S4E01 · WE'RE BACK! Jacqui Coughlan

Do we get to do that? You can clap if you want. Alrighty beautiful people, welcome back to the Virtus Performance podcast. We've been on a little hiatus for a while, but 2025 is returning. So, first guest, first cab off the rank, Jack Jack. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. How's your morning been? It's been good. Coached this morning. How was it? Honestly? Great morning. Tell me two people that did really cool things this morning. Questions without notice. Oh, I know. I know. Tyson just made me laugh a lot today. Tyson was in a good mood.

He just like, nothing coaching wise, just like, he just made me laugh this morning. He's a good man. Love that. Who did something cool? Oh, we had four juniors, like four youth athletes in at 6am this morning. Love. Getting their stuff done before school. I appreciate that. If you're, if you're under the age of 16, you're training at 6am. That is solid. I love you. Yeah, it's brilliant. Committed. Alright, first question for you. First proper question. What gets you out of bed in the morning? Honestly, I love my job. My job every single day. I've been doing this job for like five years now and I am not sick of the early mornings one little bit.

I love it. What do you love about your job? What about coaching? Oh, a little bit of everything. I get to yap all morning to people. I love to yap. I like that no two days are the same. Everything's different. Love the variety in my day. The freedom in my day. There's something about being out before the sun that I love and being at work and being productive is just even better. But being a coach, watching people reach their potential, watching people lives change. It's, it's a feeling you can't match. As I'm sure you know. It's pretty wonderful.

Yeah. Yeah. Like it's easy to get sick of it, aspects of it, but like coaching, problem solving, best job in the world. Yeah, honestly. And like, yeah, day to day life. Yeah. Sometimes it can be drag. I feel like that's a new job. But then, I don't know, you just have that one person who comes in and changes his perspective for the day and you're like far out. I love my job. This is why I love doing it. Are you always going to be a coach? No, I think growing up, I did what a lot of people, young people did who were into sport and that was physio.

Like I thought I was going to be a physio. Yeah. I just, I wanted to be on the sidelines of sport and I just thought that the only way to get there was to be a physio. So I think a lot of my childhood, I thought that's where I was going to end up. It didn't turn out that way. Obviously a lot more opportunities as I got older. Yeah. Sometimes you don't have to be a physio. Talk, talk me through growing up in Wodonga playing sport. What was that like? Growing up where? Wodonga? I want to go to the other side of the border.

Okay. It was great. I had a great childhood with sport growing up. I had access to a lot. I played a lot of different sports. Main ones being netball. And funnily enough, I've told you this before, there was a pivotal moment in my childhood where I got in so much trouble that my mum made me decide between tap dance and netball. I reckon I was like six, like five or six and I had to decide and I chose netball. And I do wonder the trajectory of my life had I chose tap dance. It could have gone some like black swan kind of.

Yeah. I think I would have been great. But I mean, can you do a plie? I am toxic enough to think that I could. Yeah. Yeah. Without training. The hubris is strong. Yeah. But no sport was good. Had a lot of access to a lot of different sports. As I got a little bit older into more competitive level though, I started coming down with a lot of injuries, a lot of soft tissue injuries, a lot of overuse injuries. I guess the access to what I know now to exist around sport and the gym and whatnot unfortunately didn't exist.

It's a very common story for strength coaches to be 15 years behind where you'd like to be in terms of what you know. Now a little birdie told me that you had an incident when you were about 10 on a netball court where the same mother that made you choose tap dancing or netball made you decide to either get in a wheelchair to get off the deck or to quit netball altogether. Is that true? Did you hear this? Did you reach out to my parents? I'm traumatized by this. I need context. I need to hear this story.

I remember it. This was traumatizing also because I've never been so mortified in my life. I remember we were playing indoor netball. So it was indoor courts and I went up for a jump. I went up for a rebound and I landed on my knee. So I've tripped on someone's foot and I've come down and I've landed hard on my knee. And me being the drama queen that I am, I screamed. Not just cried, I screamed to the point where the courts next to me stopped play. So the entire stadium had like stopped play. Anyway, they came over to me.

I'm like, Oh my God, what's wrong? What's wrong? And I was like, it's my knee. It's my knee. Like, Oh, they thought I'd broken my knee or something. And like it was fine. Cause it was just the shock of landing. They've come out with a wheelchair. And I was just like, no, no, no. I think I can walk off. And my mom is like, you get in that wheelchair and you let them push you off. Or you are never coming back again. Hey, your mom's got a safe face. And I was just like, I'm like shaking, thinking about it.

