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hey there I'm Dom welcome along to
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episode 32 of Runners only with dom
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Harvey on this episode Sophie Devine
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thank you if you would have asked me a
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couple of years ago about depression and
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things like that I would have been like
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oh I don't really get it like I don't
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understand whereas now I'm like [ __ ] I
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can understand if you don't brush your
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teeth for two weeks I get it we've
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probably copped a fair bit of of [ __ ]
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especially when our performances haven't
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been up to scratch and I'm the first to
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admit that we always want to win games
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of cricket and we're doing everything we
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can to try and win games of cricket
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because that's why we play the game
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Sophie Divine is an absolute sporting
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Legion in New Zealand and it's a title
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that she loves she really is though she
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played hockey for New Zealand and she's
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currently the captain of the white
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Fern's cricket team she made her first
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class debut when she was 14 14 and she's
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been in the National side since she was
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17. she's 32 now I really hope you guys
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enjoy this conversation Sophie's a lot
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of fun and we cover a whole lot of stuff
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apart from boring old Cricket but even
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if you're known to qriket she's such a
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good storyteller I reckon you'll enjoy
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those Yarns especially the ones about
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growing up and playing in an all-boys
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team they're awesome all right let's get
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into it Sophie Divine
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[Music]
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hey this is
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Runners only with dom Harvey and New
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Zealand sporting Legend Sophie Devine
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why why are you why are you pulling a
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face
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um why are you playing face at the
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sporting Legend because when I think of
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sporting Legends I think of
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Val Adams Sarah Alma I think about yeah
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yeah they know slouchers but they only
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played one sport for their country
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didn't they oh geez they're still
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religion so aren't they absolutely right
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why wouldn't you why wouldn't you see
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yourself in the same sort of
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same sort of League
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um
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I don't know I guess it's a hard thing
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to do while I'm still playing yeah I
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sort of see them as even though Valley's
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obviously only recently retired I still
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see them as so much more on a pedestal
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and what they've been able to achieve
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globally I think anyone around the world
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would be able to recognize I mean it
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helps when you're eight foot three
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doesn't it and you know but I see them
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as just absolute Legends and and
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have conquered not only in New Zealand
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but around the world as well and I'm
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sort of still probably a little bit in
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my own world I think with that that
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piece
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I don't know it like it's a fairly big
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international sport
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it is yeah woman's game probably not
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quite as much yet I mean it's certainly
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it's getting there it's getting there
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which is cool and it's growing and it's
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you know starting to get a bigger
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platform but it's nowhere near as big as
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you know Athletics and things like that
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yeah yeah that's true there's so much to
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discuss with you we've got to talk about
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the hockey you you play for the black
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sticks you're currently the captain of
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the the white Ferns and you're going to
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the commonwealth games
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um but first of all uh the podcast is
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called Runners only
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um what's your do you have a
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relationship with running do you run for
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Fitness do you run for fun is running a
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part of your life it actually is
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um well that's lucky yeah no it would
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have been awkward
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podcast well I had on um Jimmy nishimon
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uh an earlier episode and
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um because I see him out running and
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he's on Strava so I know that he runs um
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but as soon as he got on the podcast he
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was like I [ __ ] hate it I hate it I
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need I'm a big guy and it hurts and I
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only do it because I have to yeah it's
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probably an interesting I reckon earlier
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on in my career I was exactly the same
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hated it and I had to do it because it
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was part of your training so I never
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really enjoyed it but certainly probably
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the biggest thing that changed was
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covered and obviously spending a lot of
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time training by yourself and I
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initially it sucked like I hated it and
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I was man this this is [ __ ] like I was
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having to have a break every five ten
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minutes I hate leaving myself breathing
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and thinking you know this is
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embarrassing as a so-called athlete to
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be struggling but but over time it
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certainly started to grow and when you
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see those literally small improvements I
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was like [ __ ] you know what this
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actually isn't too bad and then
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obviously for the mental benefits that I
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started to see for me was was huge so
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absolutely it's actually become
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something that I really enjoy doing now
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it's a little bit difficult trying to
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find times to do running outside of my
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training schedule obviously running's
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part of our training program but to you
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know go for some I say long runs it's
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nothing compared to what you do with
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marathons and stuff like that but
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certainly when I can to just get outside
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and you know the feeling that you get
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afterwards is
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um pretty hard to replicate in other
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things what sort of distance do you go
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like 5K 10K what do you reckon uh
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anything usually between 5 and 10K yeah
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um I just don't know how I'd do a
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marathon
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yeah I don't know and I've got you know
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such admiration for people that can do
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it you know I saw Ruth Croft winning
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100 miles 160 K's [ __ ] she's um she's
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an absolute weapon hey like she um she
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Endurance Sports is one of those ones
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where
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um the importance of um six classes sort
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of gets diminished like she she'll beat
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dudes all right she's over she wins
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races overall I just can't even believe
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I think what she wanted in 17 hours or
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something that's crazy that's kind of
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Imagine running for yeah it'll let alone
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10 hours let alone 17 so yeah full
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credit to people that can do that it's
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crazy good okay so
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um let's wind the clock
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um right right back okay so young Sophie
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Devine you're growing up you're in um
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tawa yep
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um the the [ __ ] of Wellington no
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what's the town slogan yeah well it's um
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at least it's better than otech yeah I
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mean it's not so much though as
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obviously when you drive into Tower at
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one end it's the woman's prison at the
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other end it used to be a mental
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hospital so um you know it's not known
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for too much it's obviously got um
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Outlet study now though which is a big
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draw card um see it like a second small
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yeah pretty much so look I mean I I
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certainly joke about it and and give it
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plenty of stick but I'm really proud of
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it um it's where I grew up it's where I
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think I guess a lot of my early learning
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in sport was made with the people that I
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played with and the sports that I was
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able to pick up and the support that I
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had unbelievable there's got to be
00:06:22
something in the water so when the white
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fins team currently we've got four four
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players from tawa it all went to the
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same school grown up through I had so
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yeah which is wow you probably struggle
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to find you know yes they're related
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um you'd probably struggle to find that
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so yeah Tao was yeah just a really happy
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place to grow up originally I actually
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wanted to be an all black we know was
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super young I didn't realize that there
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was a woman's rugby team so I always
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wanted to play play rugby I never did
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but I always just wanted to be an
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all-black and that was sort of I feel
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like you'd be good at any sort of sport
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you you I mean you've you've had success
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with um hockey and Cricket I feel like
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whatever you wanted to do you'd probably
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excel at as well as long as it's not in
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the swimming pool because I can't swim
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for [ __ ] like honestly as soon as we
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have to do some sort of pool recovery on
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got the swimmies on and the you know
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what not but um I think playing sports
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this part of what kiwis do though isn't
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it doesn't matter what it is and for me
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parents certainly encourage me to play
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everything so I remember growing up it
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was obviously hockey and Cricket but it
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was football it was netball basketball
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it was uni Hawk it was anything I could
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get my hands on I I sort of wanted to do
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and again I was really lucky with just
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the kids that I had around me as well
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the mates that I had and they were the
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same that we just wanted to play every
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sport for as long as we could you know
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it was that sounds real old school
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doesn't it but you'd be playing you know
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as soon as the sun was up and you
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wouldn't be playing you'll be playing
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until the sun went down and that was
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your time to go home and get
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were you growing up in like the 90s yeah
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32 now so yeah so it's kind of kind of
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like free sort of Internet really and
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definitely pre-devices and yeah
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absolutely I think I'm really thankful
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for that yeah today that it's a
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completely different world
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um with that but yeah again the support
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I had dad's a mad Sports lover as well
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and he coached me particularly with the
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cricket side of things for most of my
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early life and I think the biggest thing
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um that he always got across I mean
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I don't know about I guess the opposite
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of biased is unbiased you know like he
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absolutely used to slam me in in team
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trainings and stuff like I'd never get a
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go and things because he wanted to make
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sure that all right so instead of like
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favoritism he was probably even harder I
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suppose he sort of I don't know I
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suppose he wanted to do that to like set
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an example to the others that there was
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no favoritism yeah he did and it
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certainly made me work hard and things
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like that but he was always the person I
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could go to if I wanted extra throwdowns
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or to bowl some more balls after
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training or he was always there so I'd
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hate to think about how many balls he's
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throwing me in the cricket Nets over his
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lifetime
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um and that his shoulders still intact
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is pretty incredible but she paid off
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though right yeah it does and a lot of
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that has to go to him there's one of
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those hours that you know I don't think
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of it as training or anything it was
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just fun for me just to go and play and
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you know he always whatever the
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trainings there were so many games that
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we played and he really made sure we had
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fun as kids as I look at some of these
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training programs and academies that are
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out now for under nines and you know
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these young kids and they're structured
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and it's like man kids just go play just
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have fun and incorporate some sort of
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learning into it but it's fun you know
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it's not about winning or losing it's
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about hanging out with your mates and
