Since the 1st of October, we have been asking our patients to register for MyMedicare. MyMedicare is a program run through Services Australia that formalises the relationship between patient and their general practitioner, resulting in access to more Medicare benefits. It is a free and voluntary scheme launched by the federal government as part of a broader commitment to strengthening Medicare and creating greater continuity of care.
To be eligible, patients must have a Medicare card or a Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Verterans card and have had two or more face-to-face appointments at their regular practice in the past two years (or one face-to-face visit for practices in remote locations). People who are facing hardship will be exempt from all eligibility requirements. This includes people experiencing domestic and family violence and homelessness. Parents or guardians and children can be registered at the same practice if one of them is eligible and registered. A parent or guardian must register a child under 14 years old and provide consent on their behalf. Individuals aged 14 to 17 years can register and provide consent without a parent or guardian.
The main benefit of signing up at this time is access to Medicare rebates for longer telehealth consultations. Last year the government eliminated rebates for telehealth appointments that were longer than 20 minutes and longer than 40 minutes. Registering through MyMedicare means that you will have access to these rebates again.
To summarise, MyMedicare patients will have access to:
Patients can sign up via their myGov Medicare online account, via the Medicare App or in person by completing and submitting this form at one of our clinics.
Clare Gomes
Clinic Manager
At various times in my life, I’ve drifted into spirituality: sometimes dragged there by circumstance, clinging to greater meaning as a means of rescue, sometimes sheerly because I’ve had more time to reflect, and other times, just because I seemingly woke up from the spiritual side of the bed. I still remember locking myself in my cupboard as a kid, in pitch darkness, inspecting my body for any sign of an “aura”. I wasn’t alone in that, with my best friend doing the same in his cupboard that night too! We’re still good friends, and we still haven’t found our auras!
The essential theme I’ve found with all forms of spirituality is that feeling connected to the things around you is amazingly powerful. There may be many times each day where we reach a fulcrum, feeling alone and detached, and these feelings can really hurt. However, every time, we move through that by opening up to people around us, the stronger in fact we become. There is much strength in shared experience and connection.
Of course, taking this to the “nth” degree, we get to a form of thought described as “nondualism”. Perhaps the simplest way to consider this is by way of example. It’s likely that you have at times looked out at a landscape, breathed in the view, and reflected that over “there”, “that”, is beautiful. Perhaps you’ve walked through a forest and felt the same as large trees envelope you. The next step is looking out at those same things, the ocean, the mountains, the trees, and feeling a sense that you are actually those things and those things, all of them, are actually you. That you are totally connected with your surroundings, in such a profound way, that you recognise yourself in everything you see and interact with. Of course, it can go wrong. In meandering over conversation, I mentioned this once to a patient of mine. The next day, she returned with her chewed up medical certificate. “Doc, I really connected with my dog, but he took it too far and started to bite into my medical certificate, I need another one please.” The spiritual met the practical indeed! I’ll stop there, without hopefully already having gone too far. The theme is ripe for the taking though – stay connected, by deliberate choice, for wellbeing. It’s a central and essential concept which has stood the test of time.
Finally, on this note, I must say, I just love stumbling on more and more local clubs. Gardening clubs, sports clubs, writer’s clubs, craft clubs, fishing clubs – you name it, chances are there’s a club close enough to you for your specific interests. There’s so much potential to find connection with a group of people this way. These clubs are often free to join, or come at a minimal cost. They really are important to the fabric of communities, weaving their way through people’s lives, strengthening connection. If you have a club that you’d like us to mention in this newsletter please email community@atticushealth.com.au, and we’ll happily spread the word. Needless to say, I personally wouldn’t recommend my “find your own aura in your cupboard club”.
I hope your start to November is a good one
Floyd Gomes
Founder of Atticus Health
Dear Fellow Atticusians,
This month we received some fantastic news, that Atticus Health has been selected to be a state finalist in the Telstra Best of Business Awards in the category Championing Health. This is in recognition of all our collective efforts in health promotion and prevention in the communities we serve. Over the years we have committed to and continued to improve how we help people get better and keep them well, and it’s encouraging to be recognised by being a finalist in these awards. The winners are announced on 3 November 2023. Fingers crossed!
Win lose or draw the Telstra Awards, well done everyone for together building an organisation of excellence. What we have together created, shines brightly in the public eye. Let’s continue to keep it that way, and only permit it to grow stronger.
In today’s fast-paced world, some of us are caught in a unique predicament; simultaneously caring for ageing parents whilst also supporting and raising a young family. This is “The Sandwich Generation”. They quite literally are sandwiched between two generations, leading to a delicate balancing act of responsibilities.
In Australia, this phenomenon is becoming increasingly prevalent, mirroring global trends. According to recent statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), approximately 1 in 3 Australians belong to this generation.
The Financial Strain
One of the most pronounced aspects of being part of the Sandwich Generation is the financial strain it exerts. The costs of providing for both elderly parents and children can be overwhelming. The ABS reports that many in this generation face considerable economic pressure, as they navigate the challenges of caregiving while also meeting the financial needs of their families.
Caregiving for Ageing Parents
To bring this point closer to home, a Mornington Peninsula family, the Andersons, are grappling with the Sandwich Generation reality. For David and Libby Anderson, the responsibility of caring for David’s ageing mother, who lives with dementia, has become an integral part of their lives
Coping Strategies
Managing the multifaceted responsibilities of the Sandwich Generation necessitates a repertoire of coping strategies. Here are a few that may help David and Libby.
Time Management:
David and Libby can benefit from effective time management techniques, such as creating schedules, prioritising tasks, and using time-saving tools like calendars and reminder apps. This can help them allocate time to their children, their ageing parents, and themselves, ensuring a more balanced approach.
Self-Care:
David and Libby need to prioritise self-care to prevent burnout. This includes setting aside time for relaxation, exercise, hobbies, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. They should recognise that taking care of themselves is essential to provide better care for their loved ones.
Seeking Support from Home Care Providers:
David and Libby can work with home care providers, like Mark and Sylvie’s, to share the caregiving responsibilities. Home care providers can offer assistance with daily tasks, medication management, and companionship for ageing parents, relieving some of the burden on the Sandwich Generation. This partnership allows David and Libby to focus on their children and their own wellbeing.
Establishing Boundaries:
David and Libby should set clear boundaries with their ageing parents and their children. Open communication is key to ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. This helps avoid conflicts and prevents them from feeling overwhelmed.
Delegating Tasks:
They can delegate some caregiving tasks to other family members or close friends who are willing to help. Delegating responsibilities can lighten their load and create a support network that ensures the wellbeing of their ageing parents.
Financial Planning:
Proper financial planning is crucial for David and Libby to manage the costs associated with caregiving. This includes understanding government assistance programs, insurance, and creating a budget that accommodates their caregiving responsibilities without jeopardising their own financial stability.
Emotional Support:
If things become overwhelming, they should seek emotional support from friends, support groups, or therapists. Sharing their experiences and feelings with others who are going through similar challenges can provide comfort and valuable advice.
Flexibility:
It’s important for David and Libby to remain flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. The needs of their ageing parents and their children may evolve over time, so being open to adjustments in their caregiving approach is essential.
The Future of the Sandwich Generation
As society evolves, so does the nature of family dynamics. Adaptation and support will be critical as the dynamics of caregiving and family life continue to shift.
The modern family squeeze is a complex reality for many Australians. As we conclude, it is vital to recognise the importance of addressing the unique struggles faced by this generation and to encourage support and understanding for those navigating this intricate path.
In doing so, we can foster resilience and compassion within our families and communities, ensuring that everyone feels less overwhelmed by the demands of the modern family dynamic.
Diamond Kind host Brett, speaks with Tyson of Little Athletics Chelsea about their sports program for kids.
Floyd Gomes
We all have pressure in our lives and pressure makes diamonds. And yet, in the heat of a moment, that pressure can lead to various ways that we handle a situation, either aggressively or bringing out some degree of kindness. And that’s what diamond kind is about.
Brett Thiedeman
Welcome to another episode of Diamond Kind podcast. I’m your host Brett. It’s a pleasure today to have a Super Fit guest with us at Dratticus Labs in the flesh. It’s always nice to have company and jam in the lab. So Tyson is a former marathon runner. And he still runs and he’s the vice president from little athletics. Chelsea, welcome Tyson.
Tyson
Thanks, Brett. Great to be here.
Brett Thiedeman
All right, let’s dive right in. So can you just start by giving us an overview of what little athletics Chelsea is all about? And its mission in the community?
Tyson
Absolutely, yeah. So little Aths is all about providing track and field events for kids aged from under six, all the way through to under 17. So quite a broad age group of kids. And our particular club has been around doing that since the late 1960s. So we run down at the beautiful Edithvale reserve. And we’re one of the very few clubs now that run on a grass track. So we’ve got just over a couple 100 kids that come down every Saturday morning and participate in the sport.