I've never been so mortified because it was just such a dramatic response. Not even bruised. I was fine. I literally like went back to school, went back to training. And that was the end of it. And yeah. Oh gosh, I remember that too. Maybe I'm traumatized from sport. Yeah, maybe, maybe. So you've had, you've had your fair share of, of soft tissue injuries growing up, right? Correct. Talk me through them because I think it's, it's really important for athletes to understand, like one of the reasons why most coaches get into coaching is either they weren't

good enough as an athlete, high five, or they've been through a heap of injuries and they've seen the value and progress that can be made by following a proper strength training program. Yeah, absolutely. Talk me through that. I think I was about, I was playing pretty high level netball and a lot of volume. I was playing six days a week with trainings and playing and everything. I was across, I think like three different teams at the time, including like your representative teams and academy teams, whatnot. So I was playing very heavy volume. Keep in mind was not in the gym.

It was just playing sport as a kid does. And I think my very first injury was actually I taught like the first serious injury that kind of started this role on effect was I told my quad when I was about 16, I told my quad in preseason, we were doing, I still remember it, we're doing sprints on the, around the oval and I slipped on the grass cause it was wet and I just felt it go straight away. And that was sort of like the first where the serious proper soft tissue injury, I'd rolled ankles here and there.

Which is pretty hectic for a 16 year old to have a torn quad. Yeah, exactly. So it was little, I was pretty much out majority of that season, came back I think during the season at some point and then was keen to do the next pre-season next pre-season I started running. My foot hurt. I hope mom, if you're watching this, I don't blame you for anything, but essentially I said to my mom, my foot really hurts. She said, you'll be right. Is this going to be cathartic getting this out and blaming your mom? This will be therapy.

And she was like, you'll be fine. And I'm like, okay, whatever. I really wanted to play. I just missed half the season. So I really wanted to play and I was switching clubs as well at this time. And they were giving me a shot at a grade and I was 16, 17. I was about to be 17 and they'll give me a shot at a grade. So I really wanted to keep playing. And anyway, I kept playing cap, pre-seasoning foot kept getting worse. This went on for probably like three months. We got into the season and it got to the point where I couldn't walk after a game went for skin.

I went for an x-ray broken second and third metatarsals. So deemed stress fractures, but they'd snapped all the way through. Yep. Yep. And I was just like, mum, the kid's playing at home. Don't try to respect it. Don't train. And they were just so far gone at that point that I went into a boot. I think I ended up being in a boot for months surgery on that. No surgery, no surgery. I was in the boot, set my own rehab back a little bit because I was 17 and I ended up going to a party and didn't want to wear my boot.

And I, someone stood on my foot and I got set back another couple of months in the moon boot. So rookie mistake there. So yeah, two years I had torn quad, broken foot essentially right at the peak part of sporting, sporting life. Yeah. Did you keep playing after that? Like when you, did you get back from, I did a short stint in Melbourne for uni. So that was like, so I turned it, so this was at the end of year 12. I turned 18 essentially that pre-season I had turned, uh, sorry, this was the start of year 12.

I'd broke my foot, finish year 12. Um, I was pretty much out that entire season, finish year 12. Um, and then had the season off cause I'd planned to come to Melbourne. My stint in Melbourne lasted a couple of weeks before I didn't want to be in the city anymore. And I went home for a gap year. Talk me through the decision to come to Melbourne because I guess like I grew up down here, so there wasn't that, it was an hour drive to the city for uni. Right. So what was that like? Cause obviously it's a massive move going from Albury to Melbourne.

Yeah. What was that like? It was huge and I wasn't ready for it. Yeah. Was the bottom line. Um, I think it was an expectation that we finished school, we go to uni and I wanted to do, I wanted to be in sport. I wanted to do at the time I'd gotten into a double degree in sports science and business management at Deakin. I wasn't smart enough to get into that degree. I don't think I will say that. I don't know how that happened. Um, but I just wasn't ready. I don't like, I didn't love the city.

I never really had. Um, so are you good? No, you're good. You're good. We were just getting a red light. Um, but it was, yeah, it was a standard expectation that you kind of came to uni and this was where the best course was going to be. And I feel like, yeah, it was just the same thing. You moved away from a small town like that. Was there any comment? Was it there ever a conversation about going to uni or not going to uni or was always just like any expectation, but there was no like

vocal, like you're going to uni or was it just, I think there was just an underlying, I'm sure there was at some point in my high schooling, but for me it was never a question of taking the app here. Like that was never a thought throughout in my entire high school. Never not going to uni and doing something different. It was never an option. Cause like I was the same. I remember a couple of years after uni being like, I never really had an alternative option, which I think is a good thing in, in a, in, in ways.

But obviously we know now that uni isn't the be all and end all. Um, whereas then I feel like it definitely like you ate us to really matter to get into things, to have the qualifications, to get jobs. Um, and we were just lucky enough that this space kind of blew into what it was, um, and what it's become. But no, there was never any, yeah, there was never any doubt in my mind that I was gonna, um, set off to uni. Now what I was going to do at uni, I had no idea. I had not all I knew is I wanted to be in health space.

Um, hence the physio. I kind of assumed I wanted to get into physio. Um, and yeah, so we moved down here. I didn't even last a month. Yeah. Didn't even last a month. And I remember I called my parents and I was just like, I'm coming. I didn't, I dropped out before the census date. Yeah. And I said, I'm coming home and I said, I'm working. I always had a plan. I was like, I'm going to work full time. Yeah. Take the rest of the year. I did. I worked my butt off and worked a few different jobs.

