Interview With Paralympian Wayne Phipps: Lessons to Power Your Own Journey - Video Replay

Wayne Phipps became Australia's third ever Paralympian to compete in judo when he represented the country at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020.

Wayne has been an active member of the judo community since the age of eight, and after being diagnosed with a visual impairment in 2010, his coach in Perth suggested he consider competing in Para-Judo. After gaining classification he competed for the first time at the World Championships in Portugal in 2018, going on to qualify for his Paralympic dream.

We sat down with Wayne to chat about his journey, and to learn from his strengths, challenges, and triumphs. Wayne shares the advice that helped him on his own journey, with the hopes that it might help others - the importance of goals and planning, having a support system for motivation, and most importantly to enjoy yourself.

This interview was possible thanks to our friends at NDSP Plan Managers, official partners of Paralympics Australia. To get your free copy of their ebook, "Get Active Stay Involved!" mentioned at the start of the interview, click the button below 👇

• Our Favourite Quotes from Wayne

  • "The whole experience was just out of this world. Like everyone had a story. Everyone had challenges that they've overcome to get to that point. We're all on one plane heading to Tokyo and we're all staying in the village in our building, the Aussie building. And I was just like, this is insane. This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity for me."

  • "So that type of motivation when you talk to someone... almost like readjusting the goal posts as you're going... just opening up and just to find out what exactly is is going on and just being that support of maybe a listening ear sometimes is just just as good."

  • "So that was the main goal, but I needed a breakdown and I needed a plan to get there. So that goal was broken down into 4 mini goals of these 4 tournaments I want to go to. And then I needed a plan per tournament. So it's almost like if you, if you think too big and too far out, you lose the sort of detail in between."

  • "Every now and then, when you do have these these mini goals that you're reaching, when you do reach the thing, it's always good to have a nice reward for yourself. It might not be the most healthiest thing that you might do but something that you enjoy."

  • "Sport in general teaches you sort of discipline and respect. You know, some good qualities in a sporting environment where you know to reach whatever level it is... it teaches you discipline to get there. You need to go to training when you don't feel like it. You need to do this... It also teaches you respect for your competitors because they're going through the same thing you're going through."

  • "So it becomes an individual, individual choice. What do I enjoy doing? And if you find what you really enjoy doing, it might just be kicking the ball at the park or going for a walk or whatever it might be. That is your thing. If that gives you that fulfilment and feeling of enjoyment, like you've got to have that feeling of I'm looking forward to something, I'm looking forward to doing something."

• Full Video Transcript

  Hello everyone and welcome, whether you're here with us Live Today or you're watching the replay later, thank you so much for taking the time to be here.

  I'm Erin and I'm one of the Kinora community coaches. We've also got Yvette from our team here. She'll be managing the chat and helping with any questions anyone has. There she is. Hi Yvette. If you're a Kinora member, you might recognise us from within the community forum today.

  We are incredibly excited to be joined by our special guest, Paralympian Wayne Phipps.Wayne, thank you so much for being here. It's my pleasure.

  Before we dive into your story, I just have a few quick housekeeping things to go through first. So if you've been to one of our webinars before, you would know that we record these sessions and we'll send out the video to everyone that's registered and we'll also pop the video into the community so that everyone can have a look at it later.

  If you're not a member, though, don't worry. Yeah, you'll get it to your inbox. If you can't get into the community. If you are joining us Live Today, need closed captioning? Just click more at the top of the screen with a little 3 dots and then choose language and speech and then turn on live captions.

  And there's also a chat button at the top of the screen. So if you click on that now this is where you can introduce yourself, share any comments, ask any questions. And Yvette will keep an eye on that chat as we go along, so feel free to jump into the chat now and let us know if you've got any questions for Wayne or let us know what brought you here today.

  A quick background on Kinora for those who aren't members yet. Kinora is a free, safe and supportive online community where you can get support for your NDIS questions from us coaches and our community of thousands of NDIS participants, their families, support coordinators, and service providers who are experts in their field as well.

  We've got lots of NDIS information and free resources that you can check out, so if you're not a member, I'd really encourage you to join. We would love to have you as part of our community just before we dive in as well, I'd like to make an acknowledgement of country.

  In the spirit of reconciliation, Kinora acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to the Elders, past, present and future. We acknowledge the culture, diversity, knowledge and experiences of First Nations people and celebrate their contributions and specifically those living with disability, their families, carers and individuals dedicating themselves to a career in supporting people with disability.

  So over the past couple of months in Kinora, we've been diving into all things sport and just like everybody else in the country, we've really been getting into the Paralympic Games spirit. Now we all know that being active and involved in sports brings so many physical and mental benefits, but according to Paralympics Australia, there are three out of four Aussies with a disability that want to participate in sports and yet only one in four actually does. But there are so many barriers that create this gap. But the Paralympic Games really highlights the importance of inclusivity in sport and shows us the incredible possibilities when we focus on access and opportunities for everyone.

  Our good friends at NDSP Plan Managers have partnered with Paralympics Australia to help make sport more inclusive at all levels and they have created this amazing resource together. It's a book that helps people get involved in Para sport. It's got so much great stuff in there. It's got goal setting worksheets, details of local sporting organisations that you can get in contact with, as well as inspiring stories from different Paralympians and so much more stuff. So we'll be sending out a link to get a copy of this book to everybody that's registered for today. If you're watching this video later, you'll find the link down in the description below as well. I really encourage you to check it out. It is a great workbook by NDSP and Paralympics Australia.

