HER WAY HER STORY: Lilliana Prucha

[Music] my guest today is one of the rising stars of wheelchair rugby she's also got another school which we're going to chat about a bit later um welcome to her way her story Liliana preer thanks so much for joining me hi thanks for having me were you much of a sporty kid when you were young No I um being an autistic kid I was very isolated um and lonely I didn't have a lot of friends um I was bullied quite a bit so I just kind of like kept to myself a fair bit um and yeah like I I didn't really even try with sports cuz I just knew that I I wouldn't be any good um and when I tried in like early Primary School it just went badly so I'd always like pull a sick day whenever there was like a sports Carnival or anything coming up so yeah did you have other hobbies that like I guess helped you um music yeah music and art has kind of like always been my thing and then I kind of like accidentally fell into wheelchair rugby cuz I moved to Perth I didn't have any friends um and I didn't I didn't actually really know much about adaptive sport at all and then yeah I kind of like um I saw Robin on Instagram and I was like oh that looks kind of cool and then yeah kind of ended up here so yeah so was Robin like one of the first kind of like sporting people that you saw and were really inspired by um yeah well I'd seen like um Ella and Shay as well and I just kind of like Robin being Perth it was easy to like find people um organizations who kind of like had the sports available um yeah yeah so you said you kind of like saw Robin and then you like oh this looks cool I want to try it but was that like the only reason like why did you want to try I just went to like the in wa they do like the rebound wa like power sports festival and I went to that and sort of like a demo um yeah so I kind of did that yeah did you think about trying like wheelchair basketball or anything I tried it but I don't have the function for wheelchair basketball I can't get my arms very high up my head and like I don't have great like trunk control so yeah definitely not for me I mean like what did your like friends and family say like when you wanted to try fault called Murder B like it's pretty CRA I didn't tell them I didn't tell them I just went and did it cuz I really didn't want any like pressure on it um and if everyone is like you should go do this stuff I'm always like oh no like I'll do the opposite thing so um it was kind of nice to just like figure it out myself and like without any external pressures of expectations and just kind of see what happens so okay yeah I guess like when like when you did tell them or when did you tell them and like how did they like react then I just invited them down to a game and they came and watched and they were like oh my God okay so it's pretty cool yeah yeah um and I wanted to ask about kind of how you got a bit of a taste like playing for Australia last year in a development called like Fast forting a bit like I want to ask like what was that kind of like getting that experience it was terrifying um honestly cuz yeah like I I'd only been playing for like a year and a bit um and I felt like I really didn't know what I was doing I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing um but it's it was a really cool experience and I'm really grateful to have like gotten that and I'm really Keen to like see what else is kind of coming up so yeah and you like you said like you are still I guess pretty new to the sport like do you feel like you are just learning a lot like every game just day by day yeah like I've been playing for 2 years now um and yeah I still like all the time I'm always like oh my God I didn't know that was R like yeah are there a lot of like pretty complicated rules like I I think so but I don't know if it's just cuz I don't know the rules um yeah and I watch you guys playing I'm like I don't know what you got caught up for like then honestly yeah me neither me neither I I just like and it's I don't want to like bug the refs like m game cuz I don't want to like come across as like back talking them I'm I'm like I just genuinely don't understand and so I tend to like um pull them aside like after games and just go like hey like you know please like explain to me like what is all this and cuz yeah like I don't know the rules and I genuinely just want to like understand so that I don't do the same thing again it's good that they are so helpful and everything just they're pretty good seems like a good just really Sport and just people in it um and I wanted to kind of like go back to talking about playing for Australia before so then you also got to be on the court in the first or female SL nonbinary when people that was really really cool um and I just like I feel that was like honestly probably one of the peak experiences I've had so far and um so much that like I really I really want like Australia to have like an all female lineup for 2028 um I just think that would be such a cool thing to be a part of like women are getting more into this Sport and I think that would a great be a great way for Australia to showcase the the female athletes that we have yeah like I guess like in that moment like did you actually realize like what was happening um I guess it it just kind of felt normal because we we've like played on court together a few times but it was just it was just really like positive and fun and like you know like throwing confence each other like your hair looks amazing like um I yeah like I I love shouting out girly comments to the others when cuz it's like yeah it's just if you feel good on court I think I think you play better yeah so is that something you'd like to see then like being able to play in an all female like yeah yeah yeah I think that would be like such a cool time to just play with girls and I I think girls have a different we we bring a different kind of aggression to the game than what the men do and it's it's just it's really fun it's good what do you think are some of those like I guess aggressions and just like special things you bring like that are different to the man I don't I I think it's a lot more like when we hit into each other and stuff like we're giggling about it we're like having fun where it's like the men can be really intimidating and scary on court and they often don't smile and that can just make it feel like a really aggressive angry space um um and so it's it's really nice playing with all women and like I just I just feel like there's a different understanding yeah yeah and I guess just like speaking about some of those women I know Ella Saj um is one that you play with a bond even though she wasn't playing today but miss her yeah it feels like you seem like really close to her and like I want to know like what kind of effects she's had on your journey since you've started um I think Ella's been really good at helping me like kind of like stand up for myself um and hold my own against the men and like feel confident as a female player and like I feel like when I started I was very like small in my shell and like I don't want to like I don't like to