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Energetic Radio with Dale Sidebottom & Paul Campbell is a fantastic tool for people looking to bring fun play and happiness into each and every day. Listen along as Dale interviews world-renowned experts and shares his own experiences with you in this weekly podcast.
Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you by the
SchoolOfPlay, co hosted by Dale Sybottom and Paul
Campbell. Each week we'll bring to you tips, strategies and ideas on
how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you share
it with. All right, everybody, welcome back to energetic radio,
episode 371. It is a
beautiful, sunny morning being here in Melbourne and we are joined. We've got a
guest in the studio today. It's pretty exciting. I'm joined here by
Dale Sidebottom and the one and only Aaron Healy. How are you, mate?
Good, mate. Thank you so much for the invite and thanks for being, you know,
wonderful people and allowing me to come on board. We're
pumped, no worries at all. Aaron Healey's a bit formal. I like to call him
Double A Ron or heels. All right, Double A. A Ron. I think it's really
important. I was gonna ask you that. What do you like to be called? Like,
if I've been called lots of things.
No, no. I don't like sir, so I stay
away from sir, but anything else is fine. I' basically, what, heels?
Heels. Not a lot of people call me that. Oh, really? Aza. A lot of
people call me a. But yeah, not. Not heels. Or you get
the knuckleheads at school, that double Aon and all that.
Knucklehead. I think you've summed that up pretty well. I've got a cover mates called
Aaron and I call them all a. A Ryan.
That. That skit has killed us all. It's a brilliant
skit, though, isn't it? Have you seen that
skit? I haven't, but I can. I'll show it to you afterwards. It's a cracker.
I get it, though. I can imagine your students be all over it once it's
killed it. Killed it every day. I love it. I love it. Just for all
the listeners at home, bit of introduction to heels or double A Ron over here.
So heels, you're. You're a son, you're a father, you're
a husband. All right, you're a sports performance coach or a
sports performance coordinator. You've worked at the Victorian Institute of
Sport, you're a technical director of football, you've been
assistant coach at a very high level at Melbourne Victory Soccer Club, working under
Ernie Merrick. And something that I found that I did not know because this
man is incredibly humble and did not let me know this in all the years
we've known each other, is he also represented Australia at the Under 17
World cup for football or soccer, as we like to call it. So many
moons ago. Many moons ago. 91. Yeah. It's just after. On the back of
Italia 90, which for me was the. The World Cup. Everyone, I think,
has a World cup that you grow up with. And for me, it was that.
That World cup of Paul Gascoigne and Toto Scalacci and these guys.
Yeah. And we were there the year later, and it was awesome. Got to
meet Palais and all that sort of stuff over there. We had a great time.
So that is magic. And I'll echo that. Italia 90
was. Was the World Cup. That strikes a chord with me, too. It was bloody
brilliant. That England team at the time, it was.
It just captivated, I think, our generation. I was
in. At that. That point in time, and to be in Italy the year
after, playing in those cyber stadiums and things like that was phenomenal.
Yeah, that's awesome. And we lost to Argentina in the quarterfinals. Two,
one. And I never. I cried my eyes out that night. Did you make
it through? But, yeah, we did ever so well, but just didn't get the chocolates.
Yeah. It's amazing. What's your fondest memory of that? Because a lot
of. Do you ever sit back and think, that's a bloody amazing achievement? And, like,
do you take the time to. Everything. How cool was that? Or at the time
was it. That was just life and part of what was happening. He was. It's
a great question. I loved it. And
I look back on it with great fondness, but I just. I don't. It
doesn't. It plays a small part in who I am. And I was. I
was lucky as a young kid to be able to. To travel through
soccer, through football. And I traveled a lot from probably
14, 15, 16 years of age. I was
in South America, Europe, all over the place. But the one thing it
did give me was great perspective. And when I got back to Australia, I go,
how lucky am I to live in this country? How lucky am I to.
You know, we're in Chile, for instance, and we went to the
ambassador's house in Santiago in Chile. And I was. I
had my 16th birthday in Santiago, and
we're out in the bus to the ambassador's house. On one side of the
road, there's shanty towns, people living rough, you know,
got not a penny to rub together effectively. And we drive
through these gates and it's palatial, you know, manicured lawns, butlers
sort of stuff. And there was no. There's no middle Class. It was like, you're
either rich or you're poor, right. And. And you come back home and you get
that perspective and go, oh, I'm so lucky. I've got running water. I'm so lucky.
Yeah. You know, so it gave me great perspective. Besides the other things of
being able to play the game, I love that gave me some really good perspective
from a young age. So, yeah, I appreciate that more than
anything. I love that response, mate. I really do. And I think traveling is the
most gratifying experience and I think you just have to leave
Australia sometimes to realise how bloody lucky we are. So it's funny
that from everything you did there and mentioning playing at the top level, what you
got out of it. Yeah. I think it shows something. Probably the human you are.