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just yeah [ __ ] enjoying the sport for
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what it is you know what I had a
00:09:30
conversation with um Sir John [ __ ] just
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the other day and he said he said pretty
00:09:33
much word for word the exact same thing
00:09:35
he said those sort of sporting academies
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it's like your kids get to like 11 or 12
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and they go well I'm not good enough so
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I'm going to drop out of the sport yeah
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it's pretty much exactly what you were
00:09:43
saying yeah it's sad it's really sad and
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I think you know I was lucky that
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um yeah I just buy a whole heap of
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sports and no one told me what I
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couldn't couldn't do there wasn't
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probably so many of those Academy and
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things floating around but there were
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certainly rep teams and A and B Teams
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and stuff like that and you do you just
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think now about how many kids miss out
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because they don't make you know the top
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11 or the top yeah yeah sure so
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um yeah I just think back and think how
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lucky and fortunate I was growing up
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when I did so so um okay so you're
00:10:13
growing up and you're very you're very I
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mean do you have older brothers yep so
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I've got um three siblings I've got an
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older sister and older brother and a
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younger sister right they all play
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cricket no uh my sister my older sister
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actually that I live with has got the
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record for the most pukes on a cricket
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field
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hangover being roped into play so she
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vomited about four times I reckon at
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square league which was nice for the
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people around us so um that's um sort of
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like a sort of slip series by the Empire
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State okay okay well that's disgusting
00:10:44
yeah so that's a that's a great
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achievement for the Divine family
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um but my brother
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um yeah played quite high level sort of
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age group representative stuff so I'm
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guessing that helps sort of like sharpen
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the pencil for you growing up like you
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know playing with your dad and your
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older bro oh absolutely and you know all
00:11:00
his mates like would be playing I
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remember
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um probably some of my best memories
00:11:04
when we lived until we moved house and
00:11:07
we had this front yard that was in the
00:11:08
shape of an oval we called it the Divine
00:11:10
oval and we somehow
00:11:12
stole a concrete roller as well from I
00:11:15
think it must have been from the local
00:11:16
school or something but you know you'd
00:11:18
see us in the weekends rolling our pitch
00:11:20
and then we'd get some chalk out and
00:11:21
mark the Lions and stuff and we'd be
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playing test matches with kids from the
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neighborhood and my brother's mates and
00:11:27
things like that and it was just again
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you'd be playing to you couldn't see the
00:11:30
ball and you'd be knocking yourself out
00:11:32
because you couldn't see it and again
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just those the times where I never
00:11:35
thought of it as training or you know
00:11:37
sharpening the tools or whatever else it
00:11:39
was just such good fun playing and and
00:11:41
the Rivalry like I never got to bear and
00:11:43
we had some really good rules where you
00:11:45
know if you hit it over the road and it
00:11:47
was down sort of a cliff say you're six
00:11:49
and out and you had to retrieve the ball
00:11:51
yeah from your pocket money I mean a
00:11:54
couple of times where I did get my
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brother around and he'd chased me with a
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stump the metal Spike at the end and the
00:12:00
two cricket bats were throwing and stuff
00:12:02
like that but it's just all part of it
00:12:03
it's great isn't it it's just childhood
00:12:06
it's yeah looking back now though you'd
00:12:08
know how much it really did shape you do
00:12:11
you know about the um the 10 000 outfit
00:12:12
Theory oh if you do something
00:12:15
from this Malcolm Gladwell book called
00:12:17
um The Tipping Point and he reckons to
00:12:19
get to
00:12:20
um pretty much as good as what you're
00:12:22
gonna going to be obviously you make
00:12:24
incremental gains after that but 10 000
00:12:25
hours isn't the amount of hours you need
00:12:27
to know you probably did them in your
00:12:28
childhood well probably would have got
00:12:31
close yeah and didn't really think
00:12:32
anything of it yeah so again just
00:12:34
enjoyed it just enjoyed it and loved it
00:12:36
so when um
00:12:38
so when did you realize you were good at
00:12:40
both um hockey and cricket and when were
00:12:43
you able to do both I'm guessing one's a
00:12:45
summer sport ones are winter sport yeah
00:12:46
yeah and so I guess for the days as well
00:12:48
where there wasn't much crossover as a
00:12:50
season was a season whereas now
00:12:52
they just bloody leak into each other
00:12:54
and there's no sort of break in between
00:12:55
so I was always really fortunate that I
00:12:57
could play both Sports
00:12:58
um I probably
00:13:00
I didn't really know because I actually
00:13:01
played I played boys Cricket all the way
00:13:04
through up till high school and I
00:13:05
actually did you was there just no no
00:13:07
not enough not enough girls to put a
00:13:09
girl's team together yeah that would
00:13:11
have changed now they're right and
00:13:12
probably massively and you guys the
00:13:14
white things have probably had a bit to
00:13:15
do with that yeah yeah it is over recent
00:13:16
years it certainly changed a little bit
00:13:18
I mean there were a handful of girls
00:13:19
that played when I was growing up but
00:13:21
none of them were any good or you know
00:13:23
wanted to be in a team full of boys but
00:13:25
again I was so lucky that that same
00:13:27
group of guys with my mates and we went
00:13:29
through all the age group stuff together
00:13:30
we went through the same schools
00:13:32
together so you know it was no different
00:13:34
for me and I didn't know any different
00:13:35
yeah I always compared myself to the
00:13:37
boys so I never saw myself as [ __ ] I'm I
00:13:40
might be really good for a female but I
00:13:41
was like well I'm probably middle of the
00:13:43
pack with the boys so right you know it
00:13:45
probably kept me in check a little bit
00:13:46
so what age did you start playing like
00:13:49
the boys Cricket I from the stats all
00:13:51
right from like Primary School yeah from
00:13:53
when I first picked up four or five what
00:13:54
was that like okay I mean as you get
00:13:56
older I'm sure there's there's more
00:13:57
tolerance and understanding but um you
00:13:59
know I'm thinking at Primary School
00:14:00
they'll be like well yeah we're the boys
00:14:02
weird about it but yeah initially and
00:14:05
then called your week and things
00:14:07
and sadly it was actually the parents
00:14:11
shut up really yeah they were the ones
00:14:13
like oh what's a girl doing get her out
00:14:15
of here like I don't want my son to be
00:14:16
playing with a girl how embarrassing
00:14:18
she's going to hurt herself and that's
00:14:20
[ __ ] outrageous it's again you
00:14:23
remember it so it's obviously a thing
00:14:24
yeah but I was really sheltered and
00:14:26
protected by my parents and things like
00:14:27
that that probably blocked out a
00:14:28
shitload more of those sort of comments
00:14:30
um it was probably more funny when I got
00:14:33
to high school because I'd played the
00:14:35
same so there must have been about seven
00:14:36
or eight of us boys that played all the
00:14:38
way through and I mean we used to take
00:14:40
the piss because anytime we came up
00:14:41
against a new team they'd sort of look
00:14:43
at me and be like what the [ __ ] like
00:14:44
here we go they must have scraped in
00:14:46
someone's sister or whatever else please
00:14:50
can I borrow yeah well exactly and you
00:14:53
know that's where I guess my mates were
00:14:55
so good as they're like you [ __ ]
00:14:56
idiots like you just wait like your mate
00:14:58
says and your teammates teammates yeah
00:15:00
yeah do you think that's because you'd
00:15:02
like you'd won their respect because you
00:15:03
were that [ __ ] good yeah well I think
00:15:05
I could just match it with them and they
00:15:07
knew that I could hold my own and
00:15:09
um you know it was always good fun if I
00:15:11
I was predominantly Ebola
00:15:13
um when I was younger and taking wickets
00:15:16
and things like that some of the [ __ ]
00:15:17
that the boys used to give the
00:15:18
opposition like you must sucker for Gil
00:15:20
got you out do you know what I mean I
00:15:22
didn't have to say anything it was great
00:15:24
you know I could just stand back and you
00:15:25
know I copped a bit for a bit but I knew
00:15:27
that my mates around me [ __ ] your [ __ ]
00:15:30
how embarrassing you know go out you
00:15:32
know you've been bowled by a girl sort
00:15:33
of thing and you know there'd be a few
00:15:34
tears I mean they'll walk around
00:15:41
I was supposed to smash for a six by
00:15:42
this little girl in the other team
00:15:44
humiliating shouldn't be that oh I
00:15:46
shouldn't be and that's where it's great
00:15:48
that it's starting to change now yeah
00:15:49
and you start to talk to a lot of I
00:15:52
guess other female cricketers at the
00:15:53
elite level and a lot of them played
00:15:55
boys Cricket growing up and same sort of
00:15:57
thing they had to be able to hack it
00:15:59
because you wouldn't last and I do I
00:16:01
just think I was so lucky with the
00:16:02
support I had from my teammates but also
00:16:04
from like the club and also the school
00:16:06
tail college and the principal here Mr
00:16:08
Lucas who again hire up College spawn
00:16:12
whatever it was I had to get
00:16:14
dispensation to play in the boys stuff
00:16:15
you know and this was coming from people
00:16:16
that have never seen me play or you know
00:16:19
it's not safe health and safety reasons
00:16:21
you can't play
00:16:22
yeah why did they mean it wasn't safe in
00:16:24
terms of like being hit by a ball or
00:16:26
there's just as much risk of a male
00:16:28
player being hit by a ball than a
00:16:29
exactly I guess though they were
00:16:30
concerned females can't like you can't
00:16:34
bet pretty much your [ __ ] too so we're
00:16:36
trying to save you so again I was
00:16:38
probably
00:16:39
um really protected in that sense I
00:16:41
think for my family and stuff and I was
00:16:43
probably a bit naive that I didn't get
00:16:45
it because all I knew was boys Cricket
00:16:46
yeah so it was no different to me so I
00:16:49
remember being pretty pissed off though
00:16:51
when it first came through saying oh no
00:16:52
they're gonna stop you playing and I
00:16:55
just couldn't work it out I mean I was
00:16:56
only what 12 13. what do you mean I
00:16:58
can't play this is my man I've played
00:16:59
with them for five six years I don't get
00:17:01
it that's cruel yeah it was and that's
00:17:03
what upset me most it was that people
00:17:05
would never see me play Within making
00:17:07
decisions about my life and what I
00:17:08
wanted to do so again the support was
00:17:10
awesome and fought back and I mean there
00:17:13
was I guess it's probably fear rules but
00:17:15
like I had to have my own changing room
00:17:16
and I had to have a chaperone when I had
00:17:18
to go into the changing room and stuff
00:17:19
like that but again I didn't think any
00:17:21
different because these are all my mates
00:17:22
that had grown up with yeah yeah you
00:17:24
know so yeah there was a few challenges
00:17:27
there early doors but
00:17:28
again I think so many great memories of
00:17:30
you know just my mates sticking up for
00:17:33
me and you know just the opportunities
00:17:35
that is so cool
00:17:37
yeah you're still in touch with any of
00:17:38
those those guys now um
00:17:40
a couple of them not not too much it was
00:17:42
actually again this shows tell I mean
00:17:45
there must be nothing else to do but
00:17:46
play sports so in that team we had Evan
00:17:49
Williams who plays squash for New
00:17:51
Zealand we had Blair Hilton who's played
00:17:52
for the black sticks men's team over 200
00:17:54
caps I think we had another age group
00:17:57
New Zealand swimmer you know we just had
00:17:58
kids that loved playing Sport and pushed
00:18:01
each other and that's just what we did
00:18:02
so
00:18:04
um yeah again just really fortunate and
00:18:06
it's probably just good timing too I
00:18:07
mean that we all sort of found each
00:18:08
other at the same time and grew up
00:18:10
together so when did they when did the
00:18:12
hockey come along well that was always
00:18:13
just just bubbling under just bubbling
00:18:15
under were you on a mixed team for the
00:18:18
hockey or was it a was it a girl's name
00:18:20
no that was more girls who obviously it
00:18:22
was um pretty popular sure girls sport
00:18:24
grind app so I was definitely all in the
00:18:25
in the girls grades representative stuff
00:18:28
I did play a little bit of boys hockey
00:18:29
as well though again sort of that
00:18:31
late primary school age intermediate age
00:18:34
which was good fun again it was the same
00:18:36
mates that played qriket as we just
00:18:37
jumped teams jumped Sports sort of thing
00:18:39
so that was cool but hockey was always
00:18:40
there but there's always just so much
00:18:42
more competition between
00:18:44
hockey and Cricket in terms of just the
00:18:46
numbers like I could count on one hand
00:18:48
how many female cricketers there were
00:18:50
around my age but hockey you know you
00:18:52
had about like hundreds of girls ready
00:18:54
to play so so that competition was um
00:18:56
was always there but it's something that
00:18:58
I always loved talking
00:19:00
um just different environment different
00:19:03
sport you know you probably couldn't get
00:19:05
too much different from cricket to
00:19:06
hockey in terms of the amount of running
00:19:08
and you know different skills that are
00:19:10
required so that was always there and I
00:19:12
was really fortunate to play
00:19:13
representative hockey and things like
00:19:14
that
00:19:15
um and like I said earlier being able to
00:19:17
play both
00:19:18
yeah so we here we so were you naturally
00:19:21
do you think like better at um hockey
00:19:23
than cricket
00:19:25
um I actually don't know I think though
00:19:27
because there's no other girls playing
00:19:29
I've probably got more opportunities
00:19:31
playing Cricket now dead right so I
00:19:33
probably gravitated naturally towards
00:19:34
crickets I was like well
00:19:36
there's not as many people planned so
00:19:37
sweet so what what um national team did
00:19:40
you make first was that the the black
00:19:42
sticks or the white things no it was the
00:19:43
white ferns first
00:19:45
um how old were you then uh I just
00:19:46
turned 17.
00:19:48
wow that's because yeah that's crazy it
00:19:52
is but it as in I guess when you
00:19:54
consider so
00:19:56
um so you're still at school yep still
00:19:58
at school I got the phone call when
00:19:59
naming myself and the team when I was at
00:20:01
informed class at the start of the day
00:20:03
and taking the phone call from the coach
00:20:05
and the rest of the day was a write-off
00:20:06
I mean me and school you know I go for
00:20:08
lunch and playing around sort of thing
00:20:10
so did you did you realize you were sort
00:20:13
of on the frame
00:20:14
um sort of so I
00:20:16
made the Wellington women's team when I
00:20:18
was I must have just turned 14.
00:20:20
um
00:20:21
yeah so I mean I'd sort of been in and
00:20:24
around playing wow yeah playing with
00:20:27
um older females for a long period of
00:20:29
time sort of thing but that was the
00:20:31
first time I'd seen it a theme an
00:20:32
all-females team playing sort of thing
00:20:34
so I was like [ __ ] this is cool
00:20:36
um so I've been playing at the
00:20:37
Wellington level for a couple of years
00:20:39
and sort of I guess knew the standard
00:20:41
that I needed to be I never you never
00:20:43
you know think that you're going to get
00:20:44
picked but certainly that phone call was
00:20:47
yeah pretty overwhelming I think as a as
00:20:50
a young kid yeah so so who whose phone
00:20:53
was it was it your phone or yeah it was
00:20:55
my phone so I remember I was in in class
00:20:57
you know being a bit naughty not having
00:20:59
your phone on flight mode I know I know
00:21:01
well and I did I remember taking it
00:21:03
um taking the call outside of class and
00:21:06
you know getting news congratulations
00:21:07
you've been selected for work fins
00:21:09
you're going to come with us to
00:21:09
Australia and you know
00:21:11
um you know hopefully debut and I
00:21:13
remember
00:21:14
[ __ ] like what do I do like obviously
00:21:17
excited as hell and I remember walking
00:21:18
back into class and the teachers like
00:21:20
what's wrong with you sort of thing I
00:21:21
was like mess I've got to go and she
00:21:24
said oh bugger off then sort of thing
00:21:27
um so again I was really lucky she was
00:21:30
actually a really good yeah yeah support
00:21:32
there but but ringing mum and dad and
00:21:34
just the pride and stuff like that to be
00:21:35
able to tell them oh my God here did you
00:21:37
burst into tears like happy tears uh no
00:21:40
I don't think there's tears I think
00:21:41
there's a bit of squealing and a little
00:21:43
bit of just just a light yeah yeah like
00:21:45
it was
00:21:47
I I guess it would be a dream do you
00:21:49
know what I mean I I always I mean I
00:21:51
know originally I wanted to be an all
00:21:52
black but I wanted to play sport for New
00:21:54
Zealand I didn't care what sport it was
00:21:56
whether it was cricket or hockey or
00:21:58
bowls evidently yeah you've been very
00:22:00
very greedy with your representation
00:22:01
yeah so I think for that to finally
00:22:04
start to be coming true was you know
00:22:06
pretty special we're finally becoming
00:22:08
true you're 17. you're barely born yeah
00:22:11
I know Welsh but then when you think
00:22:12
about how long I've been playing for and
00:22:14
yeah it was almost sort of felt yeah
00:22:17
like at long last well yes and no like I
00:22:21
sort of not taking anything for granted
00:22:22
but I feel like I had played for a few
00:22:24
years there and yeah oh [ __ ] it was just
00:22:27
crazy
00:22:28
that's like half a lifetime ago that's
00:22:30
how long that's how long you've been
00:22:31
you've been doing this yeah so it's
00:22:32
incredible absolutely remarkable oh it's
00:22:36
the good inning says that they said
00:22:37
they're very good Innings it's crazy to
00:22:39
think that this has pretty much been my
00:22:41
life you know I hear people talking
00:22:43
about and I think it's super important
00:22:44
as they have you know jobs and lives
00:22:46
outside of cricket and they've had
00:22:47
experience and you know but I've never
00:22:50
technically worked a nine to five job
00:22:52
absolutely I've held you know bits and
00:22:54
pieces jobs that have sort of you know
00:22:56
not much I've been so fortunate to have
00:22:59
been able to play sport for pretty much
00:23:01
my whole adult life which is it's
00:23:03
incredible incredible okay so so you're
00:23:06
17 you make the New Zealand cricket team
00:23:10
um what's that first like training like
00:23:11
or the first team meeting or whatever is
00:23:13
that intimidating what's the average age
00:23:15
sort of early to mid-20s yeah at least
00:23:17
probably mid-20s and these were people
00:23:19
that I'd sort of looked up to so
00:23:20
obviously the 2000 Women's World Cup was
00:23:23
again the first time I'd seen women's
00:23:24
Cricket on TV so I was only what 10 or
00:23:26
11 at that age and I'd seen some of
00:23:29
these players playing in that tournament
00:23:30
and to be here now and them saying my
00:23:34
name I was just like holy [ __ ] like I
00:23:38
don't think I spoke for the two-week
00:23:39
tour to Australia because I was scared
00:23:42
of saying the wrong thing or them hating
00:23:44
me or whatever but just being able to be
00:23:46
around you know what I saw as Legends of
00:23:48
the game yeah was just yeah unbelievable
00:23:51
what was it like with a like a
00:23:53
supportive environment even though you
00:23:54
didn't say much did the um the others so
00:23:57
much and take you under their wings sort
00:23:58
of thing yeah absolutely I think I was
00:24:00
really lucky that there were a few
00:24:01
Wellington players in the team at the
00:24:02
time that sort of knew me so I could
00:24:04
sort of gravitate a little bit towards
00:24:05
them but obviously being a fair bit
00:24:07
younger than everyone else as well was
00:24:09
you know there's always going to be that
00:24:10
little bit of a gap but no I just
00:24:12
absolutely loved it and to Bailey I mean
00:24:14
it was my dream so I was you know
00:24:15
absolutely frothing just being there and
00:24:17
taking in everything that everyone did
00:24:19
whether it was a training whether it was
00:24:21
what they did at night time whether it
00:24:22
was whatever it was the conversations I
00:24:25
was just like this mess of Spanish like
00:24:26
thinking this is the greatest job you're
00:24:28
taking it all in yeah yeah how good how
00:24:31
good like I said so then when did the um
00:24:33
when did the black sticks stuff come
00:24:34
along so they're probably so again I was
00:24:37
sort of playing both the whole way
00:24:38
through so I made the junior black
00:24:40
sticks when I was
00:24:42
around the same time actually
00:24:44
um so I must have got picked yes 17 for
00:24:47
Cricket and then went to the junior
00:24:49
World Cup with hockey in 2009
00:24:52
um
00:24:53
so I was juggling both and then I made
00:24:55
the black six team in 2009 as well
00:24:57
actually so how old were you then 19 19.
