Sydney Catholic schools is proud to present so you want to be a professional athlete it's not every day we get to sit with the greatest wheelchair rugby player the world has ever seen making his debut at the par Olympic Games at just 15 he made history as the youngest ever wheelchair rugby player to compete at the highest level he's no stranger to the podium either having LED Australia to consecutive par Olympic gold medals won world championship titles and even co- captains an entire Australian Paralympics [Music] please welcome to the studio Riley bat I'm Tony FY executive director of Sydney Catholic schools with me today is our student co-host Rosie from Trinity Catholic College Orban Riley Thanks so much for joining us today so let's Dive Right In so Riley could you just run us through a a typical day in the life of a professional athlete yeah for me uh as a professional athlete um it's it's definitely a challenge uh it's it's all about balance for me in my typical day being an athlete it's trying to juggle family it's trying to juggle work it's trying to juggle training obviously your teammates all those things so for me the typical day for me is is waking up and knowing what you what your training is going to be for the day and and and fueling yourself accordingly um I like to start my day with a you know a three sort of a 3K sort of walk with the dog just to get moving and get a bit active and I guess fired up a bit and then training could be in the morning could be in the afternoon could be two sessions that day so every day is different but every day you're focusing on your training you worry about what you're eating around training when you're fueling your body and and how you're going to Pat out sort of those sessions with with fuel and and recovery and and sleep so um for me at the moment I'm I'm a bit in the offseason so it's more long distance uh cardio related training a lot of shoulder rehab um stability so not the funnest stuff at the moment but um it it chops and changes all the time depending on what phase we're in um and what competitions we have coming up you've had incredible success here at wheelchair rugby Legend and you talked about the the process and the work that you go through what sort of attributes or strengths do you possess that you think have led you to where you are today um strengths yeah I don't like to hear that I just think I'm a I'm an everyday Joe Blow but I guess I do have strengths in my in my Sport and that's why I am where I am but uh I guess these days my strength would be um I just I guess just how many years I've been playing the experience the experience for me gets me through there's there's so many you know new athletes uh fast athletes powerful athletes coming through the ranks all over the world and I know they've got me covered in all those departments but I use my experience throughout the game and my smarts and just try to play I guess that sort of that play ahead of everyone just to get through and it's worked out the last couple of years I my body hasn't been in tiptop shape um I've I've got a torn rotator cuff and I'm trying to get through um with a lot of shoulder weakness and obviously pushing a wheelchair rugby chair they're you know they're 22 kilos they they're quite heavy and it's a very explosive sport it takes its tall on your shoulders you need your shoulders to be in tiptop shape you need to be strong so for me yeah trying to be experienced and let these young whipper snappers who are stronger and more powerful run around you but just try to be that that diesel engine out there and that more experienc um athlete who's not making many errors that's what I'm trying to do these days and that's I guess one of my strengths at the moment Riley have you reached the Wy old veteran stage of your career you could say that for many years I was the youngest in the team I started my my Australian Journey when I was 13 years old and that's when I first represented um the Australian Steelers wheelchair rugby team on the on the international stage and my first paralympic games were were as a 15-year-old and for so many years I was the youngest player on this on the team um and now I I'm looking around I'm probably the third or fourth oldest in the squad and I don't think like that though like I still feel like I'm young I still feel energetic out there it's to be honest it's a really good team we all have our different uh sort of attributes and and we're all you know comedians in our different ways so um we really get along as a team and I don't feel my age I'm 34 years old obviously not the oldest um you know person out there but um I guess now playing for 21 years my body is definitely handled some hard yards and um my body's definitely feeling cold but mentally I'm still good you still look like a young wh about that uh what's the best decision you've made in your career best decision I've ever made in my career well I don't want to go too deep into it yet but for me it would be a wheel the wheelchair was my kryptonite I was born with my disability what's type of limb deficiency a type of deformity very rare condition and I despise people in wheelchairs for so many years I used to get around on prosthetic legs or sit on a skateboard and get around the the school oval so seeing people in wheelchairs for me I thought they were you know they couldn't do anything for themselves I thought they were just disabled and embarrassing um and I never wanted to be that person I was completely wrong so for me when I eventually as a 12-year-old got into that wheelchair and then discovered wheelchair rugby that was probably the best thing I ever done in my life and the most proudest pival pival moment in my life I guess just overcoming that cryptonite of the wheelchair what was it about the rugby that did it for you look you hear the words rugby and what what do you guys think I think of um you know physicality I think of speed I think of teammates camaraderie all those kind of things and wheelchair rugby was a game was vented over in Canada so it's got a lot of um ice hockey grid iron basketball rules all mixed in one they called it wheelchair rugby because of the contact side of things but us here in Australia we're obviously used to rugby league Rugby Union where you know Rugby Union obviously doing line outs and scrums and you know league six tackle sets and you got positions and whatnot so don't think of wheelchair rugby like rugby league or Rugby Union cuz we don't do scrums we don't do line outs it's more like a mixture of American sort of grid iron basketball ice hockey all mixed in one so you're allowed to check anyone off off the ball take them out of their Wheelchairs and that's actually encouraged to be honest you know taking people out of their wheelchairs you if you knock a player out and