That's what you brought across. It's interesting. I've got. My oldest son's over in
Europe at the moment and when he left, he's been over there for six months.
And when he left, I said, mate, enjoy yourself, have a great time,
but I hope you'll come back with a bit of perspective. And that's what it's
about for me. That's great. We speak about perspective all the time in our workshops
and on this podcast as well, don't we? I think for me, that's the number
one. One of the most important skills or traits
you can possess is to have good perspective and always put things. Things can
go to shit, things get tough, whatever it might be. But how many times have
we said this? If you threw all the world problems in a big pile, you'd
probably take your own back out. Nine times out of 10,
compared to. What other people are going through on the other side of the world.
And you really would. You'd probably somewhere, someone somewhere else in the world
who's going through a lot. Harder, a lot harder than stuff you are. So I
think get the notion of you learned that. That persp 16,
which is. It's a pretty good time to learn it. I don't know. I know
many people would have learned at that age. Yeah. But when. When do you reckon
the best age is to learn? Earliest is youngest for sure. But
when did. When have you got the mind, the maturity to sort of get it?
I. I don't know whether I got it straight away, to be totally honest,
but I think Certainly early to
mid-20s, I started to get it. Yeah. And realized how important
family was, realized how important friends are
your real friends. You know, everyone's got followers or whatever. I'm
not on Social media, but everyone's got followers, you know, how many real
true friends you've got. And working on that I think is really important.
So, yeah, I think I. I didn't get it straight away, but I think you
certainly learned. Yeah, the seed was planted. That's probably because you had
to grow up early, like. Yeah, your childhood's a lot different than most
heels. Yeah. But my mum and dad came to see me in. In Italy
and they had to get another mortgage out to come over and see me. So
I was extremely grateful for that. And they come into the place
I was in the hotel were in. And I didn't know back
in the days what a bidet was, but I was soaking. I
was soaking my jocks and socks in the bidet, you know, like using it as
a bit of a, you know, I was doing the washing, mum, you
know, so it was with the. Other boys in the team as I'm just picturing
these six deal boys hold their jocks up over there. Yeah. But I was doing
the washing, which was amazing. That wasn't just turn me jocks inside
out. Lucky you didn't turn a button too close. I didn't get any of that,
but it was good. So, yeah, I love it. And we try and teach
young people perspective. It is. The education's getting a lot better and trying
to teach. But you're right, I don't reckon we can teach it to the cows
come home. But I don't think we'll get it until mid 20s anyway. I just
don't think we mature enough, especially men. Yeah, I'm in that adult education
space now and you see a lot of. A lot of young
adults coming through and they've got the weight of the world on their shoulders and
you go, hang on. Like, is it really, you know, like you're trying to sort
of decipher what's. What you should be carrying
and what perhaps is not that, you know, you shouldn't be sweating those types of
things. And some people just need a bit of perspective in that regard to go,
okay, hey, that's not that important. This is. That's where I need
to spend my time and effort. So, yeah, you see that all the time. With
that, with that, he'll say, obviously educating and coaching, a lot of
times, same thing. Yeah, they are exactly right. But a lot of time that
people can't be told, particularly young males, I couldn't be told, I still can't be
told. But they need to feel it. They need to be the one that just
decides that so sometimes you know what's best for them. How do you get that
across? Do you story. Do you narrative. Is there things that
you've learned that are better than others? Yeah. I look back and I go, I
was very fortunate to have a. An amazing family
with great parents. And they would always say to me, you never know to have
a go. But yeah. And I try and say in my. Even the
classes have a go, you'll never know to have a go. But I'm trying to
set that environment that they can make the mistakes fail, but they're
not going to get crucified for it in the real world. So they want. When
they're coming into that education setting, it's that they're free to, you know,
I suppose, experiment, be creative, make mistakes without
vilifications, you know, I suppose massive
consequences. So, yeah, I've sort of grown up with that. Like, you
know, and it's. What is it the, the old. Was it
Ted Lasso saying now or Walt Whitman, be curious. Be curious, not
judgmental. I'm trying to get people to be more curious. Make mistakes.
Fail is okay, but what do we do after that? And make that.
And set that learning environment. They can. They feel free to do that. So. Yeah,
I love the. I love the failure movement that's been coming on for the last
few. Been. Been on for a while. For a while now, hasn't it? But. Well
though. Is it? Yeah. But I feel as though, you know, you've spoken about. I
would imagine most educators are now switched on enough to think about really
getting that message across that it's okay to fail because it means you're stepping out
of your comfort zone, you're trying new things. That's where we grow. You've been brave,
you're being brave, and we'd rather that and make mistakes than, you know, you sit
in the hole. And particularly in education setting, particularly in that setting in
a classroom, you know, like, I run a lot of practical, sort of
experiential learning type stuff where they get to, you know,
we do some work at the moment with special schools. They come out and I
go run a session for these special school kids and see how you go. And
they go, I can't do it. I'm gonna. Don't worry about it. Go it. We're
here to help. And if you, if you do do it wrong, you're gonna learn
next time. There's no, no consequence to it. You're just learning, you know, So I
think getting those shackles off them is probably you know, the
major hurdle I. Think, have you, you've been working with human beings for a
long time now, right through coaching and through education, whatever it is.