00:25:00
yeah so you're still a teenager and
00:25:03
you've you've you've become a double
00:25:05
International it's incredible uh you
00:25:08
must you must be the youngest the
00:25:09
youngest New Zealander to become a
00:25:12
double International
00:25:13
I feel like you don't get enough enough
00:25:16
credit oh
00:25:17
that's
00:25:18
game that's worth look to now and I
00:25:21
don't think you'll see many other double
00:25:22
Internationals or you know anymore yeah
00:25:24
because of the overlap because of the
00:25:26
overlap because of the Contracting
00:25:27
system because professionalism is you
00:25:29
just won't be able to do it so I kept
00:25:31
myself really lucky and again even more
00:25:33
lucky that I've played so much Cricket
00:25:34
with Susie Bates who's also a double
00:25:35
International she went to Beijing with
00:25:38
basketball you know there's not too many
00:25:39
times that I can you know have a chat
00:25:41
about the crossover and having to juggle
00:25:43
two sports with someone like that so
00:25:46
um yeah juggling the two and I did I
00:25:48
managed to sort of go in and out of both
00:25:50
camps for a couple of years
00:25:52
um but I remember the coach of the
00:25:54
hockey team at the time was sort of like
00:25:56
this must have been sort of 2010-ish
00:25:59
late 2010 2011 saying right you need to
00:26:01
make a decision now because
00:26:03
like it's great when you're in Camp but
00:26:05
when you go back to Cricket the girls
00:26:06
just keep moving forward and you don't
00:26:08
and then when you come back into the
00:26:09
Hockey Camp you have to sort of catch up
00:26:11
right
00:26:12
you're gonna have to make a call when I
00:26:13
was like [ __ ] what dude like I can't see
00:26:16
myself giving up Cricket I've played
00:26:18
Cricket every summer for the last you
00:26:20
know 15 years of my life
00:26:22
um but I knew that opportunity with the
00:26:25
London Olympics in 2012 coming up
00:26:28
um it was probably it was up there with
00:26:30
one of the hardest decisions I've had to
00:26:31
make in terms of having to put Cricket
00:26:33
on a back burner
00:26:35
um but I decided you know what [ __ ] it
00:26:37
let's go for it you know Olympic Games
00:26:38
don't come around too often and things
00:26:40
like that so yeah made the decision to
00:26:42
to shelve Cricket for a little bit
00:26:45
um and give 100 to hockey in the hope
00:26:49
that I guess the end goal was to make it
00:26:50
into the Olympic team for for London so
00:26:53
I ended up moving up to Auckland we were
00:26:56
centralized there for about must have
00:26:57
been close to six months leading into
00:26:59
those games
00:27:00
um was playing and touring with the
00:27:02
black sticks at that time it was never
00:27:04
really irregular was sort of always sort
00:27:06
of On The Fringe so it would sort of
00:27:07
play games and then miss out and sort of
00:27:09
in and out of the squad I was always as
00:27:11
well it's not like one of the stars of
00:27:13
the no no I mean not not at that time I
00:27:15
mean you're looking at the the Gemma
00:27:17
flynns you're looking at I've heard of
00:27:18
it yeah you know
00:27:19
um the Harrison girls yeah the Harrison
00:27:21
girls Kayla sharland things like that
00:27:23
Emily Naylor that were just absolute
00:27:25
proper Legends of women's hockey at the
00:27:27
time so I was certainly just some you
00:27:29
know someone that filled in the cricket
00:27:31
Guild yeah this morning away so did you
00:27:35
make it to the games did you make it to
00:27:37
the 2012 London Games no so
00:27:39
well it was but it was also a really big
00:27:44
learning curve for me is you know I I
00:27:46
did all that training with my ass off
00:27:48
has never been as fit or as you know
00:27:50
ready to go and I remember the selection
00:27:52
time came around for naming the Olympic
00:27:54
squads they cut it down I think we must
00:27:55
have been I made the initial Squad I
00:27:57
think it was of 24 but they cut it down
00:27:59
to 16 for the games because that's where
00:28:00
you can take and yeah I think it's
00:28:02
traveling reserves as well when I
00:28:03
remember ghanan sitting with the coach
00:28:06
um and he was pretty black and white he
00:28:08
said look unfortunately it came down to
00:28:09
a flip of a coin between you and another
00:28:10
girl and it didn't fall you away so
00:28:12
you're not going were you like well can
00:28:14
we do this to three paper scissors rock
00:28:16
or something who was the other girl
00:28:18
um
00:28:20
oh I actually don't know anymore yeah
00:28:22
yeah I pushed it so far back in my mind
00:28:24
yeah was that hot was it heartbreaking
00:28:25
at the time it didn't sink in
00:28:28
I couldn't register
00:28:30
that everything I'd done like I'd moved
00:28:32
away from home I was living in Auckland
00:28:34
I was training two three four times a
00:28:37
day
00:28:38
and then to not get
00:28:41
I guess the result that you're after
00:28:43
what you'd been working towards is
00:28:44
pretty hard
00:28:46
um yeah Welcome to the Real World a
00:28:48
little bit of disappointment character
00:28:50
building it absolutely worse though and
00:28:53
so [ __ ] I
00:28:55
oh it sucked and I was angry and I was
00:28:57
disappointed and I was upset and you
00:29:00
know are you do you go through there and
00:29:02
watch that grief the stages sure yeah
00:29:04
absolutely and I mean again this is
00:29:06
where I was so bloody lucky so I missed
00:29:08
out on that and the black six skills
00:29:12
left obviously for for the games and
00:29:13
whatnot and I got a phone call from Gary
00:29:15
stead who was the coach of the white
00:29:17
fins at the time he said Hey look sorry
00:29:19
about the hockey not really
00:29:21
um we've
00:29:25
um we've got a two Tiffany World Cup in
00:29:27
Sri Lanka are you interested
00:29:30
[ __ ] okay let's give it a go so I hadn't
00:29:34
played Cricket at that stage for about
00:29:35
18 months so I was like [ __ ] Rusty I was
00:29:37
Rusty as like I'd sort of done a little
00:29:40
bit of training here and there just you
00:29:42
know to have a bit of fun but
00:29:44
um that really helped me I guess move on
00:29:46
from the disappointment of the hockey
00:29:48
and
00:29:48
you know I think it did it certainly did
00:29:50
teach me a lot about you're not always
00:29:52
going to get [ __ ] go your way yeah
00:29:54
resilience and stuff I guess yeah so and
00:29:57
um how do I I can't remember those games
00:29:59
how did the um how did the black sticks
00:30:00
get on and I finished fourth in the end
00:30:02
yeah
00:30:04
well it's actually funny because and
00:30:06
this is how much it sucks so mum had
00:30:08
actually tickets to go over
00:30:11
and watch so I she says family and stuff
00:30:13
so it was she's like I don't you know
00:30:15
it's fine I can I was like nah I want to
00:30:17
actually come too so I actually did
00:30:18
remember were you were there yeah so I
00:30:20
actually watched a couple of the games
00:30:21
well I suppose yeah I mean I joked
00:30:23
before about how you must have been
00:30:24
happy that they didn't want to meet or
00:30:25
but they're your friends right and
00:30:27
that's the thing I saw day in day out
00:30:29
the hard work that went into
00:30:30
you know what made them such a good team
00:30:33
um so it was pretty it was a weird
00:30:36
feeling like it was special to be there
00:30:37
and to see them but it was also a little
00:30:38
bit heartbreaking to think [ __ ] I wish I
00:30:40
could be on the other side of the pitch
00:30:41
you know helping them out there but um
00:30:43
yeah I guess that was a pretty cool
00:30:45
experience to be able to go over there
00:30:46
you know catch a couple of the games and
00:30:49
say hello to the girls and um yeah I
00:30:51
guess catch up with family as well on
00:30:53
the other other side of it but yeah yeah
00:30:55
and are there any ethics here's my
00:30:56
ignorance about sports but are there any
00:30:58
sort of um
00:30:59
interchangeable skills between like
00:31:01
hockey and Cricket parallels between the
00:31:03
two yeah well I was certainly the
00:31:05
fittest I've ever been coming out of
00:31:06
that hockey program back into the
00:31:07
cricket which had massive advantages in
00:31:10
terms of I mean we yeah played at a
00:31:12
World Cup in Sri Lanka where it was just
00:31:13
[ __ ] hot it's hot and sweaty and
00:31:15
you're pouring out and you're obviously
00:31:17
wearing all black pants and and stuff so
00:31:19
so that was a massive benefit as well
00:31:21
and obviously the hand-eye coordination
00:31:22
is a mess of I guess correlation between
00:31:25
the two sports and I think has been
00:31:27
really helpful for me but like bowling
00:31:29
and Cricket is one of the most
00:31:31
unco weird stupid things that you could
00:31:34
ever decide to do like whoever came up
00:31:36
with this is what you do you're going to
00:31:38
run and fault it and absolutely Wang
00:31:40
this ball down while contorting your
00:31:42
arms and legs everywhere yeah like what
00:31:45
a [ __ ] dick that was yeah yeah yeah
00:31:47
so that was probably the most
00:31:48
challenging thing for me was getting my
00:31:49
body right for that because you'd have
00:31:51
like I remember that waking up
00:31:54
thinking how the hell is that where's my
00:31:56
armpit store and what the hell is this
00:31:58
right glute sort of so it was just
00:32:00
getting back used to just the the
00:32:01
differences with the muscles that you
00:32:03
use and stuff but um what's the bowler a
00:32:05
year you fast I try to be fast right
00:32:07
right but um yeah what do you mean you
00:32:10
try well it depends if we're playing at
00:32:12
the base and reserve and there's a gale
00:32:13
force and I'm bowling downward and then
00:32:15
I'm rapid but if I'm bowling into it
00:32:17
right I'm struggling to get the ball
00:32:18
down the other way I feel like you're
00:32:19
being modest
00:32:21
um why didn't you become a spinner so
00:32:22
you're gonna just do like three three
00:32:24
Paces I know that's getting very close
00:32:27
nowadays actually uh I do these days
00:32:29
where I'm at the top of my runoff and
00:32:30
think what am I doing this yeah but um
00:32:33
no I've always enjoyed bowling and the
00:32:34
challenge that that brings so um yeah it
00:32:37
obviously takes a bit of a toll on your
00:32:38
body yeah because you're considered an
00:32:40
all-rounder but you're um you're more of
00:32:42
a batsman would it be fair to say you're
00:32:43
a big header right yeah probably more of
00:32:45
a better nowadays but bowling's always
00:32:47
been sort of my first love and Cricket
00:32:49
right has it yeah why is that that's
00:32:51
just because what I always used to do
00:32:52
like
00:32:53
growing up I never got a bet because
00:32:55
well you never got the boys out I never
00:32:57
got the boys out I was so [ __ ]
00:32:59
um but but even with my brother and
00:33:00
stuff like that always bad all day so I
00:33:02
just wouldn't so I'd just bowl and bowl
00:33:03
and Bowl right and I just loved it I
00:33:05
loved the challenge of trying to get
00:33:07
people out and especially playing that
00:33:08
boys Cricket like again this is where I
00:33:10
think it helped me massively as
00:33:12
especially as we got older and the boys
00:33:13
started to shoot up with puberty and
00:33:15
whatever else as I was sort of level
00:33:17
with them in terms of speed and stuff
00:33:18
and then they just shut and they just
00:33:20
got massive and you know they could just
00:33:21
whack me whenever they wanted to so then
00:33:23
I had to learn well how am I going to
00:33:25
get them out if I can't you know
00:33:27
absolutely blast through them because
00:33:28
I'm not as quick as anyone else anymore
00:33:30
well I have to be a bit smarter and at
00:33:32
that stage you know teenage boys
00:33:34
probably weren't the most switched on at
00:33:36
times and so I guess deception for me
00:33:38
and changes of pace and variations of
00:33:40
how I bold the ball became really
00:33:42
important
00:33:43
how did you learn that is it something
00:33:45
you'd like your dad suggested to you or
00:33:48
yeah yeah yeah
00:33:50
and it's a strategy game yeah pretty
00:33:53
much and having to outsmart them because
00:33:54
I wasn't as strong or as big and I
00:33:56
couldn't Bowl as quick so I had to you
00:33:58
know use something else to just trying
00:33:59
to think how that would how that works
00:34:03
and I I played qriket until I was 14 and
00:34:05
I was very very useless I loved the
00:34:07
sport so much but I was terrible at all
00:34:09
aspects of the game but I'm thinking you
00:34:11
play each ball as it comes so how do you
00:34:14
like how do you deceive someone I guess
00:34:16
change of pace is a big one yeah so for
00:34:17
me varying your pace going from a I
00:34:20
guess a you know normal pace-on delivery
00:34:22
which let's say might be
00:34:24
110 K's an hour so then you might drop
00:34:27
it down to a 90k now the next ball right
00:34:29
so the better just assumes that you're
00:34:31
going to bowl the same Pace ball next
00:34:33
time so they'll be through their shots
00:34:34
they might miscued or Miss time that
00:34:36
sort of things like that so it was
00:34:37
figuring out things like that around how
00:34:39
can I change my Pace what do I need to
00:34:40
do with how I hold the ball or what do
00:34:42
other players do you know I used to and
00:34:44
this is where I think kids these days
00:34:46
don't watch enough cricket and learn and
00:34:49
like I'd spend weekends just going down
00:34:51
with dad while he played and watching
00:34:53
him play with all his old mates and
00:34:55
going through their gear bags and oh
00:34:57
what's this bet feel like or I like
00:34:59
these Cricket pads I you know I was just
00:35:02
obsessed with it and I loved it so I was
00:35:04
always just trying to learn and pick up
00:35:05
little things my brother was a leg spin
00:35:08
bowler which is probably the hardest I
00:35:10
guess form of bowling to do in terms of
00:35:12
control and stuff like that so having to
00:35:14
face him when I did get a bet
00:35:16
um you know you're just learning things
00:35:18
all the time and I guess being able to
00:35:20
take that into yeah when I was younger
00:35:23
and having to use other skills it was so
00:35:25
smart like I was getting at the level
00:35:27
you're at now this is like a common a
00:35:29
common thing that a lot of people do but
00:35:30
at sort of school and age group no one's
00:35:33
doing that
