Since graduating from Mackillop Catholic College in 2018, I continued my educational pursuits at Guilford Young College and the University of Tasmania. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy growing into an adult, moving out of home and now finally working in the career I’ve been working towards since I was young.
Going to the University of Tasmania to study a Bachelor’s degree was essential to prepare myself for my ideal career as a Health and Physical Education Teacher. It has been my dream since I was in primary school to combine my passion for sport, exercise and healthy habits with education, knowing others aren’t always fortunate to have access to opportunities or skills to live long, healthy lives. My pursuit of this career has been influenced by many role models throughout my years as a student. There are no surprises that these role models were in fact my HPE teachers in primary school, high school and college. I remember them all so vividly, Mrs Dickson (Y7), Mr O’Brien (Y8), Mr Blackburn (Y9) and Mr O’Brien again (Y10).
At my first MacKillop athletics carnival, I remember sitting in the grandstand waiting for our first event, the 1500 metres. My friends took it upon themselves to make predictions of who’d win. Sadly, none chose me but thought I’d come second instead. Once the race started, their prediction started off correct. My main competitor had set a strong pace, a pace I was struggling to hold beyond the first two laps. I slowly dropped off which allowed a gap to form between me and my competitor. I didn’t completely give up hope, knowing my chances of coming second were still high if I kept running as hard as possible. With a gap of about 30 metres, I heard the iconic sound of the bell signifying the final lap. I tried to speed up, knowing I couldn’t leave anything left in the tank. That’s when I noticed something was happening ahead. The gap looked like it was slowly shrinking as if he was tiring, but too slowly to know for sure. With 200 metres to go, I had turned the 30 metre gap into 15, 10, then 5. We reached the final 100 metres and by this point we’re both at our limits, sprinting for the finish line. I felt like I was inching forward and hit the front with about 20 metres remaining.
I crossed the finish line with a jumble of emotions. The announcer, Mr Duffy, quickly informed the crowd a school record had just been broken. Both my competitor and I had beaten the record by almost 30 seconds which at the time would’ve also beaten the Year 8 and 9 1500m records. This just made the victory sweeter, solidifying myself as the best runner in my Year and one of the best runners in our school’s history. I made it my goal from then on to hunt down the remaining records. I improved each year, trained all year long and, by the time I was Year 10 had successfully claimed six more records. I had the clean sweep in the 1500m, having Year 7 through to 10 which was a personal accomplishment I still reflect on today. Knowing these records still exist is awesome. Although, there’s a saying in track and field that records are there to be broken, but winning stays forever. I cherish every win, every rivalry and every challenge I had to consistently face at the school level, SATIS level and state level.
This trait of ‘never being enough until I beat the next guy’ was a common theme throughout my running. In every grade, at every level I was always chasing. It’d happen so much it was a part of my identity. I was known for it, and I knew it about myself. It meant I had an extra level of confidence whenever I toed the line. Even if I was clearly not the best runner in the field, they could never be sure I’d never catch them eventually. If it wasn’t the first race, or the second, it was only a matter of time before I’d be right with them. This carried into college and then to University. But running for me has changed since. I no longer just simply, compete. I now enjoy the smaller things, like running for overall health, running before work to establish my day and coaching others to bettering themselves. Running has now and will forever be a part of my identity.
The advice I want to give to the current MKC students is based on my running journey I described above. Good routines and habits breed success, that’s undisputed. Having talent and skill makes things a lot easier, that’s common knowledge. However, the most important piece of the puzzle is your attitude, that’s underappreciated. Having a winner’s attitude doesn’t mean you have to win at all, in fact it’s the opposite. Nobody is born a winner, last time I checked even Usain Bolt couldn’t win a race straight out the womb. You must work for it, improving something about yourself each day. So what if you don’t win, clearly you weren’t the best on the day. But if you have a winner’s attitude that won’t bother you, because you’ll still wake up the next day looking to become better. This applies to anything, not just sport. Your education firstly will set you up for life so have a winner’s attitude when it comes to learning. Your future career will make a difference to the rest of your life, so why wouldn’t you apply that same winner’s attitude? The likelihood of you being the best at something is incredibly rare. This might sound unmotivating, but it’s not. It means you have an endless journey of self-improvement as long as you keep having a winner’s attitude. Win, lose or a draw, your attitude will keep you moving forward.
