SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yellow this is Rambles and Shambles with Anna. When I first met Rob, I remember thinking, finally, another tall human. He's been an athlete, a soldier, a coach. These days he runs resilience lifting and competes in boxing. But before we get into all of that, Mr. Rob, imagine I entered your house when you were 10 years old. What would your mum be yelling at you for?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hmm. Wow, what would Mumma be saying? I was doing a lot of chores helping mum out. So maybe it would have been mum having a goal with me for not putting out the washing, you know? Um, maybe yeah, something like that. So she'd come home from work from Ford and it wasn't done. It's very strict upbringing. Mum would have been about that. If dad was yelling at me, oh, would have been something to do with school, education, yeah, or sport. Because back the ten years old, I already started playing tennis. So back, so I'm 46 and a half now. So 1989, 1990, when Monica Sellers won the Australian Open. I remember sitting there watching with dad. Dad's like, Do you want to play tennis? I said tennis. I don't know, just never picked up tennis racket. And then um, for me, I was nine, ten years old, started playing tennis at center court here in Geelong, and I took to it like a natural. Now at that stage I didn't know who got on an issue, which was. Obviously became my idol eventually, who I met multiple times in person. And as I started playing tennis, picked it up, got private coaching, things went really well. And I was then I became obsessed with tennis. Like it was that obsessed with tennis, playing in the backyard, hitting the ball against the wall, yeah, ruining dad's perfect patch of grass that he laid and you know, annoying the hell out of the neighbors with the balls going on the roof. And so that was me. Tennis became literally my life, and school started struggling. So not struggle, but I was coping through school. But yeah, dad was school's everything. Years went by, like 12, 13, got better and better. Private coaching, playing tournaments here in Geelong. Then, unfortunately, as I got older, then the war started overseas, and you know, finances weren't the best for dad was supporting his, you know, his mum, my auntie, and all that. Their house got bombed um in Zadad in a in a village called Murovica. And um they luckily weren't home when the house was bombed. So, but then obviously tennis sort of I was just doing it when I could because dad couldn't afford coaching. So I had a bit of a rebelled against my my dad, and but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

How did you balance schoolwork and tennis?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Uh very poorly. For me, tennis became literally everything. Like I was so obsessed with tennis. Uh posters in my room, Ivan Ishwich and tennis, these rackets and yeah, so I tried to get through schools. Like, I think I wasn't the most academic. Not that I wasn't smart, but it's just like I think for me it was because even when I was at Holy Family, as a primary school, teachers were like, Robbie has so much potential, but it's always distracted, always this. Always distracted. He's got so much potential. That was always me, and I like always so much potential, but it was a task for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Because you played quite a bit of tennis when you were younger. What were you like on the court? Were you the kid that could lose a match and get on with your day? Or did that bother you?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, it bothered me. I was a perfectionist.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Was, huh?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Was uh I was uh obsessed with uh I was obsessed with winning. Everything had to go my way. Um I hated losing. I don't know where I got that from, but look, I uh did eventually have a bit of a temper. Uh I wouldn't say temper, like I'd get angry with referees or opponents, but I just at myself. And then backfight a few times, you know, just told to calm down, especially here at centre court. But um, even some of the tournaments people can say, oh, you know, you're a sore loser, but no, it's just like I expected better for myself. And even now to this day, years gone by as an adult, like I always want better, always want to do better. And that's how I was growing up with tennis.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

What do you think tennis taught you as as a kid?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Because it's an individual sport. I think I found that I benefit from that because it's me versus me. Sport the team sports were always something that I wasn't not good at. Like I was very uh athletic, you know. I played soccer well when I could, footy, I played footy for the army. So fitness was always something part of me. I could pick up any sport, basketball even, but team sports was something that I yeah, it wasn't for me. I found individual sports. So what tennis did so well for me. And then boxing and all that as well. So it's so I th I think tennis, when I look at it, it yeah, it taught me how to fight that inner person and make myself better and um day after day after day. So any sport that's just an individual thing, I think I could handle really well.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

And then by the time you got to high school, what sort of reputation did you have? What would your mates say about you or what would your teachers say?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

