I met a former NBL point guard, who, for the sake of anonymity, I will call Dave. Dave told me how he remembers the day he approached Shane Heal (one of Australia’s greatest ever basketball guards), before a game, and told him that there was no way that Heal was going to drop 38 points on his head in the way that he had to other guards in recent matches. Shane and Dave had … [Read more...]
Teen’s toes attacked at Tallows Beach
Jack is a tremendous young bloke. The just out of teens, tall, blond, lean, good looking lad, quite unremarkably for a tall, blond, lean, good-looking kid from his hometown of Byron Bay, is a fanatical surfer. Byron Bay kids just love the ocean and surfing. His passion and talent for surfing may not be particularly unusual in “the Bay” but there is nothing unremarkable about … [Read more...]
The little surf that nearly ruined a promising career…
It’s tough when you grow up in a place where hanging out at the surf is a way of life then, suddenly, work takes you to a place that is land locked and the ocean and waves become things that you can only dream about. I know. It happened to me. Years back I moved from beautiful Queenscliff Beach in Sydney to dreary old London to progress my career and, for the first six months … [Read more...]
Easternmost memory – surfing in the wild at the end of the continent
Here is a special story from our "Waves of Pain" collection. In a surfing world dominated by hyperbole... the west wave... the best day... the best secret spot... the best surfer... the best barrel... the best board etc this column pays homage to those not so best days in the ocean. In truth it is some of these not so best days that are the most interesting, most moving, most … [Read more...]
Aivi Luik interview – Matilda unsung hero
It is difficult to summarize the career of Matilda’s mid-fielder, Aivi Luik. She has done so much, achieved so much and had so many successes in so many footballing spheres that it is hard to get your head around it all. One of her most astounding achievements was the way in which she forced her way back into the Matildas team in 2018 after spending many years (and two world … [Read more...]