  Now of course not everybody aims to be an elite athlete, but no matter where you're at on your own sporting or movement journey, there are so many valuable lessons to be learned from the challenges, strengths and triumphs from those at the top. And that's why I'm so I'm so excited for this opportunity to chat to Wayne today to hear his story and what's driven him to achieve his goals.

  So, Wayne, let's jump into it. Awesome. OK, so, Wayne, did you want to tell us a little bit about your early life and how you got into judo? Oh, early life. That's gonna take me away. Yeah, I actually remember the day as clear as it was like yesterday. I was around about 8 years old. My dad was walking me to my gran's house.

  It was one Saturday morning to go visit and we walked past the local judo club. At that stage I wasn't involved in any sport, but I was suffering from asthma, so asthmatic from birth with severe asthma and things triggered it, which we couldn't quite figure out exactly what was triggering it at various stages.

  And my dad, yeah, he thought some exercises would, would, would do well for my asthma. So we walked past and we popped into the local judo club. Puma was the name of the judo club in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. So got fond memories of of the coach that was coaching at the time and some people that are are met in those early years.

  I still have contact with, interestingly enough. And enrolled me and that's where that's effectively out started just my dad thinking that, you know, some exercise will be good for controlling and helping my asthma. Yeah, yeah. Judo is a bit of an interesting choice for that. How come that was top of the list? There just happened to be something close that you.

  Yeah, I don't know, I think I think it might have come from my dad's sporting background. He played a variety of sports, but he had participated later on in his life. He did do some wrestling. So he played rugby in hockey and cricket and all the, all the big sports. But he did do wrestling.

  And I think what might have got him thinking that, you know, would be good was not that it was similar to wrestling, but the, the physical, the physical contact with, with training against people will be good. Because also I wasn't the biggest of, of kids. I was quite tiny.

  And, and, and I suppose you thought the, the physical aspect of getting in and, you know, competing and, and training and with someone physically and would help develop, I suppose, physically as a young person, besides the, the whole asthma issue. So there's lots of different benefits.

  I'm not questioning his, his, his choices back then. The way it's turned. Well, look, it's obviously, yeah, it was obviously a good choice, wasn't it? Yeah. So do you want to tell us about, you know, what happened from there? How did you end up in Australia? What, how, what, how well were you when you came over?

  Yeah, so I was, I was 36. So a lot happened from 8 years old to 2:36, but just in sort of a brief summary, my, it's purely from a judo perspective. The first couple of years training was getting to, to learn the lot and getting to know things. And there was no desire whatsoever to win any, any, any championships or whatever. It was just literally going to training number one, trying to enjoy it because enjoyment's a big part of, of anything that a person does.

  But after a couple of years I, I remember the, the day as well. I fought against it back in those days, the weight group, I was under 27 kilograms, which shows you how, how small I would have been as a, as a 11 year old, whatever it was back then. And I didn't beat the national champion back then, but I, I competed well against him and he had won the nationals year before.

  And that was the turning point, I think, I suppose with me thinking, Oh my, I, I, I never had goals to win anything or whatever. But then that was the turning point. Like maybe, maybe I can, you know, put some extra effort in, you know, leading into the next couple of years. And then suddenly, but surely you know, as you get to the thirteens, fourteens, fifteens and late teens area, I started winning sort of local comps and then I won a couple of national comps.

  Yeah, wow. And then and then leading into like sort of age groups, I made this African team to to go to there was a tour to Taiwan back in 1989, which was an amazing experience. And then I made a 21 South African team to go to France to partake in a like a world under 21 comp in 1992. And then in 1993, I made the Springbok team, the national team to go to the world champs in in Canada.

  And the way things worked back then was like sort of similar to you, but you needed to qualify to get to the Olympics. So the Olympics was on my mind back then, but there wasn't quite the funding and I was young and all the rest. So as much as I would love to, that's what I started thinking about. The Olympics for the first time was back in the 1993 area when I made the team to go to the world champs, Atlanta 96 Sydney 2000 were in my thoughts, but not they went to reality.

  I just, you know, there was just no funding involved to get around and try and qualify. Yeah. And so life went on and I continued to partake in judo after 1998/99/2000, but it more as a as a social competitor. Yeah. So in other words, you enjoy the sport, you go there for the exercise, the, the, the feeling of being involved. And I should just take part in comps in the age group level as in 30 + 30 years and older.

  You, you know, you've got your vets and your masters and all the rest. And then just Fast forward five years, 36 immigrated to Aus and the first thing I did when arriving in Perth was to Google the local judo club just to get involved and feel a sense of, you know, involvement and yeah, get back to that, that new environment, that community that you had back home.

  Yeah, exactly. And that's how I got involved in judo in Australia. Yeah, back in 2010, you mentioned a couple of things that you enjoyed about it there. Just for those of us that aren't so familiar with judo itself, do you just want to give us a quick bit of a, an overview about what judo involves? You know what it's like going to a, a, a fight?

  Yeah, well, you got to you, you, you grapple with, with, with a person. I think that you, it's the best terminology. You, you got to grip the person and you got to get them on the back. If you get them, if you throw them on the back, you, you win the fight. If you throw them on the side, you get a half a point and you need to carry on fighting.

  So it's, it's effectively trying to break their balance and use their their, their movements to your advantage. And so it's physically nature, but it's also you need timing and agility and power at the right, right stages of the movement to throw someone onto their back and you get opportunity once you are down on the ground.

  If you haven't, if you've just lost balance and you get down to the ground, you have the opportunity to arm bar or strangle or hold them out, you know, hold them in a hold down on their back for a certain amount of time to win the fight. So that's in in summary, what it what it entails.

