On Side Sport Integrity Australia

This episode of our podcast On Side talks to Play the Aussie Way campaign ambassadors, NBL legend Cal Bruton, Ellie Cole, Australia’s most decorated female Paralympian, and young soccer player Harry about the culture shift they hope to lead.

Hosted by Tim Gavel, in this week’s program we explore life after sport and how hard it is for athletes to find their niche.

We talk to AFL forward Josh Bruce, who retired near the end of the AFL season, 3-time Olympic gold medallist, swimmer, Petria Thomas, and Ben Hardy, an Olympian and former captain of the Australian national volleyball team.

Find out more information at https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/

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Produced by Ryan Micallef
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Mental Health Awareness Month (October) encourages all of us to think about our mental health and wellbeing.

In this episode of On Side, we talk about mental health, the impact and how we can make mental health and wellbeing a priority in sport. We are joined by former ABC sports broadcaster and mental health advocate, Craig Hamilton, and Georgia Ridler, Sport Integrity Australia's consulting Mental Health Advisor.

Craig talks about his own mental health battles, which manifested at the peak of his career as he was preparing to be part of the ABC commentary team for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

“It changed my life significantly because I went into hospital with a manic episode and I came out of hospital with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder and therefore had been diagnosed at that point with a mental illness,” Craig says.

“It changed the way I had to live my life and the choices I made, the decisions I made and my lifestyle.”

Mental health does not discriminate, he says, and has impacted high-profile sports stars including Wally Lewis, Andrew Johns, Nathan Thompson and Wayne Schwass.

“It doesn't matter how good you are, your ability has got nothing to do with it.”

He also talks about the release of his documentary The Promise that aims to spark a conversation, an action and a solution for mental health and suicide prevention. Among those featured are sporting legends Wayne Bennett, Tim Tszyu, Paul Harragon and Joe Williams and media personality Jessica Rowe.

We also speak to Georgia Ridler, Sport Integrity Australia’s consulting Mental Health Advisor.

Georgia has been a leader in mental health and sport over the past 20 years and was the Olympic Psychologist for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

She says the conversation around mental health in a sporting context is changing.

“I think the conversation is certainly open and people may not be getting it perfect yet. We're all human, but I think it's a more open conversation for athletes and staff, which is fantastic, and I think it will only become more open,” she says.

She discusses the triggers for athletes, whether it being anxiety from being away from home, travelling, expectations, injuries, as well as the conflicting values in an elite sporting environment, the added distractions an athlete today faces and how to build resilience.

Ridler says if a high-performance culture is engrained in the sport, it has benefits in the field of play.

“If culture is built well and there is a strong focus on wellbeing, then typically the work is done, particularly if we're focusing on an athlete,” she says. “Typically … if the person feels very supported, that means that then when they go into those high-performance environments, high pressure moments, they can actually just focus on performing in the moment and that's the ideal situation.

“That's always the trick of being a high performing athlete at the top. It's a matter of being able to put all of the things into place before that moment of performance and then be able to just focus on what's necessary.”

 It is important to look after your mental health and wellbeing and seek support if you need it.

If this podcast has triggered you in any way, or if you, or someone you know, is in immediate danger, please call 000, visit your nearest hospital emergency, or call a crisis helpline.

You can call: LIFELINE on 13 11 14 or BEYOND BLUE on 1300 224 636.
Support the show: https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/
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Former Matilda Michelle Heyman is featured in the latest episode of our podcast On Side.

Michelle played for Australia 61 times between 2010-2018, booting 20 goals before a series of injuries forced her to retire from international duties in 2019.

When Cortnee Vine’s penalty kick hit the back of the net against France, the whole of Australia roared as one. The recognition and support was a long time coming, says the former Australian striker.

“This is something that I think every single Matilda or every single female athlete has wanted for such a long time, she says. “To see something so special like our World Cup, to see those numbers, to see the amount of people in the stands on home soil is incredible. We've pushed for this. We've tried to sell our brand for a very long time.”

She says the support the team received from other sporting teams – men and women - was incredible.

“Seeing the Boomers with all their jerseys on and changing the time of their game just so they could watch the girls, that's something special.”

The W-League all-time record goal-scorer also talks about the Matildas' inspiring run to the semis, the growth of female sport and what keeps driving her on the pitch.
Support the show: https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Featuring Paralympians Ella Sabljak & Richard Nicholson, the latest episode of our podcast On Side explores the evolution of Paralympic sport in Australia. It also discusses the need to include Paralympic voices in the decision making, along with the role Paralympic sport can play as a vehicle for greater social inclusion and to understanding disability.

The latest episode of our podcast On Side looks at the issue of safeguarding participants of sport. It discusses the findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study and what it means for sport, and the work done as a result of Sport Integrity Australia’s review of the Western Australian Institute of Sport’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Program.