Brett Thiedeman
Now it sounds like a fun place to be. And it was. I was actually there many years ago about 30 years ago, probably so And funny enough, we were talking previously. And we actually went to the same little athletics club, down in Moorabbin.
Tyson
We sure did. We both competed at Moorabbin when we were youngsters, which, ironically, is where we’re based for at least part of this season as Chelsea is undergoing a major track upgrade.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, that’s awesome. So can you tell us about some of the missions and goals of Little Athletics Chelsea?
Tyson
Absolutely, yeah. So we really talk about three, three goals in terms of what the Focus is for our club. And it’s all about family, fun, and fitness. So when we think about family, we want all of our families to be involved in not only the parents, but also the extended families. So we’ve got a lot of older siblings involved in the club, and grandparents as well. So my mom, Carolyn is the Secretary of our club. And we have another grandparent who’s on our committee as well. So we really encourage all of those family connections. Fun is the second one. And that’s all about making our club as fun as it possibly can be. So whilst we’re happy to see our kids succeed, beyond the events at the club, we really want it to be a fun environment. So I think we’re a bit more relaxed than some of the other clubs that take things more seriously than us. And the last one is fitness. And that is just providing an environment where the young kids can stay fit. And it really extends on then to the other sports that they play.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, yes. And how would you go about the, in supporting the development of the young athletes, both physically and mentally as well?
Tyson
It’s a great question. And I think I think if you start with the mental side of things, resilience is a great thing that comes out of out of little paths. And we see a lot of kids, when they when they come along, when they’re, they’re younger, and they might be a bit reluctant. And they don’t want to leave mom and dad side. And over the years, we really see this, this resilience built in, in the kids and they come along with a greater sense of confidence that they can take with them, whether that be in the future in sport, or their schooling or their work life. So we’re really proud to see that resilience that comes through in our in our little athletes. And then there’s the obvious fitness benefits that that come with doing a sport like little athletics, and there’s very few kids that just do little athletics. Most of our kids are involved in footy or netball or soccer or any other other sport. And little athletics just provides that wonderful base fitness for them. So we like to think that if there’s a footy game going on that it’s going to be one of our little athletes. That’s going to be the first one to get to the ball.
Brett Thiedeman
Tyson you’ve been involved with little athletics for quite some time. Can you share some memorable moments or success stories from young athletes who have benefited from your program?
Tyson
Absolutely. Look over the last couple of years we’ve actually seen a real, really positive impact on on some of our athletes through through our coaching program. So we’ve got some fantastic coaches at the moment. Claudia is an ex athlete of ours, and a former Senate champion, and she’s been through our emerging coaching program and this She she was a finalist in LA Vic’s emerging Coach of the Year award. And Ben, our Senior coach actually won LA Vic’s Coach of the Year Award for the entire state. So, so having coaches like that has really had a monumental difference to the way that a lot of our athletes are performing. And we actually had a young boy this year that broke five centre records at our club. And that was really a result of some of the fantastic coaching not only inside the club, but through some of our extended network that supports our clubs such as Sean who’s who’s down in Melbourne packing.
Brett Thiedeman
Now that’s, that’s really inspiring now, Tyson, I’ve heard legends about the snack bar at little athletics events. Can you reveal any secret recipes for the ultimate energy boosting snack?
Tyson
Well, I know if you ask the kids, Brett, they’d talk about the hotdogs and super duper but we do provide bananas for the for the kids. So I’d always recommend that as a healthy snack to get your Saturday morning going. And I know that my boys love and Acai bowl both before and after an event. So I’d stick with the healthy ones for for this one.
Brett Thiedeman
Very sensible, very sensible. If we could just talk a little bit more about the coaches, the role the coaches and the volunteers play in the success of little athletics Chelsea?
Tyson
Yeah, look, both coaches and volunteers play an enormous role. If I start with the volunteers, unlike a lot of other sports where it doesn’t take a great deal of resources to run maybe a basketball or a footy game, keeping in mind little outs, we’ve got it under sixes all the way through to under seven teams. So at any given time, we need starts crew gates crew, we’ve got age group managers, we’ve got people that mark the lines, running the canteen. So we can need up to about 75 people on the field at any given time. So we simply can’t run our club without volunteers. We’re 100% volunteer-run all of our committee of volunteers. So we really need the support of our broader community and our and our families involved in the club, to volunteer. And I did touch on the coaching earlier. But we know that in order to really support the kids in their development, we need high quality coaches, and we like to offer them both inside the club and also have an extended network where if kids are looking to go and perform and regional or state level and those sorts of things that we can offer them coaches that at a higher level if they need that. Yeah.
Brett Thiedeman
Well, that sounds like you’re on the right track center. You got right the right people in the right positions at the moment. We’re working on it. Yeah. That ties to let me know. Tell me about your your go to strategy for keeping the kids motivated when they’re about to tackle the challenging long jump pit of doom?
Tyson
Well, Brett, we don’t focus on winning and losing. Litle Aths, it’s all about PBS. So we really like to keep the kids motivated by focusing on their own PBS, and challenging them to achieve something that we know that they can achieve. So our age group managers will focus with the with the kids on what their previous PBS were and how they how they can keep them motivated to try and improve them.
Brett Thiedeman
Awesome. I love it. Speaking of Legends, we’ve heard rumours of an underground championship for parents who want to prove their mettle. Can you confirm or deny these runners?
Tyson
Brett, I’m pleased to confirm the rumour that we do have an annual hamstring handicap. We run this at our Chelsea gift event where all of our kids run handicap sprints. And we give the parents a chance once a year to test their mettle. So we have one for the mums and one one for the dads and we often see some very motivated parents come along and have a crack at it. It doesn’t always end well. But not certainly gives those on the sideline a good laugh. Yeah,
Brett Thiedeman
good job to those parents. Now before we wrap up, but just like to get into the heart of today’s episode. And if I could just ask you to recall specific a specific time when you were under immense pressure and you managed to come through with kindness.
Tyson
I’d like to share a story about something that happened down at our club a couple of years ago with one of our young boys age groups. And it was one of the longer distance running events and we’d had a few boys that had completed their race. And we still had one young boy who was out there who had a little while to go actually and I just heard a little bit of chatter amongst a couple of the boys about the fact that this this young fella still hadn’t hadn’t finished his race. And I thought this is actually a great opportunity to talk about the culture of our club and what we want to be known for and what we want the kids to get out of the sport that they’re participating in. So I went over to the boys and I said come up to the finish line with me. We’re going to cheer him on as he comes, comes through the finish line. So it was just wonderful when he did actually cross the line. And this group of boys all cheered him on. And it just really inspired me. And what was pleasing to see was just a couple of weeks later, that the same group of boys after they’d finished their race actually got out on the on the track. And they did the last lap with this same young boy, who was a little way behind them. And I just thought it was it was something that has created the sort of culture we’re looking for at Chelsea little athletics and was pleasing to see that the second time around, the boys didn’t need any help to go and do that. Yeah,
Brett Thiedeman
no, that’s an awesome, that’s an awesome story. Thanks for sharing that one. And thank you for joining us today. But before you go, if you could just, once again, extend an invitation to your runners and the broader community to participate in the e 15. Energy Fund run on December the third, and let listeners know what they can expect from the event.
Tyson
Yeah, Brett, we’re really looking forward to this run. It is around my local running trail. I’ve cut many laps around the Patterson river. And it’s an absolutely beautiful course. Lap of the river. Nice soft gravel to run on. And hopefully we get a beautiful sunny morning, there’s a 2k run, it will be perfect for some of our younger athletes. And then there’s also a 6k one, which I think will be great for the older kids and also the families as well. So we’re extending an invitation to all of our athletes, and also the other local little athletic clubs and our extended network with with the crew from Melbourne PAC. So I’m really sure we’re going to have a fantastic crew and it will be a wonderful, wonderful event.
Brett Thiedeman
Thank you for joining us today on the diamond con podcast Tyson. It’s been a pleasure having you. Thanks Brett. And to our listeners remember, pressure makes diamonds so let’s all strive to be diamonds of kindness in our communities. Until next time, stay kind and keep shining.
Brett chats with comedian Will Crawford about his experience living with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Floyd Gomes
We all have pressure in our lives and pressure makes diamonds. And yet, in the heat of a moment that pressure can lead to various ways that we handle a situation, either aggressively or bringing out some degree of kindness. And that’s what diamond kind is about.
Brett Thiedeman
Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Diamond Kind podcast. I’m your host Brett and today we have a truly inspiring guest with us. Joining us is Will Crawford, a lawyer, youth worker filmmaker and comedian who has just returned to Melbourne after living in Darwin for 15 years. He’s an experienced stand-up and sketch comedian who has previously written for channel 31 sketch comedy show the entire missionary position will has a comedy show that touches on his recent diagnosis with MS and how he has used comedy to process this and also educate people about MS and kindness. He has a unique and powerful story to share. Welcome, Will.
Will Crawford
Hey, Brett, thanks so much for having me.
