Open letter - to all young champions!

- I recently wrote a letter to a young aspiring sports star who had asked me about how I came to play professional sport and if I had any advice for him. After writing my reply I felt that it might be worth tweaking a few things for anonymity but still sharing the bulk principals in an open forum.

For any young champion who may be interested...

It's great that you are thinking of competing professionally in your sport. I have been very lucky to play a sport for a living and I remind myself that every day. If you do achieve your dream, you will find there is so much more to this lifestyle than just competing in your sport. I have been given a fantastic opportunity away from the rugby league field to network and be involved in the community and my chosen charities, that I might not have had without the support base which comes with the professional sporting environment. 

However, it is important to know that just because a player is good at his/her game doesn't mean they will always make it to the top level. I know many blokes who were great rugby league players - better than some who play in the NRL - but just didn't get a chance to prove it. Remember that playing sport professionally is not your given right just because you're good at it. You should, instead, always consider it to be a privilege. 

That's enough of the somewhat negative talk, I just think it's important to remember that!  

For the moment, let's say and act like you are going to succeed. Confidence is a very powerful tool if you use it right! You have to think like a champion if you're ever going to be one. 

If you really want to be successful, it takes a lot of these three things... Commitment - Motivation - Belief.  

Of course, skill and ability are important too but you can learn everything you need in that respect with practice, practice, practice. 

To be committed and motivated is a CHOICE that you need to make every day. It doesn't just happen. Yes, some days you won't want to do what you know you need to do. But always remember where you want to be in life and what it is you want to achieve.  

The thing with goal setting, in this case professional sport, is that to get to where you want to be you need to know how to get there. 

So you know your long term goal, but what are your short term goals? 

I remember my first ever goal was to make the North Adelaide rep team. We would play the South Adelaide team and the best of those players would be selected to represent South Australia in the national schoolboy competition.

I used to use posters or photos as a visual reminder of where I wanted to be one day. I still do this now, only today the place I want to be has changed. The method still works though. It's important that once you reach your goals you always replace them with new ones. This is how a champion thinks, he/she is always looking to improve and better themselves. 

You need to know that goals are great but just because you set them doesn't mean you'll always achieve them. You have to learn to adapt. 

All my goals as a junior footballer came true. Then I moved to Canberra in 2002 and struggled for a long time. My goal was to play first grade for the Canberra Raiders. I didn't ever achieve that goal. In fact I didn't play first grade until 2011 and by then it was for a different team. That's a long time of asking myself am I going to do this? Will I play in the NRL? To be honest with you often I would say to myself, no I won't - which is not a nice feeling! 

The single most important thing to remember is this... Every time I asked myself CAN I do this? Do I believe I have the ability to do this? The answer was always, always YES! 

You need to believe you can or you never will. 

I'll leave you with this. If you believe you can achieve your dream of playing professional sport, don't ever let anyone tell you you can't. If you try out for one team/event and they knock you back, try another one. If you've tried them all, try them again. Don't give up until they tell you to not come back. You can then rest knowing you did everything you could to succeed.

That is exactly how a champion thinks. 

Good luck my young friend. Wishing you the very best in achieving your goal! 

  

 - Brenton Lawrence

Matt Hall Joy Flight - April 28, 2014

I'm not entirely sure if the first movie I ever saw was the 1986 cult classic Top Gun or Jim Hanson's 1982 “children's fantasy” The Dark Crystal. All I can say is, unlike The Muppet Show which everyone loved to watch, The Dark Crystal scared the hell out of me. If you remember looking at an evil Skeksis around the age of four or five you'll know what I'm talking about.

Keeping in mind this was 1989 where you may have owned a VHS player but no one really owned that many videos, you just hired them. Consequently at that age those were the only two movies I knew existed.

With the scary puppet demons out of the question, I loved to watch Top Gun. Of course I had no concept of the plot but I did love those F-14 Tomcats. Like most kids today will watch Frozen or The Lego Movie over and over, I would watch Top Gun. I was hooked.