What's the shift that you've seen? Do you think young
people are becoming more fearful to make mistakes? Do you think
they're more anxious about it? Is it going the other way? What have you seen?
What have you felt? I would say, and this is a very
general generalized comment, but for me,
I work on confidence and self belief. I don't teach.
You know, I think you put them in an environment where,
you know, the, the curriculum is the curriculum, but I
think a lot of them have various levels of confidence
and various levels of self belief or non self belief. You
know, they're really struggling with can I do this, am I the right person
for this, etc. So I think in, in sport and in
coaching, I spend a lot of time just building people, building people
up, saying how great was that, how wonderful was that?
Even if they fail, I go, what a great effort. Let's go again,
let's try this next time, whatever it might be. So I think there's. And
I was very fortunate. Again, if I look back at. And I did a bit
of that, sort of over knowing I was coming on here over the last sort
of couple of weeks and reflecting on the impact that
not only parents but my coaches and teachers have had on me.
I was very fortunate, you know, at year 10, 11, 12,
when I was traveling a lot. But people would probably think English wasn't
my best subject. It was my best subject at school. Why? Because the
teacher believed in me, she would challenge
me and she was, she was a wonderful lady. But
that was what. And I look back on that and I think if I ask
most people now, what was your favorite subject? It's not necessarily the subject,
it's more the, the relationship you had with the teacher that,
that brought that love or passion for whatever
subject or sport it was that you loved. I had some great
coaches, including my dad, but you know, some other coaches
that really just believed in me and gave me some
responsibility and you know, and if you did fail, it was like, hey,
you don't mean to fail. I know you're trying your guts out, but hey, that's
great and we can move on from it. So I was very fortunate to have
that. And I think now I look back on it, I go, I'm now that
person. Yeah. That should be providing that to some others
and the youngsters. Yeah. Do you still, do you get. I've Never seen it.
I've never seen it. Do you get frustrated? Do you get. I've never seen you
lose it. I've never seen you lose. You're very surdive. Or keep very calm and
humble and do you ever lose it? Or you. If you were to ask my
sons. Probably what goes on behind
closed doors. I try not to
look. There's. And it's hard
talking about mentors and things like that I think is really important. I sat next
to a guy for, I suppose, seven years in the A League, but I also
work with him at the Institute of Sport, Bernie Merrick for 10 years.
And you know, we'd be, you know, what was it, 5
nil up in the grand final of the A League. And he's still dry,
you know, I said with like 10 minutes to go, I said, I think we've
got it, you know, and he's still driving people and stuff.
But his emotional levels were, you know, no
matter what happened, he was always sort of in between, sort of balanced.
And I think that a bit of that rubbed off of me. No doubt. Like,
you know, again, I think even your worst day, it's not that bad.
Yeah. And I try and stay between sort of. I think if
you, you know, your ones are your terrible days, like, you
know, you're losing family members, stuff like my dad passed away three years ago
from dementia. That's a one. That's a terrible day. You
know, at the office, a 10 is, you know, you have an
unbelievable. You might win an A League grand final or whatever, you know
that that's a 10. Or you. I should actually say that the birth of your
child. We can edit that size first here.
The birth of your child. The A League, you know, is probably a
9 or something like that. Right. But
then I think day to day, you sort of. I like to sit between
a 4 and 7 and nothing's going to be too bad, nothing's going to be
too great. It's sort of. I try and balance it there. So that's where
I sort of like to sit. I love it. Who's. Who's a
question without notice, who's the best leader you've worked under
or worked alongside? It's a good question.
It's a very good question. Look, I would say
Ernie's right up there. Okay. Just
never micromanaged, you know,
I think has the ability, I think a good leader has the ability to get
a. A good group of highly talented people together and get
them to work and don't have to stand over the top of them and tell
them what to do, but sort of guide and facilitate. And
so he would be. He would be right up there, you know, in regards
to, you know, his success as a coach, not only at. At
Victory, but Wellington, wherever else he's gone is, you know, would
say that he's probably right up there. There have been
others, you know, others that you've.
You've witnessed and things like that. I've had the, you know, real fortune
to go into other elite
sporting contexts as well, sporting teams and things like that, and see how
they do it, you know, just as a fly on the wall and get to
meet people and stuff like that. And it's. It's intriguing. What's. Sorry to
interrupt you there. I'm really curious about professional sports.
Professional sport. But what goes on behind closed doors is what you don't see.
What's the best organization that you've been to and been a fly on the
wall? It's a very good question.