  Yeah, fantastic. So when you came to Australia, you started at your local club. When abouts in your journey, did you get diagnosed with your visual impairment in that? Yeah, so I was members a member of the local club since arriving in Perth 2010 and the Sensei Carno Chudo schools is the the name of the club and Sensei Carlo Kunusta is actually South African from a different state in South Africa.

  So when I contacted him, we knew each other and it was quite nice to go there and like I knew him and you know, I wasn't feeling like it was just all strangers, which is awesome. It was an US and I was feeling very small world. Isn't it, 100%. And yeah, even yeah, in Australia took part in a couple of local comps, but just at age group level, you know, the 30 fives and over whatever I was back then 2015 was when I got diagnosed with my eye condition.

  And I'll never forget the day when they diagnosed me and they explained that it was it's been deteriorating for a long period of time. So it wasn't like a sudden thing. It was like, you know, mid 20s to late 20s is when it it begins to deteriorate. So it's been a better part of 1518 years by the time they diagnosed it or 20 years actually, no, probably 15 years. So, and they, they, they said I shouldn't be driving, you know, if I'm sure I'm driving kids around.

  And because this peripheral vision, my, my limited peripheral vision just makes the awareness of traffic, but dangerous and all the rest. So I was in a, a state of trying to readjust my life, not being able to drive, drive the kids around to sport like I was doing and get into working back. So a lot of things were going through. So I didn't actually go to judo for like 6 or nine months. I was just trying to figure life out.

  How do I get there? Simple question, how do I get to judo? You know, everyone's busy, you know, do I need to ask someone? I don't know, ask someone for a lift, you know. So then Carla phoned me and said, hey, where you been? Been missing for a while. I said, oh, I've got this visual sort of eye condition. I'm just trying to work things through, but I'll be back at some point. He said, oh, visually impaired judo is part of the Paralympic programme and I did not know that at, at all.

  Like I, I, I was not aware of that at all. And I said, oh, but my condition surely won't be classified, you know, because to me it was, you know, I, because I got used to my deterioration. I didn't feel like there was anything majorly wrong. I saw, I saw processing that in my, in my head, what's, what's actually going on? So anyway, back then how I got into the the programme and sort of inquiring was, was basically must then say Carlos saying make some inquiries, which I got a hold of Paralympics Australia and I sort of finding things out from there.

  So that was the the start of the whole process basically from 2015. Yeah, wow. And it's interesting to hear you say that you know, your mental process through this, you just sort of adapted to your condition. Did you? Yeah. Like throughout that time, did you sort of realise that something was not quite right or you would just. I did like until it.

  It was a specific evening I was running with my daughter after work and it was dark, but up until that point my night vision so so with the peripheral retina that has deteriorated, it affects night vision as well. So tunnel vision and night blindness go hand in hand and up until then when I drive at night I just thought it was normal though.

  Like who? It's dark, Who can see properly and but this is street lights and car lights. You can make your way through. But I always made everyone aware, guys, you know, I can't see. Probably just keep an eye out. It is nighttime. Didn't think anything, anything of it. You know, it's nighttime, no one else can see.

  But I ran this specific night with my daughter and we went for a run and we got to a dark section in the road and I just stopped. And she said, oh, dad, what's going on? And like, I can't, I feel like I'm going to run into something like trip over a pavement or run into a wall. She says, could you see the pathway and that sign?

  I said no. And she said, I can, I'm like, can you see? She said, yeah. So I'm like, oh. And then I, I decided to go to the optometrist who specifically mentioned that I had been going for general, you know, glass, whatever. But that was the, the sort of what when I realised something's wrong and I said something, yeah, I was running with my daughter. She could see I could not.

  What's going on? And then they, yeah, that'd be a scary moment. Yeah, they diagnosed me they provisionally and then they sent me to ophthalmologist to do a whole bunch of other tests to confirm the the diagnosis. And then that was the, the start of the chat to say, look, this is what's going on.

  1Don't suggest you drive, don't, please don't drive and etcetera, etcetera. So that was the, the whole sort of start of, of, of, of that sort of places there. So big adjustment to your whole life, obviously, not just to judo. When you did speak to the Paralympics Australia, though, did that sort of spark something for you? Like, I wonder if that's a possibility for me.

  How did you like think that you might actually be able to, to reach that? I, I remember the conversation. It was to Matthews. It was his name and I got him like I did an online inquiry and it was amazing. He phoned back like half an hour later, like I was seriously, I just did an online inquiry interested in judo, some information and they got you phoned back on the phone and you spoke me through it.

  And he said Rio 2016 was, was what they were preparing for. So, so you said, obviously we've got time, but if I want to get involved, you know, these are the steps in the process. And the first step was being classified with your eye condition, you know, and they, they're pointing me in the right direction to say, right, have have your tests done and get a classification.

  If the classification meets the criteria for the visually impaired Paralympic programme, that's then when we take the next step. So which is what I did during that 2016 year while everyone else was, was, you know, focused on Rio, I was in the background just sorting out, you know, taking those first steps. Yeah, is, is my condition.

  Does it qualify me or what's the next step and all the rest? So after, after the, after being classified and getting into the B3 classification, they, we had another chat with Paralympics Australia. It wasn't quite contradictory the, the, the name, but they, they, they took me through the steps of how to qualify for Tokyo. Yeah, OK. And broadly speaking, what are the steps that you had to go through? Well, they were a bunch of qualifying tournaments that you, you could attend. You didn't need to attend all of them.

  There were eight in total. Starting with the the world champs, 2018 world champs in Portugal and you needed to be ranked in the top 12 or 14 in the world to gain an automatic qualification to Take Care. So effectively that was the road map is 8 tournaments. You need to be ranked, you need to do well enough in the tournaments to be ranked Top 14. I think it was in the world to be qualified for Take Care effectively.