Brett Thiedeman
Oh, yeah, nah it’s so good. And I was just talking to you before about, you know, the recent some of the YouTube clips that you sent through and you know, which were really, really inspiring. So I’m really looking forward to the conversation today.
Will Crawford
Oh very kind very tired.
Brett Thiedeman
Okay, let’s do this. So well. Let’s just start at the beginning of your journey. Can you share with this? Your initial reaction and emotions when you were diagnosed with MS in late 2021?
Will Crawford
Yeah, it was a little bit dramatic. In the I think it was September 2021. And within the space of four days, I got my first symptoms like I started off thinking I stumbled a couple of the times when I was getting up going to the bathroom. I play golf in the mornings. And then at the talent of golf, I had a massive sleep. And I don’t normally do that. So that was on the Saturday and Sunday. And then the Monday I had a couple of symptoms and started to get some pins and needles and numbness on the face. And like any typical Aussie male, I said, she’ll be right. And then the next day I went to work, which was Tuesday, and I’d mentioned that to him. He says I should probably get to a doctor, and then I’ll get to eventually. And then once I got to work, my eyesight went so I could only see about five or 10 meters, my sight all went blurry. And then I turned to my mate at work. And I said, Ah, that’s normal isn’t he said no. It’s not normal at all. So he raised me off to the hospital. They did a whole lot of tests, because there were they thought it might have been a stroke initially, because the pins and needles was one side of my face. But thankfully it wasn’t wasn’t a stroke. And it wasn’t a tumor, anything crazy. And then the doctors did a whole lot more tests. And it was probably Ms. And we got to run some more tests, which they did. And they also gave me steroids, which I’d never ever had before. And I’ve also never used cocaine, but apparently it’s and it was I was out of control. I thought it was the world’s greatest. So I had my laptop with me. And I sent 400 emails that day, and I had no idea what was in front of them. But the good thing at the tail end of that. So once a diagnosis came in, yeah, I felt it was a challenge. I was super isolated because I was living in Darwin, but all my family and friends were in Melbourne. And also transit was at the tail end of COVID people couldn’t visit. Like we were in a COVID bubble, we had our borders locked. So that was a challenge and difficulty. And then I think the first four days was super hard. And like a lot of people you get into the woe is me, why all that kind of grieving stuff when you get and you know, because the difficulty is with an MS diagnosis theory can be really bad and it’s early days. So there’s uncertainty. But then what helped me was I just reflected on the worst case scenario, which is a strange way of going about it. I said, Well, worst case scenario is I lose my mobility rarer all these things happen. But the upside is I would move back to Victoria and be with my family, which I’d been away for so long that that was a really driving force and it made me realize that that’s the most important thing in your life for me. Yeah, and also though the human connections and friends is is everything. And so that helped me actually sign it and that was about the day format. There’s lots of others. things that helped me process and understand things as well. But I think also just also being an I’m a big fan of sharing, and being honest about things. And I was honest with my work and they were really good and was supportive. Same with my family and everything. And I feel that when you’re on us, it kind of takes a load off, you’re not hiding anything. So they’re some of the challenges. But then, and I’ll talk about it in a little bit, I was so lucky to get amazing support from medical people allied health, so that I’ve feel that my condition now is really good and manageable. But back then it wasn’t. And I’ve come a long way. So I feel grateful now. And it was a challenge, but also just so thankful to have got the support audience.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah. So before we get on to the healthcare professionals is like just going back a little bit now. And you mentioned experiencing some challenging symptoms like the blurred vision and dizziness and numbness and pins and needles on on one side of your face. To describe, we’ll let you know what it was like to live with the symptoms before starting the treatment.
Will Crawford
Yay, it was and I was in a slightly weird situation where I couldn’t start my treatment for three months because of COVID My doctor said that the medication would counteract the COVID vaccine. So we had to let the COVID vaccine continue to take hold and so I couldn’t start my meds for three months. And he also said I’m not even sure the meds are work. I hope they do. They don’t work for everyone. So the I was in this for three month period where I couldn’t I couldn’t drive and I’d been a really active guy was running a big Youth Work Program and charities and goals and was a comedian all these things so I kind of slowed down a lot of that. And yeah, I was really struggling with my walking as well. Like I was getting rid of dragging of my left knee and and going for walking and getting exhausted and dizzy and that kind of thing. So it’s full on. But yeah, so the eyesight dizziness and fatigue was probably the biggest symptoms and the leg dragging stuff and also i i overheat if I exercise for more than say five or 10 minutes. So that was also a challenge. So they Yeah, I had some pretty big symptoms. And also I I wasn’t allowed to start meds yet and B I didn’t even know if the meds would work they did so I’m absolutely delighted so yeah, it was good. So but the nice thing was work let me work from home I got a meal service. Bharat was on the phone to my mom every day just sort of you know, touching base and and had a whole lot of friends dropping in food and saying hi, because I couldn’t really get out of the house very easily. Big challenge but at the same time that’s the beautiful thing of these things is that the silver lining is is that you know some lovely people touch base and and also your focus on the positive because I could still do a fair bit. Yeah, still communicate could still work. So I still getting my income. And my work was been good to me sides. Oh, yeah. It was challenging, but it could have been worse. Yeah. So
Brett Thiedeman
it does sound very optimistic. You know, the that again, that that waiting period of three months and you sort of mentioned how it affected you physically. What about mentally?
Will Crawford
Yeah, it was a challenge because i You were waiting a baby you didn’t even know if the meds would work. And so you kind of go oh my god be stuck like this forever, which would which would sack but the other thing is, I’m fatalist and and you kind of go you can only do the best you can do in any situation. And I had a whole lot of really capable people around me saying, This is how we’re going to do it. And, and, you know, we’re pretty confident that the drugs are really good these days. Plus, I had, you know, you know, food on my table. I had a job and I had people touching base and caring for me. And so it’s like, yeah, it was hard, but at the same time, I think the weird thing for me, was that that day for mark where I kind of accepted the worst case scenario helped me through that because it was like, yeah, it might be that but I’ve already accepted If it is really bad, we’ll find a way. So I’d kind of embrace the challenges back then. And so this was all just the path going forward. And in actual fact, it wasn’t all bad. So I tend to try and go, Well, what can I do? And what can I control? And what are the good things I can do. And you can do many exercises, which had a physio helping me with bits and bobs, you can touch base with them. And as I said, I was able to work. So there were some really positives that I took from that going while there was, you know, people, if it had been a tumor or a stroke, or would have been worse, you know, they could have, you know, so yeah, for me, it was just take whatever I could, and you make do with what you’ve got at that particular point.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, that’s really good. Thanks for sharing that. So it was really that that acceptance, as you said, after after day four, yeah, it really sort of helped you on that.
Will Crawford
Yeah, that was my biggest moment. Why going? Well, whatever happens, I’ve got beautiful people around me, but also, I can deal with it, you know, in the sense that, you know, I’ve been so lucky in my life, and I’ve done amazing things. And amazing people worked amazing areas, whatever happens, I’ll deal with, because I’ve had a very good luck already. And whatever happens is a bonus. Because, yeah, that’s kind of how I dealt with it in my brain is like, Yep, it might be a challenge. But also, I’ve been pretty lucky along the way. So we’ll work through it.