Was working 60 plus hour weeks in hospo. Um, bought myself a car, did all those things, um, and look to transfer to the local uni, uh, the year after. Yep. Yep. Yep. And that's the path you followed? No, I did. Well, so I did finish with them, but I actually went back into OT for a couple of years. Cause again, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but it was this whole idea that I had to go to uni. Yep. So yeah, I went into OT and then, um, got two years into OT and I was like, I hate this.

It wasn't for me. It just, how long, how long into OT did you start having those like rumblings that you're like, I hate this first placement. Yeah. And you just stuck out. Yup. Cause I just, I was in it for the wrong reasons. Yeah. Was it the, like the sunk cost aspect of it of like, I've already done this. Yeah. Like you started the podcast with, I love my job. And obviously that's that point of your life was the, like the other end of that spectrum. What, and this, this might be like a one-liner and

might be like a thought process, but like, what advice would you have for someone who's gone going through that or is in that space of like, I don't know what I want to do with my life because some people are 30, some people are 50, some people are 17 going, I don't know what I want to do. Yeah. How do you, how would you approach that conversation with someone now? Oh, I just wish I could check people. It's okay. If you don't know, it's so okay. And whether that's you're in high school right now, not

knowing what you wanted to do or whether you're in your thirties settled in your career and you think that you don't have an out, it's okay. You can change. You are not set in your job. If you are not happy. And that is something that you can control. Go find something that makes you happy because I promise you, I don't want to be at the end of my career, hating my job, waiting for retirement. I want to be in a place. And I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've been coaching for five years now.

And I'm like, Oh, when can I get my real grown up job? And I'm waiting for that shit because I'm like, Oh, well, everyone just doesn't like their jobs. It's just what you do. And I'm like, this is wild. I love my job. So if you're unsure, actually, I had a chat with one of the, um, one of the youth athletes this morning about this, cause she was like, Oh, she wasn't quite sure. And she's kind of heading into year 12. And I was like, if you don't know, go find out if you don't want to go to uni because you don't know what you want to do.

Don't go to uni, go travel, go work, go get life experience because nothing really clicked for me until I was probably like, I swear I turned 25 and something just went boom. Yeah. I was like, this is it. Like, yeah. How many, how many jobs would you have had between finishing school and 25 that you didn't like that it took you to get to the point? And this can include placements and stuff as well. I have been so lucky, so fortunate. And so lucky the only jobs that I, which actually at the time I didn't even mind hospital, you couldn't pay me enough to go back into hospitality.

And I probably had, Oh, I worked at two major hospitality jobs. So I went from a bar to a pool to do swim coaching. I was allergic to the chlorine that they put in the pool. I lasted six months and then I went to another pub, which I stayed at until I ended up doing my certs and my ASCO accreditation. And I became a coach in that time. I also like started my own business and everything like I've had, I've done a lot within this space and I've been lucky enough to have done this for five years now, which is crazy.

But to get from there to here, I probably say that I've actually been fortunate enough that I have loved a lot of aspects of a lot of different jobs and I've taken something from everything too, but it's easy to sit back in hindsight at the time. I remember I was hating hospitality. I hated it, but like all of the skills that you learn in hospitality and then swim coaching, obviously you learned that you're allergic to chlorine, but all of the skills you learned, they transferable to what you do now, right? Like again, it's been a throwaway line for years, but we've always said to our interns and our members is just like, go try shit.

And you'll learn more about what you don't like doing than what you do. A hundred percent. And if it's something that you don't like, you're one step closer, but you can, you can rule that, cross that thing off the list. Seven thousand jobs to go, but once there's only one less, yeah. And like internships and placements and stuff. Again, I took a lot away. Don't get me wrong. There's probably aspects of every internship and placement that I've done that I'm like, Oh, didn't love. But for the most part, I took a lot away from all the experiences that yeah, I set out to do.

Yeah, I love that. What about, so after OT, what was the, what was the movement then? What was the shift? I ended up back in sports science, just full circle, just full circle moment. So I ended up back there just a few years later when you were ready. Yeah. And during that time I decided to go do my set three and four in fitness, which I was like, Hey, I like this. What more can I do? So I went and I did my ASCO accreditation and I learned more about strength and conditioning side of things as well.

And I went, okay. And I think that was what really cemented it for me. So then I went back to sports science after that I took like a semester off where I deferred, still didn't know what I wanted to do. So I did my cert three, four, went back to working full time. I worked full time, my entire undergrad. I just went from 60 hours to 40 hours, like normal. But yeah, during I took a semester off where I had deferred from OT, still was unsure. And I did my cert three, my cert four, and then my ASCO accreditation in the end of that was in 2020, in 2019.