  So I knew it was what was required and we had that calendar of events and that was the pathway that that I started on. Yeah, well, obviously you've been used to other types of competitions, like outside of the para judo. What was the difference like? Was there like a lot more accommodations that you know and a lot more support during that kind of it was incredible. The very first tournament they all my other tournaments I went to yet to sort out your own.

  You know, besides paying for it, you do earn flights, accommodation. You get yourself to the venue. You make sure you know what you're doing. You know weighing is a is a is a important part. Making weight is an important part of competing. You make sure you you know, you know when to win the way you do it all yourself. The very first comp, which is the 2018 World Champs in Portugal, once I'd book my flights, they actually recommended where to stay, gave you a couple of options of hotels.

  They met you at the airport, they took you to your hotel. They made sure that the players and everyone that was competing stayed in the same hotels. There were buses taking you to the venue.

  They had, you know, the, the way in sorted the competition sort of. They, they looked after us so well on the international organising committee level, which was, which was quite, quite amazing actually.

  Yeah, yeah. It really shows that, you know, people that just might need a little bit more support to get to that kind of level. Like if that was everywhere, if that was just standard, how, how many people are out there that could, you know, really use that? That's incredible. Yeah. So what happened in Portugal then?

  I'm assuming you made the Top 14, No, Well, that was just the first comp in in in. I think I end up going to only four competitions, 4 qualifying comps out of the out of the 8. But I ended 9th in Portugal, which wasn't a bad result. I didn't expect. I didn't know what to expect to be honest. But say I've been so long that I since I competed like properly besides my age group social events. So that was that was I was surprised with with the outcome.

  And that gave me a little bit of confidence to say, oh, just maybe, just maybe if I keep going, there's a possibility. So with those points I accumulated in in Portugal conjuring me exactly we are because I had no points on the ranking list. I was 0 and I think I got into the top 50 with that win. And then so on you flown. And as you go, as you go, as you go, you accumulate points depending on how well or how badly you do in the comps.

  OK, Yeah. So it's not just all down to that one competition. You have to get the points to get up on the leaderboard. Yeah. OK. More interesting, you win more points, you get, less fun to win, less points you get and everyone else is competing. So the leaderboard's moving all the time. Changing. Yeah.

  So, yeah, that was just the start, the first step on the on the on the road to Tokyo. So at what point did you realise that you would be going to Tokyo? Are you just keeping your eye on that leaderboard the whole time, seeing where you are or is it, is there more to it than that? Did you have to wait for a call to? Yeah.

  So, so the, I don't know if you heard about the coronavirus that hit us in between, you know, that small little, that small little sort of pandemic that came, came around there through a big spanner in the works. So what's been very, yeah, challenging word to say challenging. Yeah, it was so challenging.

  So what happened was I knew I wasn't going to be able to afford to go to all 8 comps, right? I just didn't have the, the finances of the money. Paralympics, Australia were, were very kind and give me a certain amount of money to try and get to as many comps. So I plan to go to four out of the 8. That's what I could afford and that's what I could, I could do.

  And I had gone to the world Champs and then I had gone to Baku in 2019 and then I was about to go to Japan in March 2020 and COVID it so that, that, that that comp was, was, was postponed or cancelled. It was there was a, a comp in Birmingham, I say in 2020, which was cancelled. So those are the two that I was 1. So I'd been to two. Those are the other two I needed to go to or wanted to go to that would fit my, my work schedule and training and finances and then COVID it.

  So they so 2020 was pretty much a null and void year. And then they reintroduced those, those comps. I can't. Japan for the Oceana one in Kazakhstan in the late later part of 2020. And then there was Birmingham that postponed by a year. So that was April 2021. And Tokyo was obviously postponed for a year and that was August 2021. So April was the last qualifying component to which was in Birmingham. And then there was a wait and see as to what happened.

  I made the top 20 ranking. I didn't quite get to 14, but what happened was they the, the, the Top 14 get automatic qualification and then you get, you get some allocated spots on various things like Japan being a host nation gets a host nation spot, etcetera. So a couple of spots that Paralympics Australia said, look, they're going to do a application for me because Oceana region doesn't have a, a judo Paralympic and they haven't had since Anthony Clark, I think in 2008.

  So they're going to do a special, a special application. And, and with my ranking being in the top 20 coming from nowhere in four comms and all the rest, I suppose, you know, on site if I went to another couple, I would have got closer to the 14th possibly. But anyway, so there's a waiting game once I'd sorted out every other, all the other continents, people who, who made it and all the rest.

  And then there was a a waiting game as to if I was going to make it or not, which I luckily did. Yeah. How did that feel when you got the call saying you were in? It was amazing. I think it was, it was, it was, it was worth just waiting, not knowing if not because look, the the training, the training was quite hard as well. Like, and I'm like, should I continue with this? Should I continue with this hard training? Or can I just give it a break?

  And I'm like, now I've got to keep going just in case, just in case. So wait. Like how long did you have to, you know, be on that wait for? Well, it was April was the last compo went to and I think, I think it was around about the 5th of July when I got the call to say you've made it. So it's May, June. So it would be a good 8 weeks wait. And while they finalised all the teams and all, you know, all that, that process.

  So it was it was a weird time because I was like, Oh, man, I've said, you know, you know, so but I was over the moon when I when I when I heard the news that I made, I'm like you beauty. I can't believe I've done it at my age, you know, And it's like, yeah, this is great. So amazing. And then so if that happened in July, the games took place in August, right. So you only had a short of time as well before actually going to Tokyo. Yeah.