Brett Thiedeman
That’s an amazing way to look at it. You mentioned a few times, we’ll as well that the support, you know, that’s, that’s been crucial to you, as well, you tell us more about the role of the healthcare professionals and organizations, which played Yeah, played a really,
Will Crawford
really important ones for me, partly because Ms. I didn’t really know much about and, you know, I’d known about it as a kid when I did the MS read a THON, and, you know, you hear about, you know, back in the day where, you know, there were no cures, there were no drugs, and also people, um, you know, potentially had really bad quality lives. But then my neurologist who was super busy, and he said, Well, I can’t explain all of it to you. But please ring this mob called, was the MS Society of SA and NT, because he said that we’ll be able to explain it to you. But he, he said, I’ve got some really good drugs that often work. And that for a lot of people, MS is not necessarily it’s not a death sentence at all. But it’s also even the quality of life is not bad. So just talk to this person, because, you know, he was in the middle of rounds, and super busy. And then I did and she said, the the doctors, right, he said that the drugs are improving all the time. There are some people who live, you know, 30 years and even don’t have a lot of symptoms. But there are some people who have terrible symptoms, they get worse every day. So there’s a huge spectrum. But the good thing is with the advancement of drugs, and diet, which is a really good thing, people are a help on managing their MS much better. And it just depends where you sit on that. But not only that, there’s also things which I didn’t even know about the NDIS, which is a national disability insurance scheme, which provides additional supports, plus, there’s, you know, the medical system. And then the weird thing, which worked really well for me, because I was in Darwin is that during COVID, the hospitals in Melbourne, Sydney, and the East Coast in Brisbane, were under the pump because they had so many COVID patients. We didn’t have any COVID cases in the intake. So what that meant was arguably I’m in the NT getting in a hospital that’s functionally normally and has meds and has a neurologist and has and where they even had a rehabilitation team with physios and OTs around me, giving me time and talking me through it. So in a weird way, even though I was not able to see my family in Victoria, I was better off being in Darwin because I had this amazing team. And that’s I think that I think hats off to the medical profession. And people often criticize the system for not functioning but actually it was good. I got straight into er, I got seen by neurologists very soon they discounted everything it wasn’t. And then he referred me to support services plus Rdh or Aldo and hospital had its own rehabilitation doctor. And she basically linked me in with everyone to make sure I was getting support. And so yeah, so it’s about 12 I had a month that I was in Darwin with it. And then I came back to Melbourne at Christmas. But right up into the year, I think was about a month while I was up in Darwin, I felt really well supported. And, and the other big thing, which is partly while I’m doing the show is people explained to me what it’s about. Yeah. And, and that was why the MS nurse, and that was the person I spoke to very early on, she said, this is the steps that are going to happen. Now, we’re going to do this, this and this, good doctors gonna do this, you need to look after yourself by doing this, this and this. And the big ones were probably don’t go out dancing and fatigue yourself and start in the middle of the night because I used to be out. Because I was a comedian, I was out of slowdown, you got to eat healthy, you’re going to get regular rest. And all of all of this and will link you into these services. And the good thing is, with the NDIS, they are able to give me you know supports in lots of different areas, including physio and OT. And yeah, and I felt that by having those procurement professionals by my side, walking me through it made what was sometimes, you know, there’s a lot of hoops you got to jump through, but I had people next to me, do it with me. And that was pretty cool. Yeah, I was really and yeah, the MS Society of Sen and 10. The Victorian equivalent is Ms. PLAs did a great job. And then since then, the other thing, which I didn’t say is once I started my drugs, after three months, most within two weeks, all of virtually all of my symptoms went. So it was like it was like a man I woke up one day could see clearly. Like, whoa, yeah, so that was a beautiful thing. And the other thing in terms of the mental health, which you mentioned, was getting the support of those around you and I was just lucky. But I was a comedian. I do a lot of comedy shows, but other comedians, and they organized a comedy roast to you, across what a comedy roast. Is.
Brett Thiedeman
Anyone gonna just quickly explain that? Yeah,
Will Crawford
so what it is, it’s a comedy show where a whole lot of comedians get together, and they poke fun at at a selected person. And it was and in this case was made. So the great irony is that, you know, I was, and this was prior to my symptoms improving me starting the meds, I was taking six months off comedy. And they all got together and we organized a comedy roadshow, about 30 comedians all got together, and, and we’ve had about 10 or 15 of them jump up, and everyone did a couple of minutes. And they all you know, poked fun at me and, you know, pointed out my great character flaws and everything, but because it was done in a loving way, the irony is I felt more loved and appreciated than any time in my life, because these people cared about me and also knew about my passion for comedy and, and had come together to be mean to me in a nice way. But it’s a comedian thing. But um, but they’re the kinds of thing and people do it differently. But looking after others, and this is the other thing, tau that more recently, I’ve got a lot of help. In in and I didn’t only started it probably about six months ago as attending peer support groups online. were fantastic. Like I, I kind of, you know, sometimes you just think you’re on top of things. Like I’m fine. I don’t need that, you know, I’m doing this I’m doing well. And it’s like, yeah, you’re doing well. But at the same time sharing with others you learn from others, but also you can you can also share your things with them as well. But even it, yeah, it’s kind of inspiring, because, you know, I’m relatively lucky in that my symptoms are going well at the moment. But for lots of people, it’s up and down. A lot of people are doing well. But also people are doing well for a long time and you’ve got people in my group. So parents and professionals have been managing it for 20 years and doing really well but still sharing that they’ve still got to be careful. This and you know, I’ve got to think about my kids so I try and avoid this and this are this is how I’ve I’ve worked with my work to try and explain my condition and try and get flexible work arrangements. It’s obviously a lot easier as a as a lawyer. I’m not a bricklayer So I’m not I’m not a physical labor, I can do a lot of things online, which which makes it a bit easier. But yeah, I’ve I’ve really gained a lot on and the MS plus organizes, I think it’s called like working with Ms. So like their peer support for people with MS. And they have guest speakers every week, right. And then you might, you know, learn about from a dietitian or a physio or a nurse or, you know, and then you and then everyone, oh, you know, share stories, but also reflect on one person. And it’s been really good. And it certainly helped me understand things and feel a little bit more in control of my own journey, which is lovely. And also you make lovely connections with nice people. So yeah, yeah, no, that’s
Brett Thiedeman
great. Thanks for sharing that. And it’s a good tip for anyone listening as well. That’s in a similar situation. And now you spoke about comedy. Are you able to tell us about the comedy show Rocksteady baby?
Will Crawford
Well? Yeah, absolutely. So I think I sat down to write the show, probably about six or 12 months ago, because I’m about two years into my diagnosis. And I originally congener I’ve, you know, would be doing comedy, you know, at least once a week and talking about lots of things and I’m, I tend to be trying to be quite silly about my comedy. And then I thought, well, how can I make my journey, both educative, but also entertaining and I mean, that in a, in a legitimate way to try and de stigmatize, you know, disability. And there was a really good program by guy by the name of Andrew Denton about 20 years ago, he was a very famous comedian, and he did a lot of work with cancer kids and would go on cancer with the canteen organization and, and sit down with kids and write comedy jokes with kids with cancer. And it sounds like a weird thing to do. But what it did was, it was a beautiful program and project. But what it did was it was about writing those jokes together and seeing what they wanted to laugh about. And where they found joy or even just wanted to let off steam now my shows not not so much about letting off steam because I’m it’s largely about gratitude and thanks and stuff. But I, what I was very interested as a comedian is how to find laughs in dark places. And interestingly, like, going back a long time, Shakespeare did that a lot with his comedy, so would often be half tragedy, half comedy. And it was very common for him to introduce funny characters and to be crazy and absurd. And then the next scene might be serious, and then jump back to the comedy and, and do that semi regularly right now. It’s a really interesting way because what it does is sometimes it in it allows people to vulnerable vulnerably think about something but then also de stress and let go from am from those difficult feelings by get back into the comedy. Yeah, and that’s what I’ve attempted to do. I’m not
Brett Thiedeman
you’ve done a really good job. You know, after I watched your YouTube, the YouTube clip, and yeah, and I can see that well. So like, I felt that and I sort of connected with that when I watched that clips, just the, the mix, as you said of the Yeah, being serious and, and putting some, you know, light humor into it as well.
Will Crawford
Exactly. And part of and this also helps being Canadian, because that’s one of my passions, I’m good at writing jokes, but also, I like to poke fun at myself. And if you can poke fun at yourself, but also your misunderstandings of the world or even even the difficulties of the health system. And you can poke fun at that and how difficult is to navigate or not. There’s there’s jokes to be found everywhere. And I that was my thing. I wanted to find some joy and comedy in that but also shared the real story as well. So both a real story but also LinkedIn with jokes. And that’s why I wrote it. I also was interested I thought that’s going to be hard to do so I wanted to write it but also I think it has the benefit of saying this is my story and and this is how I’ve walked this path and poking fun at myself and law I think is part of me accepting. And that’s my journey and I’ve hope that others can see that. And yeah, and maybe it helped with their journey or even if they’re not got these conditions that might help people understand you know, autoimmune issues and, and chronic diseases that don’t always visible, because that’s one of the challenges with MS is some days are good and some days you’re fatigued, overheating and I have to wear ice vest under my shirt some days if I’m struggling and have to go outside and, and it just is. Yeah, and and you know, I even had a work trip coming up on on Thursday, and they were gonna do a late night drive. And I said, Hi, you know, with my fatigue, I’m probably the safest human to be driving a car in the evening because I might be fatigued. Yeah, of course. Yeah. So you can maybe to do a little bit of driving during the day, but probably when I’m already fatigued, so you can make a joke about it. And then people go, Oh, of course. Yeah. But yeah, so for me, comedy is part of enabling others to understand the conditions. And yeah, so hopefully, people can take a little bit of that from the show. And also, I have a lot of laughs, which is as a comedian. I love making people laugh. And so the way I structure the show is I do the first half is my normal, crazy comedy, where I try and get lots of last 3060 seconds. Yeah, do crazy jokes about everything. And then gradually I transitioned into my story, but then I still try and keep the jokes coming every 60 seconds, and then that hopefully, people are ready and learn something and have fun at the same time.
Brett Thiedeman
Now, that’s great to hear. And I think you talk about kindness as well. And I think you’d agree that you know, kindness truly does have the power to transform lives. And you do talk about it as well. But I’d like to get probably to the heart of of today’s episode and on the diamond con podcast and just ask you about a time where you could if you could recall a specific time when you were under immense pressure, and you managed to come through with with kindness.