Yep. And I went back to sports science in 2020. Yep. Yep. And that cemented it. Did you have like a, like a feeling of like, I'm in the right place when you got back to sports science? Yep. Like, uh, every subject that came up, I was genuinely interested in like the whole idea. You can be a bit of a drag sometimes. Definitely. There's subjects out there that you just kind of got to take off. But I was lucky enough that I had enough prerequisites from OT. So I'd already done all your basic level anatomy and physiology.

I used a lot of my OT as credits for electives. So it was kind of only left with like the core sports science subjects and I went, yeah, this is cool. I want to know more. Yeah, that's good. Cause I think when you're genuinely interested in the subject matter, it kind of, whether you're at uni or whether you're just learning, it doesn't really matter. Cause I look back on my uni career and like, I just did enough to get through because I didn't like, I wasn't, maybe wasn't mature enough or old enough to realise, um, or to actually want, like genuinely want to learn about it.

I was just like, I'm just doing it for the sake of doing it. But I was directionless as well. I didn't have the, like, this is what I want to do. I was PTing at the same time and I loved that, but it was, but again, it wasn't a grownup career as far as I was concerned at that time. Um, and then masters. Yeah, it's really funny. What you said though, about having that direction is, and a lot of people don't know this and actually probably a lot of my friends don't know this either because I actually lied at the time, but my ATAR was so bad.

Yeah. It was so bad. Um, and now I'm graduating with distinctions and high distinctions because I'm passionate about what I'm studying now. And I think that is the big difference is yeah. If you're at uni and you're just ticking boxes, which was just kind of high school for a lot of people like us who like sport and want to go and play football and do that kind of stuff. Whereas like school is kind of just like, and you know, um, talking to the juniors junior this morning about it is like, there's that aspect of like, I'm just doing it because I've got to like get it, got to get it done.

And high school, I think a hundred percent, you just got to get it done and you've got to find the things that allow you to like almost give you a little nudges of motivation. Um, but I think the thing that like, you know, I finished school like 15, 16 years ago now. I know right. It's just like the curiosity is the thing like being curious and going, well, like I want to learn things. Yeah. Like you can be learning a certain way. Like there's an, there's a part of me that would love to go back to school now with what I know now because you'd learn things with a whole different lens through a whole different lens of experience.

And I feel as though, and like I would love to do uni again now knowing what I know now because I wasted so much time at uni, um, not learning the shit that I actually give a shit about now, but I wasn't curious about it because I was like, I'm just ticking the box. Yeah. Um, obviously you went from undergrad in and you're already around in that feeling into a masters. Like was it just a natural progression for you to go, yep, I'm going to go into masters after this? Yeah, I, I definitely always, I was very aware of the fact that finishing with an undergrad in sports science didn't leave you with a hell of a lot career wise.

Um, unless you were just going to be essentially glorified SNC coach, but you're a business owner too. So I'll give you props there. But essentially like that was sort of the avenues that you're looking at, right? There's not exactly a hell of a lot of sports scientists being hired or exercise scientists being hired in workplaces. So postgrad for me was again sort of an expectation that I had on myself purely for career progression. And I had a little fleeting feeling there that maybe I could just be like a really good SNC coach, but I was too curious and I wanted to know more.

Um, so probably the, originally I wasn't going to go into it straight away. So we were living, I was still living in Albury when I finished my undergrad and we very abruptly moved down here within the space of a couple of months. Um, and just that shift in, I'd gone from like having contracted work and I was employed full time to moving down here and I had a casual job and I was like, well, while I'm only casually employed, maybe I just go straight into my masters and getting like, knock it out, get stuck into it.

Uh, we've moved down here now, so I'm nice and close to campus. Let's just get it, let's get it done before I then commit to any, um, contracted work or full time work afterwards. So that was sort of the thoughts that I always wanted to do it, but I was originally, the plan was to take a year off and I'm, I'm very, very glad I didn't. Um, but yeah, it was a no brainer. I was, I was too curious. I needed to know more, um, as dorky as that town. Um, it wasn't enough. Undergrad wasn't enough for me.

Um, and I'm very glad that I did because I think everything that I have learned in the last 18 months has just made me a much more competent coach. It's given me experiences and opportunities, um, to network, to meet people, to see different perspectives. Um, it's opened up my eyes to potential career opportunities and yeah, where this, where this could actually take me and what do I want to make of it. So it's pretty cool. I love it. It's pretty cool. How's, how is the, cause obviously you've been coaching the whole time, right? So all throughout uni, um, masters you've been coaching in different, different spaces.

How's the mix of practical and, um, and theoretical kind of shaped you as a coach and your belief systems, your principles, your best. Yeah, it's in the best way. It's made me the kind of coach that I am because I learned something theoretically and I had the luxury to apply that straight away to test it out. Did it work? Did it not work? Like what response do I get? What? Yeah. And like straight away I'm learning all this, all these things in the classroom and I had the luxury to go and actually implement them. Yeah. And I've just been lucky enough with my jobs and my roles that I have the freedom to do that as well.