I was one of those ones that really wouldn't say slipped between the the cracks and sort of like under the radar. Like I think I was, yeah, I was never the class clown. I was never that one, the real like pin-up athlete, you know, football, soccer, whatever it was. I was just sort of but I was never the one that was like always picked on. I was just that one just below that but below that average. So it was a quiet one, which very, very difficult to sort of assume that. Me the quiet one. Um that would probably be like the reputation was I was just amongst that little blob of average to above average type students. So it wasn't really a standout anything. Yeah, cruise through it. But when I went through high school, like the expectation from mum and dad, especially dad was like, you gotta do this, you gotta do physics, you gotta do chemistry. I was like, nah. I was like, I think I the subjects I did was they were forced upon me. Math's methods, I was like, nah. The fact that I had to do them was a lot of pressure on me. And then finishing year 12, it wasn't the most brightest scores, but though enough to pass year 12. But I think if I chose different subjects, I probably would have done a lot better. But the pressure from the family was you had to do these real academic sort of type classes, and yeah, it's not for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

How did you end up with the kid that signed up for the army?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Well, there's a story to that. Finished year 12, didn't really uh go straight into s into any kind of um uni or anything like that. And um, I got into business, business marketing at Vic Uni. I was like, I did that for a semester. Uh I'm not in for this, like studying and that. It just wasn't me. So bookwork, studying, not me. So I pulled a pin on that after one semester, said to mum and dad, said, No, I'm not for studying. Like, well, you need to find a job. I said, okay. So I started looking for work. I went to interviews everywhere, Geelong, Melbourne. And out of nowhere, I went a couple interviews in Melbourne one day. I just happened to walk past Defence Force Recruiting, and I was like, What's this? Saw this A-frame sign at the front door, we want you. Almost like a propaganda type sort of sign. Like, do it now. But it worked. But it worked. Um and I was just like, I was like, oh, I'm gonna walk in. I walked into there, and I was literally going to an interview. Something drew me to go walk in there instead of this interview. So I never went to this interview. Um and the front office there, and they're like, Can we help you? I said, Oh, um, you came on joining ADF. I said, Well, yeah, they're like, finished school? Said, Yep. Do you want to join the academy or do you want to join general entry? I said, I want to get get into it. They're nitty-gritty, hands-on. They're like, Okay, general entry. They're like, get it back to us. I said, Can I fill it in now? Well, you're in no rush. I said, Can I fill this in now and then hand it in to you? And they're like, Okay, well, fill in what you got. Have you got all your details? Details. I said, Oh, I've got a birth certificate, I had everything on me because I was going to an interview. So I had this folder full of personal documents. So I was like, cat convenient. And this is like in the morning. So I filled all everything. And I was there for about half an hour, 40 minutes at the reception, handed it back. And the gentleman behind the counter, he goes, Are you in a rush? I said, No. He goes, Well, you need to do aperture testing. They booked me in for the aperture tests. So they go through straight away. So I already had missed calls from mum, like, where are you? I was just like, oh, yeah, busy, busy. Anyway, long story short, gets to my turn, ask questions, this and that. What's the interest you joined the defense force? Said, never thought about it in my life. You know, my grandfather was in the in the Navy, my uncle, my mum's side, my dad was in, obviously in the army, but never like did I think Australian Defense Force. The guy goes, Well, you're suitable for us. I said, Okay, cool. You're suitable for general entry. Basically, anyway, got in. So they said, basically, you're gonna get notified within a couple of months that you're gonna be off to Capuca, which is recruit training. So I got home anyway, said to Mum goes, Where were you? I said, Look, out of all places, I went to Defense Force recruiting. I'm gonna join the Australian Army. And mum's like, what? Dad came home from work, dad's like, well, full on where? What now? I'm like, oh, okay, if you want to do that, son, go for it. But they're like, whatever. Anyway, three, four weeks later, this express registered mail letter came and said it was, I'm like, opened it up. I had three weeks notice to basically you're going through recruit training. I'm like, okay, this shit's happening. And obviously, all my mates and I told him I said, I've joined the army, and they're like, what? Oh, get a trade. What become this, become this? I was the first out of our group, Australian Army. There you go. So it happened, Anna. Mum's like carrying on, like, my sin's gonna go to the army. It is what it is. That's history now. Like, it's I joined and spent almost eight years.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Do you remember the first point where you were like, oh crap, this is very different from what I imagined.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

You mean as in once I was in?

