My Australian Team Commonwealth Games Journey
Monday 9th March, 2018
Wow- What a week! My posts have been few and far between over this last week purely due to how busy I have been in covering Physio for the Aussie Team. Here is a summary of my week from Inside the Australian Team:
Sunday 1st – Easter! Celebrated with a visit from the Easter Bunny to the dinning hall and hundreds of Easter eggs left across all the tables so no-one would miss out. Thanks Easter Bunny!
Monday 2nd- our Aussie Triathletes entered the Village and with my 2 specific allocated sports being Triathlon and Beach Volleyball, they kept me busy on a daily basis. Having worked with Triathlon Australia and the able-bodied athletes leading in to Comm Games, plus regularly treating paratriathlete Nic Beveridge in clinic, I have a real familiarity with these athletes and find them exceptionally professional to work with.
Adding these triathletes to the 4 Beach Volleyball athletes (2 women: the talented Taliqua Clancy & hard-worker Mariafe Artacho Del Solar; & 2 men: the experienced Chris McHugh and powerful Damien Schumann) kept me busy with treatments for a few days leading into the first Medal of the Games in the womens triathlon on Thursday.
BUT, there were a couple of very special events for me prior to the first competition: 
Monday afternoon, the Australian Team dressed up for our official games Welcoming Ceremony. This ceremony consisted of a Welcome from the Village Mayors and a special Aboriginal Dance performance and a chance for the whole team to mingle.
We were then required to change into full formal uniform and we were transported to The Star for a special Australian Team evening where the flag-bearer was announced. For me, the most special part of this evening was that all athletes were taken into the venue room first, delivered their motivational message in poem and then all staff and officials entered the room to a standing ovation as a Thank You from the athletes. This acknowledgement from the athletes is actually one of the most memorable moments of my career, and 2 moments were especially highlighted in this moment for me- that is, seeing the acknowledgement from the athlete I have the longest professional relationship with, in Sally Pearson for 14yrs working together, and then seeing the youngest athletes I now work with who have just made their first major
International Australian Team in both Elijah Winnington (a 17yo swimmer) & Matt Hauser (a 20yo triathete).
Wednesday the 4th – Opening Ceremony Night. wow! Another amazing experience to be part of where the memories will last forever. What more can I say!
Thursday the 5th – Was a mixed bag of emotions with the First Medal of the games being handed to Womens Triathlon. Flora Duffy of Bermuda (world number 1) outclassed our aussie girls with Ash Gentle finishing 5th as our best-place. Jake Birthwhistle then eased the disappointment by winning Silver in the mens race in an awesome show of running performance. Matt Hauser (having just had his 20th B’day in the Village and representing Aus in his first senior team) ran into 4th in an exceptional effort.Matt’s 4th place is a special moment for me having seen him deal with injury at the end of last year, and seeing closely how maturely he has gone about his preparation for such a big event. Pleasure to work with you Matt!
Thursday afternoon saw the start of the Beach Volleyball competition at Coolangatta. If you ever have the chance to watch elite BV competition, DO IT! The atmosphere is exciting with dancing and crowd engagement and the Venues are always intimate so you are super close to the action. Covering our mens and womens teams means I have prime seat directly behind the players bench on field. Leading into competition our women are one of the hot favourites for gold but they will have to work for it. They are very self-sufficient athletes to work with and so far I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge.
Saturday 7th – Saw me covering the Paratriathlon and Triathlon Mixed Team Relay. Having worked closely with Nic Beveridge and Bill Chaffey as locals in the Paratri, it was great to see Paratriathlon showcased to the world. The GC Commonwealth Games inclusion of the parasports has been a BIG positive to our games, and even better was seeing Nic finish with a silver medal, and Bill with bronze. Nic deserves credit as one of the hardest working athletes, while also managing the additional challenges of being a para-athlete, so I’m so proud to be part of his team.
Then came the exciting Triathlon mixed team relay which I think is a super exciting progression for the sport of Triathlon. The mixed team relay sees 2 males and 2 females alternate doing a full mini-tri each (250m swim, 7km ride, 1500m run) and tag-team each other. This format has been accepted for Tokyo Olympics and as current World Champions in this event, all Aussie triathletes were watching in support and anticipation. Each Aussie team member in Gillian Backhouse, Matt Hauser, Ash Gentle and Jake Birtwhistle precisely did their job in the team and it paid off with a GOLD!
What an absolute buzz to have contributed my small part to the team over the past 2 months and then on race day!