00:35:34
yeah I think they certainly were people
00:35:36
that were doing it I guess for me though
00:35:37
they probably didn't expect a female to
00:35:39
be doing or a young girl to be doing it
00:35:41
so um
00:35:42
yeah again I think that just probably
00:35:44
sped up my development a little bit as
00:35:45
having to find other ways of dismissing
00:35:48
betters because I couldn't just do it
00:35:49
with outright Pace yeah so um okay so
00:35:53
you get that call from Gary stead after
00:35:54
the disappointment of the Olympics so
00:35:56
you're playing Tito is that your first
00:35:57
time playing T20 no so I played for a
00:36:00
fair while before that so obviously
00:36:02
um yeah teaching has been massive for
00:36:04
the women's game yeah
00:36:05
um shouldn't you've been one of the
00:36:06
Stars right like you've had some
00:36:08
outstanding Innings I think I've just
00:36:11
been really lucky that I've played a lot
00:36:12
of it
00:36:13
um so we went through a really I guess
00:36:15
golden patch with the white ferns
00:36:17
through 2009 2010 where we played in
00:36:20
two T20 World Cups in a one day World
00:36:22
Cup and we came second in all of them
00:36:25
um but to be able to have that
00:36:26
experience of playing in finals and
00:36:28
things like that was was massive so it
00:36:29
was cool to be able to jump back into it
00:36:31
T20 cricket is awesome I think it's a
00:36:33
great vehicle for the women's game in
00:36:35
terms of getting people along and
00:36:37
um you know a bit of a shorter format
00:36:39
which people can sort of stayed a bit
00:36:41
more tuned into rather than the 50 over
00:36:43
Cricket which
00:36:45
can drag on for some people oh no I I
00:36:47
love the one days 50 overs is great test
00:36:50
matches though you've lost me yeah oh
00:36:52
I'm a little bit the same though yeah
00:36:54
and that's like when I go and talk to
00:36:56
kids you know I do ask them what do you
00:36:58
think about oh it's too long it's too
00:37:00
boring and you know I mean I say I agree
00:37:03
I think sometimes Cricket's really
00:37:04
boring especially when nothing's going
00:37:07
on and it's just like
00:37:08
you know I see kids making Daisy chains
00:37:11
and I was one of those kids that was
00:37:12
doing handstands and cartwheels out on
00:37:14
the boundary because I wasn't touching
00:37:15
the ball for half an hour so
00:37:17
um I get it I completely understand and
00:37:19
even now that's why you've got to
00:37:21
challenge yourself and make it fun
00:37:22
because Cricket can be a shitty hard
00:37:25
sport yeah which can be really lonely
00:37:27
and isolating
00:37:29
um but it can also be the best time of
00:37:30
your life hanging out with mates you
00:37:32
know traveling the world playing a game
00:37:34
that you love so
00:37:35
yeah absolutely and um by the way I knew
00:37:38
I had some stats written down on my on
00:37:39
my sheet here uh you're the first player
00:37:41
to score six consecutive fifties
00:37:44
um a half century in T20 of 18 balls
00:37:46
which is [ __ ] it's insane and um
00:37:49
faster Center in T20 100 off 36 balls
00:37:52
so you can't you can't tell me it's just
00:37:54
been lucky or anything like that like
00:37:56
you've just been outstanding you're a
00:37:59
superb big header yeah and again I think
00:38:01
that's probably just
00:38:04
lucky how I was brought up in terms of
00:38:06
always being around boys in the power
00:38:07
game and the hockey and things like that
00:38:09
that it probably wasn't selling until a
00:38:11
little bit later on in my life where I
00:38:12
was able to focus on my batting because
00:38:14
I'd always bowled so much yeah betting
00:38:16
was sort of a bit of an afterthought so
00:38:18
certainly when I got the opportunity and
00:38:20
you know it came through injuries that I
00:38:21
couldn't really Bowl too much so I had
00:38:22
to focus on my betting but um it's a
00:38:26
real challenge for me and something that
00:38:27
I've really enjoyed is this perception
00:38:29
of women's Cricket that oh you can't hit
00:38:31
boundaries you can't hit sixes it's not
00:38:33
powerful you're not like the men's and
00:38:34
it's like well we actually are
00:38:37
um you just one probably have never
00:38:38
watched a woman's game before but I also
00:38:40
think that's what makes women's Cricket
00:38:41
really good to watch is absolutely I
00:38:44
love watching men's Cricket but you can
00:38:46
see these guys just flip their wrists
00:38:47
and they're smacking balls 80 or 90
00:38:49
meters and you're just thinking [ __ ] me
00:38:51
like it's incredible but women don't
00:38:54
have that power and I'm you know but
00:38:56
we've got to again find ways around that
00:38:58
so you see the female game having to be
00:39:00
a lot more thoughtful or a lot more you
00:39:03
know skillful in terms of how they
00:39:05
manipulate the ball around the around
00:39:07
the ground or there are definitely Power
00:39:09
Players now and it's certainly getting a
00:39:11
lot more with the professionalism in the
00:39:12
game girls are getting bigger and
00:39:13
stronger they can clear the rope and we
00:39:15
ask them to do it more and more often
00:39:17
and those those days that I mentioned
00:39:18
before like the fastest Century fastest
00:39:20
half century
00:39:21
um what was happening on those dates you
00:39:23
just have days where you just like in
00:39:25
running you call it like a flow state
00:39:26
where you just everything is it sort of
00:39:28
like that 100 like that and that's the
00:39:30
thing people say well why don't you just
00:39:31
do that all the time it's like asking
00:39:33
you like why don't you just run like
00:39:34
that all the time some yeah some days
00:39:36
you just feel like [ __ ] and uh sometimes
00:39:38
you just don't you don't get to that
00:39:39
comfortable city is it the same with
00:39:40
crooked is it 100 is and I guess that's
00:39:42
the challenge is how do you find that
00:39:43
consistency when some days yeah you feel
00:39:46
like a million bucks nowadays you don't
00:39:47
so on those occasions it was it was
00:39:50
literally like
00:39:51
I don't know what was different to any
00:39:53
other day does the ball just seem bigger
00:39:55
just the ball seemed bigger and I
00:39:56
remember that one the first century
00:39:58
which was a couple of years ago down in
00:40:00
Dunedin and I'd actually just got out of
00:40:02
quarantine
00:40:03
um so I hadn't had any training or
00:40:05
anything and I remember just rocking up
00:40:07
to that game a little [ __ ] it I don't
00:40:08
care like what's the worst that can
00:40:10
happen yeah yeah and so it almost took
00:40:13
pressure off I was like well I haven't
00:40:14
had a ball I've got no expectation on me
00:40:16
because I haven't had the training that
00:40:17
these other girls have had so I'm just
00:40:18
going to go out and swing from my tits
00:40:20
pretty much and again lucky that you
00:40:23
know and there is a bit of skill drawing
00:40:25
but I don't want to count myself out but
00:40:26
gentlemen it was that mentality well
00:40:28
what's worse that can happen and it came
00:40:30
off for me that day and I also know that
00:40:32
there's days where it doesn't come off
00:40:34
and it's it's Cricket it's sport yeah
00:40:36
have you ever been in like a a slump of
00:40:39
any length of time yeah we yeah really
00:40:41
for how long oh heaps yeah and they all
00:40:44
sort of vary in in duration I guess
00:40:47
um
00:40:48
and it's a shitty thing whether it's
00:40:50
just for Cricket or It's All Sport but
00:40:52
it seems
00:40:54
the worse you perform the harder you try
00:40:56
which sometimes makes it even worse and
00:40:58
you just keep digging a hole and I
00:40:59
remember
00:41:00
recently actually a couple of well not
00:41:03
around only a year or two ago I was in
00:41:05
that slump and I just didn't matter what
00:41:07
I did I just felt like I didn't know how
00:41:09
to play cricket
00:41:11
and I mean it didn't help my mental
00:41:12
state probably wasn't great either and
00:41:14
it was all sort of a bit of a downward
00:41:16
spiral and I remember
00:41:18
we had a game against England actually
00:41:20
here at this stadium and I remember we
00:41:24
got we're in the change rooms getting
00:41:25
ready for the national anthems
00:41:27
and I remember gone and grabbing our
00:41:28
manager at the time and just bawling my
00:41:31
eyes out I can't do this I don't want to
00:41:33
do this I'm scared to go out there on
00:41:35
that pitch
00:41:36
and play why are we scared just because
00:41:39
you hadn't been playing well I hadn't
00:41:40
been playing well the expectation the
00:41:41
pressure I was putting on myself I
00:41:43
thought I was letting people down I was
00:41:45
embarrassed I was
00:41:47
I just couldn't hack it and I was
00:41:50
thinking how the [ __ ] am I supposed to
00:41:51
lead this group of women out onto the
00:41:53
perch when I feel like absolute you know
00:41:56
dirt on the road and how am I supposed
00:41:58
to get myself up so you know manager was
00:42:01
was awesome and you know one step at a
00:42:03
time and I remember walking out to
00:42:05
Nationals I'm like tears and the rest of
00:42:07
the girls are like what the hell and it
00:42:10
was horrific and that's where Cricket is
00:42:13
such a shitty space because it's the one
00:42:15
sport we're playing in a team but it's
00:42:18
such individual Focus slow individual
00:42:20
yeah absolutely it is any any weakness
00:42:24
or flaw is exposed oh and it's
00:42:26
especially out in there you're in the
00:42:28
middle of this huge Stadium yeah nowhere
00:42:31
to hide nowhere to hide it's all on you
00:42:33
let's turn and every aspect of the game
00:42:35
whether you're bowling or Fielding or
00:42:37
batting or whatever it is yeah yeah so
00:42:40
it what was that was that like a like an
00:42:42
anxiety attack a panic attack or yeah
00:42:45
it's probably a little bit both so I
00:42:46
reckon that had probably um
00:42:48
that had been building for a while I
00:42:50
reckon probably
00:42:52
yeah over the course of 12 months I
00:42:54
think looking back at that time and that
00:42:55
was sort of right in the thick of covert
00:42:57
so
00:42:58
we were doing
00:43:00
a shitload of quarantines I think at
00:43:02
that stage I'd done three or four by
00:43:03
myself
00:43:04
um which I'm not sure if you've
00:43:06
I got I got to do it last year like in
00:43:08
December for 10 days but uh yeah I was
00:43:10
talking to um Jimmy nisham about this on
00:43:12
the podcast and I forget how many days
00:43:13
he's done but probably a similar amount
00:43:15
to you yeah um not good not good for
00:43:17
your mental health eh too much alone
00:43:19
time too much alone time and not fresh
00:43:21
air and like I said you know running and
00:43:22
things like that have been really good
00:43:23
for me but you know going through
00:43:25
however many I went through those and
00:43:27
even when we did go on to it we were
00:43:29
under such strict protocols like it was
00:43:30
literally you're either in your hotel
00:43:31
room we're at the cricket ground
00:43:33
training and then straight back and that
00:43:36
was it and that was you know three or
00:43:37
four week tours at a time where you
00:43:39
couldn't go out for a coffee you
00:43:40
couldn't leave the hotel and I think
00:43:42
that certainly added to it is that
00:43:44
isolation and that
00:43:46
like [ __ ] it does your hidden so just a
00:43:49
whole cumulative effect you're going up
00:43:51
to that moment I think building up to
00:43:52
that all that you know and everyone that
00:43:54
was going through it with covert and
00:43:55
they're in their different ways and and
00:43:57
I think for me performance wise I wasn't
00:43:58
performing the team wasn't performing
00:44:00
there was pressure coming in you know
00:44:03
from the outside and
00:44:04
I did I cracked so I think I made it to
00:44:10
um
00:44:12
same series or not might have even
00:44:14
actually get the next series against
00:44:16
Australia and we're in Napier and
00:44:20
I actually haven't told too many people
00:44:21
this but we had sort of like I guess
00:44:23
like our captains run so sort of day
00:44:25
before training or sometimes the morning
00:44:27
if we're playing at night time we'll go
00:44:28
and just have a have a hit you know
00:44:30
check the pitch out and check the pitch
00:44:32
out and just sort of feel good and
00:44:33
things like that and at this stage I was
00:44:35
not in a great space at all
00:44:38
um
00:44:39
and I remember going to snap session I
00:44:41
remember actually talking to the coach
00:44:42
before being like I'm not sure whether I
00:44:43
should go or not because I'm in such a
00:44:44
[ __ ] space I'm scared that it might
00:44:46
not
00:44:47
be a good thing he's like oh no no let's
00:44:49
go and you know it might help you you
00:44:51
know being in a familiar and I remember
00:44:53
getting there
00:44:54
and I was just like what am I doing here
00:44:56
and I remember facing up and he was
00:44:58
throwing give me throwdowns and things
00:44:59
and I just had tears down my eyes and I
00:45:01
was sobbing and the teammate was in the
00:45:03
other net being like okay what's going
00:45:05
on here like
00:45:07
did she say what's going on did you tell
00:45:09
she was just thinking what's going on I
00:45:11
can just tell and the coach as well was
00:45:13
sort of like oh you know you're not
00:45:14
you're hitting it fine and I was like
00:45:16
it's nothing [ __ ] to do with how I'm
00:45:18
heading the ball like I can't be here I
00:45:20
remember he threw one and I I reckon I
00:45:23
threw my bet and I just walked out tears
00:45:24
streaming down my face and I just walked
00:45:26
I reckon 100 meters down the other side
00:45:27
of the field I just sat there and I
00:45:29
cried for about 30 40 minutes
00:45:32
and I just think I can't do this I don't
00:45:33
want to be here this is the last place I
00:45:35
want to be and I remember breaking down
00:45:38
I remember getting back to the hotel and
00:45:41
I pretty much
00:45:43
again this sounds bizarre saying it now
00:45:45
but I literally hid under a desk and
00:45:47
just cried that's a breakdown massive
00:45:50
breakdown I remember calling the manager
00:45:52
and being like you need to come here
00:45:54
and that from that point you know
00:45:58
um it's all a little bit of a blue
00:46:01
um
00:46:03
I'd work pretty closely with a
00:46:04
psychologist that was with the team and
00:46:07
with New Zealand Cricket who had a