Look, for me in Melbourne, it's very hard to go past
Melbourne Storm. For Melbourne Storm were just a
phenomenal organisation and I also had
the great fortune. I'm not going to name names, but into a couple of AFL
clubs in Melbourne as well. And they were, you know, incredibly humble,
incredibly welcoming, and the people in
there were, you know, it was no surprise that they were going to, you know,
go on and win premierships and things like that. So I look, I think
for me, most organizations, and not just one leader, I think there's. You
need to have a strong leadership group or
whether it's an executive or whatever it might be, there needs to be a group
of strong leaders in any organisation. And
fundamentally, they've all got good people in them.
It's just not a fluke that you have a heap of talented people, but who
are actual knuckleheads and not nice people. They don't
usually get success. It's usually. They've got great leaders, great
people all working hard. Their effort is unbelievable.
They've all got great attitudes and that tends
to be where. Where the gold is. Yeah. And this. There's not a
huge movement, but there's a lot of ethos at the moment around sporting clubs
and. And having fun and. And enjoying your time. And,
you know, you look at some clubs that, you know, where the coach is an
authoritarian, you know, it's a bit of a dictator and sucks the life out of
it. And you've got other clubs. We talk about Craig McRae a lot and, you
know, you, Damien Hardwickson, and got Chris Fagan. I
just think what they've done is. And you look at them, how humble they are.
And it's not about them, but a lot of coaches make it about them. And
I just think it's fascinating to shift, but it's the way the
world needs to go in all aspects. And I think coaching is a great avenue
for that. But, yeah, are you bringing that in? Obviously, you're a technical director of
football now at Berek, at NBA. Are you bringing that in at that level or
is that important to you guys at that level at the moment? Do you
focus on it, that the young players just love it? Yeah,
just love it. And that sense of team and just. Really, it's about
developing a passion for the game. Yeah. Being
able to see you coach in action and, you know, to see. For
me, it's all about
encouraging young people to fall in love, develop a passion for the game,
that they'll stay involved in the game at whatever level. Okay. We're not all
going to be Cristiano Ronaldo's or, you
know, Scott Pendlebury's or whatever. Get out there and
just play with your mates and love it. You
see so many times, you know, I've got over
the journey, you see coaches and the way they coach. One coach comes out
and goes, oh, bought a suitcase and bought the suitcase
to training, opened it up and this is why you play the game, to win
all your trophy. This is why you win the game, all these trophies. And I'm
going, I said, that's not why you play the game.
I said, you play the game because. You play the game because
for your mates. And, you know, and I was, I was talking to a mate
that I played under sevens, under eight soccer with last night on the phone. And
we're still mates to this day. But you, you develop those friendships and those
passions. I think the, at the moment, there's just been some
research out that I think there's like 30 to 40,000 odd
teenagers dropping out of sport every year. It's crazy.
We can't have that. No. And so I, for me right
now at the club I'm involved with, it's great to see. We've got some players
who are 18, 19, 20, who have perhaps not kicked on and are
playing in the seniors, but they want to come back and coach under nines, under
tens. And I go, that's brilliant. And they're loving it. They're loving coaching
at 22, 23. They're loving coaching these young kids. And I
said, remember, what you were like when you were a kid and how much you
loved it. We'll do sessions that you loved as a kid, you
know, and be able to get that influence to the coaches.
For me, it's all about having fun with your mates. Rain, hail or
shine, you know, just loving it. Yep. And those, those young
bucks that have come back to coaching, they're not getting their physical benefits
but they're getting the mental benefits out of being part of a community, something bigger
than themselves, surrounded by like minded, connecting with each other
and that makes this thing that, you know, makes your heart sing. Right. So they,
they are. Well, the guys that I'm working with at the moment, they're loving it.
You know, a couple of mates just together and they come back and they go,
hey, let's take this team. And they haven't, they were nervous and obviously
apprehensive at the start, but they've finished a year and you go and, you know,
kicking on now. And I said, for me that's important because they stay in the
game. Yeah. You know, they may not and they're going to go and play soccer,
fives or whatever. They're staying fit and healthy. There's connection, there's,
you know, mateship, all that sort of stuff. Obviously the mental health physical
benefits are, you know, enormous. Enormous. But yeah, I
just encourage that. Yeah. You. Did you get into coaching pretty young?
Yeah, I did, yeah. Because I was looking when I was doing a bit of
research and coming in, I'm like, did you must have started young. My, my body
fell to pieces. What was it
that went at about 20? I, I saw my quad off my hip. Yeah. And
then I did my knee. And by the age of probably about, I
reckon my best years were probably until I was about 20, 21.