Will Crawford
Well, I wouldn’t say it was my kindness, but it was a kind I said, if someone else saw with my condition. You know, I had I needed a physio, but also I would overheat. So I can’t really do a lot of cardio. So that’s one of the ongoing thing. So I’ve got a and this was in Darwin, I was having a physio who has given me lots of like, five to six minute increment exercises, and you got to take a break. And she would, she was wonderful. And then she said to me, Well, what activity do you really love doing? Like, what are the things so that we can design things that you’re going to like doing as well. So it’s not just a boring? And she said, I said, What as a kid, I’ve really really loved breakdancing. So as you know, I was like, you know, watching, you know, rage and whatever, and doing all these dumb dance moves in my house and you know, the usual 10 year old thing and she’s okay. So what she did, and this is where the kindness comes out. She sat down and did a whole lot of YouTube tutorials herself or learning how to do breakdancing and cramping. And then she would design dance offs between me and her in our sessions. And challenge me to learn a move that we would do together but because often they’re quite demanding. So, five minutes of doing a breakdown, she’ll be pretty exhausted. So but she would learn that and within you know, a couple of weeks she was already better than me, which annoyed me knowing then, yeah, and she she turned around to me, which was also I think, quite fine. She said, We’ll you know, it’s not such a bad thing that you’ve got this Ms. And you can only do exercise to five to seven minutes because it means your sex life will be entirely unaffected because I hear you only go for two. And so she was doing a comedy roast on top of that, no. That was fine in it. Like in a weird way. Yeah, you kind of go. She was so kind that she made the effort to learn these dances and to design something that she knew that would enjoy First of May. But then she also was able to make a joke about it. And I think the last thing, which is such a weird thing to talk about, obviously, as a comedian, I do rows and poking fun at myself is what I do. Yeah. But also when someone when you realize that no one is perfect, and everyone goes through something, having a joke about it, you kind of go Well, absolutely. There. The jokes help you realize that it’s life is there, and it’s real. You’re acknowledging, but it’s also like, you’re just accepting that, yeah, it’s happening. And let’s joke about it. Because if you’re, for me, comedy is part of healing. And that’s what I really think thing has helped me. But also I really appreciate with others, it’s that kindness and kindness to others makes the world better. And and yeah, my physio was very kind that way.
Brett Thiedeman
Absolutely. And just to me over to have a laugh as well.
Will Crawford
Yeah, exactly. And it’s, yeah, I mean, it helps when that’s what I love doing. But also if you can share that and going, just being an idiot and being silly, like I always am, and I happen to also have a unit health condition at the moment, but at the same time, it hasn’t stopped me working. It hasn’t stopped me doing comedy. And yeah, I have to manage a few things to make sure that you know, don’t make my symptoms worse, but at the same time, it’s pretty good and, and I’ll continue doing it but even There’s a famous comedian, I think isn’t as Tim Ferguson who used to be in the Doug Anthony all stars, and he’s got advanced stage Ms. And he does lots of comedy about his health and conditions. And, and I actually think that kind of honesty, and yeah, making jokes about things helps us with healing and acceptance. And so that’s what I’ve done. And lots of other people do it slightly better than me, but it’s what I do
Brett Thiedeman
know. That’s an awesome example. And finally, well, would you be able to tell us, give us some details about you know, where people can catch your comedy show.
Will Crawford
Absolutely. Thanking you. So this show is part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. So just go to Melbourne Fringe and I think it’s forward slash events forward slash rock, steady, baby, or just Google rock steady baby. Will Crawford Melbourne Fringe, you’ll find it. Yeah, it’s on for two weekends. So it’s this coming Saturday and Sunday. So that’s the 14th and 15th. of October. It’s an early shows I’m doing a 6pm Saturday 5pm Sunday. And then on the second week, it’s Thursday to Sunday, so the 19th of October to the 22nd of October and Thursday to Saturday at 6pm on Sundays 5pm. It’s at 37 Swanson Street. It’s called the theater of improvisation or conspiracy. So it’s basically opposite the Old City Square on Swanston Street, just between Flinders Lane and Collins streets and old building number 37. But you need probably grab tickets online and if it’s not sold out, you could probably get tickets on the door but jump online love to see you there. And in Adelaide, I had a lot of people with MS. And from the MS. Society come along, which was lovely. Yeah, but also a lot of people who didn’t who got to learn about things and have a laugh and see me being very stupid. What I love doing
Brett Thiedeman
now we’ll we’ll share it on our socials and all that for you as well. Well, are there any like? What do you hope that audience will get out of it?
Will Crawford
For me, I think it’s it’s like kindness. I think knowing that kindness drives everything. It’s kindness to yourself as someone who’s having to adapt your life. It’s the kindness that others have afforded me, which I’ve been so grateful for. But also remembering cuz I’ve received that kindness. It’s nice to share that kindness and I can leave you just with one example in the Adelaide show. We had a 19 year old girl who had only been diagnosed like a couple of weeks earlier. And she didn’t know really anyone with Ms. And she came to the show with her parents and her brother. And you know, they were you know, all a little bit nervous about it. But by coming to the show, I they came up to me afterwards and it was really lovely. We had a chat. There was a couple of other people with MS there as well and we were able to talk about some of like more specific stuff out what helps or are available also, maybe to try and avoid eating too much sugar, which tends to make make a mess worse going to Jen she’d given me a box of chocolates, which was. But the whole thing of, we care for one another, I had so much support in my time. And if you can just give a little bit of that, but also there were other people there as well to give better advice than I. If we can help each other, then then people can adapt and cope with anything. So I think, yeah, honesty, acceptance and kindness. And if we start there, it’s not about that start.
Brett Thiedeman
That’s a great message. And having watched a couple as I said before, watching a couple of your YouTube clips and now talking to you now we’ll, it sounds like it’d be incredible show. So I thank you now for sharing your journey and inspiring story with us today.
Will Crawford
Thanks for having me on. And yeah, feel free to come down to the show. I’d love to see you all there.
Brett Thiedeman
Awesome. Thanks well, and to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to another episode of diamond calm and we’ll be back with more inspiring stories soon. Until then take care and stay calm.
Brett continues the conversation with Sean, head coach of Melbourne Pack, a unique running club open to runners of all abilities.
Brett Thiedeman
Welcome back to Diamond Kind., the podcast that celebrates kindness under pressure. I’m your host, Brett. And this is part two of our interview featuring the renowned running coach Shawn Williams.
Floyd Gomes
We all have pressure in our lives and pressure makes diamonds. And yet, in the heat of a moment, that pressure can lead to various ways that we handle a situation, either aggressively or bringing out some degree of kindness. And that’s what diamond kind is about.
Brett Thiedeman
And I think I’d just like to touch on to Shawn, and you’re obviously a very humble person, and who’s achieved, you know, remarkable success as a coach with athletes like Ben St. Lawrence, and Victoria Mitchell. Would you be able to tell us about some of your proudest coaching moments?
Sean Williams
Oh, absolutely. He looked. A look, I think like people like Ben and Victoria, they’ve done very well, Ben had his own challenges. But the bottom line is that people like Ben and Victoria were incredibly talented athletes you know, whoever they were with, whichever coach, they almost certainly would have made the highest levels of the sport one way or the other. But I’ve certainly as some of my proudest coaching moments have just been helping people. Every run of the mill people, achieve the best that they can with what with what they’ve been born with, you know, so yeah, I’ve helped athletes with disabilities like as a young local guy 100% blind, so quite a disability there who needed a guide runner, I’ve helped be his actual guide runner, in park runs and races, but also in training where you need the guide rope where you’re attached by the risks to the other runner, and you’re kind of trying to run with your arms being instinct swinging along, and he’s running with you. Helping someone like young Brendan there to to helping look another load local lady who I’ve met, not long after I’ve moved down from Sydney, she was trying to start her own little Get Fit program down at the local pack. And I met her down there, and she was already not young. And I found I’ll found out fairly quickly, she was 59. At that point in time. Now she’s still with my group. And she’s, she’s 66. Anyway, she was carrying a lot of weight at the time and couldn’t even jog more than 50 meters before she was just gasping for air and walking, keel over. I said, Look, I can help you out if you like, if would you like to join my running group, I’m just starting down. And she did. And she’s lost a whole pile of weight since then, and is now completing, she has completed up to a half marathon. And she’s really one of the local vanity with the Melbourne singlet around the local races and she gets involved and has made all this big new friendship group. And so that kind of person and I’ve had so many people like that over the years. So writing has changed their life, not only physically, spiritually, but even socially, and happy buyers, and all that sort of thing. It’s just opened up a new world to them. And I do like helping people open up new worlds for them if I can, and, and bringing running to them, you know, they’re bringing the health and the fitness side of things to them and happiness to them, but like running encapsulates that to me. And in the end, it encapsulates that to them too. So that sort of thing makes me proud. And another thing I’m very proud of I’ve helped a few refugees over the years I had been have been quite talented runners but as you probably know from hearing about refugees we have when you when you’ve got a fairly wealthy Western nation like Australia, sometimes they can find it really tough when they arrive on our shores either having to be in a in a setup where they’re almost in a prison, and then when they get out of society, often they feel like you know, a show boat without oars or but they feel very aimless and it’s such a different world almost like a different planet to them when they’re in Australia compared to where they were, you know, the models come from a really poor third world country or from a ball ridden country and or both. Yeah, but it’s not just African boys adjust and help them find their new life in Australia and help them kickstart their running again, because they weren’t runners back then they might have been for several years due to just the hardships that they saw but help them get back on their feet again, and not only help them with their running, but also just assimilate into the local aussie society a bit more make friends and and even help them connect with potential employers and, and and even even socially and helping introduce them to to friends and all that sort of thing. You know, so that sort of thing. I really enjoyed doing. Not just purely coaching, but even just the side parts to the coaching as well where you know, you’re looking at the whole person. Yeah, not just an athlete, they’re not just flesh and blood, they’re a whole person and they’ve got families involved. And it could be anything from them to even helping a kid at school, you might be having issues with confidence might be a teenager in their mid-teens or late teens and that find trying to find their way in life. And then I’ll try and use running as as a tool for them to gain confidence in life. And even though they might end up Olympian or professional runner, or even a super competitive club runner, at least, that’s something that can help them along the way find themselves. So just so many different people that you can help when you when you’re in a coaching role.