rock the boat I don't want to like say or do anything that will like upset anybody um but Ella's like been really helpful at just like being like no like you deserve to be in this space just as much as everyone else and like I think that's been really helpful for me like yeah have there been any other like players or girls like that have helped her she mostly like kind of like I I think all of the girls like everyone everyone's been different and it's just yeah it's been really fun well maybe by the time the LA Paralympics come about maybe there'll be more girls I hope so yeah I feel like an all girls lineup would just be like the coolest thing to debut at a par Olympics so yeah so that's obviously something that's um you would want to happen that's like my one my one big goal at the moment like I haven't really thought any further than that I just know that I want to do that so like in terms of like playing like do you have like a goal like I guess you've only been playing for a little while or is that the main one I just yeah I mean all I all I really know at this point is that yeah I I want to I want to be in an all female lineup and I want to do that at the Paralympics and debut I think that would be just like the coolest thing um to play alongside like my best friends and everything it's really fun like after comps and stuff we'll go back to our rooms and do like face masks and stuff it's just it's just nice yeah the village does sound pretty fun yeah yeah it's just like a a good sleepover and I feel like um at least from my own experience is like a disabled girlly growing up it's like you don't get that kind of closeness with other girls you don't get to really go on those sleepovers or have those fun nights out but it's like going way to this is like it's just that and it's it's really fun so do you feel like this team is like one of the most like inclusive environments you've kind of been in yeah for sure for sure yeah no I do kind of want to like transition um just into talking about something that I mentioned in the intro it feels like you're pretty creative and I wanted to talk a bit about your music yeah like that I make silly songs in my room um yeah um so you mentioned that I think you kind of like like music as a kid but like how did you first like get into actually like writing your own songs I always been doing that um I think having autism like I'm not always the best at like processing what I'm feeling and so kind of taking the time to like make music and like all the sounds to kind of reflect what I'm feeling and then coming up with words later and just like I I find it very cathartic and it's it's it's kind of nice cuz it's like I feel like people wouldn't really want to listen to what I have to say otherwise like who wants to listen to me complain about my problems but if I put it in a song with a cool cool beat it's like yes this is fun so yeah have there been like certain artists or like that been inspired by like just going up that you've listened to and um I don't know I I listen to a lot of different music but I don't I don't really like to follow structure I just kind of I just do whatever feels kind of right in the moment and it just kind of ends up being something so yeah so would you say you have like a particular like style of music or do you just like go with the flow when you're creating it I feel like it's I don't know like Indie pop electronic kind of kind of Vibes I really like Grimes I feel like she makes some really cool stuff I love just putting weird sounds in there and doing things that kind of people wouldn't expect to be in there so yeah cuz I think I was listening to one of your song's coolest party and like you're kind of like singing about like wanting to like fit in and stuff like that and I wanted to know like how I guess your music has actually helped you to like get through some of those like struggles um I don't I don't get a lot of plays on my any of my tracks but it's nice to know that the few plays I do get it's like someone else stands like someone else feels the same thing so I think it just kind of makes me feel less isolated with my own feelings to kind of know like oh someone else like probably gets this like they understand like yeah we need to put up like a link in the bio to people to listen to it right now I've been listening to a few I think they're really great though thank you it's cool and you've got four songs now where you like always just kind of like WR new ones and yeah yeah I just kind of make them and like if I feel like putting one out I put it out and Yeah like it's just it's just for fun um and if it takes off cool and if it doesn't like honestly it's just it's just nice to create things and put it out there for other people to enjoy yeah definitely um and I wanted to ask about your artist name Grammy babe like how did that all come about because I I being autistic I don't always feel like I connect with people so I often refer to myself as just like a gremlin or like a rat so it's just like Gremlin baby so it's just gremmy babe that sounds really cool like I was trying to figure out I was like searching up yeah no it's it's just Gremlin baby but I feel like grmy is cuter than just is Gremlin so yeah okay that is cool yeah and and like you've said you've kind of always just kind of liked to like create songs and you're just writing them but do you have like any particular goals with your music honestly um it'd be really cool if like Dylan orot listen to my tracks and if I could play it ability Fest like that would be really cool but like yeah like I said I kind of just do it for fun and if stuff happens it happens I've kind of just done the same thing with rugby like it's fun and then stuff kind of just like starts to happen around me so I feel like um the approach I take for most things in my life is just keep doing it while I enjoy it and stuff happens cool like yeah yeah and I just wanted to kind of know like just in general I guess what is next to VI in terms of like your music and your sport and just like life in general life in general oh okay I'm doing a massive move at the end of the year I'm moving to the Gold Coast to live and train with all the Queensland guys because that's like the best rugby Hub also like um Benny's there Ella's there like all my best mates are there so it's like I just I feel like if I want a really good shot of going to Ella like I need to just live and breathe rugby and all of that um yeah so I'm going to be going to Bond University and yeah so that should be pretty fun I'm excited you just really love like the culture there and everything I do yeah yeah and there's a lot more female players there um and it's just it's just great and the support that's available over there like I just feel like I I'm really going to thrive there so I'm really excited to do all of that like it's terrifying I'm so scared but I'm also like it'll be really it'll be worth it it'll be so worth it well that is really exciting like I guess good luck with all that in just the future thanks so watch that was great thank for more from hway visit hway Sports media. stack.com