Okay. You poor bastards. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And then. Yeah. But I was, and again, I was fortunate. I
was at uni doing sports science and there was a little
note on the notice board if you want to go and do a sports science
traineeship at the vis. And I
applied for the job and I was an ex athlete
at the VIS anyway and you know, you know, some people and whatever else, I
think I, I didn't get it because I was any good. I got it because
I knew the people there. That's life. But
yes, I worked in, I worked in sports science for a year at the VIS
and loved it. And then, you know, I was there
and they said, do you want to come into the soccer program and help run,
you know, help. I was doing some Specialist coaching and stuff like that. And
then while I got into that, they said, you start doing your badges. So at
21, 22, I started doing my badges and then
at. I think I was like 34 when I finished my pro license. So,
yeah, you just sort of go through when you get sucked into that and. And
I really. Coaching is the same as teaching. I love seeing
people go on to bigger and better things, whether that's be they go on. I
was speaking to a. A young. You probably know the young man that we
had, but a young man who came in
into our education setting many years ago and his teachers at school said, mate,
go and get a job in a factory, you're no good. And he came in
to the education setting we were in and, you know, did he cert
3, cert 4 in fitness? Did he cert 3 cert for an outdoor rec diploma?
Sport, went to uni. He's now ahead of sport at a private school
out our way and, you know, loving it and. But he'd been told just go
and get a. Go and get a job, whatever else pigeonholed. Yeah. So
I think we have a responsibility to try and, you know, develop
not only young people, but athletes. And I love it when
they kick on and do bigger and better things, you know, whether that they go
on and be superstars of world football or whatever, or they go off
and be fantastic human beings in work and they're not
relying on the bank of mum and dad. I go, brilliant job done. Yeah, I
love it. Would you. Would you rather coach kids,
teens or adults?
That's a good question. I love it all, I have to say. Okay, I
love it all. Don't sit the fence if you had to pick one. What's that?
I honestly don't. Because at the end of the day, you know, you.
It's coaching, Right. You're just trying to influence. And
I think there's no doubt in my mind coaching under eight
team is tougher. Yeah. You know, trying to keep them
occupied after they've had a day of, you know, prep or whatever. Grade one.
Oh, you know, that's tougher. But there are also
challenges at the other end of the scale as well. But, yeah, I just,
I have to say, I love coaching. I love, I love being in this sort
of education, coaching space. I don't know, it's just I
fell into education more than anything. I thought I'd sort of keep on the coaching
and sports science sort of way, but. Yeah, yeah, I,
I have no real preference, to be honest. I'd love to get back into senior
coaching but I'm equally happy
working that development space and helping young players, young people
evolve and develop. So can I ask you a bit of a selfish question?
Don't talk about Liverpool. Good. I know man. We lost menu over the weekend. It
hurt me as well. Don't hurt me as well. What are parents. What are
parents doing right? So I've got a. I've got a young boy,
Hunter, E7 about turn eight and
he's been, he's. He got, he's in an academy for next season. You got
selected and we've, we agree the academy's at age are a bit of a wank,
you know, I mean it's been like, should it really be in that sense,
in that space? Because you, you take, you coach at a high level when you've
been there. What are parents doing right? I don't say what
are parents doing wrong? What are parents doing right? That's very well framed. Thank
you. It's a tough question. You've given me again,
abuse. If you went the other way. I know, yeah, well we can, we can
get to there, but what are they doing right? Help me out. Oh, look,
there's no doubt that the resources and the
support that kids get now is huge. You know,
they don't want for much young people, I'd have to say.
So I'd say, you know, their support and their aspirations for their
child, son or daughter, is huge. And that's to be
applauded, no doubt about that. I would
just like to sort of preface that by saying there
needs to be a bit of balance.
How can I phrase really nicely but actually say whatever.
Look, I, I don't think they're wrong. I just think that if you're expecting your
little, your, your 8, 9, 10 year old son or daughter to be the
next Sam Kerr or Cristiano Ronaldo
or whatever, Harry Keel, whoever. I think, I think that's just huge pressure and
expectations to have on them. Just get them to love a game. And I like,
you know, the research says it as well, play a variety of sports, don't be
that specialist athlete. We're told a tale that you have to
specialise early, get your 10,000 hours and it's actually, you know, a false
tale that we're told. So I encourage, you know,
if it's like now, for instance, the soccer season effectively
runs 12 months a year, as you know. Right. But I encourage
them to go and play basketball, go for a swim, ride a bike, develop,
go and play basketball, go and do whatever and develop
different skills, different hand eye coordination with
different people, different division. Yeah. Like different groups
of people. Very important, all that stuff, you know, so I encourage that.
And look, the multi sport athletes, probably the,
you know, that's the one we should be trying to promote more than the specialist
athlete. Yeah, yeah. Look, the parents are
parents and I, you know, being one as well, I was sort of the one
that would stand away and stand up on the hill and not really say too
much. And so I understand that you, you've got the best
intentions for your, your son or daughter. Respect that
hugely. And I think the support they provide is
huge. Um, I often talk to him about the car ride home.
Yes. Give it to me. Well, you've probably seen me. Well,
have you seen the clip about the car ride home? I can show it to
you. No. So you know, I'll send it to you. But the car ride home
should be, you know, you know, either
there's various ways you do it, but it's not a chance for you to get
in the car and tell them how good or bad they played. You know, it's
a celebration. Yeah. You know, and you see some people, like I
played with a kid who would get, you know, back in the day, $5 a
goal. Right. He was, he was making huge money at
under tens. Right. But his dad stopped paying him. But under
11s, under 12s and he no longer played the game because his, his motivation
to play was monetary. Yeah, it was mandatory.
