THE WISDOM OF HAVING A ROLE MODEL IN LIFE
A ROLE model is a person who inspires and encourages you as an individual to strive for something better, to live and achieve to your fullest potential.
It is someone who we admire and aspire to be.
Normally we find that we learn through what they do and say, through their commitment to excellence and through their ability to make us realise how we can grow and develop.
They are normally someone who we look to for advice and guidance.
My inspiration as a young athlete was my first physical education teacher.
He was my first coach and I just wanted to be like him – to the extent that I did become a physical education teacher.
He drew the very best out of me and taught me the basics before I moved on to more specific coaches.
In my later years, my head coach who helped lead me to Olympic glory, John Daly, was my ultimate role model.
He was my adviser, my mentor, my confidant and most of all, my best friend.
In my personal coaching squad, I am very lucky to have a mixture of age groups from 12 through to 56.
I have found that this helps to show the younger athletes that the desire and commitment never dies but just gets stronger.
The older athletes help to guide the younger children on how to approach training and competition.
They have become great role models.
We all need someone who inspires us to be better than we are – whether this is a friend, relative, famous person, acquaintance, teacher or coach – they help us to work towards a goal.
The Pan Pacific Masters Games competition started on the Gold Coast last week and runs through to Sunday.
This year, along with competing in the track and field, I was asked by an acquaintance from a couple of years ago to play in her basketball team.
When asked some months ago, I jumped at the chance because of the idea of playing in a team rather than doing an individual sport was enticing.
Having not played for many years, all I was hoping for was not embarrassing myself.
Thank goodness the team was made up of 13 keen and regular-playing women.
Aged from 55 to 62, it was a group of mobile, active and very encouraging women. Speak about role models. I was so impressed.
I have always considered myself reasonably fit as I want to be a role model for the athletes that I coach.
At times this has been difficult because of hectic times in my life.