they fall on you it's actually a turnover so for me what attracted me to the sport is being able to just knock people out of wheelchairs and um the brutality of it I absolutely love it so it's rugby with the boring Parts taken out yeah get of those scrums and all those penalties there um I agree I agree yeah I've heard rugby at the moment described as a lawyer with a whistle I like that yeah well I'm hoping our sport doesn't go that way either but uh yeah it's uh it's definitely a good sport I encourage everyone to check it out it's fastpac if you can watch it in the flesh watch it live it's um you know we're hitting 27 km hour in these Wheelchairs and if the other person's doing the same it's like a small car crash and the noise itself scares a lot of people in the stand so make sure you check it out it's intense it's really intense and it's fantastic let's just have a quick chat you had a Catholic Education what how did that feature and how did that sort of guide your life yeah it definitely did so um I actually found the sport of wheelchair rugby through um my primary school years I went to St Agnes Primary School in Port mccy and grade six um obviously most people remember that they had to put their sport electives in um to choose their sport for the term now mil was away on a family vacation when we had to do that so I missed out and got stuck with one of the just whatever I was stuck with and it was going to a local PCYC and the three Sports there were a wheelchair rugby table tennis and squash and all three of them didn't interest me to be honest but I think the teachers sort of like pushed me into this sport because of the wheelchair rugby obviously having the disability at school and not wanting to been a wheelchair so um I'm very very thankful that my school pushed me I guess and well not pushed me but encourage to play wheelchair rugby um when I didn't really want to do it so that was my primary school uh high school for me I went to St Paul's high school in Port MCC and that's when sort of my wheelchair rugby career took shape and they really supportive of myself traveling the world and missing a lot of school because I'm at training camps and whatnot so uh yeah definitely had a great upbringing and went to some fantastic high schools in Catholic high schools in Port mccy big shout out to some Pauls and the other schools that you went to because balancing the priorities between Sport and education it's a tough thing isn't it and you were 15 when you were really starting to to get into the big time yeah they did really well like looking back on it now um obviously at the time you don't realize being a 15year old you you're just obviously worried about yourself and and you know getting away from school I guess and playing sport that's what I wanted to do but looking back now they manag me really well and manag my school schooling and and my sport very well so I'm very thankful and it it's it's really cool going being able to go back to the schools and hand out Awards I know one of the the high schools here um there's the Riley bat award and it's just it's really cool to be looked upon um in this local community as I guess I guess an an idol or an icon U and been a to grow up in those schools it's it's something special okay Ry it's time for something we call the lightning round Rosie here is going to fire quick questions to you and the aim is to get through all of them within a 30 second time limit oh jeez are you up for the challenge Riley that does that sounds tough Rosie I you might stump me on a few of these I think I I'm not the quickest at answering some of these questions but I'll give it a crack I think you'll be okay what's what's a what's a good number to get a good number I'm very competitive the first time we've done this um there's about nine here 10 here all right so three three seconds a question 3 seconds a question yeah okay are you ready no what did you want to be in Primary School uh an X Games athlete what was your first job a signwriter what's one thing you can't start your morning without who can't coffee the last thing you Googled uh Microsoft authenticator app just did it what's your favorite book grug picture book what's your favorite meal uh Sushi describe yourself in three words oh three words um um competitive uh genuine and adventurous dog or cat person dog if you could have a superpower what would it be my last name's bat so being Batman what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail uh go travel in Australia yeah love you I love travel and if there's honestly one word I could describe you with it'd be Gallant I think you're a very Gallant yeah I think you're a very stoic individual stoic oh I like that I've watched you play and I've watched parts of wheelchair rugby and I just think it's really cool oh thank you appreciate that I'll I'll keep that one for next time just in case I get asked some of those questions describe myself in three words I'll just use one word I've also got a few questions that I would like to ask you what was your favorite subject and how did this inspire you to become who you are today of course PD HP was my favorite subject I love being out and about at school and and and and sort of just pushing my limits obviously being grown up with a disability a lot of people you know think I can't do anything or thought I couldn't do anything however I learned how to push my boundaries throughout my lifetime and um I think doing pdhd at school and and you know going out in the oval and playing footy or Cricket or soccer or whatever yeah obviously I couldn't keep up with so many of my mates but I gave it a crack and just pushed boundaries and and and learn more about myself which elements of the pdhp syllabus were most beneficial to your career with you saying that it was one of your favorite subjects you know could you remember any parts of it that really helped you and inspired you now well obviously going yeah going through high school um that was obviously one of my subjects and like just learning more about sort of nutrition you know little bits of recovery I sort of I sort of wanted to learn on that stuff because I was becoming an elite athlete right I was you know representing Australia I was representing new southwest and I learn a lot from the AIS and and and obviously our our sporting team and we had Professionals in but obviously um doing it at school as well was was really helpful for me in your childhood was there much recognition for athletes with disabilities as there is now no definitely not um that's one thing I'm very proud of I'm very proud that the paralympic sort of community and the paralympic I guess Spirit has just boosted so much over the 20 21 years years I've been representing Australia I remember competing at the Athens 2004 paralympic games where