Every girl’s endgame:
AIS Athletes

Sam Squiers: Welcome, everyone. You are some of Australia's elite and most high-profile female athletes. We want to know from you and get your insights onto topics such as confidence, support, endgame, and resilience. Let's launch straight into it. How important is sport for girls in order to build their confidence?

Jemima Montag: I think it's one of those things that you can't learn as well anywhere else. And not just confidence, but teamwork, resilience, tackling perfectionism.

Georgia Godwin: Sport puts you out of your comfort zone and you need to find the confidence within you to step into that space and thrive. Everyone's got the confidence within them. You just need to find it.

Sam Squiers: How influential is your support network?

Milly Tapper: I'm very grateful for the sport I have had, particularly growing up in a very male-dominated sport. So I've had a lot of people from the get go really sort of help catapult my career and keep me in the sport.

Shae Graham: I think I'm really lucky that I'm part of a community that is just so interested in building each other up.

Sam Squiers: How has sport helped you to be more resilient?

Shae Graham: I learned a lot about resilience after the car accident. Ultimately, to me, resilience is every time you fall over picking yourself backup. Sometimes life's hard, but we're harder. So like, we can keep on going.

Zoe Vorenas: To be knocked off your feet, it changes your whole life. And to pull myself out of that there was this whole new world that opened up, and thankfully it did, because it gave me drive, gave me a reason to be up in the morning. That routine and consistency I just I can't express how grateful I am for my sport.

Sam Squiers: Your endgame, by definition, was something that was greater than just a medal or a podium - which I'm sure is all in your goals and plans. But endgame is defined as something greater.

Milly Tapper: At the end of the day, I couldn't care about the achievements or what came with it, but if someone remembers how I made them feel, like, that's the biggest win.

Zoe Vorenas: Seeing one of my young riders - I'm going to get emotional now. She's a young para athlete, and she just came back after one of her many, many surgeries and we finally convinced her to get back on the horse. And the smile on her face, I was crying, her mum was crying. And I want that. I want that every day I want to help people.

Jemima Montag: I think it's about your legacy. And medals are cool, but they almost never feel as wonderful and amazing as you think they're going to. And they don't have that lasting impact, like changing a life or a culture or an environment. I think that's what we're all here to do.

Sam Squiers: How has sport helped you to be more resilient?

Zoe Vorenas: To be knocked off your feet, it changes your whole life. To pull myself out of that, there was this whole new world that opened up, gave me drive, gave me a reason to be up in the morning. I can't express how grateful I am for my sport.

Shae Graham: Ultimately, to me, resilience is every time you fall over picking yourself backup. Sometimes life's hard but we're harder. So, like, we can keep on going.
 

Sam Squiers: What confidence did you have to have and how did you get that confidence to not only participate in your sport but then to thrive so successfully?

Jemima Montag: Our confidence always wavers, particularly when the pressure's on. Sometimes for me it's about not waiting for the confidence to set in before just giving something a crack.

Georgia Godwin: Sport puts you out of your comfort zone and you need to find the confidence within you to step into that space and thrive.
 

Sam Squiers: How influential is your support network?

Georgia Godwin: I've got this really amazing team around me. They're trying to get the best out of me. On top of that, all my teammates, they are my biggest support network.

Milly Tapper: I remember competing in a final once, the stadium was full, but the one person I could identify out of all the yelling and the screaming and the voices in the hall, was my brother's. “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” So I'm very grateful for the support I have had.
 

Sam Squiers: What does endgame mean to you?

Georgia Godwin: To help younger athletes be confident in speaking up and sharing their values and opinions.

Milly Tapper: Ensuring that I'm always having fun and that I can pass on my sort of learning and expertise as well onto the next generation.

Jemima Montag: Medals are cool, but they don't have that lasting impact, like changing a life or a culture or an environment. I think that's what we're all here to do.