Um, and whether that's just simple things from tips, learnt through soft skills that the uni's talking like that the modules are talking about and whether that's like different forms of motivation and like how to get the best out of your clients and things like that. Um, how different people work and to be able to then implement that straight away and then not be like holding onto it all and then having to wait for a placement or something to be like, Oh wait. Yeah. Like all of that. Yeah. As it pops up, you can like try different things and yeah, so I feel like that's been, it's shaped me massively in who I am and my confidence.

Yeah. As well to be able to put it into, I'm a hands on learner. So to be able to practically apply all of my theoretical knowledge. Um, well you build confidence by actually applying things, figuring out what works, what doesn't, trialing an error, problem solving. So when it comes to going, well, how do I feel about this? Confidence level is already there because you're like, well, I've been trying it and I know what works. I know what doesn't. And I have belief in my ability to elicit the adaptation that I'm looking for. Yeah. A hundred percent.

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I think it's cool. Outside of the coaching realm for a second, what was it like moving down the human? The, I love this. I'm loving this so far. This is hands down being the best thing that I could have ever done for myself personally. Yeah. Yep. It was, and like on a professional level, but on a massive personal level, um, moving down this way was the biggest challenge that I've faced. Probably not in my life. Not probably the biggest challenge that I've ever faced in my life so far, but hands down to be, to, to move away from your support network and your friends, a job, a full-time job.

I had a grad position lined up for me, um, to step away and say no to all that and come down here. I had no job, no support. I had no friends, no family. I had, I was about to say, okay, take that personally. I had Mark, um, and his family here. But at that point I hadn't had a lot to do with his family either. So, you know, to me, a lot of relationships were to still be formed. And so to move, to move away from all of that was, was big and it was huge.

But I think that the last nearly 18 months we've nearly been done here now. I've seen the biggest shift in myself. Yeah. Huge. And yeah. And who I am and just getting out of my comfort zone and getting, getting away from my hometown and things like that. I miss my family more than anything. Um, but I'm very lucky enough that they visited a lot. I can go home if I need to. But the life that I've built down here, I wouldn't trade it. I love it. Sorry, mom. I'm not coming home. I'm not coming. All right.

The cognos can just move down, move down this end. Yeah, exactly. I'm trying to convince them. Now. Is it true? There was almost a, another career change that happens maybe halfway down the Hume when you might've decided to join one of our local bikie gangs. Oh, Mark. I'm going to kill him. He didn't tell me. Link told me. I thought it was you. I did not realize this was a universal. I didn't realize that that was universally known will be in a minute and yeah. Oh my Lord. Yeah. I didn't realize, I thought they were only violent in movies.

I didn't, I hands down and this naive that I did not think that hell's angels were a legitimate like criminal gang. I thought this legitimately was like something that like American movies had made up and like I need to do a bikie gangs obviously, but I didn't realize they were actually criminals. Like some of them go on. Tell us the story. We're driving home for Christmas and Mark and I drove separately and I'm, I'm probably like how far ahead of him and I get this text through Siri in the car saying hell's hell's angels coming up on, coming up behind you or something like that.

And I was like, okay, cool. What does that mean? Great. Like I knew they were a motorcycle gang, but like he would tell me that sort of thing. Like if big groups of bikes or anything were coming, like he'd just be like, yeah, they're coming in. I'm like, okay, cool. Yeah. Just warning me. And he all like hone coming down or something like that. Someone speeding. So it'd be like, he was like, Oh hell's angels coming, coming in hot behind you. And I was like, so I looked at my revision mirror and they were like few hundred meters behind me.

I was like, cool. And I was like coming up to overtake this car. So like they're in the left and I'm in the right overtaking lane as you should be. And I'm thinking like, Oh, I've got more than enough time to overtake this car and then get into the left-hand lane and then they can pass me. Well, they zoomed up a lot quicker than I was expecting. And I'm just, I'm side by side to this car. Okay. I'm trying to overtake here. I thought they would just wait behind and then, and then they go, they don't wait.

So, um, they essentially like, they've come up the middle of us and around, um, and there was sitting like, here's my car and they're like sitting at the front of it. And I'm like, what the heck I'm surrounded. I had the automate automatic braking, like the automatic cruise control. And I was like, what's it? So I like turned that off and then I was like, Oh my God, Oh my God. Cause that was so close to the car and I'm doing like 110 down the hume. And they're so close to the car. Okay. Also a little bit of context.

Wait, wait, wait. Sorry. I forgot this very important, important part of context. I'd just done high rocks. Oh, see pins are a little bit cooked. I had just finished my first doubles high rocks and I got straight in the car. I'm exhausted. I'm so tired. My body was in so much pain because at this point I'd been sitting for like two hours post high rocks and I'd like seized up. I was in pain, but I was like, just get to Aubrey. Um, it gets so much worse. So I honked them as into be like, hello, list of things to not do.

