Underwater Hockey (Really?)
The next couple of days were pretty basic, kids getting schoolwork done and Ilise and I roaming around town seeing some sites. It turns out that Emma is part of an interesting sport called underwater hockey that is pretty popular here in Australia. She invited Drew and Noah to come watch her practice. We stopped by the Rec Center on Wednesday night and saw what seemed like a bunch of people swimming under water and all you can see are fins. Everyone wears goggles and a snorkel and you actually try to push a puck into a goal on the bottom of the pool. The kids asked if they could go back and get their bathers (bathing suits in Australia) to watch the practice under water. So, I dropped Ilise and Karley back at the house, got the kids into their suits and headed back to the Rec Center to watch underwater hockey.
The kids took goggles, snorkels and fins and jumped in the side pool to watch the game that was now underway. The kids were having a great time in the pool and Emma was having a great time playing. I met one of the other mom’s who was on the side of the pool named Raine. Her daughter was another of the 13 year olds who were now part of the Australian National Team for Underwater Hockey. I thought this all seemed very strange, but there is an international collection of teams and both Lilly (Raine’s daughter) and Emma were selected for the U19 women’s team for the country and are traveling to Spain later this year. This is a big deal here. The sport is a bit hard to watch since everything happens under water, but it is great for fitness and the girls seem to love playing. They practice 6 days a week!
While they were practicing Raine and I had a long discussion about life and her desire to bring some programs to Australia around teenage bullying. She was bullied as a kid and wants to make sure that every child in Australia has the opportunity to grow up in a peaceful and loving environment. She was going back to university to get a business degree and wanted to bring a specific program to Margaret River. I spoke to her about The 7 Mindsets, a similar program started by Scott Shickler, a long time friend. I also told her about Sara Potler LaHayne and Move This World. Raine was very passionate about her cause and it was fun to talk with her about it. I continue to be put in situations to talk with people that are ready to live their purpose and our conversation seems to take them one step closer to their true calling. It feels really good to be that catalyst for moving forward. I look forward to doing that for many more people on my journey.
We left practice and headed back to the AirBnB house to get some rest. I was pretty tired after spending most of the previous night on a Skype call back in SD. I slept really well and awoke to some additional client and prospect calls and then a wonderful day traveling around the southern tip of Western Australia, which will be another individual post.
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 