So yeah, I, I,
yeah, I just like to, you know, get them to play whatever game they
play. Love it. Like I got kids at the moment that are, or
young people at the moment that are going off and trying other sports. Fair play
to them if they want to come back to football or soccer or basketball. As
long as they're playing some sort of sport, I'm happy. Yeah. So. And that in
the car ride, the simplest thing you'd say is, I just, I love watching you
play. Yep. That's. And we learned something about
this the other day. Like we, I do a bit of coaching as well. My
kids don't always try and change everything they're doing.
You know, let them do it however they want and if you want some
help, come to me and then I'll help you. But otherwise we're just telling them
it's a negative all the time. And then for me that's been the best shift
I could have ever had. Yeah. And look, don't be wrong. I've been guilty of
it. Right. Get in the Car. And you go, mate, what was, you know, like,
focus or concentrate on this or whatever else, and you pull yourself up and you
go, oh, I'm being that bloke, see?
And I've got. I've got my youngest now who's playing reserve team football.
And, you know, I'd have to say I'm pretty hard on him, right. And I
have to. I'm always trying to pull myself back and go, hey. So I'm just
trying to say to him, mate, loved it. I love. And. And
you guys have got young kids, right? I'm at the other end, you know, where
they're 19, 21, and I miss going to watch them
play under nines, under tens football. So make the most of it while you
can, okay? My oldest, who's overseas, but he doesn't play
and I'd love to. He rang me from overseas, he said, dad, what
are you doing Monday nights? And I said, I don't know why. He says, we
want you to play. We're playing as five asides. And I said, yep, no problems,
I'm in. So we're gonna try and I'd love. I love to go and play
soccer with them and, you know, get to get that sort of stuff together. But
it goes that quickly. Yeah. And you just. I now, when I go and
watch him play, I just try and stay. And the coach in me wants to
come out sometimes, but I just have to go, nut, mate, great, well done. And
don't say anything unless he engages. Yeah, yeah. And I sometimes say
to him, do you want the coach? Want a coach or do you want dad?
Bang. That's nice. That's so simple. And if he wants. Yep, if he
wants to coach, I'll still be dad, but if he wants to dad, I'll
say, mate, well done, you know, so you gotta. You gotta balance that, I suppose.
Did you ever. Sorry, Cameron. Did you ever get to play with your sons? No.
So that's why. Now. Now you want to. No, I don't want. They. They rang.
They rang me up, but he's overseas, he rang me up, he says, oh, what
do you. I said, yep, I'm in. So I've got to get. Got to get
fit and see if I can get the legs going. But we'll see how we
go. If you ever need a cup of feelings, mate, there's good. Yeah, I've got
you on speed dial. Don't worry about that. I'm done.
He's no good. He's quite handy back in the day. Yeah. Now you're in
both of you. Where are you playing? We don't know yet. I think it'll be
soccer fires. I like
it. Outside of everything, outside of coaching, what lights you up?
What's something that lights you up? What fills you up and what puts a spring
you step. I love family time. I have to say, like, I
think again, perspective.
I think that during when my kids were little
and particularly teenagers, they're getting to the time now where
so my wife, who's a wonderful lady, love it a bit
but we sort of sit on the couch and look at each other and go.
Because there's no one in the house. All right. And. And I love a full
house. I love holidays, family holidays. I love.
So. So for me, spending time with family is.
Is the best for me and whether that's be,
you know, at a barbecue at home or away somewhere,
that's. That's where I'm happy. Yeah, 100%. For a couple of young
buck parents over here, I'm not giving parents
what was the hardest. What was the hardest era is
the. 0 to 4 is the 4. 10 is the. It
doesn't. Doesn't change. Doesn't. It doesn't change. Really? Really. And you
know what you think, you think when they get to 18 that you can
find. You're probably struggling with sleep deprivation. Yeah. It gets worse when they get
to 18, 19, 20. Well, they're out at nightclubs till 4:00 clock in the morning.
Are they going to be home? What time are they getting home? So your sleep
deprivation's still the same. You know, so just go out with them. Yeah, well,
at least you know they're safe. Maybe.
There you go. I love it. I love it.
Quiz master. Do you want to run a. So Dale's been. Mate, Dale's been working
on a new segment. I'm trying to come up with those heels. I'll be honest,
I haven't really. So you and I, you and I are going to be pitted
against each other. I'm not sure if you listened to. Last week week's pod, but
can I answer one? Yeah. Dulux Smartass.
That wasn't by the quiz, but that should have been.
He's one of the idiots that text me. You guys are idiots. Pelicans. I called
you pelicans. It wouldn't come to us. All right, so how is it
going to work? Is question whoever, heels or cambo,
you've got to say it first. We're going to buzz in. Yes,
we're going to buzz in as a Cambodian. Are we giving people at home
a few seconds to think of their. This isn't about them with the guests in
the room. They're listening to us. He also got 4 out of 10 last week.