So it gets worse. I was like, Oh my God. And that was surrounding my car. And I was just like, Oh, like 20, 20. Um, I don't know where he's so far behind me and he's watching and I'm still like overtaking this car. Like I hadn't gotten past the car yet. And so I'm trying it and they're either side of us and they're like just going up. So I just sat on my horn. I love it. I just sat on it. And then I don't know why I did the sound effect, but like, um, and then we got to like an exit and they took the exit called Mark.

These assholes were so close to my car in here. And I was just like, Oh, what do they think they own the road or something like blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Mark was like, Oh yeah. Pretty much. And I was just like, no, they don't. I was just like, they still have to follow the road rules. And he was just like, police literally just look the other way. And I was just, I was so angry and he was just like, he was just like, well, yeah. And I was like, Oh, I sat on my horn.

I told him and he was like, you watch. And he was like, and he was like, you idiot. He was like, you idiot. You know, they could have just taken you off the road and I never would have seen you again. And I never would have known because like at this point he couldn't see me. And he was like, imagine me having to explain that to your parents. Maybe a little bit of hyperbole, but still good. He was like, imagine me explaining that to your parents. You could have been a hell's angel. I could have, I reckon I would have done well.

Yeah. I reckon you would have been the leader one day, but apparently you have to commit a crime to get in. That's actually on their resume. Like you have to, it's on the resume. There you go. So anyway, I'm alive. I can't imagine you would have committed any crimes. Yeah. And then I was scared because they, Mark told me that they had my license plate now. And so they know, they know where I live with these parents at the time when we're waiting for the house. And I was just like, so if your parents aren't there, when we get home from Christmas, I was like, Oh well.

Um, but yeah, I would have been, I would have been a good house. Christmas. I agree. I agree. Um, all right. Now back into the coaching, coaching dealio. So you started a Virtus in, I suck at timelines, April, sorry, August. It was a J month. It was June or July. I can't remember. How's uh, how have you found it so far and how, um, how has it fit into your existence? Oh, like so good. I love it. I genuinely love it. Um, I love the freedom. Now telling the truth. Yeah. Lucky sucks. That's true. Hydrated though.

Hydrated Queen. If you're listening, drink some water. Gorgeous thing. Um, yeah. Like experience from day dot, um, was pretty incredible. Um, it was a bit of a stars aligned moment really. It was the way things kind of worked out. Um, so I think it was what you've reached out to me on the weekend. We caught up for coffee on the Monday morning. I had a trial Monday night. I had a Tuesday. You met Kek vomit on Tuesday and then we'd locked it in and I, yeah, made my, uh, my trial vomit. And um, I was like, lucky.

She's like, you've got the job. That was that. Um, I asked Sam if I should hire you and he's like, honest. Should I tell it? Cause by then you just had to not cook it up in that session and you would have been sweet. But yeah, it was a bit of a stars aligned moment. You know, universe delivered. It did. It very much did. Um, and then yeah, like I don't think I have the words to quite describe the community that are here. Um, and I'm very, very, very passionate now about the community. They're very much my family.

I get protective over them. Um, yeah, I love them. Um, every aspect of it, I get, I love the fact that I'm finally getting the chance to also dive a lot more into athletic development, which I've always had a strong passion for just the way that my jobs have lined up. I've never really been in that space. Um, I've done internships and placements that have exposed me, but I never really got a lot of autonomy over, um, the way that I got to run my programming or run my clients and things like that. So the fact that you have so much faith in letting me run while I could go rogue, I really could.

Um, I ha like, I appreciate it and I, it's made me have to stand on my own two feet and back back myself as well. Like I feel like you never stop learning. Um, there's always areas that you can improve on and yeah, getting to take on whether that's youth athletes, whether it's already developed members and things like that. I've just had to go with it and back myself and having the team and everyone to support. Um, we're very much a bounce off each other type, uh, community and team. And it's just lucky. I just, I feel very lucky.

I feel very blessed. Um, I don't think I could have walked into like a better team, a better scenario, um, doing exactly what I want to do every single day, which is just insane. Again, waiting for that shoe to drop. I'm waiting for that shoe to drop, that this is like, this is my job. I finish off uni soon. And I'm like, this is, this is it. Yep. Love. Yeah. It's exciting. And I think like, talk, talk me through that community because I think like, it's always been something for me that I've wanted to cultivate that I've wanted to, to promote or to have or to celebrate.

Um, and there's days where you're like, ah, do we have a connected community? But you've obviously come in as a, um, as a new face, not knowing anyone. And you've been able to just slot straight in. So like, what's that been like not only as a coach, but also as a contributing part of that community. Yeah. I think it's a very, it's a different experience when you don't know anyone. So it's like, I didn't grow up on the peninsula. I didn't exactly know anyone from like netball or anything like that. I came in purely seeing the diversity in the community as well.