00:46:09
really good relationship with and having
00:46:11
conversations with her and again this
00:46:14
shows how bizarre my head space at the
00:46:16
time was I can't leave I've got it I've
00:46:17
got to play I've just got to play I'll
00:46:19
be fine I've just got to keep going
00:46:21
it'll be fine I need to play I need to
00:46:23
stand up for the team I need to you know
00:46:25
put on this this Brave act I'll just
00:46:27
keep playing yeah and she was like look
00:46:30
can't you actually can't like you're
00:46:33
doing some serious damage by even
00:46:35
thinking that you can
00:46:37
in a I just couldn't I just couldn't
00:46:39
work around my head I was like oh no no
00:46:41
I'll be fine like I'm just going to keep
00:46:43
going and this is what I've always done
00:46:44
it's Cricket I'll be fine sort of thing
00:46:46
and I was really lucky
00:46:48
um
00:46:49
had sort of The Players Association reps
00:46:52
come and have a chat to us and was you
00:46:53
know offered all the support and stuff
00:46:54
and then one of the assistant coaches of
00:46:55
the team literally dragged me out of my
00:46:57
room got me in a car and we just drove
00:47:00
I don't know how long it was for but we
00:47:02
just
00:47:03
um
00:47:04
we just drove
00:47:07
um and he just try to distract me and by
00:47:12
the end of that car ride
00:47:14
um
00:47:15
the decision was made that I wasn't
00:47:17
going to play the next day I think
00:47:19
um I don't actually know what they told
00:47:21
the media or whatever else but I I
00:47:23
wasn't available when obviously all the
00:47:25
girls are really concerned but that sort
00:47:26
of gave me that space
00:47:28
um
00:47:30
again I still didn't want to leave even
00:47:31
the next 24 48 hours I didn't want to
00:47:33
leave because I felt like I was
00:47:34
abandoning the kids
00:47:36
when I was a captain I was like captains
00:47:39
can't do this and
00:47:40
you know this is almost a bit
00:47:43
embarrassing in a sense that I feel like
00:47:45
I'm giving up
00:47:46
um so I was adamant to the rest of the
00:47:50
support staff that I was like no I want
00:47:52
to stay with the group like it might get
00:47:53
better I might be okay
00:47:55
and we had a couple of days in between
00:47:57
we went up to mount maunganui
00:47:59
for the next game
00:48:01
and again it was really slow Pro through
00:48:03
small steps and they're like right well
00:48:05
let's let's just take you to the
00:48:06
training ground let's just see how you
00:48:08
go
00:48:09
again literally I put on my Cricket
00:48:11
spikes broke out tears
00:48:15
the other the mind is a strange thing
00:48:17
isn't it such a complex muscle I just
00:48:22
scary
00:48:23
because
00:48:24
what was it did you just lose your
00:48:26
confidence everything and I was in such
00:48:29
a deep hole and I mean I've I've had
00:48:30
depression before and this was certainly
00:48:33
um I felt in the pits of it I was
00:48:36
seriously in a dark space and I think it
00:48:39
was so scary for me because cricket and
00:48:40
sport in general has always been such an
00:48:42
important part of life yeah and that's
00:48:44
what I do and I've always felt so
00:48:46
comfortable but to then have that
00:48:49
environment that space feels so
00:48:51
threatening and so
00:48:54
um intimidating and that I can't even be
00:48:56
there it's like what do I do now and
00:48:58
that's the real overwhelming feeling I
00:49:00
had I was like well
00:49:02
what do I do now I don't know what else
00:49:04
to do if I'm not playing Cricket I'm not
00:49:05
playing I don't know what to do and
00:49:07
that's why I think I was scared of
00:49:08
leaving that environment isn't it sort
00:49:10
of defines you or a little bit because
00:49:12
it's such a such a big part of your life
00:49:14
such a big part of my life and because
00:49:15
I'd never really experienced anything
00:49:17
else apart from playing Sport and that's
00:49:20
why I think I didn't want to leave
00:49:21
partly was because I don't know what I'm
00:49:23
going to do what do I do if I'm not
00:49:25
training or yeah playing and things like
00:49:28
that and again it took a lot of
00:49:30
convincing for me to
00:49:33
leave the environment is this when uh
00:49:36
because this was quite well documented
00:49:38
you had like a two-month mental health
00:49:39
break is this was this the beginning of
00:49:41
that yeah right yeah and you you yeah
00:49:43
I've read some interviews with you and
00:49:45
you talk about how good the coach was
00:49:47
and he treated it like no different to
00:49:48
how you treat a physical injury which is
00:49:50
absolutely the right way to handle it ah
00:49:52
massively and I mean
00:49:55
I certainly think around that time as
00:49:56
well I mean I think about the Olympics
00:49:57
and Simone biles and what she was going
00:49:59
through as well and it's certainly
00:50:01
become a lot more public Naomi Osaka as
00:50:03
well
00:50:05
um
00:50:06
and it was I think the support I had
00:50:08
made such a big difference I think about
00:50:09
some of the people that aren't so lucky
00:50:10
that don't have that sort of support
00:50:12
around them and like I said I work
00:50:14
really close to the psych and being able
00:50:16
to get back on medication and things
00:50:18
like that has certainly helped me
00:50:20
on that Journey out of it but it was
00:50:22
just [ __ ] it was really scary it was
00:50:25
um it did it took a bit of time to to
00:50:27
come right and again the great thing
00:50:28
with the support I had from New Zealand
00:50:30
cricket and the Players Association was
00:50:32
there's no timeline here like
00:50:35
if this takes five years it takes five
00:50:38
if it takes five months whatever it's
00:50:39
there's no pressure on you to come back
00:50:41
and again that was a scary thing so it's
00:50:43
like well I'm not ready to give up but
00:50:45
I'm also scared of what have what if
00:50:47
this happens again like what if I get
00:50:48
into the middle and I break down and I
00:50:51
you know what happens and was part of
00:50:54
you worried because obviously you know
00:50:55
you're a you're a very talented
00:50:57
cricketer but was party where that that
00:50:58
you know they may not have you as
00:51:00
Captain again because they'll scared you
00:51:01
won't be tough enough or yeah yeah and
00:51:03
that was certainly on my mind as well
00:51:05
was
00:51:05
I'm supposed to be the captain you're
00:51:07
supposed to be the lady you're supposed
00:51:08
to in my sense my you know you're
00:51:11
supposed to be able to hack it yeah it's
00:51:13
supposed to be a role model and a leader
00:51:15
and
00:51:15
again I felt embarrassed that [ __ ] maybe
00:51:18
I can't do this maybe I'm not cut out
00:51:21
for it maybe it's not for me but
00:51:22
certainly coming through the other side
00:51:24
of it I think it's given me an
00:51:26
incredibly valuable perspective
00:51:29
a hundred percent like like you're a bit
00:51:32
of Captain oh it's made me a better
00:51:34
person has it yeah how so I think
00:51:37
they're empathy I think if you'd have
00:51:39
asked me a couple of years ago about
00:51:40
depression and things like that I would
00:51:42
have been like oh I don't really get it
00:51:43
like I don't understand how can you be
00:51:46
sad or how can you not want to how can
00:51:48
you not want to get out of bed like I
00:51:49
don't really get it whereas now I'm like
00:51:51
[ __ ] I can understand if you don't brush
00:51:52
your teeth for two weeks I get it I
00:51:55
understand that and
00:51:56
to me to have that I guess perspective
00:51:59
having been through it myself is I do
00:52:01
get it and being able to
00:52:03
be open to talk about it with teammates
00:52:05
or other people has been so valuable for
00:52:07
me and you know unfortunately merely
00:52:10
Kerr who's in the team of youngster had
00:52:12
a bit of time away from the game as well
00:52:13
uh last year I think it was
00:52:17
um Mr Toro as well
00:52:19
um
00:52:20
like I never want players to miss any
00:52:23
Cricket or any tour any opportunity but
00:52:25
after going through what I went through
00:52:27
your mental health is the most important
00:52:30
thing I don't care what anyone says is
00:52:31
you've got to look after yourself first
00:52:33
I don't care if you
00:52:34
whatever I honestly and I will fight
00:52:37
tooth and nail for that person if
00:52:39
coaches or support staff aren't backing
00:52:41
it I will absolutely back them up and
00:52:42
say you need to look after yourself
00:52:44
first because
00:52:45
absolutely I love cricket and it's given
00:52:47
me a lot [ __ ] me it's not the beal and
00:52:49
indoor and that's you know a pretty
00:52:51
powerful perspective to have geez that's
00:52:53
why you're a good Captain eh even yeah I
00:52:55
agree pulling even a better captain now
00:52:58
um I'd like to think so but I'm still
00:53:00
learning
00:53:01
the day you stop learning that's the day
00:53:03
it's time to yeah hang it up yes but it
00:53:06
has it's been really cool especially
00:53:08
like recently I mean we've had
00:53:10
a whole crop of you new young players
00:53:12
coming into the group and it's it's been
00:53:14
so refreshing so it's like [ __ ] remember
00:53:15
what I was like when I was the m17 18
00:53:17
year old not saying a word scared to you
00:53:21
know look them in the eye or anything
00:53:22
like that and it does it sort of that
00:53:23
perspective again it's you know I could
00:53:26
be an absolute [ __ ] and you know if I
00:53:28
pick up my gear bag and you know clean
00:53:30
the [ __ ] off my shoes sort of thing but
00:53:33
um
00:53:34
I know that's not going to get the best
00:53:36
out of my teammates and the best out of
00:53:38
the players so uh and also it's just not
00:53:40
you as a person
00:53:41
no and I think you know I'd get chopped
00:53:44
down pretty quickly from mates around me
00:53:45
and be like stuff
00:53:46
like you know pull your head in sort of
00:53:49
thing so um yeah I think I've just been
00:53:51
really fortunate with the the support
00:53:52
I've had around me yeah actually there's
00:53:54
um you may have already seen this but on
00:53:55
on Netflix there's a documentary series
00:53:57
called Untold
00:53:59
um and there's a there's a story on
00:54:00
there about a tennis player called Marty
00:54:02
fish who was like um yes yeah and he he
00:54:04
was um
00:54:06
I'm going to get the information
00:54:07
incorrect but he was um he made like I
00:54:08
think the quarterfinal of the US Open
00:54:10
was facing like uh Nadal or fed or one
00:54:13
of those guys and just couldn't go out
00:54:14
same sort of thing as you
00:54:16
oh have you watched that you watched
00:54:18
that I have watched that one actually
00:54:19
which is unbelievable isn't it because
00:54:21
you look at it from the outside and you
00:54:22
think what what's going on yeah it's the
00:54:24
biggest so he yeah he forfeited the
00:54:26
match which is unbelievable isn't it
00:54:28
yeah a lot of the match of a lifetime
00:54:29
yep and again having been through I I
00:54:32
get it and I'm sure he would have copped
00:54:34
so much [ __ ] for that but it's like
00:54:36
unless you know what it's like and
00:54:38
everyone's journey is different I'm not
00:54:39
saying I knew know what he went through
00:54:41
but you get it and again it's a game
00:54:43
yeah it's a game that we love doing and
00:54:46
it might be a job but it's a game it's
00:54:48
not more important than your life
00:54:50
so how did you how did you come right
00:54:52
how you know so so you're in the sum the
00:54:55
Stark Place how long did it how long did
00:54:57
it take to sort of see the light again
00:54:58
uh oh it's probably a good couple of
00:54:59
months yeah so I literally fled the
00:55:02
country
00:55:03
um where'd you go I went to Australia
00:55:06
um I spent a fair bit of time over there
00:55:07
so I I literally just switched off from
00:55:10
everyone and anything that was a
00:55:11
connection
00:55:12
to New Zealand to Cricket and things
00:55:14
like that
00:55:15
um
00:55:15
and it was hot it was a real
00:55:18
um reboot almost as I had to
00:55:22
just take my time with it that there was
00:55:24
no guidelines there was no guidebook to
00:55:27
be like this is what you do on day one
00:55:28
and this is what you do that it was I'm
00:55:30
just gonna have to see how I feel when
00:55:31
yeah
00:55:32
um it certainly took a good couple of
00:55:34
months to feel a bit more like myself it
00:55:36
was a lot of nerves around getting back
00:55:39
into Cricket again
00:55:41
um
00:55:42
but I knew it was something that I
00:55:43
wanted to do and was it nerves getting
00:55:45
back into Cricket because you're scared
00:55:47
that like it was cricket that
00:55:49
potentially bought this on
00:55:50
um yes and no yeah like I couldn't think
00:55:52
it was probably a couple of different
00:55:53
things it was absolutely I was scared
00:55:55
about going back into the cricket
00:55:55
environment in case it did trigger me
00:55:57
off again and that that was
00:55:59
I guess yeah the trigger there was the
00:56:02
nerves around how people would see me
00:56:05
and they'd be like oh here's you know
00:56:06
that wasp that had to back out because
00:56:08
she couldn't hack it and she can't
00:56:09
handle high performance Sport and it's
00:56:12
you know then there's the pressure I put
00:56:13
on myself is what if I'm not good enough
00:56:16
what if I'm not able to hack it you know
00:56:18
that that was almost the worst yeah but
00:56:21
you've done enough to know that you are
00:56:23
yeah but again the mind yeah yeah what
00:56:26
it can tell you and the power of it is
00:56:28
unbelievable so it was it was yeah there
00:56:32
are a lot of nerves around it but again
00:56:33
I had so much incredible support working
00:56:35
with Sykes and you know mental skills
00:56:38
and
00:56:39
um family and friends and and medication
00:56:41
as well for me was really important to
00:56:43
help me I guess
00:56:45
it almost just I felt like it gave me
00:56:48
um a bit of a head start to to get on
00:56:49
top of things right right you're still
00:56:51
in the mids now still on the mids now
00:56:53
yeah do you think it'll be like a
00:56:54
lifetime thing potentially yeah and
00:56:56
that's again
00:56:57
um I think early on this is sort of the
00:56:59
second time that I've been on medication
00:57:00
and that um I remember before I jumped
00:57:04
on my sort of like oh
00:57:05
I want to be on these crazy pills again
00:57:07
that
00:57:09