But my work for the day wasnt finished as I then zipped down to coolangatta to cover womens beach volleyball again. With a win from these girls, I felt a sense of pride finally getting to bed that night. Job complete with Tri and BV to support into the following week of finals.
Go the Aussies!
Saturday 31st March, 2018
The last 2 days have been exciting with some visits to Competition Venues. Part of my role in Australian Team HQ Medical is viewing the venues where we need to provide Physio and Doctor coverage so we know where we will be located, what facilities are present at the venue and where the medical supplies & areas are should we need to use them. This is always an interesting role for us to do & a great opportunity to see some venues.
Friday night the Australian Women Hockeyroos played South Africa in a friendly trial match at the new Gold Coast Hockey Centre. It is a beautiful new artificial turf and building that will be a big asset to the GC in the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.
Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting the Beach Volleyball stadium at Coolangatta – again another very well planned venue where I will likely be covering our Australian Team games throughout the tournament (a word for BV ticket-holders: if we manage to see our great gold coast sun come out and weather during the games is sunny, bring your sun cream and hat as it will be hot in the stands with no shade for sure.!). The seating is so close to the action and the Beach Volleyball is known for its music and entertainment, so it sure is a great spectacle to watch.
Here’s some interesting trivia about the Beach Volleyball- the sand for the courts has been brought in from north Brisbane as our GC beach sand is too fine and, should it rain, our beach sand absorbs too much water. The BV courts are a layer of sand, then essentially a grass court with drains and then the match sand is placed on the top so that water can drain through it at 150mm per hour, therefore not affecting the athletes ability to move across the court no matter what the conditions. The things we learn!!
In a little of my down time today, I managed to go to the Hair Salon located within the village and get that illusive haircut that I rarely have time to do in my usual week (especially when working with teams leading in to such big events). But, shhh, don’t tell my usual hair stylist, Tamlyn that I have been unfaithful to her! Its nice to feel fresh with a nice haircut though.
Tonight we have a Headquarters staff dinner, before we begin to get super busy now that most sports have entered the village – Swimming came in today and Athletics are expected tomorrow. My beloved Triathlon Team start arriving late sunday night, and most arrive monday. The Village is starting to buzz with a definate air of excitement. I can’t wait to see what the next couple of days present. Cheers for now, Britt
Thursday 29th March, 2018
I entered the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Village as part of the Australian Team on sunday 25th March on first formal day that the Village opened to athletes and staff.
I am appointed as one of 5 Sports Physios to the Australian Team Medical Headquarters. This means I am a sports Physio working across the whole Aussie Team, with specific allocation to cover Triathlon and Beach Volleyball.
ON entering the Village, it was great to NOT be jet-lagged.
As Aussies, travelling to Europe/ America or South America is a challenge to overcome both the length of time travelling and the time change, so this experience so far has been easy to cope with.
The Village is well designed and so far has been a great experience. At I write this on Thursday 29th, around 1/3 of the Aussie Team athletes have arrived in the Village, with Weightlifting, Boxing, Hockey, Gymnastics, Cycling and Shooting having been formally accredited.
The Headquarters Medical Team consists of an amazing group of Medico’s and Therapists from around the Country: 5 Sports Physicians led by Dr Grace Bryant, 5 Sports Physio’s led by Steve Hawkins , 7 Soft Tissue Therapists, 2 Recovery Specialists, 1 Deititian, 2 Sports Psychologists and our amazing admin lady who works the hardest out of all of us making sure athletes have the correct bookings when they need it.
My apartments is 3 bedroom, with 2 single beds in each room and I am sharing with Liz from Operations – we are both mums of relatively young children so that helps me cope with being away for the 3wks from my beautiful family when I know other mums are experiencing the same emotions.
On arriving in our rooms we were greeted with a nice little gift in a toy Borobi mascot plus a few other goodies. Boorbi was quickly claimed by my eldest daughter, Summa! Compared to Rio Olympics, settling in here on the Gold Coast has been LOADS easier.
The Aussie Team as the home Games Team had first preference on our location in the Village, so we have prime space and Team Ops have decorated our building so it is unmistakably AUS!
As expected by those who know me, I have already visited the Village Gym on a number of occasions. The gym is set-up with Technogym equipment and is a busy place for sure! It is also the most amazing place to do some ‘people watching’ as seeing the athletes complete their gym sessions is often hard to be believed for us mere mortals. The good athletes make difficult tasks look very easy, and as a Sports Physio, it is a pleasure to watch this level of physical ability. Bring on the next week!
Cheers for now, Britt Caling
