From Goodes to Great

There are great players in very team. There are great leaders at every club. There are great supporters and great journalists and great triumphs of spirit. Sport, in and of itself, can be the greatest thing in the world - both to play and to watch. Regardless of your level, there is greatness to be found.

Sometimes the greatest players find themselves facing a barrage of unwarranted abuse. This year saw the culmination of an ongoing torrent of abuse levelled at one of the greatest AFL players of all time. People often think that bullying only happens in the school yard, or in corporate settings. This simply isn't true, and it affects people in very different ways.

This campaign of abuse began in 2013 with prominent Sydney Swans player, Adam Goodes, being abused by an opposition supporter. Many believed that his reaction was an overreaction. I do not. Many said that because she was 13, the opposition supporter didn't understand that it was racism to call an aboriginal an ape. Many said that he should not have pointed her out as he did. Many said he was arrogant, attention seeking and racist himself.

From this point on, Goodes was boo'd. At first, it was a minority of the opposition. By mid-season 2015, it was every team, every game, every time he touched the ball. While every excuse under the sun was raised as to why it was ok to boo a star of the game, the simple fact remained that at its root was racism, and that by continuing to boo for whatever other reason they were giving the racist somewhere to hide.

If we look at Goodes' achievements, they tell of a player who is not only good at what he does but greatly admired as well:

2003 and 2006 Brownlow Medalist (AFLs Best and Fairest), has also polled well in 5 other years, and polled votes every year bar one from 2001 through to 2015. This statistic seems to fly in the face of him being a dirty player who staged for free kicks, as many of us detractors would have you believe.

2005 and 2012 Premiership Player, as well as playing in every finals campaign with his team. This contradicts those people who claim he was having difficulty finding form.

2014 Australian of the Year. This award, one of the highest in the country, was awarded to him for his work in fighting racism and for the work he had done within the indigenous community to promote health and education for those in remote areas, or at a socio-economic disadvantage.

During Goodes' time as Australian of the Year he came under fire from the racist quarter who were confronted by their own intolerance. He called them out over the atrocious behaviour suffered by the indigenous population since the white settlement. He called them out over the ongoing abuse and discrimination faced by modern aboriginal people. He called them out over their bigotry. And so did the fans, especially after he chose to perform a dance he had been taught during the round specifically to celebrate indigenous culture.

It is this sort of misplaced vitriol that so many indigenous people must put up with. The "I'm not racist but ..." crowd all get their nickers in a twist because someone is proud AND outspoken about their heritage. It is the "uppity black man" who should pipe down and let the people who know nothing about aboriginal culture sort out the problems. It is the "loud and proud" indigenous people who should stop making such a fuss because white people don't carry on when they are called names. It is these same people who say, "Well, I don't boo Lewis Jetta so how can it be racist?"

Well, let me lay it out for you, very clearly:

- if you boo an black player for staging, but not any other player, it's probably racist.

- if you use the colour of someone's skin as an insult, it's definitely racist.

- if you object to black players bring proud of their heritage, it sounds like you're racist.

- if you continue to boo a player despite being told it's racist, my guess is you're racist.

This whole series of incidents surrounding Adam Goodes has shown just how far we, as a nation, have yet to go when it comes to indigenous affairs and racism generally. What it has also shown is that Adam is not just a great player, but a man of great integrity, great courage, great character and great humility.

Can we afford to be so ignorant that we would allow the racist minority to hold the cards? Can we not make out country as great as this one man, who has consistently shown a wisdom beyond his years and a maturity some never achieve? Can we instead teach our children, like the ones who were part of the wonderful painting below, that race is irrelevant in determining the worth of a person? Can we be proud Australians all together, regardless of colour or creed?

Who Inspires Me

I think we draw inspiration from different spheres of our lives. If I look back at all the different people who have inspired me then there are quite a few of them.