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah, once you're in.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yeah, I got a root shock on the bus and got on there. We got there late that night, sit on the bus, came in. As soon as we got to Capuca, it was this is the kind of stuff that you see like on YouTube with US military, you know. These like military police screaming at you, get the F off the bus, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay, like, you know, I've been screamed and yelled at by my own parents, you know, being European, district, but this was like another level. You're looking at them, they're like, You eyeballing me? I'm like, uh, no. No why? So you don't know how to refer to these people. Like, okay. So it was like, what have I done? It's just nine o'clock at night. If you get in there, Capuca in the middle of nowhere, all surrounded by trees and buildings. What have I done? I think that night none of us slept. There was like all various ages, young guys. Because I was 19. There was a few older people. So seven, eight, and eight weeks later, came out an Australian soldier. Probably the greatest. Probably the already, I'd say still, it doesn't matter what happened with me, with we talk about my mental health and all after leaving, but I would still put it there as second to being a dad, you know, to some wonderful kids. But my greatest achievement in life is signing on the daughter line, joining the Australian military, served God, queen, and country, as they said. But yeah, I still hands down going because not many people are able to go through that.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Do you remember your favourite day in the eight years that you spent in the army?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

My favorite day, graduation day. Graduation day out of recruit training. I was I felt like I was on top of the world. Made my parents proud, which is That's a tough gig. That's a tough gig, yeah. As you would know. Like, I mean, as us Europeans, my parents are my parents. I do love them, but like just especially my dad has been hard to just gotta get a I'm patty a son out of him after all these years. I thought I just think I don't know, I don't think my parents thought I could do it. I I think they thought I was I wasn't as strong-minded as to get through this. And I think a lot of others. And when I came back, I think look, I'm not showboating myself, but I was put up on this pedestal back in Geelong, back in that '99, 2000. Because I went through Capuca the turn of the century. I we spent that 31st of January 1999, turning into 2000. You know, they said that freaking the world's gonna end sort of thing. We was like, hey hey, we're here. Like so that was a big thing too. Like for me to say I I spent the turn of the century in um uh recruit training for the Middle Australian Army. But when graduation, uh, the day I marched out, yeah, that was probably my best day. But leaving uh leaving it, yeah, it was a somber feeling. But putting that behind me, it's a part of my life that being years ago that I left, it's done now.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

So and when you reflect back, do you remember what the hardest day was?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Hardest day. Oh look, hardest day is probably was leaving two ways. Hardest day was probably leaving Geelong to go, leaving the army, just put that behind me, say, I'm actually done, like I'm not a soldier anymore. Now you're a veteran, they said, okay. There were so many hard days throughout the service, but there is some stuff there that's a lot deeper that I'm probably not really wanting to sort of go into that that have caused my PTSD and like some trauma that I've gone through right now and going through. Openly I'll say it's some therapy and stuff like that. There's some stuff that's yeah, it got a dark cloud over me. That's it is what it is. But those things are probably days that I want to don't want to remember. But unfortunately there, it's part of my life. I went through them. But yeah, um mixture of emotions being in and leaving now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah, definitely. I guess you mentioned before that there was a period where your mental health might have taken a bit of a hit. When you look back now, when did you first realize that you weren't traveling particularly well, or did that only come after?

