Q. You had a great victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was that the highlight of your beach volleyball career?
  A. Absolutely, without a doubt.  I'd played Indoor Volleyball for Australia from the age of 17 until I was 27. During that time, I also played one season of  A1 League in Italy. Something no other Australian Woman has done to date.  I then started playing Beach Volleyball at 28 yrs old, won Bronze in Atlanta 96' and Silver in the World Champs in 98'.  But, the Gold - in front of my home town!! - was by far the biggest moment of my sporting career.

   Q. You've had 6 knee operations during your career, how has that affected you staying fit now?
   A. The only reason I started playing Beach Volleyball was because I totally wrecked my knee on the indoor court and couldn't get back to playing Indoor Volleyball. After 12 months of rehab, I tried, but the floor boards were just too hard on the joint.  So, I decided to change directions and give Beach Volleyball a try. What made it more attractive was it was also announced that year that Beach was to be made a full medal sport in the 1996 Olympics. That meant I had just under 3 years to get strong and fit enough to compete. I knew it would be softer on my joints, but I still managed another surgery before the Atlanta Olympics, just to clean up the masses of scar tissue.  Anyway, during this time, I had to rely on lots of non-weight bearing exercises to stay in shape. I had to "save" my knees for when I was playing, so I did a lot of stationery bike work (cardio and sprints), pool workouts (cardio and sprints) and adjust my weight training to all non weight bearing exercises, such as Leg Press, Hamstring Curls and adductor/abductor work instead of squats, lunges or cleans. It's amazing how creative you can get in the gym if you have injuries.  There are always ways of avoiding an area, but keeping muscle around it strong.  These days, I follow the same plan - mainly because I've since had 3 more knee surgeries!   I've now added the occasional yoga session (although some poses are difficult to do with knee problems like mine!) and Pilates.   Pilates is probably the best as you spend most of the time on the floor but still get a great ab, back, arm and leg workout.  I also still get in the pool using a floatation belt to do water running and flippers to help strengthen my legs whilst doing laps.

   Q. You're a mum to 3 year old Tyson, any secrets to getting your body back into shape after the birth?
   A. I pretty much just ate the same - lots of healthy, fresh food. I love salads loaded with all kinds of fresh veggies, nuts, dates, fruit or anything I have on hand. I use Olive Oil, Balsamic and Salt as a dressing. Throw a bbq'd chicken fillet on top and you've got a great meal.  I eat regularly throughout the day and often snack on Tyson's leftovers (which are always healthy and yummy!!).  I walked a lot, after his birth and didn't stress about how long it might take to lose it.  I did play a season of beach volleyball, 4 months after, just to see if I could still do it - but that was it as far as organized sport went.  Now I go try to do one Pilates session, 2 weight sessions and one or two walks around the Northern Beaches each week.  If I don't get it all done, then I also don't stress about it. Life is a
lot different with a child and I just make sure the one thing I can control is what, and how much, I eat.

Q. How important is your diet to keeping your lean physique?
A. As I mentioned, I have pretty good habits when eating. It's not because I force myself, I just prefer fresh food to processed or fried food. I also prefer tomato based sauces to creamy sauces. I use Olive Oil instead of butter when cooking. I always make sure we have plenty of fresh fruit on hand and that it's in a big bowl right at the entrance to the kitchen so it's easy to grab.  I limit bread to a couple of slices a day and I love having a yummy breakfast.  I also don't beat myself up if I eat the occasional junk food or fattening food. Stressing about it probably just makes it worse!  It's about good choices and often good choices that are convenient and quick to prepare.

Q. Any interest in making a comeback to competition?
A. Never!! I'm too old for that now. I put my body through plenty of blood, sweat and tears over the 25 years I played sport. Now it's time to relax and enjoy the rest of my life!

Q. How did you turn the Atlanta bronze medal into an Olympic gold in Sydney?
A. I'd need a week to write down everything we planned, how we went about doing it and then how we made it happen on the day...  But, I'll give you a quick overview:  Natalie Cook and I are two very passionate and driven sportswomen, who love to win. This doesn't mean we are bad losers, it just means that if
we do lose, then we'll be searching and learning to find out how to win next time. That's what we did for 4 years between 1996 and 2000.  We had our volleyball coach, so we set out to complete our team and sourced a conditioning coach and a success coach.  We did this independently from our National Program as we felt that we needed more than they had to offer. We knew that we needed MORE than anyone else did to enable us to be our best.  We then took our team away for a 4 day brainstorming session and collectively decided what we were going to achieve and then planned out how we were going to do it.  This became our Gold Medal Excellence plan - (I'm sharing this in my soon to be completed book - The Business of being an Athlete.)  We lived and breathed our plan, spent hours/weeks/years perfecting our physical and mental skills, pushed ourselves past every limit we had ever perceived, sought out learning opportunities from anyone and everyone around us and just did lots and lots of hard work.  In the end, we knew we were good enough to win on the day and it would come down to how much we would believe it, that would make the difference.  Obviously, we believed it! We took home the Gold medal on that day back in September 2000 and it changed our lives forever.

Q. Goal setting is big on your radar. What tips can you give around goal setting?
A. Here's an easy 7 step process:

1.       Dream it.
Take some quality time to sit down and allow yourself to dream BIG about what you'd like to achieve.

2.       What's your Purpose?
Then, write down EXACTLY WHY you want this in your life. The stronger the purpose, the greater your motivation to take each step.

3.       Design your Action Plan
Step it out. It's as simple as that. Start from now 'til you reach the goal, or better still - imagine you're already there and look back at what you had to do to get there.

4.       Date it!
Make sure each step has a date by which you'll achieve it. You can always change those dates if you know it might take a bit longer or even if you've achieved it earlier. But make sure you do date it. This is a powerful motivator.

5.       Banish the doubt and change it all to uplifting positive feelings.
Now, take some time to assess your TRUE thoughts about this goal. What are your fears and doubts about whether you can achieve it? Write them all down.  Next, take out a new piece of paper and one by one, change each of those fears/doubts into a positive statement.  When you're done, burn that negative page and pin up the positive page somewhere that you'll see it EVERY day.

6.       Review
Take time each month to check on where you're at. Change, rearrange or alter your journey as you go. Remember, goals don't have to be set in stone. It's YOUR life and you have the power to design it however you prefer.

7.       Achieve and Reward
Program in little rewards for achieving the smaller steps along the way to keep you motivated.