  So it all happened so fast. It all snowballed so quickly at the end. It was like, wow, OK. And everything's in place and it just happened. It's almost like happening in fast motion. It was, it was, it was crazy. It was like, wow, this is because then what happened? You, you have all the, the interviews and the, and all the anti anti doping sort of sessions you need to do and all the other little sessions.

  And then the obviously the, the virus still around. So everything was still sore and all the rules you need to comply. But there are a lot of admin duties besides the training in amongst the work that was leading up to the whole thing. So I remember it was quite a frantic. But, like, exciting. It was really it just your energy level, your energy levels just left to a different, a different state you can only imagine.

  Yeah, yeah. So let's talk Tokyo then tell us about going to the Paralympic Games. How was that experience? What was something memorable that sticks with you from that? I didn't know what I didn't know. Didn't know what to expect going, but it absolutely blew my mind. Judo's, individual sports, a lot of the stuff I did on my own, travelling around, you know, you're not in a team environment. We had one flat with everyone on one flight. All of a sudden. I'm not, I'm not one person. I'm not one little guy, you know, going to a compare and compare. I'm not part of a bigger, a bigger team, like one team, you know, the Aussie team.

  And it was, you can imagine that was a feeling. It was a bit of a party flight. Just we're not going there. It wasn't, it wasn't much of a party party going there like you know, it was. But it was, it was just the whole experience was just out of this world. Like everyone had a story. Everyone had challenges that they've overcome to get to that point. We're all on one plane heading to Tokyo and we're all staying in the village in our building, the Aussie building. And I was just like, this is insane. This is like a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

  And I was just trying to take it all in. But at the same time it was difficult to take everything in. But it was just it was a crazy excitement, nervous up until I fought feeling and then after after my comp and after parting, I could sit back and relax and just take a deep breath and then take it in, take a little bit more in of the experience. But it was it was incredible. The the one thing that I if if I took it was just a team feeling, a team of of support and, and just have been part of a bigger team, which was which is incredible.

  Yeah, that sounds amazing. And I imagine as well as like the actual other athletes there, you had a really good support team around you specifically as well. Yeah. How important was having like a really good support system? Oh no, it's it's yeah, it's it's incredibly important. Like even the leader, the support I got from the club. So my my sensei or the coach Carlos son Calvin, who's an elite able bodied athlete in judo, came with as my coach admin person and his his support was incredible.

  And just knowing someone on in that environment, just knowing someone at, at a, at a massive, massive advantage, but then also just meeting others along the way was incredible. But just the sport in general, just not only in Tokyo, like the lead up, you know, training and friends and family is is, is it's just you can't put, you know, you can't I put a value to it.

  It's it's just knowing you got people backing you irrespective, win or lose, you got people supporting and backing you is such a nice feeling. Yeah, yeah. That is so great. So how did you, I guess, make sure that everybody was working as a team with you?

  You said at the start of your journey you were a bit worried about, you know, even just asking people for lifts to training. Obviously you had to sort of overcome that to really, you know, gather people around you and help you what, what, what kind of, I guess specifically in the lead up to the games, you know, you're leaning more on family and friends, like you said, what kind of things would they help you with that?

  You know, you would you needed to sort of gather them together as your own team. Yeah, they motivation was, was a big one. So, so physically getting around was end up not being too bad. We had, I had some friends at the judo club that would swing by and if I couldn't get there, luckily the, the, the club that was quite close to where I lived. So on a good evening and A and A and a nice, nice weather night, I'll hop on my bicycle and, and just cycle up there.

  You know, it's all on the path, it's all safe and all the rest. And I could get them back on a bad night. There were friends that could just lean on just to say that we're going to training. They'll swing bar, pick me up, take me to training, Take Me Home. But it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, the motivation and the training outside of the, the actual duo where there were other areas to training, strength and weight training and some other agility stuff that I was doing that, that was, was out of the judo training days that I would, I would do as part of my programme.

  And that support came in like sort of from them, from just motivation because it's tiring. And you do feel sometimes like, oh, you know, I, I, I don't feel like I'm improving this, you know, things could go wrong. You might get a niggle, you know, you might hurt yourself in training and now you've got a knee problem or shoulder problem. So it was then just talking about it. And it was just that the motivation that they would give just to say, well, you know, it's OK, maybe try this, do this, maybe, you know, ease or fear.

  And that, that I appreciated from, from the family and, and friends, that was that I, that I was in contact with and chatting to about everything. So yeah, I also had, I had my own gym set up at home. So that, that solved the challenge of actually getting to a gym and doing weights and getting out of my house. So I had everything set up at home. So it was, it was nice for me to, you know, just be there and not have to worry.

  The only thing I needed trouble for was actually judo training at the club, but the rest was all set up at home. Yeah, that's great. So I guess you found a different, different way to go about it and get rid of some of the barriers that were in the way for you. Yeah. Lucky. I've always enjoyed like, having a little gym set up at home even before my my diagnosis of my. I promise. So there wasn't a major adjustment.

  And coming to Australia continued with that, that sort of routine that that I've, I've got a gym at home, especially when the kids are small, you know, you're working all day and you know, you didn't want to. I felt like I didn't want to come home and then go to gym and you know, that time that you could be with them sort of for me was was important. But if I came home from work when they were young, I'm talking about what's their old, they were old and you know, during the take experience, But that I suppose that routine of going to work, coming home and then seeing them and then having to work out at home while they they just felt like it was like, you know, for me, the right thing to do.

  So I just continue with that sort of routine going forward. And it actually worked in my favour. I didn't have to make many adjustments when my condition was was sort of diagnosed. It was just, that's why I always done it and that's why I'll just continue with it. So yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic. We've just had a question pop up. I'm just going to ask this now, since we're talking about support systems and things like that.