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Um no, towards the last couple years of being in, I started thinking something wasn't right. And my my first marriage back then, um, because I was in Adelaide, I could just things weren't like something there was a just everything wasn't right. Like I'd already had um some sort of signs personally. Yeah, started really just being thinking off track, forgetting things and just mood changes and all that. Like, I don't know what it was. But then and then I literally ended up leaving because of injuries, like my knee. So I got medically discharged. So I just I couldn't perform as a fully fit soldier. So I wasn't able to be deployed anymore. Um, so I could still be in the army, but I had to be like reserve restricted to base. I was like, like that's not I don't see that as being in the military anymore. So they ended up basically saying, give me options to move on and got you know offered some services to take on after and look after, get looked after looked after financially and that. So I took that, I said, all right, time to just put that behind me and live a life post-military. And then, yeah, and then leaving the military, it's sort of like something was taken away from me. A sense of meaning and belonging got taken away from me because I was in the military for so long, eight years, whatever. And so mates, camaraderie, and all that, and then back into civilian life, and it's like, oh shit, I've got no one to turn to. Uh even though the guys were in uniform, we worked together, we went away together, that kind of stuff. We drank Friday afternoons at the the the boozer, we call it, you know, the like just and then I started spiraling out, not working. Yeah, just long-winded process. They just went further and further into a bigger, bigger hole. Um my marriage started struggling because of my depression, attempted suicide, unfortunately. Look, I'm still here, thankfully, but it was a dark, dark time in my life, and then went through a divorce and got things all worse. Yeah, like just in a very, very bad state mentally. Um, and it's I'm still to this day paying paying the price. Another suicide attempt years later that than that. But look, it is what it is. It's something that I can't change. Um, but I'm getting the support that I need now. And I'm like, you know yourself, I'm big on mental health through what I do as a as a coach with my boxing. It's okay to not be okay. I start started accepting that rather than hiding behind it. I'm big on men's health, mental health, so it's why I help as many as I can. But inside, I'm still struggling. So yeah, if I don't do what I do now, I think I don't know where I'd be. So I'm grateful for the support around me. People who I get to talk to and meet within the gym, like yourself, you know, everyone at work who I've managed to open them up with their experiences, there sort of, because everyone's got a journey. And that's why the boxing sort of then started. Boxing was something I did in the military. I found that like tennis, an individual sport, attack your own sort of demons and that. Yeah. And I like not I only just do it for myself, I do it for everyone else who's who's not doing well. It's a very, very it can be a very like emotional sort of topic for me to discuss, but look, I know you well enough anyway. But um talking to just people uh off the street and that, you can just see it's just it's hard. Like it's very, very common these days, mental health. Males, females, children, teenagers, you see, teens, you just gotta get the help that you need. Doesn't matter how minor it is, how major it is, help is help in the end, and that's why I'm sticking to it now. Like I'm probably in my best place right now with the therapy that I get. Great supportive partner with Marina, who I've been 11 years now. You know, she's the best, and she could have walked away many, many times and like with uh what I go through, but she's still stuck by me. And credit to her, and she's an amazing human being. And then I got my kids, Ruby and Luca, like they've got their own sort of battles. Luca's on the spectrum, Ruby's also ADHD, as well as me. We're all we're all something. Yeah, so right now, at this point in my this point in time in my life, uh, I feel like I have got a purpose finally. Like when I was in the military, that was my purpose, serve and protect the country. Now it's like serve and protect the community in a way, make us make the community healthier physically and mentally. So and I I'm all for that now. So anyone who's listening to this eventually, you know, it's reach out to whoever you can. Doesn't matter who it is, you know, friends, family, a stranger, go to a doctor. But I'm probably I'm rambling rambles and shambles.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, rambles and shambles. I mean, there are a lot of people that might not know their own signs. They think they're okay until it's too late. What questions would you ask yourself to kind of check whether you do need to start looking for help or whether you're just having a bad week?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah, well, that's a that's a very hard one to not for answer like you asking me that question. It's a very hard one for someone to pick up because life's busy, you this, that. That's why you've got to give yourself some personal space. Regardless if you've got family, got kids, you've got a relationship, marriage works under the pump. I think the most important thing you need to do is give yourself you time, me time, whatever you want to call it, to be able to sort of sit back and go, deep breath, relax. All right, is everything okay? Everything, I've got this, I've got this. If something there is like, hang on, like I've before it gets too late, bring it up with someone, go see the doctor. Doctor's obviously there for a reason. They'll do a mental health check on you. You can jump online these days, you can do your own personal mental health checks, do them regularly. Like I've got a couple of clients that I've and I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health nurse, anything like that. I've just lived through it and I've told some of my PT clients, jump online, there's Google it, catch ABTER, get it, the ask, get the mental health questions. There's a generic question there that asks you on a scale and be honest with it. If it picks up any grey areas, go straight straight away and seek help. Like it's so easy to access all these things online now. Back when years ago, when I was like going, especially males, that big macho sort of thing, you know, a man can't show his emotions, you've got to hide behind it. But hey, because we're sort of built to be like carry the weight of the of the world in your shoulders with families, with work and that, well, it's not always that. It affects women too, women who are in positions of where, you know, it's just single mums who might have to support kids and that. Like, well, hey, I've got a few at the the gym that, you know, going through that. Like, well, just pause for a minute, a moment, and then just reflect. And if there's anything that's there, and if someone that you know is saying, reaching out to you saying, hey, is everything okay? Like, don't get just sort of because I used to do it, don't get defensive, go, yeah, why? Why wouldn't everything be okay? They're asking because they could see it from a third person. Your behavior is not what's normally expected from you. So that's a sign. So take that as not like an attack. Just say, hey, is everything all right? Let's go for a chat, go for a coffee. They're those things that you've got to sort of take seriously because before you know it, things will spiral out of control and it'll be harder and harder. So that's probably the best advice I can give. But self-reflect self-reflection is the biggest thing to do. Because the way the world is these days, you know, who would have thought years ago mental health was one of the biggest killers? You know, suicide has just crept up and up and up and up over the years. Like it's just it's pretty sad. And that can be changed because of the help that's out there.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, that's some absolutely beautiful advice. Thank you, Rob. Now, you could have called your business almost anything, but you decided to call it resilience lifting. That's a very cool hoodie you have there. Where did that name come from and what does that mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Resilience is only built through adversity. All right. You've got to go through the tough times and come out on the other side to say, well, that's proven that my not only my mind, my body is resilient to all that shit, excuse my French, that I've gone through. And I've gone through a lot of a lot of crap. That's why I've used the word resilience and I use it religiously with everything. You've got to become resilient to, you know, changes in your life, changes in your training. Like, if I give you a different program, you're one of my clients, you're like, oh no, this is too hard, Rob. You know, I'd like, let's go back to the no. You've got to put yourself through adversity to become resilient. So that's how it is. Adversity builds resilience. So, you know, resilience doesn't just happen. It comes through going through, breaking through the brick wall. That's the reason why I called it uh resilience. Uh resilience lifting. People are lifting, but even though my logo's got a barbell, the lifting is an added word to that, like resilience lifting, like you're lifting yourself from the ground up. Not just like it's a barbell. It's there, it's a it's if people think, oh, that's why I've got the lifting there. It's not the the lifting part of it is lifting yourself up from the ground up. So yeah. I hope that makes sense there wrong listening, but that's how I saw it. That's how I see it anyway. No, I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