Only adding to my fascination was the fact that my father was an Airman in the RAAF, so we were never far from an airfield. As a kid, I would try to guess the difference between the C-130 Hercules and a P-C3 Orion by the aircraft's sound vibration before looking up to confirm. One sound that you could never confuse was the deafening roar of the F-111. They were my favourite. They even made a great children's toy because the wings adjusted from a spread wingspan, just like a conventional airliner, to a swept wingspan when required.

Before I ever picked up a football I was captivated by aviation. My grandfather was a retired army aviator who whilst in service instructed in both fixed wing and rotary pilot training. He once wrote me a letter which essentially planned out a successful path to follow should I pursue a career in aviation. I have no doubt had I applied myself I would be a flying aircraft today. My grandfather has since passed away but I still have the letter which I read over from time to time.

I once felt disheartened that I may have wasted such an incredible asset by not following my dream into aviation. Yet, reading over his letter one day I realised I had in fact followed his advice to a T. Only now the dream of aviation had since transformed to a dream of professional football. As I read his letter and realised that all of the intrinsic principals of motivation and perseverance I had adapted in my approach to rugby league. He really was an incredible man!

As the story goes, I might be a professional rugby league player but you can never really lose that childhood fantasy of those magnificent men and their flying machines.   

Earlier this year, I was watching channel nine's Wide World of Sports and saw a story about Matt Hall. Matt is a former RAAF pilot who now flies in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Watching at home I saw channel nine reporter Bill Baxter sitting in the cockpit of Matt's light aircraft. I couldn't tell if he was crying or laughing - one this was for sure I knew I wanted to give that a go! 

Now, I have got to say I am very blessed and extremely thankful. Firstly to Bill Baxter for contacting Matt's team and putting together the segment for the Sunday Footy Show. I also want to thank Dave Lyall, Operations Manager at Matt Hall Racing for getting in touch and organising the flight. 

And of course the man himself Matt Hall. It's hard to express how exhilarating and terrifying and wonderful the whole experience was. I would implore anyone with even only a small interest in aviation to give this a try. You will not regret it. It's amazing to know that however long your life may be, a single twenty minutes of flying will be something you will never ever forget. Matt is genuinely a great guy! In the hands of a former RAAF Wing Commander, who flew his first solo flight at fifteen, I couldn't have felt safer. 

Currently, Matt is gearing up for the final meet of the 2014 World Championship in Austria.  

If you would like to know more about Matt Hall Racing or book a joy flight yourself, please visit http://matthallracing.com

Happy Landings!

Animal Encounters

I first met Ben Britton at a charity night I hosted a few months ago to support Autism Spectrum Australia (ASPECT). The evening was based around a game of Pictionary. Reason being - Pictionary focuses on similar social aspects that someone with autism may encounter. Namely, communication difficulties and imaginative thought. We had a number of prizes auctioned off throughout the night, raising about twelve thousand dollars all up.

Ben came to the event as a guest but in one of the breaks, he approached me and generously offered his services to be auctioned as a prize to support the charity. 

Ben is the face of Nat Geo Wild in Australia and New Zealand. His series Ben Britton’s Animal Encounters can be seen on the National Geographic Channel 616. He is also the director of Wild Animal Encounters, a company dedicated to promoting the conservation of all animal species by education and creating awareness.

Last week, I took my partner Casey out to see Zambi - a seven month old lion cub Ben cares for along with a number of other animals at his property in Western Sydney. I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience. Ben had told me prior to coming out not to be shy, that Zambi would sense it and not be so playful. It’s an incredible thing to crouch up to a lion cub and reach your hand out to rub its neck, confident that you'll still have your fingers by the end of it. 

That confidence only came from Ben’s prior encouragement. His passion for all animals is evident the moment you see him at work. In a few weeks, Ben is off to Botswana to work with the Northern Tuli Predator Project a program dedicated to big cat conservation in Africa.

If you would like to learn more please visit http://www.wildanimalencounters.com.au