One of Australia's most successful athletes, Natalie Cook has told the GIANTS players about what it takes to win Olympic gold.
Addressing the team before its match against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, the four time Olympian spoke of what is required to achieve success at the highest level.
“Some of you will think that you’ve made it – that you’ve done all the hard work to simply get here and that’s enough. But the reality is that just gets you to game day. When you’re in a competition that’s as fierce at the top level as AFL, every single week is like competing for an Olympic gold medal," she said.
"It’s all about mental strength. Every guy out there in the AFL has big muscles and can run fast and jump high and kick the ball well – it’s whether you can do it on the siren with a small angle with the game to be decided on your ability to kick that goal. It’s all in your head."
The volleyball champion, who is set to compete at her fifth Olympic Games in London, said players needed to be disciplined in their training and do the little things right if they wanted to achieve long term success.
"When you're in a sport like AFL where your Olympics is every year that you’re preparing for, you just really have to make sure that every single day you are doing the little things," she said.
"For me the Olympic games are every four years, as soon as I finish one I set my focus on the next one. That’s what keeps me going. I wear an Olympic ring, I have London stuff all around me, I’ve got a London belt on, phone cover, sheets. It keeps me focused on why I do all of this – to make an Olympic team."
Young GIANTS player Adam Treloar, who will play his fifth AFL game today, said that he was in awe of what Natalie has been able to achieve over such a long career.
“It’s pretty inspirational, obviously coming from someone that has competed at the Olympics at a young age as well as winning a gold medal. She’s just so confident in the way she goes about everything. It really reflected on how she conducts her life,” he said.
“We can take a lot out of that, if we can all learn how to be that confident in everything we do and the way we prepare ourselves, we’ll find a way to be a successful team in the future.
“She’s 37 years old and about to compete in her fifth Olympics - she’s achieved so much in life. I’m just 19 years old and about to pay my fifth game of footy and I stress about everything. For her to last that long, and stay positive, it shows me that I have a long time in the system if I can learn to use my confidence the way she does and stay positive and look at the things in the right way and just improve on them.”