Brett Thiedeman
Awesome. And I guess for the listeners, who are runners and or aspiring runners, maybe in three would be the top three ways. If you could explain why hiring a running coach would be beneficial, and what are the top three things
Sean Williams
are the number one, most running coaches will will provide running groups, so you’re gonna make connections there with other other people locally, within within the sport. So a good running coach will be the facilitator to open up that that whole community of local running community for persons signing them up. Yep. Number two, a good running coach should write up a training program or a training plan different people call them different things should right guide up some kind of guidelines, just how tight those guidelines are depends on the coach because every coach has different styles. But there should be some kind of plan in place there that can help prepare that person for some kind of goal or goals might be invaded goal might be a health goal, even just a personal time trial type goal over a certain distance, but they, they end up becoming accountable there to the and the coaches, obviously accountable to the athlete or the runner as well. But you’d become a team, they’re trying to achieve that goal as a coach and an athlete or coach and a runner. But to follow that plan. So in other words, they’ll be set on the right hopefully the right path and a good path that may not otherwise have been able to do themselves, they might not have had the knowledge or, or even the motivation to do that. And thirdly, a good coach, hopefully will will become a good friend. Or at least someone who, you know, they can talk about any of the issues that have been happening, which could in any way, shape or form affects their running and even the rest of their life along the way. They won’t have the answers for everything. But they’re certainly someone who, you know, they can bounce ideas off. And so they’re just some with someone there was a bit of a guide along the way as well. Someone to walk the journey with.
Brett Thiedeman
No, that’s awesome, Sean. So there was what connection? And then there was accountability. Yeah, and, and friendship.
Sean Williams
Friendships last bite along the way.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, well, it’s now time to get into the heart of the podcast, which is all about kindness under pressure. And can you share a personal story or an experience when you were under pressure and managed to come through with with kindness?
Sean Williams
Absolutely. Look up. One of the more challenging times in my life would have been in 2016. Where, what happened in Sydney, with my coaching, I mentioned it before, where I got into more full time coaching out of the teaching profession there in around 2000. And it was a bit of a punk early on, particularly, as I knew it was going to be a career. So I needed an income coming through. And I was doing I did it more for the love than anything. And I didn’t mind if I had a hit in income compared to teaching and that’s what happened early on. But probably up to it by about 2005 things really started snowballing. And I didn’t it was never a plan for things to snowball, I was actually quite happy with how things were going numbers wise and I didn’t want things to get bigger, but somehow organically the business to cope cold sweats Sydney up in Sydney started getting really big. Then being here and I was hiring assistant coaches and it’s becoming very much a manager as well as a coach, I guess, became really big. I didn’t mind that I liked it because I knew I was able to help even more people and I was able to be a mentor to other coaches as well and employ people and there are a lot of positives to it. So I never it was never a concern to me. But what started becoming a concern after about 10 years of it’s going really well by about 2014 was that the competitive side of coaching and business started coming into and I never did it to compete against anybody. But that’s just what started happening. And next thing I knew instantanal Park in Sydney, there were other people who were starting to set up, you know, running groups and whatnot. Just like I had like just around the corner from me and, and people who were, who had been coached by me, we were literally doing that. And a few nasty things were happening in that runners were being poached by me. And then they were other people were poaching from other groups. And there’s a lot of that kind of business going on. And I felt like I needed to change after a while, I thought I didn’t get into it for this sort of nasty business going on. And I thought, well, you know, I know plenty of people down in Melbourne always loved the Melbourne running scene, double check with my wife to see if she wanted to make a move. And we thought, Look, it might be a good idea just to move down to down to Melbourne and give that a go for a walk and start some coaching going down there. And I kept employing people up in Sydney to keep that ball rolling. And they ended up starting their own coaching businesses as eventually. And that was all at that worked out quite well. But it was quite a stressful time, particularly, you know, moving, moving cities, moving family, all that sort of thing became a it was quite a stressful time. Anyway, I’ve been coaching a very talented young runner at the time, who end up running for Australia. His name’s Larry Summers, and you mentioned him before he ran in the Commonwealth Games. He almost broke Steve Mont to get his record in the city to serve. In that race I mentioned before, he’s the second fastest runner there in history, only one second slower than Steve Montgomery, I think Mater Getty, who you’ve probably heard of one of these days 40.02, I think there and Harry Wren 40.03. Harry, it was unbelievable. But he had been fighting. He was an alcoholic, he’d been fighting alcoholism. And to the point where he was very reckless and probably had a couple of near death experiences with just doing silly things like young people can do when there’s alcohol involved. And we don’t need to go into the details there. But apart from him nearly dying a few times just through silly things going on. Like it really affected his running and the rest of his life, personal relationships and the whole thing like any can. So I’ve always been by side helping him out there. And he loved me as a coach. He ended up following me down to Melbourne maybe a couple of months after we moved down here he came down as well started down here and we continued to coach athlete relationship. He ended up being invited, I got invited as coaches were ordered to do it. I didn’t do the marathon he ran the marathon in Japan unfortunately been battling the alcohol around that time. And I thought it would go could go either way could run really well and potentially get a an Olympic qualifier or even qualify for the World Champs the following year. And or it might go pear shaped, and you might run to well, anyway, it wasn’t really mentally quite prepared for it that day. And I was on the leading bus with other coaches and media. Who that the bus tends to go out in front of a lot of those races, like you know, maybe 100 meters in front of the lead vehicle. Or sometimes it might be just behind the lead pack were in front of them that day. And we saw the runners go through the 2k mark, and then the bus sped up ahead a little bit. And then next time we saw the runners was about the 5k. Mark and how he wasn’t there who’d been there in the initial check. And then on the second check, he disappeared from the lead pack. It’s like we’re sorry, has anyone seen Harry and I got a bit concerned straightaway, because that’s not long after the start. And I was worried about how it’d be like the race director at forked out plenty of money for both our return journeys and a week’s accommodation, food, all that stuff and appearance, money and all bunch of things. So the race director was concerned as well because one of his star invited runners wasn’t performing like he should have. Anyway, no sign of Harry and so I end up getting off the bus because I thought I’m in the wrong place. Now I’ve got to try and find Harry. I couldn’t find him. And one of Harry, one of our mutual friends, a Japanese guy who’d lived in Sydney for a few years he was back in Japan, he traveled about four or five hours on a train to get from one end of Japan, up to where the race was and to spend the weekend with Harry and I and to cheer him on and contacted him and we were searching for Harry and it took us probably eight hours until about four in the afternoon to finally take him down to the bar not far from the race hotel and he was full of the boot and And wasn’t it so things didn’t go too well and they went from bad to worse in that he kept drinking on the plane on the way back. Then we’ve lost sight of Harry overnight and then he we found out They’ve taken a friend’s car. While we’re very much under the influence of alcohol and nearly died when he when he plowed into it into one of those street signs that tell you how many cars are in different suburbs and towns, the big bar crashed into one of those iron bars and it cut the car in half. And luckily the right where Harry was it was like right in the middle of the car, basically not on the right where you’re driving. The car was right off the police, we found out through the police where he was Harry was and we picked up Harry who was still drunk, then we had to go and take care of it. You know, check the car out at the records. And he pretty well passed out when he saw the car, he freaked out. And so I stood by Harry during that time and got involved in Alcoholics Anonymous and helped set him on the path from there. He ended up looking for a change after then looking for another coach and did well for a while but ended up is doing been doing other things in life. And he moved back up to Sydney and is jogging around at the moment, maybe thinking about getting back into serious competitive running again. But that sort of thing. You know, you can’t you can’t ignore kindness and you can’t let things you can’t become too selfish. When you’ve got your own challenges, you’re still going to open the door for people so that that was a you know, even I think the main kindness was probably letting Harry go when he said he wanted to go to another coach. mutual friend of ours in Melbourne lived on the other side of town. But once it started going through the alcoholic Alcoholics Anonymous process, one of the things that they liked him to do, I believe is to make a few changes to your life, one of them and just start a fresh and do something new. And you know, I had to let go, you know, because he was a bit like a son to me and let Steve do all that all the work there and still be good friends with Steve and Harry and all that. So it’s like a mutual Patty thing you know, so you can’t hold grudges and you have to continually be kind and offer support and friendship where its required.
