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Kasey Brown and Mick McDonald at the Sporting Hall of Fame
Manning River Times
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3/25/2024
Kasey Brown and Mick McDonald at the Sporting Hall of Fame
Category
🥇
Sports
Transcript
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00:00
The Commonwealth Games is a hugely great experience.
00:04
Oh, amazing.
00:05
It's to represent your country and to walk out,
00:08
especially at the opening ceremony,
00:10
to walk out and just see a stadium of people all cheering you on
00:15
is absolutely incredible.
00:16
The thing too about the Commonwealth Games
00:18
is also the longest two weeks of your life
00:21
because there's so much pressure to compete for Australia
00:24
and to absolutely do your best and put every effort in.
00:29
It's such an amazing event.
00:31
And for squash, we had to compete all the way through,
00:35
so we didn't get a day off.
00:37
I think the final day, we did,
00:41
so we actually got to see one sport,
00:44
which I actually saw the hockey final where you showed India,
00:48
I think, and then South Africa beat 7-1.
00:50
So we got that one experience, but we competed the whole time.
00:54
So we would see all of these other athletes and swimmers
00:57
at the end of the first week, and they're partying at the Philwoods
01:01
and we're trying to sleep, getting ready for the next day.
01:03
So I'm a bit jealous of that,
01:04
but competing for your country is the pinnacle, I think.
01:09
So I was fortunate to do that in three Commonwealth Games
01:11
and also the World Championship as well,
01:14
where we won, Australia won in 2010.
01:20
And you know more than I do.
01:23
We won that in New Zealand.
01:25
-Brompton, yeah. -Yeah, that's right, yeah.
01:28
Yeah, so how was that?
01:30
Was Nicole David there? Was Malaysia...?
01:33
Yeah, Malaysia was there.
01:34
Now, we actually beat England, who was such a dominant force.
01:37
They won so many.
01:39
England is massive for squash,
01:41
so to beat them is always amazing.
01:44
So to beat them in the final was extra special.
01:47
You were also president, I think, of the Squash Fighters Association
01:51
at one stage.
01:52
Yeah, I was the president of the world tour.
01:55
For the last couple of years of playing,
01:59
the girls had asked me, "Would I..."
02:02
We got a group together and they said, you know,
02:05
"Would you be willing to become president?"
02:08
Which, to think back, when I was young
02:12
and I didn't even want to pick up the phone when I was little
02:17
and didn't want to speak in front of anyone,
02:19
I was the most quiet little girl,
02:23
to then have to get up and represent an entire world tour,
02:29
just so much for growth that you can achieve in sports.
02:32
So it taught me so many things.
02:34
So at that point in time, we wanted to amalgamate with the men's tour
02:39
to become one tour, as opposed to two separate tours,
02:44
and we were able to achieve that during my time there.
02:47
2013/14, did you know that your end was coming, that your time was up?
02:51
Yeah, I definitely did.
02:53
I was burnt out, I think, and I knew it.
02:57
So there was a point in time where I thought,
03:03
you know, I really got into coaching in the States at that point in time,
03:07
and I just wanted to give back to the sport,
03:09
which is another reason why I became president.
03:11
So to try and give back.
03:14
So I got into coaching at that point in time
03:18
and I knew I didn't want to compete anymore,
03:23
and I loved training, but just the competition and expectation,
03:27
and that real...
03:29
You've got to be quite selfish as an athlete, I think,
03:32
because everything is revolved around you and winning
03:36
and, you know, trying to compete for a certain goal.
03:43
So I just wanted to give back,
03:45
and I got into a little bit of coaching,
03:48
but an opportunity came up to come back to Australia,
03:51
and at that point in time,
03:54
I really wanted to re-evaluate my life, I think, as well.
04:00
I kind of got a bit lost after I stopped playing,
04:04
because your whole world is revolved around sport.
04:07
So suddenly you take that identity away
04:10
and you have to evaluate what's important to you.
04:14
And I think the thing that was missing for me was community.
04:20
So coming back to where I grew up,
04:23
and I hear a lot of people do that,
04:25
that come from Tyree and end up coming back here.
04:27
So coming back to this area,
04:30
being with my family was really important
04:32
and just re-evaluating what was really important to me.
04:36
But you did go to Mornington, I think, first,
04:38
to do a coaching job down there.
04:40
I did do that for a little bit,
04:41
but like I said, there was that piece missing, I think,
04:44
and being with family, I had to evaluate that.
04:50
And like I said, now I'm part of this community in the Tyree,
04:56
Ulba, in the Metting, is just an incredible experience,
05:00
and I'm really grateful to be back
05:03
and to be able to give back now too.
05:05
So, you know, I'm involved in the surf club
05:08
and the Rugby League as well,
05:11
and trying different things.
05:12
And I've tried a few different things
05:14
since I've come back as well.
05:15
You know, I had a stint at hockey again,
05:17
and Tony was my coach.
05:18
So to see him win this award tonight
05:22
and to have the Service Person's Award is amazing,
05:26
and all credit to the people that have put this event together,
05:30
because I think it's so important.
05:33
Because like Tony said, without volunteers
05:36
and without people who put in such big hours,
05:40
we don't have the sporting events that are put on.
05:44
And to see these young people that are absolutely thriving,
05:47
and I'm really looking forward to seeing
05:49
and following their careers,
05:51
these young people that have been awarded tonight.
05:54
I love being in this area, and, yeah, it's amazing.
05:57
Do you still stay in touch with any of your former comrades
05:59
from the tour at all?
06:01
Every now and then.
06:03
And sometimes for two years,
06:05
I didn't even want to look at a record.
06:06
I didn't want to touch it.
06:08
I didn't want to know anything about it.
06:10
But after a little bit of time,
06:14
actually, my dad was playing,
06:17
and he said, "Oh, we'll have a hit one day,"
06:20
which was such a fantastic experience.
06:23
So we're very lucky to still have Old Bart squash courts,
06:26
and we have our owners here
06:27
who have just really looked after me during my career as well.
06:31
So I'm very grateful to Old Bart squash.
06:35
So we started playing and just loved it.
06:40
So playing socially, and now we play every week,
06:45
which is such a great catch-up and time
06:47
that I've really missed out on with family.
06:49
So his knees are newer than mine,
06:52
so we have a good run each week and get to catch up
06:56
and talk about footy and all sorts of things.
06:58
When's our game, Nick?
07:00
-Sorry? -When's our game?
07:01
Oh, no.
07:03
Is there a bar there?
07:06
Possibly.
07:08
-Can be done. -Can be done.
07:10
OK, I'll keep that in mind.
07:13
So, in case, Daria, I've got myself got heavily involved in now,
07:16
which is clearly a bit removed from squash.
07:18
How did that come about?
07:20
It was actually during the fire,
07:23
so I really wanted to volunteer and give back,
07:26
and it was the toss-up.
07:28
Like, I was going to do the firefighting volunteering,
07:32
but at that point in time after the fires,
07:35
they had so many people put their hand up,
07:37
which was amazing from this community.
07:39
But the surf club needed people to be involved,
07:43
so I got involved in that one.
07:46
You're truly a great sports person.
07:48
You should have been at this Hall of Fame many years ago,
07:53
but we had a break, and now you're there,
07:55
and you're justifiably there.
07:57
Congratulations on your career,
07:58
and I'm sure there's going to be many great days ahead.
08:01
We will now, I guess, induct you into the Hall of Fame.
08:04
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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