um perception of them isn't it it's like
00:57:11
[ __ ] I don't want to be on
00:57:12
antidepressants because
00:57:13
what are people going to think and I
00:57:16
know I can figure it out by myself I
00:57:17
don't need that but certainly my my
00:57:19
whole mindset it was changed if it's
00:57:20
going to help me be a better person and
00:57:22
help me feel better then why would I not
00:57:25
take them absolutely I'm not saying
00:57:26
medications for everyone and it's not
00:57:28
again this is a really important thing
00:57:29
that I guess the support around me was
00:57:32
it's not going to be a silver bullet
00:57:34
it's not going to help you fix
00:57:34
everything and you're going to be fine
00:57:35
when you take it there's a lot of work
00:57:37
that goes in around it and that's always
00:57:38
been really Central to me moving forward
00:57:40
is absolutely medication is part of it
00:57:43
but it's also
00:57:44
going for your running playing golf
00:57:46
doing yoga time away from cricket you
00:57:48
know those things are all part of my
00:57:50
strategies strategies to help me you
00:57:53
know and be functioning at the level I
00:57:55
need to be yeah and um how's your how's
00:57:57
your inner critic now you're right yeah
00:57:59
yeah it is and that's always going to be
00:58:02
a challenge for me is yeah I don't think
00:58:04
it ever goes away
00:58:06
um you certainly have times
00:58:08
get What's called the black dog or the
00:58:10
black clouds or whatever else because it
00:58:12
does there's times where it feels like
00:58:13
[ __ ] here it comes again I can feel it
00:58:15
but I think having that awareness now of
00:58:18
knowing what it's like and looking for
00:58:20
those red flags and talking to people
00:58:23
about it is a big one
00:58:24
um is a really important part for me and
00:58:27
going back to those strategies and I
00:58:28
think it's so easy that you just slip
00:58:30
into oh it'll be all right or but it is
00:58:33
it might be going for a walk we might be
00:58:35
catching up with someone outside of your
00:58:36
Cricket environment or whatever it is so
00:58:39
um again that's going to be an ongoing
00:58:41
thing yeah and I'm not always going to
00:58:42
get it right and I hope I don't end up
00:58:44
in that space again but I also might end
00:58:46
up in that space again and that's okay
00:58:49
and and if it happens then
00:58:51
because you've got more self-awareness
00:58:53
now I suppose if you're heading down
00:58:56
that sort of Road you you know you might
00:58:58
be more aware and better do something
00:58:59
about it yeah before it gets gets to
00:59:01
that point again yeah well that's
00:59:02
certainly I guess the ideal yeah but
00:59:05
again I know that sometimes it isn't
00:59:07
always as straightforward and simple as
00:59:08
that so
00:59:09
yeah it's it's life though and I know
00:59:12
that there's so many people out there
00:59:13
that are struggling in
00:59:15
um how important talking is about as you
00:59:17
know such a big big first step for a lot
00:59:20
of people it's massive age just showing
00:59:22
that vulnerability yeah absolutely and
00:59:24
that's something in sports in particular
00:59:26
you know what I mean it's there's that
00:59:28
mentality are you hard stuff you know
00:59:31
like toughen up we don't need to talk
00:59:33
about it yeah yeah I think
00:59:35
we're people first and foremost we're
00:59:37
not we're not cricketers not athletes
00:59:39
with people that play crickets so it's
00:59:42
really distinguishing between the two
00:59:43
because especially like I think about
00:59:44
these young ones coming through and the
00:59:46
different sort of pressures that they're
00:59:47
going to be put under I think about
00:59:48
social media and I'm like [ __ ] I'm so
00:59:50
glad I didn't have that as well and like
00:59:53
I'll tell you a funny example so the
00:59:54
recent World Cup for us I think we just
00:59:57
lost to
00:59:58
I think it might have been South Africa
01:00:00
or or England at a really close game and
01:00:03
we have a bit of a ritual where we just
01:00:06
come together after the game and we just
01:00:07
spend a bit of time together as a team
01:00:09
you know and I remember scrolling
01:00:12
through and seeing Oh here we go a
01:00:15
couple of people have slanted
01:00:17
you know oh this isn't word for word but
01:00:19
you are so [ __ ] you are a match fixer
01:00:21
how dare you be captain of New Zealand
01:00:23
you off the voice person ever
01:00:28
and you know and all of a sudden all the
01:00:30
other girls are chipping up oh what
01:00:32
about this one you are so [ __ ] [ __ ]
01:00:33
where did you learn to bowl like you
01:00:35
Irish disgrace to this country
01:00:40
and we're all having a laugh because
01:00:43
we're like What absolute [ __ ] are
01:00:45
sitting there sending this to and
01:00:47
whether you know we're absolutely
01:00:49
gattered you know we've lost the game
01:00:50
whatever else but to be able to share
01:00:51
that and this is weird isn't it but
01:00:54
we're all there to be able to share that
01:00:55
and support each other and you know try
01:00:56
and outdo each other with the worst
01:00:58
absolute Sledge on our phones but some
01:01:01
of the [ __ ] hey it's unreal unbelievable
01:01:03
whenever whenever I get things like that
01:01:06
um when you when you work in radio like
01:01:08
on a big mainstream station people can
01:01:10
text in all the time and uh we receive
01:01:13
some awful awful messages and I'd sit
01:01:16
there and think um
01:01:18
I think that like maybe 20 or 30 people
01:01:20
I know family and friends and would they
01:01:22
ever send a message to someone they
01:01:25
don't even know writing something so
01:01:27
horrible and I can't think of anyone in
01:01:29
my life that would do that and uh I
01:01:31
don't know I I got to the point towards
01:01:33
the end where I I was able to take a
01:01:35
more empathetic View and think what's
01:01:37
that person got going on in their life
01:01:38
like to be that miserable or that upset
01:01:41
about someone they don't even know it's
01:01:43
just sad isn't it yeah take a step back
01:01:46
that they're willing to spend the time
01:01:48
just send messages like that it's just
01:01:51
it's privilege it is [ __ ] but I think
01:01:54
I'm in a position where I can laugh at
01:01:56
it but I think about some poor 18 year
01:01:58
old kid that you know might not have had
01:02:00
the best day and they're getting
01:02:01
absolutely
01:02:02
slammed by something yeah that's the
01:02:04
thing oh yeah you when you're going
01:02:05
through a bad patch it's um yeah you
01:02:08
never know what someone's going through
01:02:09
when they're going to open and read that
01:02:11
yeah exactly so I think again that's
01:02:13
part of this our team environment now is
01:02:15
that we are really open and that we can
01:02:16
share that and sing I've got this really
01:02:18
[ __ ] message today you know whether we
01:02:20
have a laugh about it or whether we do
01:02:21
something more serious about it I think
01:02:23
that's really important to have that
01:02:25
sort of environment where you can talk
01:02:26
about it and
01:02:27
yeah share it because it can you know
01:02:30
getting a couple of those messages you
01:02:32
know can really
01:02:33
grind your gears have you sort of fan
01:02:36
since you've been um more open about
01:02:37
your mental health struggles that um
01:02:39
yeah other girls in the team have been
01:02:40
you know able to speak up if you sort of
01:02:43
you I suppose you've sort of established
01:02:44
that platform in a way yeah I think so
01:02:46
and I think that was I guess
01:02:48
it sounds weird that I call it you know
01:02:50
special and good
01:02:52
thinking of other people going through
01:02:53
hard times but
01:02:55
I think I'm really proud of myself like
01:02:57
when merely was going through stuff and
01:02:58
being able to reach out to her and being
01:03:00
able to spend a bit of time with you
01:03:01
whereas I'm not sure if it would have
01:03:03
happened if I hadn't gone through what I
01:03:04
went through and being able to just be
01:03:06
there and to listen and just to remember
01:03:09
we were just down shooting some hoops do
01:03:11
you know what I mean just being able to
01:03:12
spend time because I remember going
01:03:14
through it that
01:03:15
um
01:03:16
people can be really scared about what
01:03:18
they don't know what to say or they
01:03:19
don't know what to do and I guess for me
01:03:21
just be able to go down there and kick a
01:03:22
ball around or shoot some basketball
01:03:24
sort of thing that is sometimes all you
01:03:27
need to do so again I think that's that
01:03:29
learning piece for me is
01:03:30
sometimes there isn't the right thing to
01:03:32
say just be there right just be there
01:03:34
and be in here to listen to and
01:03:36
um so yeah again always learning and
01:03:39
always hoping that people can feel
01:03:40
comfortable but also understand that
01:03:42
some people aren't
01:03:43
really for that year but when they are
01:03:46
hopefully they know that my door's
01:03:48
always open and you know yeah absolutely
01:03:49
and I mean the more the more people
01:03:52
speak about it the more people realize
01:03:53
okay well what I'm going through is not
01:03:55
abnormal everyone's dealing with [ __ ] to
01:03:58
different degrees all right and that's
01:04:00
again one of the crazy things is when I
01:04:02
was going through is you do you feel
01:04:04
like you're the only person in the world
01:04:05
ever that has ever gone through anything
01:04:07
like that and once you do start speaking
01:04:09
about it I know I've felt like that
01:04:11
before and you know I've really
01:04:12
struggled in different times and it is
01:04:14
it's again it's a weight off thinking
01:04:15
I'm not some crazy person that's only
01:04:18
been the person to ever go through it so
01:04:20
again the power of being able to share
01:04:22
that with someone almost takes a little
01:04:24
bit of the heat out of it which is so
01:04:26
normal well I just looked at the clock
01:04:28
we've been going for an hour and we're
01:04:29
scratching the surface of the life of
01:04:32
Sophie Devine oh my god
01:04:35
um
01:04:35
oh yeah we haven't even haven't even
01:04:37
talked about your type 1 diabetes yet so
01:04:39
you you were diagnosed um with type 1
01:04:41
when you were 15 15. yeah so what does
01:04:44
that mean exactly part of my ignorance
01:04:46
um so we have to inject yourself with
01:04:48
insulin every every day yeah so I've got
01:04:49
my little pack with me that comes with
01:04:51
me everywhere so pancreas pretty much
01:04:53
the shed itself
01:04:55
um so I have to inject insulin every day
01:04:58
um test blood sugar levels on my fingers
01:05:00
again seven eight nine times a day
01:05:02
you're joking a little little little
01:05:05
finger Pricks yeah although at the
01:05:07
moment I'm lucky so I've got a little
01:05:08
sensor in that sort of does it for me
01:05:10
which technology is amazing it's changed
01:05:12
a lot and my I guess
01:05:14
couple years dealing with it um does the
01:05:17
thumb thing hurt nah you get used to it
01:05:19
yeah
01:05:22
it's been another challenge and I think
01:05:24
about the support and still I remember
01:05:25
the day
01:05:27
that I was diagnosed went down to the
01:05:28
local GP
01:05:30
um I remember I had all the classic
01:05:33
symptoms so I had lost a shitload I
01:05:35
reckon I lost about 10 kilo in a month I
01:05:36
was drinking like ridiculous amounts of
01:05:39
water eating more than my older brother
01:05:41
like all the symptoms and I remember
01:05:43
handing my mum about it and she still
01:05:45
gets a bit upset about this because she
01:05:47
blames herself for not picking up sooner
01:05:49
um but I remember Hannah being like Mom
01:05:51
you know I have something's going on she
01:05:53
said I've probably got a bladder
01:05:54
infection piss it out you'll be fine
01:05:57
sort of thing
01:05:59
um
01:05:59
and I remember it got to a point where I
01:06:01
walked into class one day and I was like
01:06:03
I can't even see the board like um
01:06:06
just blurred vision and I was like I've
01:06:08
never had a problem with my eyes I was
01:06:09
like mum there's actually something
01:06:10
can't wait and says oh [ __ ] fine drag my
01:06:13
ass down and literally within about 10
01:06:15
minutes the doctor was like look we
01:06:17
think you've got type 1 diabetes we just
01:06:19
need to check things out we'll send you
01:06:20
to the hospital I remember walking out
01:06:22
of the gp's office so me and Mum got
01:06:24
back into the car just parked outside
01:06:25
and we just both yeah it's bawling our
01:06:28
eyes out thinking what the [ __ ] is this
01:06:30
going to change yeah that age I suppose
01:06:33
it feels like a death sentence in a way
01:06:35
ah and I didn't know anything about
01:06:37
diabetes like I had an ankle that had it
01:06:39
but I mean I wasn't you know that
01:06:41
switched on about it so here I was
01:06:42
thinking I'm never going to be able to
01:06:43
play sport again I'm never going to be
01:06:45
able to have lollies and ice cream my
01:06:47
life is over
01:06:49
um
01:06:49
but you know I think back and we cried
01:06:52
for 10-15 minutes and then mum right
01:06:54
okay we've done our crying now let's
01:06:57
learn as much as we can we're going to
01:06:58
deal with it and that's it and literally
01:07:00
that was it we got back home packed the
01:07:02
bag we're off to hospital overnight and
01:07:04
from that point in time
01:07:05
we've really made a point of not using
01:07:08
it as an excuse or shying away from
01:07:10
anything and I was super lucky I
01:07:12
reckoned two or three weeks later I was
01:07:14
playing at a age group hockey tournament
01:07:16
ringing the diabetes specialist 6 30 in
01:07:19
the morning every day how much do I need
01:07:21
to inject my blood sugar is doing this
01:07:23
what can I eat so I just while you're
01:07:25
learning the ropes just while I'm
01:07:26
learning the ropes so um yeah it's
01:07:28
certainly been
01:07:31
a big part of my life I think it's
01:07:33
helped in certain ways as well like
01:07:34
having to be organized like I've got to
01:07:35
make sure I've got food I've got jelly
01:07:37
beans I've got you know and as an
01:07:40
athlete you need to be prepared you need
01:07:41
to be planned you don't know how long
01:07:42
training might go for a bit longer so
01:07:44
you might need you know that fuel so I
01:07:46
think that certainly helped