So I wasn't very good. I don't even know where we're going here. What's that?
No, no, no. So they're just general knowledge. Okay. Yeah. So if you didn't know.
He was. I've been like on a TV show. Didn't go very well, but that's
on. The Quiz Master went on Tipping Point. I was straight out. Yes. Oh, yeah,
yeah. Straight out. He was this man last. Was that with Todd. Todd, yeah.
And he served and volleyed the crap out of me. Straight out. Okay.
And he loves TV like he loves games shows. Are we watching when we're away?
We watch game shows all the time. And he built up the carriage to go
on one and I was so pumped. That's on it. Like that's just before the
news. Yeah. Five o'. Clock. I'm never home at five o'. Clock. I don't think.
I don't think people have watched it like my parents and their friends.
Anyway, over Covid. It was on. The UK one was on at 3 o' clock
every day because I wasn't doing much. That was like, oh, got through another day.
And I'd sit down and watch it. I said, if it ever comes to Melbourne,
I'm gonna go on. Anyway. I went on. It was horrible. I'll never go on
another one because of that. On the quiz. Here we go. All right. So here
we go. It's first to three. If you get one wrong though, the other person
gets that point. If you don't buzz in, we pass it through to the keeper.
Let's do it. You stop controlling my question. He's not competitive.
Let me try and take over my quiz. The only thing I'm doing. All right.
Who scored an extra time drop goal for England to win the
2003? Johnny Wilkinson. Yes. Well
done. It was quick. It was a great. But I couldn't get his name. Defeat
Australia 2017
what animal is Baloo in the Jungle Book?
Pass. Blue is a bear. So no one got that. Made me feel better.
Come on. I was giving you a chance.
Which rock band did Brian May belong to? Queen.
I was gonna go see D.C. sort of wrong. It's Brian
Johnson. Ah, that is Brian Johnson. Oh, it's. He's going
Tipping Point. It's very nerve wracking. Don't
you thought you were nervous coming in here. All right. What
was the Y2K bug,
Paul? Yes, I started answering
the year 2000 when we're going to switch over. They thought the whole computer, the
whole system was going to crash, so a computer virus? Yes. Good. You just took
a long way to get there. I wasn't born then. So.
On May 11 May 2002, which
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical closed as a. Phantom of the Opera?
No, Cats closed on
the 21st anniversary because you got it wrong now. Is that too old? Yeah, it
is too old. Oh, designer. Here we go, here we go. Which online
encyclopedia was launched in 2001?
Oh, WikiLeaks. Yes, WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks. I would have said Wikipedia. Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is Wikipedia. Correct. Yes.
I was fist pumping. Congratulations.
Besides, obviously the quiz, which should be bloody proud, like, that's
a great achievement. As looking back at your career,
family, everything you've done, what are you most proud of that you've been able to
achieve? As probably not family side things, because we know we'd
all say the same thing, but as an individual, what's sort of the thing you're
most proud that you've been able to achieve? Good question.
It is a big one. You know, obviously, family aside, as
you said, for me, that's number one. I,
I'm, I'm proud of the fact I've had a little bit of influence on
young people's journey over the, over their careers and it's
only small. I think you have a, as a teacher, as a coach, you have
a, an influence, but maybe a minor
influence. It's an accumulation of those influences over time that lead to the person
at the end of the day. But I think I love it now when
I see, I hear, you know, stories of ex students that have come
up and going, I'm working the afl, I'm doing brilliant. Love it
when I, you know, are out coaching and you catch up with people and you
see guys that you've coached and they come up, give you a big hug and
go, God, those are the best days, weren't they at the vis route, victory and
stuff like that. So that I'm proud of that you, you've had a little
bit of an influence. There's been a lot of other people that have had that
influence as well, but to be part of that. And you know, as I said,
we worked, I've worked with some amazing people and amazing
teams, but to have that sort of relationship with people where
they come up and they go, we had the best time and I loved it.
That that, for me, is probably important. It's not about. I
don't. It's not about. You're talking about the trophies and stuff
before. For me, it's not about achievements or trophies, it's about
relationships. And for me, to have
hopefully some good relationships with some good people is the most important thing.
Whether you win, lose or draw or you get at a trophy. It doesn't. Doesn't
bother me. Yeah, but it's having those lasting relationships with people
and having that connection that's important. I love that. So that. That wasn't you
that brought the briefcase.
And I want to chime in there, and you're going to hate me saying this,
but I think you're elite at it. I think you're elite at relationships. And
that's what. That's what's drawn me to you is, is the
relationships and something that I look up to you
incredibly for is the way you go about treating human beings.
From the day we met, I felt, you know, the warmth and the.
