I love sport. I love playing it and I generally love
watching it. I publicly confess to brushing aside
a sneaky tear during big moments such as Cathy
Freeman’s 400 metre win, Sally Pearson’s hurdle
victories and the Australian netballers triumphant
celebrations over our nearby kiwi rivals. There
is just something about an elite athlete training
hard, overcoming injury and then mentally pushing
through any obstacles to win. It’s also perhaps
why I love football movies of any kind. And yes, a
sneaky tear embarrassingly escapes during these
occasionally too. Sad but true.
gate because she’s too worn out? Now I’m sure
they were all incredibly tired and they would have
loved the opportunity to stop but it was more
important to finish well and to give their all.
Yet stopping and having a lie down before we
arrive at the finishing line is precisely what many of
us are doing with our finances during this time of
year.
What I do know through my many years of playing
sport, from listening to athletes or reading about
them is that training, eating well, a great mindset
and the right coach play such a big part but at the
end of the day it’s what happens on the field or the
track that will lose or win a race or a game. And
often that comes down to what happens at the
very end.
Whether it’s the last few kilometres in a marathon,
the last quarter of a game or the split second
over a finish line it is so important to finish well.
Otherwise you could have trained hard all year,
eaten well, had a great mindset going into the
game and performed beautifully but in those final
minutes if you don’t end well then really it’s all for
nothing.
I mean, can you imagine Sally Pearson arriving at
the last hurdle and deciding it was simply too high
and too hard? Or Cathy Freeman running the last
hundred metres and deciding it hurt too much?
Or Jessica Fox lying down in her kayak at the final
Finishing the year well
Melissa Browne
Finishing the year well
Melissa Browne