01:07:48
um and there's still times where I hate
01:07:49
it as well look I'll just get sick of it
01:07:52
and want to be down with it but I also
01:07:54
know that it's it's with me probably for
01:07:56
the rest of my life
01:07:58
um and I was really lucky a while ago I
01:08:00
used to work closely with with diabetes
01:08:02
New Zealand and just going and speaking
01:08:03
with families and kids and teenagers in
01:08:05
particular and the amount of times
01:08:07
parents would come up to me and be like
01:08:08
Oh I'm so scared about you know my boy
01:08:10
playing sports I don't want him to to
01:08:12
have a hypo or collapse or have a cut go
01:08:14
into a coma or anything and I'm thinking
01:08:17
it's okay like keep playing support
01:08:19
because it's so important in terms of
01:08:21
staying active and things like that like
01:08:23
it's such a massive benefit for managing
01:08:25
your diabetes so that was really
01:08:27
important to me to then be a real role
01:08:29
model with anyone with diabetes is to
01:08:31
say it shouldn't stop here you know what
01:08:33
I mean and it's again bizarre so we've
01:08:35
got two diabetics yeah Jessica as well
01:08:37
Jessica as well so I mean we're having
01:08:39
our own lingo about needles and sugar
01:08:41
levels and it's probably seeing like
01:08:42
real druggies and whatever else but um
01:08:45
yeah I think it's just
01:08:48
breaking down that stigma around what
01:08:50
people think diabetes is and stuff like
01:08:51
that but um so what what does it mean in
01:08:54
terms of diet like what what can't you
01:08:55
eat what can you I can eat whatever I
01:08:57
want yeah it just means I might have to
01:08:59
inject a bit more insulin to balance it
01:09:00
out but again as an athlete you want to
01:09:02
be eating well anyway so I think the two
01:09:04
sort of in a way go actually quite well
01:09:06
yeah and you talked before about um you
01:09:09
know concerned parents not wanting their
01:09:10
kids to play sport or not knowing has it
01:09:13
ever been an issue for you like when
01:09:14
you're out in the oval like for a very
01:09:16
long time yeah like there's been a
01:09:17
couple of times where I've
01:09:19
um had a few hypos and things like that
01:09:21
which pretty much means that you just
01:09:23
don't have enough sugar in your body
01:09:24
really so for me if I get quite low you
01:09:27
know I'll get the shakes I'll get tingly
01:09:29
tan fuzzy mouth a vision can sometimes
01:09:32
go a little bit you just feel like crap
01:09:33
really but it's a quick fix it's 10 15
01:09:36
minutes
01:09:37
um you know have a bit of food you know
01:09:39
a bit of sugar bit of carbs and you can
01:09:41
be back out there and I mean I I've done
01:09:43
this before and got it horribly wrong
01:09:45
sort of thinking
01:09:46
playing a game of cricket actually and I
01:09:48
was like I'm low I'll just shove my face
01:09:51
with as many jelly beans as I possibly
01:09:52
can which is great until you're nearly
01:09:55
choking on them and I just ran back out
01:09:57
there and I remember five minutes later
01:09:58
I was like [ __ ] I'm still no good here
01:10:00
but I'm like nah I'm fine I'm fine and I
01:10:03
was actually no I need to go and
01:10:05
properly attend to this so that was sort
01:10:07
of a bit of a learning curve for me like
01:10:08
you need to
01:10:09
make sure you get yourself right first
01:10:11
because you're not going to be much out
01:10:12
between around if you're carved out on
01:10:14
the floor yeah absolutely so yeah and um
01:10:18
so the next big thing for you is the
01:10:19
Commonwealth Games which is blood is
01:10:21
this you so you you never made it to the
01:10:23
Olympics uh with the New Zealand hockey
01:10:25
team have you this is your first time
01:10:27
talking wolf games first time talking
01:10:28
with games [ __ ] is this the first time
01:10:30
Cricket's been a commonwealth game sport
01:10:31
it has for it will be for women the men
01:10:34
went back in 99. that was the only time
01:10:36
that Cricket has been in the com games
01:10:38
right and how are you guys um like what
01:10:40
are your chances I think we're we're in
01:10:43
with a shout yeah I think it's obviously
01:10:44
been a fair bit of change the last
01:10:46
couple of months got a new coach as well
01:10:48
a fair few new faces in the group but
01:10:50
the great thing about T20 cricket is
01:10:52
it's anyone's game like it can take one
01:10:54
person to change
01:10:56
the the whole outlook on the game so
01:10:58
look I'm I'm really confident I know if
01:11:00
we play our best that we'll be in with
01:11:02
you know a hunt for the middles which I
01:11:04
never thought I'd say that hunt for the
01:11:05
middles that's you know
01:11:08
um so no I just absolutely can't wait
01:11:10
it's gonna be
01:11:11
like I love Sport and I so many years
01:11:14
just watching the games watching com
01:11:16
games and just fangirling over any New
01:11:19
Zealand athlete pretty much so to be in
01:11:21
amongst it is going to be pretty cool
01:11:22
yeah a lot of people are weird about the
01:11:24
Commonwealth Games but I bloody love
01:11:25
them I think they're fabulous I think
01:11:27
they're awesome oh brilliant and um yeah
01:11:29
yeah it'll be so nice for you rubbing
01:11:31
Robin's shoulders good day how's it
01:11:32
going
01:11:33
uh rubbing someone just opened the door
01:11:35
we're in like a an echoey room at the
01:11:37
back of um Sky Stadium have you have you
01:11:39
played here do you play cricket here
01:11:41
occasionally yeah yeah I've spent I
01:11:43
don't want to think about how many hours
01:11:44
I've spent on those Nets through the
01:11:46
other room there yeah um yeah so the
01:11:48
Commonwealth came so yeah yeah you being
01:11:50
in the games Village and rubbing
01:11:52
shoulders with you know other New
01:11:54
Zealand athletes it'll be a phenomenal
01:11:55
experience uh I've got to probably pull
01:11:58
my [ __ ] together a little bit because
01:11:59
I'll probably do that awkward
01:12:04
um I've been really fortunate actually
01:12:06
sort of the last year or two have
01:12:07
started to build a really good
01:12:08
relationship with some of the Black Finn
01:12:10
seven skills so Sarah had a knee and
01:12:11
Kelly brazier and just being able to
01:12:14
share knowledge and being able to share
01:12:16
learnings and experiences because at the
01:12:18
end of the day yes we might play
01:12:20
different sports but a lot of the
01:12:21
challenges and things we Face are the
01:12:23
same it doesn't matter what code you're
01:12:25
playing so to be able to to share
01:12:27
stories and you know share conversations
01:12:29
with them is something that I really
01:12:31
want to push not just female athletes
01:12:33
but all key ethics because it's one of
01:12:34
the massive benefits we've got with such
01:12:36
a small country everyone knows everyone
01:12:38
pretty much so why would we not share
01:12:40
share our knowledge absolutely helps
01:12:42
absolutely
01:12:43
how do you I mean you you probably don't
01:12:45
don't see this yourself but
01:12:48
um
01:12:48
other athletes over there will be like
01:12:51
fan grilling over you
01:12:52
I'm not well
01:12:54
I don't think so but you never know but
01:12:56
why don't you think so I don't know I
01:12:58
just don't think Cricket has the same
01:13:00
profile as some of the other sports do
01:13:02
hopefully it does in the future I think
01:13:04
about Miley cure and I think she could
01:13:05
be an absolute you know Global superstar
01:13:07
in the years to come
01:13:09
um was there just because of their
01:13:10
talent just their talent and where the
01:13:12
game's going as well
01:13:14
um you know she's probably already a big
01:13:15
hit in India and things like that but uh
01:13:18
certainly I think back home she's got
01:13:20
the potential as do a lot of these
01:13:22
younger girls coming through that
01:13:23
Cricket can hopefully be one of the most
01:13:25
popular sports for females in New
01:13:27
Zealand yeah Jesus I mean you guys have
01:13:29
done a lot like the um the um the World
01:13:31
Cup in March this year this is the
01:13:33
fourth one you've been involved with
01:13:34
yeah it's the first one in New Zealand
01:13:36
it felt like it was really big this year
01:13:38
um do you think that's because it was in
01:13:40
New Zealand or do you think that we've
01:13:41
just sort of reached a Tipping Point
01:13:42
when it comes to women's Cricket
01:13:44
um I think it was a bit of both I think
01:13:45
there's obviously the women's game has
01:13:47
been steadily growing for the last
01:13:48
couple of years and and I think I
01:13:51
actually saw some stats from the World
01:13:53
Cup in terms of of broadcast numbers and
01:13:55
things and it's blown everything out of
01:13:56
the water in terms of viewership and
01:13:58
stuff like that and fan engagement which
01:14:00
is unbelievable because a lot of people
01:14:01
think oh it's going to come to New
01:14:03
Zealand it doesn't have the same profile
01:14:04
not as big a country but it absolutely
01:14:06
smashed it and I'm so proud of the way
01:14:08
that New Zealand hosted that tournament
01:14:11
especially when you think about all the
01:14:12
covert [ __ ] that was going on so the
01:14:14
start of the tournament was obviously
01:14:16
restrictions on crowds and whatnot to
01:14:18
then think about the final between
01:14:19
Australia and England are sold out
01:14:21
Hagley oval and I know look absolutely I
01:14:24
would have loved to have been there
01:14:25
playing for New Zealand in the final but
01:14:26
to see the New Zealand Public get in
01:14:29
behind woman's cricket and watch one of
01:14:30
the best games of 50 over Cricket men's
01:14:32
or women's ever seen on a you know in a
01:14:35
final is unreal so
01:14:37
um just so extremely proud Andrea Nelson
01:14:40
who you know was part of the local
01:14:41
organizing Committee just
01:14:43
unreal like talking to players from
01:14:46
other teams and saying how awesome new
01:14:48
zealanders you know and how much they
01:14:50
enjoyed it that's
01:14:51
what makes me really proud and as well
01:14:53
some of the messages that we've got you
01:14:54
know of families saying thank you so
01:14:57
much for taking the time to come inside
01:14:58
my daughter's bet or things like that
01:15:01
like
01:15:03
a [ __ ] guttered that we didn't go
01:15:04
further in the tournament but I'm so
01:15:06
proud of how we played and you know
01:15:08
giving everything to that because
01:15:10
you know Cricket like sports such small
01:15:13
margins we win one of those games where
01:15:15
we lost you know yeah there was the last
01:15:16
over or the last Wicket or whatever it's
01:15:18
a completely different story in in the
01:15:20
conversation The Narrative is different
01:15:21
but um how we held ourselves as a team
01:15:23
is something I'm really proud of yeah oh
01:15:25
and so you should be here should be yes
01:15:28
it's it's yeah it's a good time isn't it
01:15:30
for sport and it's lucky that you have
01:15:32
um you've been around to experience this
01:15:34
I think I consider myself extremely
01:15:36
lucky that I've been in both I guess
01:15:39
yeah phases that I remember when I first
01:15:42
had the Wellington women's team we got
01:15:43
30 a day for your meal allowance and I'm
01:15:46
thinking [ __ ] yeah here I am free
01:15:48
Subways that's exactly exactly and
01:15:50
there's still now I still you know um
01:15:52
guilty pleasure is has gone to Subway
01:15:55
but um you know thinking that was a big
01:15:57
deal whereas now you know the contract
01:15:59
skills can play cricket full-time and
01:16:01
that's a job is the money or money all
01:16:04
right have you got some of that Indian
01:16:05
money no we haven't yet
01:16:07
um we're certainly making some big
01:16:09
strides though New Zealand Cricket have
01:16:10
been awesome yeah you've also got to
01:16:11
keep perspective that when you compare
01:16:13
us to Australia and England their
01:16:15
budgets uh yeah like 100 times bigger
01:16:18
than ours so of course when our men
01:16:20
don't get paid the same as Australian
01:16:21
men so for us it's really important to
01:16:23
keep that perspective but now the
01:16:25
opportunities that are available so like
01:16:27
I've played over in Australia in the T20
01:16:29
league for the last seven or eight years
01:16:30
and and that's been phenomenal and
01:16:32
that's just going from strength to
01:16:34
strength I'm heading over to the UK
01:16:35
after com games and playing in their
01:16:37
league which they're aiming for pay
01:16:39
parity within the next year or two which
01:16:41
will be unbelievable like I think the
01:16:43
guys topped here is 125 000 pounds which
01:16:47
for a couple of week tournament is
01:16:48
mind-blowing yeah double that that's
01:16:50
like quarter of a mil which is
01:16:52
ridiculous when I'm thinking 30 dollars
01:16:54
food allowance from Little Old New
01:16:56
Zealand how many Subways could you buy
01:16:59
my own franchise could be um but uh oh
01:17:04
it's just unbelievable
01:17:06
um I guess where this game's gone even
01:17:08
the last six seven eight years
01:17:11
when I first started you go play out in
01:17:13
the [ __ ] heaps out you know with the
01:17:16
paddocks when no one go watch you to
01:17:18
plan at Sky Stadium or the base in
01:17:19
reserve or you know edgebest and we're
01:17:22
at the com games it's it's those sort of
01:17:24
opportunities which are so special
01:17:25
that's so cool like the the Next
01:17:28
Generation and it's good that they won't
01:17:29
have to experience this but the next
01:17:31
generation won't have to experience
01:17:32
you're being the only girl on a boys
01:17:34
team having parents make snide remarks
01:17:38
and you got to experience that and now
01:17:40
this I know and it's it is in a way it's
01:17:43
bloody lucky it is I am very fortunate
01:17:45
to have been through the Journey that I
01:17:47
have been and like you say I hope it is
01:17:48
better for that next group of girls
01:17:50
coming through and I have this beautiful
01:17:52
boys as well I think at the end of the
01:17:53
day that was something that that we're
01:17:54
really passionate as a group with the
01:17:56
World Cup is we don't just want to
01:17:58
inspire young girls we want to inspire
01:18:00
young boys absolutely yeah because we
01:18:01
know that it's so important so um the
01:18:04
one thing that really does grow my gears
01:18:06
though about this new generation coming
01:18:07