Brett Thiedeman
Thanks for sharing that story. That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing that. Shawn. And yeah, I’ve got no not surprised that you know, with the top of the character that you have, so yeah, no, that’s that’s a great story. Before we wrap up, Sean, let’s start to touch on an exciting event that we’ve got going on the Sunday third of December, which is our e15 Energy Run the fundraiser and which we are excited that you’re going to be involved with it as well.
Sean Williams
Yeah, yeah, I’m very excited. My Melbourne pack running group running just down the road from the trail. We were hoping to do it there around the Patterson river loop. Yeah. All around that Patterson River. Bonbeach part of Melbourne there. Yeah. Bayside Melbourne, beautiful, almost dead flat, and dead even trails. So very easy course. A couple of pumps to get over there, little Bridge Climb, only 100-meter gradual path to get up over the bridge in the pain highway and back down the other side. And then even smaller climb to get up over the bridge on that on the eastern side of the river down as you’re heading towards the Dandenong Creek. So very easy. Course overall. Sounds like it’d be a fun event to be part of. Yeah. So events would be imagine a one lap or on a two lap, one lap just under six case. So call it six cage. That’s a couple of 100 meters back from the finish or just called bullet six. Anyway, if the won’t be accurate, we could work on that and otherwise and otherwise the 2 lapper. Yeah, it had been had been a fun run there in the past. But the organizers I think COVID kind of got in the way of that. So it has been an event which has been supported by local runners and community in the past on that kind of horse and I can see it going really well via your organization. So I think it’ll, it’ll be quite a success. And yeah, we’ve got our running group with quite a reasonable membership and we do know other coaches and other clubs and groups in the area too. So hopefully we can get the word out there and get plenty of people on board on December three.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, now we’re excited. Thanks for Thanks for being part of it as well. And thanks. It’s an absolute pleasure having you on the diamond kind podcast today. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us. It’s been awesome.
Sean Williams
Oh, you’re more than welcome. Thanks for having me. It’s been fun.
Brett Thiedeman
That concludes another episode of dumb unkind where we celebrate the extraordinary moments of kindness that shine through when the pressure is on. Join us next time for more inspiring stories until then stay kind, stay compassionate. And as Rihanna scenes shine bright like a diamond
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Brett speaks with Sean Williams about his experience as an Olympic running coach.
Brett Thiedeman
Hey guys, it’s Brett here just dropping in before the show to let you know this episode is a little different. It’s part one of a two-part interview with Shawn Williams, who is the Olympic running coach. That’s all you need to know for now. Let’s get into it.
Floyd Gomes
We all have pressure in our lives and pressure makes diamonds. And yet in the heat of a moment, that pressure can lead to various ways that we handle a situation either aggressively or bringing out some degree of kindness. And that’s what diamond kind is about.
Brett Thiedeman
Welcome to another episode of Diamond Kind, the podcast that celebrates kindness under pressure. I’m your host Brett and today we have a very special guest someone who knows a thing or two about running. He is a fanatical student of the sport starting his competitive career as an eight-year-old in little athletics. He went on to become a decent senior runner with a PB of 14.09 for the 5k and 29.31 for the 10k, not bad not bad. He has been an Australian team coach at the senior level in recent years. At the World Athletic Championships, three of his athletes competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That was Harry Summers, Ben St. Lawrence and Victoria Mitchell, with Ben and Victoria also being Olympians. He has produced multiple Australian reps in the World Junior, World Youth, Olympic Youth and Commonwealth Youth Championships. Joining us today is none other than Shawn Williams Melbourne’s only Olympic-level running coach. Welcome to the show. Sean,
Sean Williams
thank you very much, it’s an honour to be here. And thank you for inviting me on.
Brett Thiedeman
Yeah, thanks, Shawn. I’d like to sort of go through this podcast and probably break it into four different segments. And starting with your journey, Shawn in running and coaching, can you share with us how your journey and running began from little athletics to now becoming a senior coach?
Sean Williams
Absolutely. I think that the main driver of my running like so many people, with whatever they do in life when my parents and particularly my dad, we’re hoping to celebrate his 90th Birthday up in Sydney in pretty well, exactly two months from today. Awesome. That that will be exciting. Hopefully, you know, we’re looking forward to that family coming from all around the country to gather for dad’s 90th. There was a movement, a jogging movement, actually, back in the late 60s and 1970s. And there was a man named Dr. Kenneth Cooper, who was the exercise physiologist, he started this jogging movement along with a few other people around like the coach after Leon who was a famous New Zealand coach and the tag jogging came into being before that people who ran tended to run competitively, ever run in pro racers like they get ready for things like to store will gift if they’re Australian Victorian, or like overseas, they might be aiming for Olympics or, or you know, going in in their club races. So they tend to be very fanatical, they weren’t so much running for health, although I’m sure there were plenty of people out there running and jogging for health, but it wasn’t like a mainstream thing. But then a couple of fairly renowned people, both from the health side of things and, and from the competitive side of the sport, started coming together and thinking well, running shouldn’t only really be something that people who want to compete in sport should be able to do. It should be something that the average person out there could do as well because it’ll really help their heart, their weights, their strength, their mental wellbeing and all those other things that we know we can derive from being a regular runner or going for regular runs. And so the jogging movement, which is really yeah, basically the running movement, which as we because we more people call it running these days, as we know today came about and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, he wrote a book I can’t remember the name of the book, but my dad got his hands on it pretty well said that he recommended you got out and went for three runs a week for something like three miles three or four miles and you build up five miles because it’s all about miles back then. So basically building up to about 10k. And, and dad got his whole got his hands on the book and started following it. And one of the things that stemmed from that kenneth pollinia jogging movement was a big adventure Sydney because I’m originally a Sydney boy I’ve been in Melbourne for years, a big event in Sydney called the city to serve which has been out for 14k or back then they called it about a nine miler went from the town hall and Sydney all the way to Bondi Beach following iconic places in Sydney along the way, mainly along the harbour. Beautiful course. I did that several times as a kid and also as an adult, mainly due to dad, you know, encouraging us and it’s so It was dad getting out there and running along his three mile and four mile course around the suburbs in Sydney where we lived. And he inspired us he got out there he did the very first senator serve when the Fairfax, the local Fairfax Media who had the newspaper in Sydney at the time called the sun, the Sydney sun. They promoted it and got lots of people out there. For the first edition, I think something like 1500, or 2000, people did the first one fairly well, which is a lot when they had nothing like that at all anywhere in Australia. And so a lot of people like dad got into it. And then obviously, dad, and other fathers and other friends and family of people all around, started telling people what a good thing it was, how much they enjoyed their running. So we got to and then dad encouraged myself and my siblings to get involved in another new movement at the time. In the early 70s, called Little Athletics, we as from people like Tyson and other local people, a lot of their kids now still doing little athletics, it’s been a movement, which has been going for about the same time as jogging slash running in the Western world. And we got involved in that. And I got involved in that as an eight year old and did the running, jumping and throwing really loved the running side of things and get a whole bunch of sports like we all do, right through primary and high school, high school running was always a constant there, and probably my number one, love and by the time I graduated from high school, it was that same sport I was doing. And I competed for my club in Sydney, and then continue to do it as an old guy, and coach down in Melbourne in the last seven years. So I’ve always enjoyed being involved in that club scene and competing. And now coaching, giving back to the sport as a coach. And it’s been a real joy for me. It’s been great for my health, I believe, and well being made so many of my friends through the sport. And it’s been a huge part of my life ever since. So dad got involved in that city to surf.
Brett Thiedeman
Awesome, awesome. Thanks for sharing that. And you know, that’s remarkable. So one of the things you said Shawn was about doing so three? Did you say doing three 10k runs per week?
