Showing Up – My Olympic Inspiration, A Minute, A Few Words, An Old T-shirt, Pay It Forward.
“You’re not in the official squad Toby. You don’t get swimmers and uniform.”
This announcement from the head coach was in front of 30 of the best water polo players in the country - some of them my great mates. All of us were striving to be a part of the Sydney Olympics just 2 years away.
We were in the briefing room above the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for an Australian Men’s water polo training camp with Serbia.
When the coach asked if everyone had their gear, I was the only one who put my hand to say I didn’t.
I was on scholarship, living and training at the AIS at the time. The training block in the lead up had been the hardest I’d ever trained. I’d put everything into it but still hadn’t been selected in the official squad.
It was a completely fair response.
“You can join in the conditioning work and be part of the warm ups. But you won’t be getting game time. You can watch and learn.”
I wanted to crawl into a dark corner and hide.