He used his hands a lot to you know show the barbell but also ground up.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

So it's a very interesting uh very um very European of me. We talk with our hands.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

We're just watching the mic, it's gonna go fleeing off. So you've been injured a fair few times in your life for someone that might be sitting at home with an injury, or someone who might be afraid of injury, and that's what that's what's stopping them from doing the things that they love. And if they maybe feel weak or frustrated, what would you like them to know? Or if you could share, I guess, your experience?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Well, to quite serious knee injuries, both while serving the army, um, to major operations. Mainly m the main reason why I basically was moved on because I just couldn't continue to do what a fully a fit soldier was. But it's like, well, okay, can't be in the army. It is what it is. Moved on. Injuries can affect your mental health, which is obviously what it did to me. So, you know, again, the mental health aspect plays a part with injuries. Like, don't let an injury affect your mental health and then put you further and further back in life. There's always something you can do. I never thought about becoming a Boxer, but boxing helped me with my mental health. It also helped with my injuries, even though yeah, boxing. It's not as taxing on the knee, and you know, like I can move around, run around, but I'm not gonna be a runner, but I can move around in a ring. I'm not gonna be a power lifter because I can't squat heavy anymore. You've got to adapt and overcome. Anyone with injuries, regardless, even people who have got like permanent debilitating injuries, say, I someone who's lost a leg, they can find things to do. When I I just recently competed in that boxing event a couple of weeks ago, there was a guy in there at Fort, he's missing a leg. He had a like one of those athletic, prosthetic legs, and that great guy met him. That's just proof that the only boundaries that affect you are the ones that you create yourself. So if you can adapt and overcome that boundaries, regardless of what it is, anything's you know, anything's possible. Yeah. So physical training is the very is the most important thing when you've got an injury because the injury, like I said before, affects your mental health and then it gets worse. So find something. If you can't do something that was all on your feet, look at something that's stationary. You can still train. So there's always something for you to do. Yeah, no excuses. There's always something. Exactly, no excuses. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

So you mentioned boxing, and I know you love it. What do you think your favorite part of boxing is?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

