What do Julian Wilson (surfing), Kaylee McKeown (swimming), Kareena Lee (open water swimming), Alyce Wood and Alyssa Bull (kayaking) and Ryan Tyack (archery) all have in common?
Well, they are all Olympians from the Sunshine Coast.
They are also, of course, all outstanding athletes in their own field.
But one big common denominator is they all have supportive parents.
I have not met Kareena’s parents, but I have read about them, and they fit in the same mould as those who raised all of the above athletes: supportive.
The amount of sacrifices parents make to help their kids chase their dreams are enormous.
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I have been an interested spectator over the years watching the progress of Julian, Alyssa, Alyce and Ryan, knowing that their parents have fully backed, but not smothered them.
This seems to be the successful formula in developing good athletes and great humans.
I actually have a bit of experience in this field being lucky enough to grow up with Julian Muspratt and Russell Sherwell, who were both Olympic water polo players in the early 80s.
Their parents were exactly the same and used the same formula, well done!
While we are discussing Alyssa and Alyce, they were desperately unlucky not win a medal in the K2 500 in Tokyo, missing out by .5 of a second and going faster than any Australian K2 female paddlers had gone before.
Alyce went on to make the K1 final and Alyssa missed out again by .5 of a second. It was a tough gig for two girls from neighbouring surf clubs on the Sunshine Coast, but I know everyone is immensely proud of their performance as we always are whether it’s a kayak or a ski. Of course, the same goes for all of the above.
The most trying of times
After last week’s column that had a very unflattering photo of yours truly trying to score a try, I copped plenty on Facebook.
I thought I would clear up what happened, or to put it in Chris Flannery’s words, tell “another one of your crap stories”.
The year was 1988 and Maroochydore was playing Nambour at Nambour. I was working at Mooloolaba Hotel at the time and the boys from the Punters’ Club decided to have a few hundred dollars on us to beat Nambour.
So, what would have been the winning try was dropped by me over the line inches from getting it down.
The only one who really saw it was the referee who quite rightly disallowed it. I blew up and carried on as if I was robbed, we lost the game and the boys lost the cash, but everyone blamed the ref, until that photo turned up the next day. I have never lived it down.
Next week: head explosions through the ages
If you saw the Warriors v Sharks NRL game last week and Kane Evans’ brain explosion in getting sin binned twice, I have a similar story to share next week.
If you want to promote an event, team or athlete please email me Tugboatash@gmail.com
