“Sport set me up for life.”
Today I chat with Dr Amber Halliday OLY. Amber and I talk about her professional sporting career first in rowing, where she won numerous gold and silver medals at the Rowing World Championships and represented Australia at the Olympic Games twice. Amber then moved to cycling, training at the South Australian Sports Institute, where success came to her swiftly. Barely a year into the sport and she’d won the Women’s Tour of New Zealand.
In January 2011 disaster struck; Amber was in a cycling accident (during a race in Adelaide) which caused traumatic brain injury and several broken bones. We discuss Amber’s journey to recovery which included learning to walk and talk again and how, in a moment, her entire identity, that of an athlete, was shattered and she had to reinvent herself. That she did with incredible success and hard work. Amber obtained a PhD in positive psychology with a focus on adolescent mental health and wellbeing and has now launcher her coaching business, She Thrives in Sport.
She Thrives in Sport provides online learning and coaching tailored to female athletes, their coaches and their parents with an aim to build resilience, performance and wellbeing in sport.
I would sum up this conversation by saying it is a lesson (from Amber) about resilience and the benefits of a positive frame of mind.
Useful links:
- She Thrives in Sport: https://www.shethrivesinsport.com
- Matt Fitzgerald’s book, How Bad Do You Want It?: https://amandaswellbeingpodcast.com/how-bad-do-you-want-it/
- Angela Duckworth, author of Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance: https://angeladuckworth.com
