sometimes when i have spoken with or with other athletes who are in professional sports not elite sports yes it's

really funny because they're like oh talk about pay and i'm like wait you guys are getting paid we do it for the love yep um favorite winter apparel apparel yeah like what can't you live without if you're going away does no oh like you're one piece that you love and i've treasured oh this is tough one but probably i mean you cannot survive without a good pair of gloves yeah i was going to be like throw you a beanie trying to help she was trying to help you out over there i could wear gloves i've

stayed with xtm gloves my entire career um it kept me warm in i had a block in northern finland of training where for 10 days it didn't get below negative like it didn't get above sorry yeah negative 30 yeah crazy yeah so good pair of gloves favorite place to travel to um for skiing for whatever you want to be for yeah uh the peninsula fence sitter no uh media training you dodged that one like a pro no i don't need to dodge it um aside from the negative 30 northern finland's pretty cool i'm sorry that's

my next year of trip is like is that where northern lights are yeah yeah i really want to see that's top of my next travel list favorite place to compete d valley utah um but we used to train in zermatt switzerland october every year on the glacier there and that is just absolutely beautiful least favorite training session least favorite training session the thing called brissades which unless you're a mogul skier you haven't heard of them so it's something we use to train the uh absorption that's involved in local skiing so you're on a trampoline you

stand up the end of the trampoline and you're basically in a squatted position doing really fast absorptions we do like intervals 30 seconds at a time to simulate the the feeling and gross i hate rhythm squats honestly that was like i punished my athletes and members with rhythm squats it's basically like quarter squats bouncing up and down similar vibe that was the first thing i thought i was like oh this is this is cool you're gonna put mine to 60 next week aren't you no we're gonna do it on trampoline next week sounds cool that

was one thing like i miss a lot about being a competitive mogul skier i do not miss doing those training yeah i love that that's brutal you got one yeah favorite book you can see it in your eyes oh favorite book there's a few here that i've read but actually noticed a quote on the wall over there by victor frankl and his book uh man's is it man's search for meaning yes that's that's obvious somewhere i've seen that one yeah that's it that's a good one i think that's one of loki's favorite books too yeah

that's these are all loki's so here's the book right yeah there's some good ones up there i love it another i don't think so what's your favorite book oh she told you this will turn around eventually here she is okay my favorite okay my favorite um sort of learning book uh non-fiction yeah yeah would be um yohan hari's lost connections or stolen focus those two were incredible i love those stolen focus is on my bedside table at the moment but i haven't opened yet it's really good for someone that loves learning and scientific rationale behind

things yeah that's that's why i love his books because he puts that twist of um the science but in everyday life and makes it really simplistic so that's why i love those two um non-fiction on sorry fiction um i loved uh boy swallows universe right that blew my mind i love that book um so they're my favorites good picks yeah love it all right two left yeah injury list oh injury list okay we'll go from the bottom up deal i like that this little piggy yeah three sprained ankles uh some i've been pretty lucky on

the knee front just niggles and that kind of thing but the thing i get asked the most on a chairlift is uh how are your knees because people watch mogul skiing like oh it's your knees but it's actually your back so i had yes uh like disc protrusion type stuff transverse process fractures like l4 ish area um yeah a lot of like a lower back issues there um but then my worst in both elbows if we're going up yep both elbows at different times luckily um and then my worst crash resulted in uh broken clavicle

and six broken ribs at the same time knocked myself out gross right about that one geez that's brutal yeah that was not fun i've only broken my foot and then i chipped my elbow but that was my sister's fault you chipped your elbow yeah it didn't generally chipped teeth no it was like a little um it hadn't quite come off okay yeah it was a little yeah it was bones then yes yeah i've done pretty well yeah but that was my sister's fault because i was four years old and she told me or she double

dog donut dared me to hang off the fireman's pole with one arm and i've heard this story wait what is a double dog donut dare you explain it it's just like i dare you yeah it's like if you do it a kid like if a kid says that you're doing it it's like one of those unwritten things you can't not do it yeah and so a little four-year-old test grabbed onto the fireman's pole with one hand and fell like a bag of potatoes and chipped her elbow may was in so much trouble yeah but yeah

i now have that story over here it's a good story all right last question then we're gonna wrap up testing good dinner three people who would you recommend for the vertice podcast to talk to who is in your little world i don't have to know them we don't have to know them who would you love to hear more about or who do you think has a really cool story to tell that isn't necessarily out front with telling it unless they're asked i think everyone has a cool story to tell i agree yes yeah it's just

about asking the right question fence sitter again here it is no it's about asking the right questions uh okay my 94 year old grandfather oh you know i'm really excited for segue sorry off track tessa's mom's coming on the podcast not confirmed yet but it's gonna happen i am so excited i'm terrified we can ask her about the double dog donut dare yeah yeah uh so my grandfather father is 94 yes not confirmed yet but it's been flooded enough now that i'm like that's gonna be more okay not confirmed not confirmed just before no no

not confirmed oh okay okay but it's happening okay anyway yes your 95 year old grandma yes grandfather grandfather sorry uh was treasurer of its roy football club um where's his brisbane lions dressing gown every single day love that and it's his like well he wears it when they play so cute when brisbane when brisbane play he wears the dressing gown and he says to all the grandchildren if you don't support brisbane then you're not included in his will that's fair um that's fair but i asked him because it's his lucky dressing gown i asked him

i said granddad will you wear it when i compete in the olympic games of course of course so yeah he wore it i love that when i was competing which was really cool uh next person uh who do i want to hear from everyone my my old coach former coach kate blamey really interesting person smart person has a great great way of uh she's a great leader has good leadership skills um so it'd be cool to hear from her and then have you been in you have been interviewed i've listened to that yeah a while

ago i actually actually can't actually remember the last time i did one like being interviewed to be fair i feel like i did one you need an update i feel like it yeah i've had a lot of shit going you know what would be really cool rod and tes together i've never met rod i feel like you would love i feel like i really like yeah that'd be cool but i've heard lots of things and lots of very good things obviously yeah yeah that'd be interesting yeah that would be seriously very cool i'm in you're

in charge set it up i set this one up so if you're in charge okay test zach for episode number five oh i know exactly what he's going to say as well and you'll leave it to the very last minute and we'll both laugh very very hard and you'll be like what the hell's going on i love those moments though brit thank you very much for making the trick down and come and hang out for the best part of like five hours yeah it's been fun that went quick yeah i really think you should do

a podcast by yourself like your own podcast with people because i reckon you're incredible what are we talking about if you watch back this video i'm sitting here like this the whole time i need to talk i'm just like infatuated i just you've got so many awesome qualities so many cool stories but yeah just you being an awesome human is just so i just love it well i think it's just it's cool what you guys are doing with the podcast and i'm just i'm just always happy to talk about sport and you do cool shit

like you've done cool shit you are cool yeah so are you guys that's why that's why i want to die no no thank you for coming it's been awesome i loved it thanks for having me i got a little treat for you on the way out have a good day