My favorite part of boxing is like people like, oh, boxing, combat sport, hurting someone. It's not about that. It's not the reason why I took it on. It's not the reason why I wanted to like because you want to be physical and you want to actually hurt someone. It's it's not about even these pro fighters, people think, oh, you're aggressive. That's why you do boxing. It's like, no. A combat sport like that, martial arts, you know, you yourself, like with the uh BJJ, it just does something else to me that other sports. I've done bodybuilding, I've done powerlifting, obviously tennis. Boxing for me, just just I don't know. I can just shut off. I look at the bag or whatever it is, and I just concentrate and just the release it does for me, the mental health benefit it gives me is just something that nothing else will do. Like I can, I can do a gym session and hit weights and I'll feel great. But boxing 45 minutes, doing some circuits and whatever kind of stuff on a bag and speedball and barring, it's barring another bloke in the ring. It's toe-to-toe with someone else. I just look at it as not there, that person, I'm there to hurt them. It's me versus me. Yeah, it's something that can be hard to explain, but it helps me break away just for that short time in a ring, two or three minutes, forget about everything else that's affecting me in life. And I can, like you, probably with Jits, it's you just zone off, turn off the switch. Life, I don't care what happens, you know, around me. I just want this moment, and that's what boxing does for me. And that's why I've at a later stage in life, I've gone into competitive boxing as an amateur. Well, people think you're crazy. Like, so what?

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, what's new?

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Why what what's new with Rob? Doing something that people would think you can't do that. In 2018, I did Melbourne Half Marathon, literally with obviously my I've had issues with my weight too, which didn't meant to get to mention. But I did that at like about 135 kilos. I did the Melbourne Half-Marathon. I've done 24-hour um treadmill challenges for mental health when I was working with any-time fitness, 24 hours on a treadmill. I've done that three, four times. I've raised money for mental health for Are U OK. These are things people like when I've said I'm gonna do a marathon, half marathon, I'm gonna do this 24 hours on a treadmill. Like, you're crazy, Rob. But I'm like, I've done it. I come out on the other side, I don't do these to show boat myself. I do these things to prove to people just because someone says you can't do something doesn't mean it can't be done. Like, you know, that's what boxing does to me right now. Look, I might find something else that excites me and that like I might, I don't know, I might I might go buy a Harley and start probably not. Uh gonna stay open, gonna stay open. Yeah, so if it benefits you and you get the thrill of it out of it, great. It could be you could be playing chess for all I care. But if that's giving you the benefit, well, do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Now with your boxing, take me to your latest fight. What was going through your head in the hours before you know you're not the young spring chicken that you once were, everyone says you're crazy. And how do you keep coming back after a loss or a win and just the I know it's resilience lifting, but easy said, really difficult to do.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