Um, and I feel like it's, I'm actually speechless on how to explain the kinds of people that we have here. And I don't even know if it's the kind of people or just the culture that's built. And it's the kind of culture that you can't explain how you got there. It's just, it's standards that are essentially trickle from the top. So like the standards that you have on your staff, the standards that you have on the members and the way that they conduct themselves in the gyms and the kind of space that you want people to feel safe, um, feel healthy with their body.

I think the perspective around this gym and how people battle through can come from all different walks of life, but ultimately they come here and this goal is all the same. Like slotting in from an outsider. I don't ever really recall there being an awkward transition from my end, from my end, it may be from, if some of you recall, had an awkward interaction with Jack, please let us know a few probably wrong names. I can imagine not good with names, but coming in, I know like I never felt, um, like I had to prove myself.

I never felt like unwanted. I was welcomed from day dot from every single person. Um, and that's, that was unusual. I've been to a few different like, um, gyms and things like that as I've moved around. And, um, I feel like it always takes a little bit of time for people to open up, but it's just the community, like everyone's so beautiful. Everyone's so lovely. It's just that standard, that expectation. And if you don't kind of fit into that mold, not that it's a very, very big mold bind you, but it's like, it's just decent humans.

They good humans. Um, I'm very lucky to be part of that. And they make me better too. You know, like they're such great people that you therefore want to be a good coach and you want to give them your absolute all because they're giving the same to you. And I just love that. I don't know if that answer your question. I can't remember what the question was, but that's exactly it. I think that the, like, one of the things, cause everyone says, yeah, we've got a community and we're building community. And I think it's really important that there are many factions of communities across the peninsula of like everywhere, but let's use our, our community.

Like there's a wider community and then there's like the vertice members and, and you know, their family and friends and those communities. And I think that like, what makes it for me, what makes community is like, is contribution is your part of a thing, but you're not just sitting there like just absorbing it all. You're actually contributing and there's, there's back and forth and there's give and take. And, and you know, in a space like ours, people are here for, because they want to learn, they want to grow, they want to develop, they want to change, they want to adapt, but there's an underlying like humanity to it, which is just, I want to connect.

I want to be a part of something. I want to contribute to something and I want to help other people achieve what they want to achieve and be better as well. And I think that that's one of the coolest things that I find in this community. And I have days where I can enjoy it as a punter and days where I kind of feel like I'm putting out fires and problem solving and things. But I think that like knowing that at any time when we're coaching, go down the gym floor and have real conversations, vulnerable,

open check-ins with people around how they're going and they'll ask me about how I'm going and we'll talk about the kids and we'll talk about work, we'll talk about sport, everything. Talk about school. And you know, I think I might've copped the back end of that conversation this morning, talking to that member about like, I don't know what I want to do afterwards and things like that, but it's like, it almost doesn't matter when you've got a whole group of people here that are contributing to the whole as well. So you are, you're a perfect fit for this community because you just genuinely give a shit.

And I think that's like, that was probably the reason outside of the clear technical capacities that you had as a coach, but it was just, you gave a shit and I think, you know, you can say whatever you want about our coaches and our team. But you know, Dak, Georgia, Tyler, Aidan now, Greg, everyone just genuinely gives a shit and wants to see people, people grow and achieve and do cool things. Yeah. And it's like, and it's the mindset around it all as well. Like I think very rarely do we have, do we really have many negative conversations?

A lot of it is based around how well our members are doing. And I think that's driven a lot, obviously in our member chat and you know, Dakarooni doing it every week and you know, chasing like those positives and I think it helps people therefore stop and reflect and recognize that even though when life's shit and life's hard, there are like, it's up to you to find the good. And yeah, like I honestly, I don't understand how people can not care, especially when you know as much as you do. So don't get me wrong, like all the theory in the uni and all of that has been fantastic.

But at the end of the day, what good is it if you can't gain the respect and trust of people to then educate them, they're not going to listen to you until you build that trust and respect. Right. So it's like, you've got to give a shit to be able to do that. But I think the coaches that stay in this industry for a long period of time, they're only, they're in it. Like it's not an industry where you go, Oh, I'm going to come in and I'm going to make heaps cash. And then I'm going to get out and go do something I love.

Like it's an industry where you do it because you genuinely care. And because you can you want to see people achieve and grow and develop and you can and knowing that you can have, you know, albeit a small part to play. Like all we do is we like the way I look at it is we facilitate greatness, we create a space and a culture where people can come in and level up. Yeah. But we can't do the work for them. We like, but we can guide them and bring out, um, all of the growth that they have inside them.

It's just a little bit of a nudge in the right direction. Yeah. And then creating that space, like when people want to be here on their worst days. And that to me is just a testament to the kind of place that this is. And it happens regularly. Um, obviously everyone has, everyone has shit in their life. Right. But the fact that so many of our members walk in here on their hardest days and their shitter stays when life is crumbling and they find peace and support here. That to me will forever outweigh any technical athletic coaching that I could ever do as fun as it is.