Sean Williams
Yeah, pretty well. That’s what he did. He never, funny dad never became what you’d call a running lock. We know, that was a running fanatic. Like years of my life. I was running twice a day. So I was really doing what dad did per week, per day. In my 20s, over 11 or 12 years, I average 260k a week in training. Yeah. You know, even on a bad week for a week where I backed off or recovered from the big race or might do 100 120k a week. And then on a big week, I might do 180. So it’s doing lots of runs. But yeah, even if you’re doing 30k a week, that’s plenty of running. And that’s pretty much that’s what dad did. He only had other stuff going on for kids after he had a good job, you know, all that stuff. Yeah. And it was, it was never frenetic. But he was certainly very dedicated to the point where they thought writing a book about the citizens to forget the guy’s name now, but he put a book together on this day of the race about 10 years ago now. Because I think the first edition of the race might have been known as 71. You can double tap it or think about that. And so about 40 years after that a guy wrote a big beautiful hardcover book and got together, the guys are all wet all men actually, who had done all of them and he called them the legends. And about there were about 30 people who’ve done every edition of the super surf and dead wasn’t legend so he was very consistent. Even though you can call it running fanatic he rocked up there every year on in the second Sunday in August, because that’s traditionally when it’s on it still is on the second Sunday in August in Sydney, following pretty well the same course. And he’d always woke up and the only thing that stopped him from doing it was an aneurysm by his heart which let you can’t run basically hasn’t been able to run for the last five years so it hasn’t been walking at as 85 Doctors said not You’ll die if you or your there’s a good chance you’ll drop dead if you if you let that stop you Yeah, it made he made the book anyway made the cuts of the book. So that was okay
Brett Thiedeman
Ill have to check it out. And during that time, Sean as well. So, you know, with the five children and you know, working a good job as well. Did he did it was he doing it for for health reasons. Is that why he was?
Sean Williams
Yeah, that was the number one reason I think, in his words. He was a long, lean, young man like I was and I still have been because I’ve continued to run and you know, I am tall and and yeah. Well, he was exactly like that as a young guy, but in his words when he got and so even as a single guy, and he’s remained fairly tall and land. Maybe it wasn’t cooking like he moved out a home fairly young at uni and his early work working life and then when he got married in his words, he started I think he put on us pounds I think he put on 40 pounds within the first 12 months because Mum cooked him up good meals all the time and probably, you know, fed him really, really well and, and he’d been doing bugger all exercise and he wasn’t happy with yourself just not being married for very long and kind of letting himself go a bit. And he wasn’t the way he looked in the way he felt. So I think it was more just a vibe and just a quick little measure of himself and, and the media out there and the literature out there at the time, kicked him into gear.
Brett Thiedeman
Awesome. Awesome. Now that’s really good. Thanks for sharing all that. And for you showing that you’ve coached runners of all ages and abilities for for two decades now. Like what keeps you motivated to coach I guess such a diverse range of athletes.
Sean Williams
It’s just a real joy. I came from a teaching background. I was teaching mate predominantly PE or phys ed and coaching and teaching a very similar in that you’re helping people achieve goals. Because it was the one thing in my running was the thing in my life, which I most wanted to do when I got out the door from work, have an afternoon and for a long period of time. For most of my teaching career. It was what I did before I went to work as well. So get up early 5:30 and, and try it and then I’ve as soon as I could get out of school and I do it again. Once I’d finished coaching kids with footy or cricket or whatever I was doing more more running. I couldn’t wait to that was my first choice. So there was a guy up in Brisbane named Patrick Carroll or Pat Carroll who had banking and it was a much better runner than me actually ran about 2840 for 10k and Brandon the Commonwealth Games for Australia. He wants to get out of banking and he gave running coaching a go with a bunch of recreational runners in Brisbane started in started in about 2000 or there abouts was a year before I started my rec running group. And it went really well when he knew that I was already coaching predominantly kids and a few club level runners. And it said you should give that a go as a career maybe take a youth lead like I have. So it’s about 12 months after he started after I noticed how well he had been going and made a career out of it. And after him egging me on. I thought I’ll give it a crack. And I did. And, and things worked out really well. So to me, it was like the dream job I was actually doing for my career what I’d been doing in my spare time. Anyways, really, yeah, getting involved in running and helping runners. And there’s certainly like when you’ve got a lifetime of experience under your belt, even though I was fairly young, when I started coaching, I wasn’t running fanatic. And I was spending a lot of time every week doing it. And the more you do something like that, you tend to make mistakes along the way. And therefore you learn, I was able to pass on that knowledge of of my learnings to plenty of people. And look, I’d have to admit that some people in my early days of coaching probably had just as much knowledge of running, if not more knowledge of running than me, but they wanted someone to be their motivator. They wanted someone there holding their watch or someone to be accountable to. Different reasons why people have a coach. And I reckon the number one reason, probably the accountability. Number two is that they’ll often the coach will often provide just that support. And it might be a support network, whether it’s a one on one support, or even it’s within that creating a group structure because not everybody changes within a group. Like, just in my own coaching services, I offer one on one coaching where I can run up to or the person will walk up to me and I’ll literally coach them one on one. And that’s more for helping their techniques, helping them with their breathing, PACE judgment and just giving them a little bit more attention. I do online coaching where I may, I may never meet the person, I may only see them online, either via some some kind of face to face conversation there. And or they may send me a video of them running or I might see footage of them in a race of somebody else’s tape them running. Some people don’t even see any footage off at all. They just like to keep it all in writing. And they get to get their program on a spreadsheet. And then there’s correspondence about how they’re handling their four week block of training and how they’re, and then there’ll be goals that they’re they’re aiming to achieve. And then there’ll be ongoing adjustment of goals because they’re only human and things can go right. They might get faster than we thought they would or they might slow down due to different reasons that might be busy life. It could be injury, illness, whatever. So we need to either accelerate or decelerate, what’s happening with their program at that, so there’s the online, there’s the one on one, then there’s a group training, which like I had running groups in Edithvale. At the moment, I used to have them in Centennial Park and Sydney, a lot of, I honestly believe that they sign up with me as a coach because they know that there’s a good group environment happening there, there’s a good group dynamic. And it’s a great way for them to not only get coaching because I’m there on site, generally, it’s not me, it’ll be like an assistant coach, but normally it’s me, but also have camaraderie, there were fellow runners and often they know that a lot of those runners will be more experienced than them. And they’re like a second, third, fourth fifth coach, because they’re role models to the less experienced runners. So they’ve even experienced that as like being senior members of a group. And there’s a whole social side of it. So they’re not only they’re running together and pushing each other along, and encouraging each other along, it’s like a support network on the run. And on they’re all they’re stretching and doing their technique work and, but they’re there, they’ve become very good friends. So there’s a real social side to things where they might catch up, like I literally just did a workout with a group of Edithvale this morning, then, then a bunch of us met up at the local cafe afterwards for just a chat and a laugh for a coffee and a few people had a bite to eat. Or it might be going to the pub after an evening evening session, or it might be you know, going out to a race to club race. And people will bring along a bite to eat cakes and slices and snacks and all that kind of thing under the marquee there’s a social side of things or even traveling away to a race for a full weekend or even longer if it’s further away. So lots of social things that happen. And then there’s lots of banter going on social media, these days in chat groups, and all that sort of thing, of course, and other aspects as well. So the social part of being in a running group is huge, a lot of people and as the coach, I guess I’m just sort of like a manager of that, that whole environment. And I’m only one small part of that group, you know, the group. Everybody in the group is an important member of that group. And then the other. The other component of my coaching is I provide training camps. So they’re like a random getaway, you can get like a random solid eight, we had one up at coolum, in the middle of winter in July coolum in the on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. And that was lovely getting away there and training. And it was basically doing what we’re doing in Melbourne, but in a warmer environment. And we were around each other more than what we normally would because there was no work to worry about or anything like that. Although some people might have had a little bit of work online. Basically, you’re there to hang out with the runners. And so there’s a bit more training provided more social things happening. So yeah, running camps are a fun thing to do as well. I’ve had them in the mountains, had them in the Australian Alps and that sort of thing as well to get away to different environments that you don’t normally get to appreciate just in Bayside, Melbourne and do something different with like minded people like we went through, up to Bathurst in February to watch there wasn’t a training camp. It was more of a racing trip to watch the world cross country championships. The first time the world cross country has been in Australia. And it was in summer in western New South Wales, which is really hot. And it was thinking hype. It was a three day carnival. And a lot of the runners who went up there got to go in their own rights, even if they didn’t get to wear the green and gold and the actual world. Cross country which was on the final day they had a whole bunch of lead up places as well. Yeah, to go. They had like corporate bases, they had club relays, they had school kid races age group, they had World Masters championship for the oldies, anything you wanted to go and you could have done you could have done a 2k right up to the 10k. It was thinking hard. It was like 35 degrees every day, which is non cross country type weather, but it had to be in line with the rest of the world and 90% of the world live in the northern hemisphere, and it was in the middle of winter in early February. And that’s when they always had well cross country and we’re not so stay as tune. We still had to hold it but it happened to be our summer so you had all these Africans and Americans and Europeans and whatnot. Asians who were coming from the winter, and they really copped it by running a tough hilly 10k cross country with no tree cover. It was a nightmare for many people. It was a great experience. Everybody had fun. You got to meet people from all over the world. And again, that was another getaway, which we really enjoyed.
Brett Thiedeman
That wraps up another episode of diamond keychain where we immerse ourselves in the remarkable moments of kindness that emerge under pressure. But guess what? We’re not done yet. This is just the beginning of Shawn’s journey. Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll continue to hear from Shawn and his passion to coach runners of all different types. Until then, remember to keep that kindness and compassion a lot