  Someone's just said. What are some tips that you would give to friends and families about helping someone with their motivation or even service providers, so, you know, like allied health providers or something. What are some ways that they could help, you know, their loved one or their friend with motivation that you found really helpful? Yeah, I suppose it depends in which aspect of of life it is if it's sport or or social. And you know, some people like I was, I, I was at some point struggling with, with to be motivated to, to train pretty because I was tired.

  And, and so that motivation was a little bit different in the way like you got your goals, you got your plan. I don't feel like, you know, putting this full session into this day and then I'll talk to someone and it's like, well, why don't you just do it, but just at a different intensity level just to get through the day. And it feels like you still have achieved it.

  So that type of motivation when you talk to someone, just like, almost like readjusting the goal posts as you're going, as you, as you, you know, as the way you feel, I suppose in a, in a, in a, in a different environment, whether it's social or getting involved in a, in a, in a, in a community, the motivation there might be you don't want to do something on your own maybe.

  And I'm, I'm very much like that. I don't like socialising and being the one new person in a, in a, in a group of of people. Yeah, and, and, and that's where I lean on, on friends or friends or family, just, you know, to say, look, I want to go, I want to be involved, but I don't want to go on my own. You know, can you, can you, can you accompany? I mean, you know, you've got a couple of hours to spare to, to come along and you end up, you know, having quite an awesome.

  So, yeah, I suppose it depends on the, the whole motivation thing on the, the circumstance. Yeah.

  But just, I think just taking that first step is always important. Yeah. Just being there for them, I guess what whatever they need, whether that's just you walking along with them, where they're going or, yeah, helping them talk through what might be, you know, weighing on their motivation at that point or something like that.

  Yeah, just opening up and just to find out what exactly is is, is going on and just being that support of maybe a listening ear sometimes is just just as good. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You, you did mention your goals there and that you had obviously you, you, you know, to get to that kind of elite level athlete, you would need to be able to set goals and, you know, track those milestones and things like that.

  Do you just want to give us some tips on how you go about setting and working towards goals, something that other people might be able to take into their own sporting journey or other type of, you know, goals? Yeah. So I've always been a goal orientated person, which, which, which does help. So it wasn't very difficult for me to do it. But even my kids in growing up and, and they've, they've grown up into their own areas of what they enjoy.

  And I keep telling them like, you know, set a goal. So, so for me in 2016, it was Tokyo 2020 back then before COVID, right? So that was the main goal, but I needed a breakdown and I needed a plan to get there. Yeah. So that was the main the main. That was the big picture, the main goal, but I needed a plan to get there. So that goal was broken down into 4 mini goals of these 4 tournaments I want to go to. Yeah, to get to there. And then I needed a plan per per tournament. So it's almost like if, if you, if you think too big and too far out, you lose the sort of the, the, the detail in between too much to yeah, too much to think, think about.

  So, so I always like to break it down. If there's a big goal, yes, it'll be in four or five years time, but how, how am I going to get there? Let's break it down into smaller goals. And even even in the the four tournaments that were my goals, I had many goals in between those just say like I should break my training down into like a three week, I mean a three month, 12 week programme before tournament.

  So that was like A and then in the 12 week programme, I had little mini goals. Weight was what should I be weighing at this point in time? What should I be doing in training every year? And so you just break it down and something that's measurable so that you could actually see the and feel the the benefit of what you what, what, what you are achieving in your, in your plan. So getting that positive feedback along the way to to motivate you more.

  Yeah, yeah. So that gives you motivation as you as you're going along, right. This is what I was supposed to have been. I'm I'm slightly off. Yeah, not a problem. I've still got 10 weeks ago. Let's just, let's just get back on track or you go, you know, you go six weeks in and this is where I'm supposed to be. So I would, goals are important, a plan's important. But breaking that down into small little buckets that's achievable, that make the, the the goals unachievable.

  You know yourself, everyone knows them. You know who they are, what they can achieve. And just breaking them down to the smaller buckets and those smaller little achievements or then slowly build up. And before you know it, you know, you, you you're three months out of the big goal and you're like, wow, you know, where did the, you know, how did that happen?

  Look at all you've achieved in that time. Yeah. You mentioned that you come up with a plan for each sort of mini goal. I imagine that would be a lot of like habit building, like habits that you have to get in place. Just constantly working on things. Yes. How how do you keep sort of yeah, on track with those? Do you have a, a way that you make sure you're staying on track with habits that don't necessarily have that sort of final endpoint goal?

  Yeah, just it goes into like you, you end up in being in a sort of a routine and it just becomes a, a, a way of life. Like specifically due to where it's weight, you go to a fight in a weight category. If you don't make your category that you've entered A and you don't make that weight, you can't fight in a different weight. Yeah, just disqualified. OK.

  So, yeah, like you, you need to make weight. I've entered you really need to six kilograms. I need to make my weight because I could fight in the, the higher weight group if I wanted to, but it's not going to add to my points and qualification points for the the, the, the weight group that I've I want to fight in. So it became a just a daily routine, like sort of like it was, you know, trying to eat good foods, training.

  And it just became something that she didn't really, you did think about just a way of life. It just became a a way of life. And then, I mean, I've got to say and, and be honest that every now and then, when you do have these these mini goals that you're reaching, when you do reach the thing, it's always good to have a nice reward toward yourself. It might not be the, you know, it might not be the most healthiest thing that you, you, you might do about something that you enjoy.