And as much as I love it and I'll never stop doing it. It's part of the puzzle. Yeah. When you, when you think about really what part of your job makes a difference that I forever want to be that coach and that person who gives a shit. I never want to stop caring. I don't want to stop caring about anyone. So yeah, good. It's nice to be in an environment where that is a common goal, a common theme. Um, we're all on the same page. Now we could keep going for ages. I've got two more questions for you.

Um, Jack will be back. We've been, uh, told that there's a Jack and Dak podcast on the way. So God help us all. Um, two more questions. First one is what are you most excited for? Oh, I am super, super, this is going to be like really, uh, but like I am super excited to submit my thesis. It has just been seven years in the making and I just, I'm, I'm so excited to not only like obviously submit and be done, but I think it's just more so I've achieved it. I've done it. I stuck to some, I stuck to something and that, yeah, that's a big thing for me.

So, um, I'm super excited to get that done. Um, I'm, I'm super excited to see where I had, like where I had, like where I go, like what I just think about all the shifts and the changes that have happened in the last 12 months and the kind of coach in person that I've developed into and yeah, definitely I'd say pivotal. Pivotaly. Is that a word? Pivotaly? Probably not. Pivotaly? It should be. Pivotal. Pivotal-ly. All words are made up. Yeah, it's fine. Um, in the last 12 months. And so I'm, I'm excited to see what, like who I become in the next 12.

Um, so yeah, awesome. Love that. Good. Last question. What are you most proud of? Oh, I got asked this by a guy on the street the other day when I was on the boardwalk in Frankston. Love that. Yeah. He, um, he founded Movember by the organization. Yeah. And he asked like random people on the street. Um, anyway, so he asked me this, um, Oh, so many things personally and professionally professionally my masters, but not for the fact of doing my masters. It was more so what this, my whole study period has represented in like my development as a coach, um, sticking to it.

And I'm so proud to have found something that I'm so passionate about. And I feel like sometimes that's quite rare. Um, and so I'm proud of myself for, even though it took me a little while to get there, I stayed true to what I was passionate about pursuing. Yeah. And I, and when I was curious, I kept going. Yeah. Um, I didn't, it would have been very easy to just be like, Oh, but this isn't like a real grownup job. Maybe I should just like, you know, do something else or do that. And everything's, everything's made up though.

That's why I chose to do a masters and then quit because there was 10 months where I was like, yep, this will, this will be the safe option. Yeah. But there's no such thing as a safe option. Like had you finished your masters, would it really have changed the outcome of what you ended up doing? Yeah. But like you probably would have still ended up doing something like this. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So it's like, yeah. But I did it, I did my masters for all the right reasons. Um, and yeah, it's, it's essentially what it all represents personally.

What I'm most proud of. I'm, I'm proud of moving. I'm very, very proud of moving down here. And I'm, I'm proud of the person that I became in the process. I, you know, we, we get it wrong sometimes. Like I was, we all do, but I said to Mark, um, it hit the new year and I could be exposing myself here, but I don't care. It hit the new year and like everyone's doing their self reflection and whatnot. And I remember I was like, I'm not a journal writer. I've never been one. Um, but I was just writing a few notes on my phone and I was just sobbing.

Awesome. Happy tears. Yeah. Good. Because I was just, it was for the, it was the first time that I just felt as though the friends that I've surrounded myself with make me better, that the person that I'd become was making me go to bed every night, confident in the fact that I'm a good person and I have good standing values and morals. And although they might not align with everyone all the time, um, I'm very, very, very proud that, uh, over the last couple of, what was it? Yeah. 12 months or so I pushed through that uncomfortableness when I moved.

Love it. And yeah, I am who I am and I'm very proud of that. So what a way to end. Love it. Any more for anymore. Do you want to tell the people anything? Anyone you want to give a pump up to celebrate? Always everybody. Um, Oh, not off the top of my head. So many people I'm actually like, I can't believe just how much gratitude I have for so many people in my life right now. Um, like you probably being number one, but I can't stare at you and tell Mark about Mark. But I feel like that goes, that goes without saying, I say it to him.

He knows the biggest support. Couldn't have done any of this without him. He has been, Oh, those people that just make you better. And I'm just lucky I found it in a partner. So hands down. Um, through a mutual friend, we originally met and then yeah, didn't speak again for months and months and months. Um, the abbreviated version was, it was at a star party that I'd convinced my manager that I was going to get him to sign up cause he came as a plus one to a friend. Um, not a girl friend, like that guy that night he did not sign up and I was very intoxicated.

Um, trying to like buy him rounds and stuff. Anyway. Yeah. Went rogue and it was just one of those things that authentically happened. He kind of just kept popping up. Um, yeah. Didn't have any each other. It didn't have contacts for each other or anything in many months and then six months later he popped up again and then a month later he popped up again and yeah, it just kind of all happened. And here we are. Yeah. He said a golden million dollar dog. Yeah. Whole life. And yeah, I guess at the end of the day, none of this would have been possible with him because I followed him back home.

Love it. So immense. Love you, doll. Cute. All right. On that note, be amazing. See you next time. Bye