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.
