Dodds offering aspiring athletes a hand up
TONY Dodds is only six months removed from his professional triathlon career, but he is already helping breed the next wave of Otago champions.
The 31yearold spoke to the sports leaders from various secondary schools at the Sargood Centre yesterday.
It was just the latest engagement for the Otago Olympian, who gave an honest take on the realities of being a profes sional athlete.
The life is one he knows well, having called time on his career after competing in the Commonwealth Games in April.
Dodds remains involved in the sport, though. Alongside some speaking engagements, he is coaching about a dozen Otago triathletes and runners.
That fits around his new life — in which he is completing a pretrade carpentry course at the Otago Polytechnic.
‘‘I’m loving giving back, I suppose, some of my socalled expertise . . . ’’ he said.
‘‘My way might not always be the best, so I let people decide for themselves.
‘‘It’s not ‘my way is the best’. It’s more about ‘learn from this and you can choose whether to take that on board or not’.’’
He was feeling good about his decision to retire, although he admitted he had been unsure what he would do.
Keeping active still figured prominently and he was entered in the Challenge Daytona half ironman race in December.
That helped keep him ticking over, which was important as many endurance athletes had heart problems after stopping exercise once they finished competitively.
Dodds said he enjoyed passing on his experience to the next wave of Otago athletes.
‘‘It puts me on the spot a bit and they ask some really good questions that I don’t know the
exact answer to and it makes me think a little bit more.
‘‘All I can say [to them] is how I got through it [a professional career].
‘‘What I speak on is just raw, brutal honesty, what to expect ...
‘‘But being an athlete as a young person does help you become more determined to be disciplined and have routine.’’
He spoke of both the good and the bad of being a professional athlete.
While there were many perks of the job, he also mentioned the disappointments, the many trips to hospitals and having to deal with expectations.
He emphasised how useful studying alongside being an athlete was, as it was something he did not do and wished he had done.
However, his key point when asked to sum up his message was one around social media and being a good person, not just a good athlete.
‘‘What you see on social media is just a little bit of what you really should be seeing.
‘‘They look glamorous on social media but behind closed doors you don’t always want to set out to be like them.
‘‘I think to be a better person [more] than anything is more valuable to anybody.
There were ‘‘a lot of world champions, Olympic gold medallists, the best sports people in the world’’ but even though they were the greatest athletes not always nice people.
‘‘So I think being a good person is very valuable.’’