  Like personally, I, I, I would enjoy a beer, you know, So that was my little reward. Get through this next couple of weeks training, reach some weight goals, make sure my strength and everything's thing. And then that would be my that would be something else for someone else. But also just little rewards along the way to say right, I've deserved it to pat myself on the back, you know, and then you and you move on to the next, the next stage.

  Yeah, that's a good one. You can't get too focused on that end goal and just, you know, you have no life up to that point, can you? You've got to sort it. Yeah, yeah, keep, yeah, yeah. You gotta keep it balanced. You know, you can't just be all in on one thing and none, none of that, you know, none of everything else. So, so it's it's, it's not just keeping us balance of, of, you know, where you're at.

  Yeah, fantastic. So I'd love to hear, Wayne, about sort of what impact, I guess sport in general, but more specifically judo and going to the Paralympics, what impact has that had on the rest of your life? And you still involved in judo now?

  So, yeah, judo as a, as a, as a sport, the impact through my life as, as thinking back, I might not have realised it growing up, but thinking back, it had quite a big impact from a confidence point of view, being small, small structure and, and nature physically, Judo gave me that confidence growing up through the teens when you get to high school and you got contact sports like rugby, that's quite contact.

  You know, there's a lot of contact. And it didn't stop me from being involved in those sports. So that it gave me the confidence to be involved and not think, oh, you know, I'm not big enough or good enough or whatever. So that was another thing from a judo, a specific perspective and in life, sport in general, not only due to sport in general teaches you sort of discipline and respect. You know, some good qualities in a, in a sporting environment where you know to reach whatever level it is. It could be club, club champ or you know, area champ or whatever. The, the, the, the, the level of it teaches you discipline to get there. You need to go to training when you don't feel like it. You need to do this.

  You know, it keeps you, it gives you that discipline. It gives and also teaches you respect for, for your competitors because they're going through the same thing you're going through. They're pushing through at the end, you're going to compete against them and it just, well, it teaches you that respect for for others. So I think those those would be like sport would. Yeah, I would. Those would be my take away.

  It's just sort of discipline and and respect for others. Yeah. And what was the 3rd, the third one that you mentioned? Are you still involved in judo now? Right. So I am, I'm not training after Tokyo. And I thought to myself, right, that's 40 years of involvement since 8. And I was 48 when I went to Tokyo, and I've always, I've always wanted to run.

  There's a famous ultra marathon in South Africa called the Comrades Marathon. Wow. Yeah. It's, it's a 90 kilometre ultra run and it's 90 run. Yeah. And you get this, the you run up from Durban to Pietermaritzburg one year, and then you run down. Yeah, from Pietermaritzburg to Durban the next year. Right. And it's a famous, famous run in South Africa, You know, the race that stops the nation in Australia, That's the race and stops the nation in South Africa. Everyone, they normally run on a public holiday in the olden days and everyone will be in front of their TV is watching.

  And it's not only the winners who watch, it's the guys that are finishing within the time limit. We are the real heroes struggling through for 12 hours was the cut off, you know, 11 hours in the old days, but 12 hours. So I've always wanted to do that run as a challenge, just to challenge myself, challenge my body. So getting back to judo, I've not been on the judo mat since Tokyo. I'm not saying I won't get back.

  I just needed this time to, to just explore other challenges, put it that way and see if I can do so. I've, I've done 2 ultra marathons, the Comrades. So I did last year my first one. But to, to do it, I needed to qualify by a marathon. So getting back to the big goal and the mini goals, yeah, I needed to, I needed to run a 10K at a certain time and then increase that to a multi sort of 1/2 marathon and then qualify with the marathon.

  And then I had to kick on to get to the the big goal. And then I that was the down run last year, Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Yep. And then this year I did the up run from Durban to Peter Manersburg. So yes. So wow, if that, if that answers the question about judo, I would love to be involved at some point again. Yeah, definitely. It's it's my first love from this point in perspective. Always will be, always have a special place place in my heart for judo.

  And I do visit the club two or three times a year to go so high and just catch up with everyone. And I will be back. I'm just not sure at this stage when because I'm, I'm enjoying the challenge of, of running at the moment. Yeah, brand new challenge. Different, different goal to try and reach. Amazing.

  Yeah. So I can see Yvette there. She I think she's got a couple of questions. So we'll just invite. Yeah. You just briefly touched on, and I'm potentially being a little bit controversial here, but competing as a older athlete at the Paralympics, yeah. So obviously you were on the track to be like world, Well, you were world class as a teenager and building up to that.

  So then how do you think your experience as a, because clearly, as you've just said, age is not a barrier for you because you keep going. But how do you think that that experience being old, like second time around, even like how was that for you as an older athlete? I tell you, I, I had doubts when I could do it because you know, it's, it's, it's everyone knows you, you, you foster more agile and more, you got more strength when you, you know, at your prime, you know, which in general is mid 20s to early 30s in that 7-8 year.

  Possibly someone can push it to 25 to 35. We we actually peak sort of fitness. I was, you know, starting the process 45 and I would have, as I've mentioned, 48 in yeah, Tokyo. So I had my doubts. So we could have, I would, yes. Yeah. Well, like 20 sort of deal. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So the Olympic programme is this open age, you don't have age categories. No. Yeah.

  So that that was my my personal doubt in my mind, could I compete against the the younger guys? Not. And that's what I had to, that's where the draught had to come from. Because all that you get, the longer it takes you to recover from the session, you know, you wake up stiff and sore. And when I was in my mid 20s, I'd wake up stiff and sore, but I'll be OK that evening to go again.