And the care and the interest and you kept reaching out and we caught up
for coffees and those sorts of things. And, yeah, if anyone ever asked me, why
did I want to get you on here today? That's for me. That's it. It's
how you made me feel. Very kind words of you, mate. Thank you. How did
you two meet? Why? Are you a slab for that? No, not at all. Not
at all. How did you two meet?
Professionally. So through work. So in a previous
life. Yeah. A place called vfa, learning and
working with students, doing the cert, threes and fours and in sport
and those sorts of things. And. Yeah, and he was a teacher and I was
helping him find sort of placement and so we sort of worked together and, yeah,
hit it off pretty well. But, yeah, just the relationships, one on one. Appreciate it.
Thank you. My pleasure. It wasn't through soccer,
so I just put that. No. And. And that. That
connection came later. Yeah. And now, you know, we caught up during the year he
was coaching his sons and, you know, you catch up and, you know,
we've caught up for a milkshake and whatever else, you know, it's always good to
do that. So. Yeah, you asked Heals what he was proud of, mate, and this
is something we want to follow on. What's something you're proud of this week?
That. This week. Geez.
Put him on the spot. Yeah. I've listened to my mates. Thought I read
the quiz pretty well then. No,
this week, what am I proud of? I haven't really
Slept that well last week I spoke about sleeping well, but I've still got up
and going to the gym. So just doing, I think little things add up.
Just gritting your teeth and I think. When things aren't going that well in certain
aspects, it's a lot easier to make excuses. But that's when I think you just
have to do the little things that are often the hard things that, you
know, make you a better person. How crazy is that? On our walk into the
studio, Heels was talking about, I want to say
yes to more things. Yeah. Lean, you know, it's easy. It's easy to say no,
but it's harder to say yes, but he's made a bit. And that they fall
in love with each other. It's easier not to go to the gym because you
know, you can still get up and go, so. And you walk out, you'll walk
out of here today. Absolutely. And you gotta, you know, I, I've got to practice
what I preach more. Yeah, yeah. I always say to people, have a go,
you know, have a go. I think we all do though. I think we all
can look at some area of our life that we tell other people to do
something and we could look in the mirror and get better at that. Yeah, absolutely.
Like everybody could if they really wanted to. Yep. But it's easier to tell other
people. It's harder to do it yourself. Yeah, absolutely. You've got to practice it. Yeah,
yeah. 18 year old heels. I know you, obviously you were very
worldly. If you could go back over everything you've done, what would
be the one piece of advice you'd give your 18 year old self like this?
Not to be too hard on yourself. I think that would be it. I was
very, what's the word? I was
pretty, pretty hard on myself. Yep. Would always find faults
in and probably lack a bit of that
confidence and self belief that you're trying to talk about now and trying to get
across to your students and your athletes. So I would probably,
you know, err on that thing and go, hey, you know, it's not that bad.
You know, it's not your fault, it's, you know, that sort of stuff. So I'd
probably whether that's, you know, not be too hard on yourself but also
work on that confidence, self belief piece as well. Self
love maybe? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think because it is a hard, hard
skill, particularly that age. Yeah. And I just look now in the world we're in,
I think it's even harder with the comparison element and you Know the
devices. So judgmental. Yes. Correct. So judgment. But that's why it's so important
and particularly as parents that just. I love watching you play or I
love seeing you do that. Yeah. You know, simple is the best I
feel. Yeah. And I. Look, I, I, I love,
I love watching my sons, you know, go about their life
now. You know, I think, you know, my old dad, my dad said
to me, I just want you to have a better life and a better, you
know, experience than what I had. And I just want that for not
only my sons, but the people that you coach and teach and stuff like that.
So, yeah, I hope they, you know, in whatever facet they do, they
know they've got a mum and dad that support them whatever they want, and,
you know, we'll be there for them. And we. I just hope that
happens for them. So, yeah, I love it. I think that's a really nice way
to fit because at the end of the day, you want to leave the world
in a better place than what you started. The most important people in your life
are those people closest to you. I think it's such a simple notion,
but I think it's a lovely way to finish. That is awesome. Aaron. Double
A Ron heels. Thank you. I still don't think
he wanted to be called. He kills me with it all the time.
Hey, mate, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you. I know you're, I'm
gonna say you're a little bit nervous, right? I was. But can I also say
congratulations on the book365. 365 days of play.
I, When I received it in the mail, I have to say, I had a
tear in the eye. I loved it. The message in it was outstanding, but
well done. I think it's an outstanding book and hopefully there's
more, you know, to come. And the ideas in there are just huge.
And as I said before, I tried the. A couple of them and
I've struggled with a few of them. The steel side
bottoms. That's a tough one. No. So,
yeah, congratulations. Congratulations. And I love everything you're doing and huge
followers, so thanks very much. Thank you, mate. We really appreciate it. And I know
you're. There was nuggets of gold everywhere through that right and
center. I've loved it. It's been an awesome conversation. So
listen out there, take something from it, grab it, put something in your life. But
Aaron Healy, thank you very much. Thanks,
guys.