27 hours driving a week: What parents do for the kids chasing an elite sporting dream
Their kids are among our nation’s sporting elite, but it’s their parents who are often the real stars, writes Jess Adamson.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Amid that magnificent Matildas mayhem on Saturday night, as our nation forged an unbreakable bond of green and gold, I had some questions.
How many of the girls’ parents were at the game in Brisbane? Could they all get tickets? How must they have been feeling in those final nailbiting minutes?
How on earth did they manage their emotion with their daughters on the world stage, the pressure of an entire country squarely on their shoulders?
And did they sob like I did when it was over? When the whistle blew, it was so much more than sport. It was a moment in time that’s been years in the making.
Every one of these women is the product of enormous sacrifice.
Mums and dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, cousins and friends who rode the highs and the lows with them, cut up the oranges, drove them to training and games, witnessed the setbacks, the tears and the triumphs.
Those sacrifices are seen in every sporting club across the land, from the Kyby Tigers and the Gladstone Mudcrabs to the Hay Cutters and the Casuarina Cougars.
In our house, our children have come to the end of their footy seasons and we’ve suddenly found ourselves with more time on our hands. A lot more time.
At its peak, our weekly schedule includes four 7am training sessions, five afternoon or evening sessions and six games of footy, cricket, soccer, netball and table tennis. Many families do a lot more. I need a spreadsheet to work out who is going where, when and how.
And we love it. I’ll never complain about the privilege of taking our kids to play sport.
But there is no limit to a parent’s dedication, commitment and sacrifice.
Three weeks ago in County Cork, Ireland, Eamonn Keane took a phone call from Adelaide Football Club CEO Tim Silvers.
Tim told him his son Mark would make his debut with the Crows in four days time.
Less than 24 hours later, Eamonn and Mark’s partner Caoimhe English were on a plane bound for Adelaide. They made it to Showdown 54 just in time. It was Eamonn’s first AFL game and it’s fair to say he embraced it.
“Holdin’ da ball,” he screamed from the stands. “Come ooooooon.”
One week before, Luke Nankervis’ parents Paul and Heidi drove from Melbourne to Adelaide to watch their son take on the Eagles in the SANFL.
They made it all way, only to discover Luke would be flying to Melbourne as an emergency with a strong chance to play for the Crows against the Dees. The couple happily turned around and drove all the way back.
Conor Rozee’s parents, Robert and Sue, packed up and moved to Adelaide from Port Augusta when Connor was 12 so the now Port Adelaide superstar could chase his AFL dream. It was a masterstroke.
As a young girl, Hannah Ewings travelled tens of thousands of kilometres to play footy.
Her mum and dad, Tash and Jeff, drove her from Whyalla to Adelaide three times a week so she could train and play. It’s a nine-hour round trip, so at least 27 hours in the car every week.
Last year, in her first season at AFLW level, she won both the Rising Star competition and Port Adelaide’s Best and Fairest. Worth the long car rides? You bet it was.
Two weeks ago, a big contingent of South Australians travelled to Lavington in New South Wales, boosting its population of 13,073 by several hundred people and its beer and champagne sales by several thousand dollars.
Why? Because they were the families of our South Australian under-12 state teams.
They came from Willunga, Port Lincoln, Keith, Kadina, Nuriootpa, Angaston, Paringa, Port Augusta, Myponga and from across the city.
And what a line-up of talent it was, including several father-daughter SANFL players.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the girls who made the trip …
Brooke and Elle Weatherald – twin daughters of Tim and Marnie. Tim is a Magarey Medallist and 253-game Sturt premiership player who also played 58 games for the Redlegs.
Mahleaha Buckskin – daughter of Jack and Khe-Sanh. Jack is a well-known Kaurna and Narungga leader who still runs around for Salisbury North.
Amelia Kelly – daughter of Richard and Georgie. Richard played 129 games for Norwood and Glenelg.
Arabella Lehmann – daughter of Megan and Jason. Jason was a much-loved staff member at the Adelaide Crows before he passed away in 2019 from cancer. Megan is a true warrior.
Emily Starkey – daughter of Jen and Dion, niece of Magarey Medallist Andrew Osborn.
Emily and footy teammate Emily Martin will travel to Perth next month with the state netball team. None of this comes cheaply, it’s a huge financial outlay.
And 12-year-old Millie Duncan from Clare. Her parents Andrew and Alice drove a round trip of 1912km with two younger siblings to be there. All four of Millie’s grandparents made the trip too.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan was on the sidelines; his son Sid was playing for Victoria.
For Adelaide mum Jen Starkey, it was an unforgettable week of camaraderie.
“Everyone was so encouraging of every family and every girl,” she says.
“It was also wonderful to spend the week away with the boys’ team who were so supportive towards the girls, singing the song with them and cheering them on.
“We have the most incredible and passionate coaches. It was very much ‘Team SA’.”
The girls brought home a bronze medal and the boys, silver. Their parents brought home a carload of washing and some very tired but happy kids.
Back in 2008, I was a member of the Seven Network’s Olympic Games news team in Beijing, a brutal but brilliant four-week assignment.
I was assigned to cover the cycling and diving. Thankfully, I didn’t need to be an expert, just someone who could tell stories of resilience, defiance and triumph.
If “Anna Meares” was in the dictionary, you’d see those three words by her name.
She is our greatest female track cyclist of all time and the only Australian athlete in history to win medals at four consecutive Olympics.
Seven months before the Beijing Games she broke her neck in a horrific velodrome crash in Los Angeles. She was just 2mm from being a quadriplegic, or worse.
That crash would end many an Olympic dream, but not Anna’s. She was back on a training bike 10 days later and on the podium in Beijing, clutching one of the greatest silver medals of all time.
I’ll never forget the emotion of that medal ceremony and everything it stood for.
Anna’s hardworking parents Tony and Marilyn gave up so much to let it happen.
The family lived in the coal mining town of Middlemount in Central Queensland.
When Anna and her sister Kerrie took up competitive track cycling, Marilyn spent every weekend driving them 250km to Mackay, a six-hour round trip.
Eventually the family moved to Rockhampton to allow them to access better coaches.
“It wasn’t until I retired that they finally told me how hard it was for them,” Anna said later.
“I will never earn enough money to repay them, but I know that the pride they had in the things I’ve done and achieved is payment enough.”
Lesley Catley did the same for her daughter, Steph.
“There was a lot of driving, that’s all I did as soon as I finished work. I’d pick her up, drive her to training, it was full-on,” she said last week.
To see her captain the Matildas through the World Cup in Sam Kerr’s absence has been like “an out of body experience”.
“I’m so nervous, sick in the stomach. I can’t eat,” Lesley said.
“That’s excitement and nerves for my daughter and the other girls who I’m so proud of.”
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson summed it up just before the penalty shootout on Saturday night when he pointed to the stands and repeated the word “family” several times.
After the game, he fought back tears.
“I’m probably one of the proudest and happiest coach (sic) ever right now because I’m happy for so many other people,” he said.
“This is what life is about – creating memories with the ones you love the most.”
Spare a thought for the families of these extraordinary women when you tune in tonight.
How lucky we are to be joining their party.
More Coverage
Super versus housing: why you really need to build both
Superannuation or housing wealth? Aussies shouldn’t have to choose, and these tips can help you get richer with each of them.
Cornes: What happened when 63 Crows originals got back together
It’s been 34 years since the turmoil of that 1990 SANFL season when the VFL’s wanton greed forever changed football in this state, writes Graham Cornes.