  And then, you know, as you get older, you take maybe a couple of days to feel like you're OK again for the next. But you had to, you know, so that that whole thing became the outcome is you're trying to push someone to their back on the ground. Yeah, yeah, exactly where it's very physical. So your, your, your body takes a takes a beating and it's very physical. And so that was, that was hard. And that's why I mentioned motivation during when we, when we spoke, I, I did struggle with motivation to, to keep going at certain points because I felt like, you know, I'm so that's hard.

  And that's where the support came in as to with family and friends to say, yeah, keep going, just adjust the goal posts a little bit. Just keep going, keep going. So, yeah. And then Even so in your training in the lead up to or even just as you were qualifying for and training for that, for the Paralympics or the prospect of being there.

  So, yeah. Did you struggle to find people at your judo club that were willing to actually like spy with you? Like, was that? No, no, no, not at all. They they were, they, they it was actually the opposite because you, you, you just all trained together at the club. Yeah. You know, you, you, you don't just, you don't have a, you know, you don't have to be just, you know, faster visually impaired, you know, but as a person. Oh, oh, no, yeah, yeah, so yeah, yeah. So oh, right.

  But in in saying that there was, there were different rules with, with visually impairment. So getting back to that, I mean, the, the, the, the people at the club, the, the, the, the sporting partners were, were brilliant. Like everyone was just, you know, open, like everyone was training for something different at, at different levels. So it was all just inclusive and you just get there and you just help each other and have a good, a good session. I just meant, I thought it would be challenging for you to find someone that could match you in terms of skill level.

  That was all in terms of Oh no, no, no, there, there was many, many, many people that match me and I, I, I would, I would, I would come around, I would come off second best on a regular basis in in general general training. That wasn't a problem at all. I find that, but that's just more motivation to push you, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, for sure. And sorry. Then one last question.

  Because obviously in the lead up to qualifying for the Paralympics, you had to go to all of the international mates so that you had your international qualification. And obviously a big consideration for you was being able to financially afford all of those trips and competitions and stuff. Is, is that comparable to able bodied athletes in regards to the support and finances that you would have as an athlete going into the Paralympics?

  Or is it completely different? And I'm just sorry, yeah, I, I, I, I can't talk for the Dudo able bodied judo players. I'm not, I'm not sure how how the funding funding works. I know it's a huge consideration in terms of wanting to compete at that level. Yeah. And I and I can't I suppose talk on other sports neither had never been involved in them.

  But, but I know Paralympics, Australia were were backing me with a bit of funding from the start, which is which I'm so appreciative, appreciative of which it did help me get to a couple of tournaments. But yeah, that's something I just wouldn't have even have thought about in terms of like actually physically getting to the competitions on an international level.

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so that that was a a consideration and impact on how many tournaments I could physically afford to get to through the 8 tournament programme. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But I, I can't, I, I wouldn't know how the yeah, the the other athletes are funded, et cetera now. Yeah, consideration for sure at that level.

  Amazing. Yeah. Thank you, Wayne. That's such an awesome story. I'll disappear now, Erin, sorry. Thanks for popping in. One final question, Wayne, for you to to leave us with, which is just if you've got a piece of advice for anyone that's watching that's thinking about getting involved in sports or maybe just wants to get a little bit more active, what advice would you give them to get started on that?

  Like how do they know what kind of sport to go for? How should they take that first step? I always, when it comes to sport and I've told my kids the same thing, that they need to do something they enjoy. Yeah, they have to enjoy it. So it's nice to me dragging my son to judo, which I did when he was young. Yeah, but he enjoyed Rigby and I, I, I dragged my daughter to judo because I thought it would be good for them growing up, which it was.

  They did it for a couple of years. But she enjoyed hip hop dancing back then. Yeah, he enjoyed, loved his rugby and she loved her hip hop dancing. I loved my judo and that's like, that's fun. But I think the main thing is you got to find something that you really enjoy because if you don't enjoy it, it's not going to become a pleasure doing it.

  So it becomes an individual, individual choice. What do I enjoy doing? And if you find what you really enjoy doing, it might just be kicking the ball at the park or going for a walk or whatever it might be. That is your thing. If that gives you that fulfilment and feeling of enjoyment, like you've got to have that feeling of I'm looking forward to something, I'm looking forward to doing something.

  Which if you don't have that, then then it does become difficult when, when times get hard, it becomes difficult to follow through with with what you're doing. So definitely, I would say enjoyment, top of the list 100%. If you on finding enjoyment, on finding enjoyment in what you're doing and then fair enough, try something else. But but to, to make it a, a really rewarding thing to do, you have to be Yeah, that you've got to feel that happiness and that sense of enjoyment while you're doing it.

  Yeah, 'cause why else are you there, right? Yeah, exactly. All righty. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Wayne, for joining us today. We've just hit the end of our session just about so yeah. Yeah, it's been so great to hear about your story and you know, your experience at the Paralympics. I'm sure in 2020 it was maybe a different experience than what the Paralympians now have had, but like, I just can't even imagine the high that you would have been on that whole time.

  It just sounds incredible. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for sharing all of your insights as well. I'm sure there's been a lot of takeaways that people can, you know, bring into their own lives and help to motivate them. I appreciate it. It's been my pleasure. Thank you for reaching out. Yeah, no worries at all. Thanks so much for being here.

  Thank you, everyone else, for joining us and watching the video later. So we'll send out a link with the video to anyone that's registered and the book that we mentioned at the start with from our friends at NDSP. We'll also send out the link so you can download that and start on your own journey in sport. Thank you again, Wayne, for being here.

  I'm Erin, that was a vet that popped up before. And thanks everyone for joining us. We'll see you in the Kinora community soon. Thanks everyone. Thanks, Wayne. Bye.