through as we always used to fly economy
01:18:10
and then these little [ __ ] snare
01:18:13
they can barely fit a business class C
01:18:16
you know they've got like their feet are
01:18:19
swinging from the cheeks they can't
01:18:20
reach it and here they are swanning in
01:18:22
and they get that but um look it's just
01:18:24
some of the progress that's been made
01:18:25
it's certainly very lucky
01:18:28
how much longer are you going to keep
01:18:29
going for yeah you um you gave me a ride
01:18:32
in from the car park and you you told me
01:18:34
how many how many weeks a year you're
01:18:36
here in New Zealand so you've got a room
01:18:37
at your sister's house where you
01:18:39
basically dump your gear you're away
01:18:41
like how many weeks a year I reckon this
01:18:43
year
01:18:44
I've been here quite a bit actually but
01:18:47
uh I'll be lucky to be in New Zealand
01:18:49
for two or three months of this year
01:18:50
yeah like a quarter of the year
01:18:52
um
01:18:53
is that fatiguing or have you just done
01:18:55
it so long that you just don't even
01:18:56
think about it a bit of both but again
01:18:58
that's where those strategies become
01:18:59
really important is when I am on the
01:19:01
road and you're away from home Comforts
01:19:02
that making sure that you are still
01:19:04
doing those things consistently is
01:19:06
really important so when we leave the
01:19:08
com games the next time I'll be back in
01:19:09
New Zealand is end of November so
01:19:13
um it can be draining but it's also
01:19:15
you know I'm choosing to do this because
01:19:17
I love it and the opportunities that
01:19:19
have been presented to me is pretty
01:19:21
special yeah have you got a partner or
01:19:23
anyone it must be hard to hold down a
01:19:24
relationship with you yeah I do I'm
01:19:26
really lucky that um they're based in
01:19:28
Australia as well which you know just to
01:19:29
add another whole cricketer yep yep so
01:19:33
um that certainly helps as well so is
01:19:35
that how you guys met yeah it was
01:19:36
actually so that's you know again it's
01:19:39
the support
01:19:40
is just so important in finding time
01:19:42
obviously to try and spend time with
01:19:44
them is something that's really
01:19:45
important
01:19:46
um but again we both know having been
01:19:49
involved in qriket as we know how fickle
01:19:51
the game can be that you can be tossed
01:19:52
out you know if you're not performing
01:19:54
you know in six months time are they
01:19:56
still playing or are they coaching
01:19:58
coaching yeah yeah so um very
01:20:01
interesting it's good to getting that
01:20:02
perspective of things anyone famous who
01:20:04
is it no no one famous all right do you
01:20:07
keep the stuff pretty quiet uh yeah I do
01:20:09
I think private life I'm pretty yeah
01:20:11
pretty private
01:20:13
um and that's just how I am yeah yes how
01:20:16
long you guys been seeing each other
01:20:17
um coming up to three or four years now
01:20:19
I reckon four years yeah
01:20:21
there must be a lot of face timing too
01:20:24
much face timing and I reckon the actual
01:20:26
time we've probably spent in the same
01:20:28
room has probably only been about a year
01:20:30
or two and that's probably why we're
01:20:30
doing so well because we actually
01:20:40
I suppose you just do have to make it
01:20:43
that must have been hard during the
01:20:44
pandemic well lucky I spent a lot of
01:20:46
time over there so it actually worked
01:20:47
out okay
01:20:49
um what about tonight in Perth yeah I
01:20:52
know wow wow this must really be love
01:20:55
well yeah that's like a seven hour
01:20:58
flight you get off the plane and you're
01:20:59
like another two hours I could have been
01:21:01
in Hawaii it's actually pretty [ __ ] so
01:21:03
I don't know yeah interesting choice by
01:21:06
me but yeah look again I just I'm really
01:21:08
lucky that yeah it's meant to be I think
01:21:11
yeah you want to have a family one day
01:21:13
I think so I've always wanted to it's
01:21:16
always been part of the plan but when
01:21:18
that happens I don't know
01:21:20
um
01:21:21
yeah I guess the amazing thing again
01:21:23
that I've seen with the growth of
01:21:25
women's sport is is
01:21:27
female athletes going away to have their
01:21:28
kids and coming back to the game
01:21:30
obviously we were really really lucky
01:21:31
with Amy satisfway had her little girl
01:21:33
Grace and and she was a pretty much the
01:21:36
team mascot there which was awesome but
01:21:38
again just that perspective yeah do you
01:21:40
mean we can have a [ __ ] game and then
01:21:41
she rolls up and a big smile on her face
01:21:43
what's for tea yeah she couldn't care
01:21:45
less about it like you seem to have like
01:21:48
really good um perspective now has that
01:21:50
just sort of come with maturity do you
01:21:51
think and yeah yeah absolutely like I
01:21:53
think back to my younger years and [ __ ]
01:21:55
I made some stupid mistakes especially
01:21:57
on tour and Cricket things like getting
01:22:00
stood down for drinking and just stupid
01:22:02
[ __ ] but again I think that gives me
01:22:05
perspective of these young ones coming
01:22:07
through I get it I know the the law of
01:22:09
you know having a few too many drinks or
01:22:11
wanting to go out and party or whatever
01:22:12
else nowadays if I'm staying up past 9 9
01:22:16
30 you know
01:22:18
yeah I'm struggling the next day but um
01:22:21
yeah I think yeah I've been through that
01:22:24
sort of phase of of My Life
01:22:26
um
01:22:27
and it sort of made me who I am today I
01:22:28
think yeah how much longer you're going
01:22:30
to keep going as long as you can or yeah
01:22:32
I don't know why these days where I'm
01:22:34
like I'm ready to hang it up and then
01:22:35
there's other days where I'm like I
01:22:36
don't want to sit behind a desk and you
01:22:38
know work nine till five so yeah because
01:22:40
have you thought about what's next
01:22:42
yes and no like a game we're really
01:22:44
lucky the support we get I guess with
01:22:45
that transition once you've finished
01:22:46
playing super important
01:22:48
um I definitely want to stay involved in
01:22:50
sport
01:22:51
um like I said I can't imagine I'd I was
01:22:54
[ __ ] at school so
01:22:56
um I can't imagine me yeah behind a desk
01:22:58
for eight hours a day so I'd have to be
01:23:00
doing something active and and helping
01:23:02
out that next crop of whether it's
01:23:04
cricketers whether it's another sport I
01:23:05
don't know but um again I think the
01:23:07
opportunities that are starting to
01:23:08
present itself for
01:23:10
females and sport is really exciting so
01:23:13
I'm not too sure yet but hopefully
01:23:14
something what about something something
01:23:16
still in the game like commentary would
01:23:18
you look at that yeah I've sort of done
01:23:19
a little bits and pieces
01:23:22
um I guess the interesting thing I find
01:23:23
about commentary though is if you want
01:23:25
to do that full-time you may as well be
01:23:27
planned is that yeah you're going to
01:23:29
have to be doing a lot of travel you're
01:23:30
gonna have to be on the road it's pretty
01:23:33
much the same as playing so um I don't
01:23:36
know that's always an option I think I'd
01:23:38
certainly coaching Wise It's a real one
01:23:40
a lot of girls maybe this is a hint that
01:23:42
they want me to leave and hang out the
01:23:44
boats but um they've asked me a lot
01:23:45
about coaching if I'm interested it's an
01:23:47
interesting one because I'm not a very
01:23:49
technical person at all like kid came up
01:23:52
to me asking about banning test it was
01:23:54
swing as hard as you can I don't know
01:23:56
just smash the [ __ ] out of it that's my
01:23:58
advice like there's not much technical
01:24:00
advice going on so I guess I need to
01:24:03
find out where my strengths and
01:24:04
weaknesses lie and how I can help that
01:24:06
next group coming through it's an
01:24:08
interesting one isn't it I remember
01:24:09
seeing an interview with Graham Henry
01:24:11
the old all black coach and he he's got
01:24:13
a theory that
01:24:15
um a lot of um successful former players
01:24:18
don't make very good coaches because
01:24:20
they they just find it too frustrating
01:24:22
because it's like you should just be
01:24:24
able to do it yeah so you'll probably be
01:24:26
exactly the same like you're saying
01:24:27
about I don't know just swing the
01:24:28
[ __ ] bet yeah well exactly and I
01:24:30
guess that's where I need to find
01:24:32
I've actually bizarrely on the I think
01:24:34
I'm bordering on OCD I love my planning
01:24:36
and organization as maybe it's a team
01:24:38
manager maybe that's actually where I'm
01:24:40
probably a bit more better suited that
01:24:41
I'm not yeah losing my [ __ ] when people
01:24:43
can't do things but you know still
01:24:45
staying involved in that sporting
01:24:46
environment and and helping people out
01:24:48
to thrive to just focus on what they're
01:24:51
there to do so yeah I feel like yeah I
01:24:53
feel like we don't need to worry about
01:24:54
this yet I feel like you've got as many
01:24:55
years ahead of you as what you want
01:24:57
who's the oldest person in the team at
01:24:58
the moment uh Susie is at the moment how
01:25:00
old Susan she's 34.
01:25:03
going on 63 I reckon yeah
01:25:06
what does that mean oh she just loves a
01:25:09
good cup of tea and it's it's amazing
01:25:11
like I love Susie so much that um
01:25:15
she has got this real youthful energy
01:25:18
about her when you think that she's the
01:25:20
oldest person and she should be a bit
01:25:21
more mature she's out here trying to do
01:25:23
tick tocks with these young 18 19 year
01:25:25
olds and and they're loving it and I
01:25:27
think that's what makes our group really
01:25:28
special at the moment is like I said at
01:25:30
the start I didn't say anything for two
01:25:32
weeks because I was too scared whereas
01:25:34
here Susie is trying to Tick-Tock dance
01:25:37
with these youngsters and having fun and
01:25:39
you know breaking down that sort of
01:25:40
stuff and I just think that's so special
01:25:42
but that's also in just who she is is
01:25:43
that she
01:25:44
you know she just wants to have fun yeah
01:25:46
she just wants to sing and dance and you
01:25:49
know Play Good Cricket absolutely and
01:25:51
she's one of the hardest trainers I've
01:25:52
ever come across but just her ability to
01:25:55
connect with everyone from Every age um
01:25:59
is pretty cool oh this is such a good
01:26:00
environment
01:26:02
it's really special yeah I think
01:26:04
um we've probably copped a fair bit of
01:26:06
of [ __ ]
01:26:07
especially when our performances haven't
01:26:08
been up to scratch and I'm the first to
01:26:10
admit that we always want to win games
01:26:11
of cricket and we're doing everything we
01:26:13
can to try and win games of cricket
01:26:15
because it's why we play the game but
01:26:17
equal to that that was we want to make
01:26:19
sure that people are happy and safe and
01:26:22
feel like they can be who they are in
01:26:24
our environment so
01:26:25
um that takes time and we're not always
01:26:27
going to get it right but I think we
01:26:28
certainly stand to grow a pretty
01:26:30
incredible culture that I hope any young
01:26:32
female wants to come and be involved in
01:26:33
oh it's only going to go from strength
01:26:35
to strength isn't it fingers crossed
01:26:37
yeah
01:26:38
hey um thank you so much for your time
01:26:40
today it's been great it's been a great
01:26:41
chat
01:26:42
I'm great thank you so much sorry for
01:26:44
chewing your air off oh no absolutely
01:26:45
not I loved every minute of it it's
01:26:47
great and um geez what if whatever you
01:26:50
choose to do next I'm sure you're going
01:26:51
to be successful at it thank you it
01:26:53
means a lot yes I know I I truly believe
01:26:56
that and um yeah all the experiences
01:26:58
that you've had it just makes you a more
01:26:59
rounded person and yeah thanks for being
01:27:01
so open and vulnerable and sharing that
01:27:03
stuff thank you thanks for your time
01:27:04
yeah I really appreciate it hey good
01:27:06
luck hopefully next time I see you've
01:27:07
got a gold medal bloody hanging around
01:27:08
your neck yeah sure I'm not taking that
01:27:10
off or until I retire I'm gonna be
01:27:15
people on the podcast it's like where do
01:27:17
you keep your medals and some of them
01:27:18
are like you know some of them have them
01:27:20
on display some of them have them in a
01:27:21
drawer I'm like [ __ ] don't put it in a
01:27:23
drawer yeah I'm wearing that [ __ ] yeah
01:27:24
would that would that be would that be
01:27:26
one of the most meaningful Treasures of
01:27:27
your career if you want to come off
01:27:29
Games medal I think so yeah certainly be
01:27:31
up there I mean obviously World Cups are
01:27:33
the Pinnacle but I think the
01:27:34
Commonwealth Games is just there's just
01:27:36
something to it isn't there yeah and and
01:27:38
to think that we might not ever get that
01:27:39
opportunity again it could easily be
01:27:41
scrapped for the next com game so
01:27:43
um yeah it's certainly a huge
01:27:44
opportunity for us I want a thing to be
01:27:46
part of very special Sophie Divine good
01:27:49
luck thank you very much thanks very
01:27:51
much for making it all the way through
01:27:53
this episode of Runners only with dom
01:27:54
Harvey that was the wonderful Sophie
01:27:58
Devine I can't tell you how much I
01:28:00
appreciate having you along for this
01:28:01
journey and I can't believe with 32
01:28:03
episodes down already bloody hell it's
01:28:05
been a busy old year if you've ever got
01:28:06
any feedback you can send it to me
01:28:08
domharveynz gmail.com or get hold of me
01:28:11
on Instagram domharvey NZ is my account
01:28:14
name if you like the podcast you like
01:28:16
what you hear uh maybe you can do a
01:28:17
small favor for me wherever you get your
01:28:18
podcast from probably Spotify or apple
01:28:20
give it a rating if you like it I'm
01:28:22
saying this message at the end rather
01:28:24
than the front because if you made it
01:28:25
all the way through then I'm guessing
01:28:26
maybe you didn't mind it too much
01:28:28
another thing you could do with some
01:28:29
Word of Mouth really helps so if you can
01:28:32
think of someone fat what gets me out of
01:28:34
it or enjoy it please share with them
01:28:36
Runners only with dom Harvey all right
01:28:38
thanks very much talk soon