100%. On the Saturday, the 29th of August, when I went in for my fifth bout and going through four losses, successive losses, each time I came out in those four losses, I was a different, different boxer. Learnt from different coaches. I've had three coaches now. I've got Billy Nichols, who coaches trains me now. June, I had a fight. I thought I was ready. Saw he saw some um gaps in my boxing that others hadn't picked up. Was like, yeah. And then I went in in June, and I don't know, I got in there with a great boxer, and I just shut off in the first round. And I don't know what happened. Walked away with it upset, but actually for once happy because I was going, that was probably the best loss I've had. Anyway, he goes, Billy goes, All right, let's take a take some break and we'll go back to the drawing board. I said, nah, let's go again. There's one in seven weeks, August. He goes, nah, nah. I said, nah, done. We're doing it. He goes, all right. Even he said to me this morning, I saw him um for training, and we'll talk about it. He goes, what you did in those two months, I've never seen before. He goes, you just turned it around. You just flicked the switch. It was doesn't matter who you're up against on that Saturday, you would have won that anyway. And I'm like, thanks, mate. He goes, no, I just we saw it from a distance. I just zoned in. Everything was about that, that I needed to get that. Wouldn't say I needed to get the win. The win wasn't important, but I just wanted to come back better and fight differently, come out from the get-go. Nothing. Like, doesn't matter who was standing my way. I was number fight number seven that night. The nerves hit. I was like, up. And then I was all quiet and Billy's standing in the corner before the doll. He goes, You're right? Yeah, yeah. He goes, You look, you look nervous. No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine. He goes, okay. Turn around, ding. The highlights that I've got that first 20 seconds came out, all guns blazing, like nothing, like I was a free man, like just left after right after left after right. And look, the ref called it a trip. But in that 20 seconds, I with a left hook, I put the guy down straight away. I was like, oh, we went back up, you know, we were fought on for the full three rounds. But I gave everything. That last round, we were both that gassed. I think we stood away from each other for the last 15 seconds. Everyone's like, co. But we were both like Wayne, credit to him. His first fight, he's had a bit of a journey in life too. And I just said to him, mate, I said, I've had four losses and I've had guys taller and heavier than you. Because I had 15 kilos on him. I said, I he hit me a few times. I said to him, mate, no one's hit me that hard. And he's like, mate. I said, no one's hit me that hard, mate. And that and the guys that I fought were all about my weight, you know, 110, 115. And I said, that's a credit to you. And he's like, oh, thank you. Like it meant a world to him. I walked away, like, that's why when I my hand was raised, I probably the biggest carry-on out of everyone's fight, but like I dropped to my knees and head down, like down of the ring, because all the emotion just came out. And the referee that refed me, it was my third time. So third time likely with him, uh, Dave, and um I just, because of me and him are mates as well, and I just gave him a hug and it's like he said to me, because that was the best performance I've seen out of you. Thank you. And it meant I was on cloud nine, and I trust me for that two days. And it's sort of the the hype has come down a bit now, a couple weeks later. Yeah. But then that's not it now. Now we go again. Like now I've just got that taste, you know, I've got that desire for it more. Now that I know that I can achieve more, I think that was just a breaking point in me. Like it took me four losses, but now, now like just work on some extra things, but I'm gonna go again, they yeah. And yeah, at the age of 46.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

So after tennis, the army injuries, boxing, coaching, and everything else that your body and brain have dragged you through, what are you still excited to find out about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Oh, well, um, how far I can take this. I know what it takes to what's the word for it? Like, I know how to ride this wave called life. Um, and like a surfer, you're never gonna get the same way every time. So you're gonna have big waves, the swell is gonna go down, it's gonna drop where you're like waiting for it. Like to me, again, as I said, age is just a number. Don't care. I feel like I'm at 46, I feel like I'm actually fitter than I was at 36 mentally as well. Uh, doing a lot of work, a lot of shit's been brought up the last couple years with my mental health resilience again. Like I said, I want to just keep pushing it and don't care. Like, I just want to keep finding out what my body's can handle. Yeah, my in my body's sore, my injuries, you know, my body's telling me probably going, it's enough, Robbie, it's enough.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

But it's a gum down there.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

No, it's enough. Like, I mean, I don't know. Something could come around that just complet that maybe says that. Not boxing, let's try this. I don't know. Like, tomorrow's a new day, Anna. Like, it could be anything. But for now, boxing and you know, and continuing to help people like I am now is probably, yeah, probably one of my biggest rewards is seeing some of my clients who are turning their life around. Uh, I've got Big Paul, who I call Big Paul, he started off at 198 kilos, uh, came to me at 168, he's sitting at 103 kilos. And I started with him in November last year. So he's with me, and me and him become mates. He's 58. He's just turned his life around. So I've got all walks of life, male, female, who've got their own journeys, and that's the most rewarding for me is helping others. But I like to do things myself too, and I don't know. The next thing in the car, look, Hyrux has been something that I've been thinking about. I might be high rox, but I don't know, they're a different breed of people, Anna. So uh maybe high-rox, I don't know. But um, I've done it, I've done a half marathon. Don't have my legs are gonna handle it, but maybe eventually before I'm 50, I maybe maybe do the full marathon. Everyone's probably going, who know me, listening to this, probably going, not a chance. I want all that feedback. Tell me. Tell me no chance, tell me no chance. Because the more people say to me no chance, it's gonna fuel my fuel the fire. So don't support me. Criticize me. Criticize me. I love it. I love it. Criticism is my fuel. So yeah, but yeah. So there you go. I don't know what tomorrow brings.

SPEAKER_00 31:44

Well, thank you very much for your time today, Rob. I shall now shake your hands, say goodbye, and we'll go for fancy footwork practice.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Yes, thank you. Uh and I've been a pleasure.