The first is my mum. She raised me single-handedly and I think I turned out relatively ok. I’ve had my problems but all in all, I am a decent human being (I hope). She didn’t work so she’d be available to take me to all the sports I did. She scrimped and saved so I could do the sports I did. We didn’t have a proper holiday for 22 years. Now that I am a single mum myself, she has stood by me, helped me out and never shied away from any hardship life has put in her way.

The second person to inspire me was my 3rd Grade teacher, Mrs Levy. She believed in me, encouraged me and was always the most friendly, helpful and genuinely nice teacher I ever had. I’ve seen her a few times since I left primary school and every time I’ve seen her she’s been just the same as I remember her and she always remembers me, no matter how many years have past in the meantime.

The third person on the list is my old gymnastics coach, John. He taught me to be a better gymnast and a better coach, he didn’t take any of my crap and he gave me hell. He could be the most serious person on the face of the planet one second … the next he’d be pretending to be Dracula and trying to bite my neck. He also instilled in me the notion that all areas of gymnastics are important, from Kindergym right the way through. I think that if it hadn’t been for his inspiration I would be just like a lot of coaches I’ve known over the years that only aspire to teach competition kids, but I aspired to work with the kids who are fresh to the sport, who don’t want to go to the Olympics, who just want to have fun.

The fourth and fifth inspiring people are that for the same reason. They showed me what could be achieved if you set your mind to it, if you trained your arse off and didn’t listen to the nay-sayers. Of course, I never reached their lofty heights but I still aspire to be like them. They inspire me to continue in a sport when I could have turned my back so many times. They inspire me to do more than I think I’m capable of. Who are they? They are the most talented Tammy Bryant and Jayson Sutcliffe.

The sixth person of inspiration to me is one that is known to just about every school student across the western world: William Shakespeare. To be a writer of that calibre would be the most thrilling thing ever. He has inspired me to dabble in plays and poetry, short stories and screenplays (and blogging, of course). I hope that one day someone will like a work of mine enough to say, “I want to publish that.” Whether it happens or not is immaterial, the inspiration to be the best writer I can be stems from reading that very first play, and continues to inspire me to this day.

The seventh inspiration is comedian/actor/writer Craig Ferguson. Here is a man who has seen the ugly side of life, through alcohol and drug addiction, and has overcome them. It is inspirational that someone can pick himself or herself up out of the gutter, so to speak, and actually make something of their life. It tells me that it doesn’t matter how bad my life gets, as long as I want to change I can and as long as I draw breath there’s still hope.

The person who is my eighth inspiring person is Adam Goodes. If you don’t live in Australia and don’t follow Aussie Rules Football then you may not know who he is. He is one of the best players in the modern era. He is respectful and delightful to talk to. He gives of himself not only to his football club (the mighty Sydney Swans) but also to the community, especially the aboriginal community. He is unaffected by his fame and very down to earth by nature, a truly inspiring character.

My ninth inspiring person is Annie Sullivan. You may never have heard of this woman. She was a teacher in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She inspires me to be a better teacher, especially in regards to children with disabilities. Why should this teacher, with whom I have no contact with and who died long before I was born, inspire me so? She was the teacher who taught Helen Keller language (I’m sure you would have heard of Helen Keller but if not, she was a blind and deaf woman who became the first deaf and blind person to attain a Bachelor of Arts degree, as well as being an author, activist and lecturer). Helen Keller once said, “Once I knew only darkness and stillness... my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.” What better summary of the blessing that Annie Sullivan gave to Helen. I can only hope that I touch the lives of the children I work with a fraction of that amount and I am inspired to persist when I might give up.

The last person on my list is by no means the least inspiring. They are, in fact, the most inspiring. This person is my son. He inspires me every day to be a better person so that he is a better person. He does not discriminate against people based on looks or religion or cultural background or mental or physical capabilities. He is happy and bubbly and social. He inspires in me a love like no other and an ability to forgive others that I have not known before (it doesn’t always work, but it works more than not).

So, it doesn’t matter who in your life inspires you, from those closest to you to those you’ve never met; if that person inspires you to be a better person then their job is done. It is up to you to be part of the next generation on inspirational people, even if to no-one but your own small circle of family and friends.