there used to be you know highlights package on S SPS for 30 minutes a day um no one really knew about the Paralympics no one knew any of the athletes and I think that's pretty pretty bad because there's there's kids with disabilities out there um and kids with disabilities I was one of those kids with disabilities and I never had an idol or never had a role model to look up to because I didn't know any athletes I didn't know any people with disabilities because you never saw them on TV they didn't have to be athletes they could have just been any Joe Blow you know politicians they could have been movie stars whatever I never never saw these these people with disabilities doing these kind of things so I never really had anyone to look up to but now with the Paralympics sort of growing so much you know the the viewer viewership in Tokyo was on par with the Olympics these kids with disabilities or even kids without disabilities can see these Role Models can see these paralympians and they can see what we can do with our disabilities and with our attributes and for me my my whole goal in life is changing over the last probably 6 seven years and obviously I my first lot of years were I wanted to concentrate on on on winning and winning with the team and success but now it's sort of flipped obviously I want to win but I obviously want to inspire a generation coming through as well and I want to Mentor kids and and I really enjoy it because there's so many kids out there now who um idolize me like I was at a I was at a function the other day a wheelchair AFL function and I was next to Toby green who's an absolute icon in in AFL in Australia and the kids were coming up to me for a photo and an autograph before Toby green and I don't like that personally cuz I'm a very modest person but for me that just meant a lot because kids are seeing like seeing PE other guys in wheelchairs and other girls in wheelchairs or disabilities in general as as idols and that's crucial yeah I agree I think that's very great what you do and especially because you said it before that you're now a leader for younger people and that for the kids coming up through wheelchair rugby now your influence is Monumental for them and with that having competed in many Arenas during your sporting career what moments stood out to you the most oh jeez that's yeah that's a tough one there's been so many moments um I'm going to probably jeez you got me torn between two different moments I'm going to say I'm going to say the Rio par Olympic final was probably my most memorable moment in in sort of an arena and and that was because it was absolutely sold out 165,000 people in this packed out Indoor Stadium 165,000 absolute crazy fans like no one of the Brazilian soccer team gets U does so well their fans are crazy they're so loud they really get behind everyone and we're playing America in the final and um I think they like the Aussies more than the Americans and that was a great boost for us so just the noise in that Stadium we went to double overtime in that game and the sense of relief when we won that gold medal by one point it was a nailbiter the crowd was absolutely crazy just looking around afterwards because I thought that was my last paralympic games at the time just looking around and just taking it all in was just a special special moment in my life and um lastly from me do you have any goals or aspirations for your future goals or aspirations for me in the future would be finishing hopefully finishing my career in Paris with another gold medal um as a team sport um everyone who plays team sports knows how hard it is to win backto back in major tournaments it's quite tough um so we won the the 2012 par Olympic Games we won the 2016 par Olympic Games unfortunately we didn't do very well in Tokyo but we want to redeem ourselves from Tokyo because to in Tokyo we didn't really have a good run in because Australia was so affected by Co with the restrictions I couldn't train with any of my teammates we came into the comp not playing a International game in you know 18 months and all these other countries had had played International matches because their um I guess their Co um restrictions weren't as bad as ours so we want Redemption we want a win in Paris and that's my goal to to help the team be the best we possibly can to win another paric gold medal Riley just want to pick your brains for just two quick questions and um the the sort of advice and I know you might be a little bit reluctant but you've got lot to offer what's the best piece of advice you've ever received I've received a lot of good advice in my life I met a lot of amazing people a lot of very very motivating people for me it's probably one probably more recently um for me what's sort of clicked in my head maybe in the last three or 4 years and that's you know we we can't control what's happened in the past we can't control what's going to happen in the future we can only control now and I know we've heard a lot of that in the in our lives but if you really let that sink in and try to try to I guess uh put that into your day-to-day life it it just it really works it really really works so that's probably my my best piece of advice I I have received um well that I can remember there's a lot out there but that one of the moment's probably hitting home the most I've got a I've got an injury um I've got a shoulder injury and if I'm worried about the Paris games right now and absolutely belting myself I'm going to injure myself more I can't worry about my performance in the past with the shoulder injury I can only control it you know what I'm doing with that injury right now and this training session is what I have that day and Trust the process and it's been working so I'm going to keep on that path do you have any advice for aspiring athletes definitely short and sweet is my favorite motto in life is anything's possible um and I've lived by that my whole life anything is possible Riley Thanks so much for joining us today it's an absolute honor to be talking to an authentic Australian sporting Legend a mate thank you it's it's it's an honor for me to to to be out there join your podcast I think you guys are doing amazing things here and um privileged to be able to share some of my experience and hopefully I can come back with maybe a gold medal from Paris around my neck what your we'll be following you all the way and we know you're going to do it so thanks so much Chez guys and thank you Rosie for a great job here today it's been great and please make sure to visit 's social media channels where we'll be giving you a sneak peek of what's in store for next time to find out more about the opportunity Sydney Catholic schools provides in sport visit our website which you can find in the show notes God [Music] [Applause] bless