Ever since I was introduced to who Cathy Freeman was
that really motivated me and inspired me and...
But, you can't play Cathy Freeman in FIFA the game like you can play you
so I don't know.
I'm calling your achievement higher.
Don't tell Cathy.
Kyah, it's lovely to meet you.
You too.
As I understand it you were 8 years old when you went up to Mum and Dad and said
"Imma play for Australia."
Is that actually true?
And were you the most confident 8-year-old that has ever existed?
It is true.
I think, I definitely loved my sport as a kid growing up
and played rugby league previously and
You had two sports at the same time for a period right?
Yeah, I played rugby league in under 8's.
I was going from my rugby league pitch to my football pitch.
One time I have this recollection of
it was at the same venue.
So they had a soccer pitch and then a rugby league pitch next to each other.
And I literally was playing on the same day
a pitch apart from one another.
Basically, I was inspired by the 2000 Olympics
and I think watching Cathy Freeman win gold in front of a home crowd.
I realised the enormity of an Olympic games at that point.
I went home and just said "I want to play for Australia one day." To Mum and Dad
and they were probably thinking "Yeah... okay."
And, yeah, it happened.
I was hard to keep down and
I was hyperactive, and yeah I was a bit of a daredevil when I was a kid
and a bit reckless you could say.
So sport focused that or just enabled it?
I think, definitely focused that.
I think, to drag my eldest brother out on the trampoline and we'd play rugby league on the trampoline
he'd be on his knees because he was by that point he was 5-6 foot tall
and I was probably 3 foot tall but...
Yet somehow still very deadly on this particular field, I can imagine.
Yeah, so I think
yeah, I used
I used sport as a force and a drive.
I'm curious how it goes when you hit roadblocks.
So as I understand it you had the first major injury when you were 15 years old.
And you literally had people telling you
she's washed up,
she can't do it.
Like firstly, lets take a second to acknowledge that how
ridiculous it is they said that to a 15-year-old.
But what goes through your head when you're faced with people saying that,
about you and a potential career?
Yeah I think at that age hearing people say that I was washed up
and I hadn't even represented our country yet, at the age of 15.
I do love that you describe it as 'yet'.
'Cause like, it's gonna happen.
I love proving people wrong, in a sense of, if you say that I can't do anything
I'm going to do everything that I physically and I mentally can to prove you wrong,
to show you that I can.
Seems like a really healthy way to live.
I can't see anything going wrong with that at all.
Fast forward a year down the track from that point on
and I was representing Australia against America,
who was the number one team at the time, as a 16-year-old.
And I still remember the game like it was yesterday.
It was torrential rain, it got delayed, there was big puddles,
you'd kick the ball about 3 metres and it'd stop in a puddle.
So rainy, I remember a few of the girls coming up to me saying, "You got this."
"You got this."
Yeah, I definitely think that first game,
when you make your debut for the senior team you never really forget,
that moment.
Can I ask about one of your, I guess more
dramatic injuries, which was the time you damaged your ACL.
The way I've heard you describe it
'horrifying' kinda springs to mind.
Yeah, that was a weird one to be honest.
Your ACL is a major injury.
It's probably worse than any broken bone that you could have.
I'd been nursing a groin issue, and I was sitting on the bench
and the coach said to me at the time, "Are you right to go on?"
And deep down I didn't really feel 100% right,
but I wanted to play, we were playing the U.S on their home soil.
And I think this is the stubbornness coming out in me
is you convince yourself that you're right, whether you are or your not.
Yeah the coach said to me, "Are you right?"
and I probably told a little white lie and I said,
"Yeah I'm right."
And I went on and literally, I think 30 seconds had passed and I changed direction.
I felt good when I ran on and then I changed direction
and the movement felt like it was the impact of a tidal wave
because it felt like such a great massive movement.
And then I was in excruciating pain and couldn't open my eyes and I was just laying there
and my knee was that sore and they had to stretcher me off.
I watched the replay back, maybe a few years later.
I couldn't watch it straight away, but I watched the replay back.
The movement looked so minute and so tiny that it didn't make sense to me
because it felt like the biggest change of direction that I've ever done in my life.
In the years since you started playing football
what do you reckon is the best lesson you've learnt about you, about yourself?
Um, that's a tough one.
I think a tough battle when you decide to be an elite sportsperson
is that mental battle you have with yourself of
Is this what I really want, or can I find happiness in life elsewhere
in a another profession?
More often than not we're more risky than your everyday Australian and I think that's why we
a lot of us have the types of personalities that we do
is because there is a certain point that you need to back yourself
and be a little bit selfish.
But some people's downfall might be that there's
a dissatisfaction or people feel
not fulfilled and that could be elite sportspeople's downfall sometimes.
So recently you were injured with your shoulder and as a part of the recovery process,
you moved in with your mum, your younger brother.
And one of the things that came out of that process I understand is
you learnt a lot more about your family history, a lot of stuff that
I guess had gone quite unsaid in your family and
one of those things that came out was
the story of your nan.
She was taken away as an Aboriginal woman,
she was taken away from her family when she was young wasn't she?
Yeah she was a half-caste so they're called.
Taken away at a young age and then found my poppy Reg.
I don't think his family was very accepting of nan's Aboriginal background.
They had to work for his family for her to be allowed to be in the house.
And to moving with her 13 kids down to Sydney,
at one point having to live in her sister's room and had nothing but
a gas stove top
probably the size of
of a soccer ball actually and that's the only thing that they could cook on.
When you meet her today even she's still that strong,
empowering woman and you can tell
what she's been through just with how strong she is and how
powerful she is to be around.
Why do you think they decided to not,
tell you some of the details until quite recently?
Well, I'm always away and the only time I really have at home is when I've got an injury.
"Alright now we need to catch you up on some things."
It's a blessing in disguise to be honest,
every time I suffer an injury I get closer and closer to my family and I get to spend more time with my family.
-Maybe their sabotaging you have you considered that? -I think so.
My brother two-foots me in the lounge room
The bottom line is, I wanted to make my family proud for all of what
they've sacrificed for me to be able to be in the position that I'm in today.
I can go away and travel the world and play football abroad and in world cups and Olympics
but whenever I come home
if there's one thing that sticks out it's probably
the power of resilience.
You won't survive or you can't survive, if you don't have that mental toughness
and I think that's because there's so many peaks and troughs in
sportspeople's lives and careers and it's never smooth sailing.
If it was smooth sailing do you think you'd like it as much?
-Probably not I think I'd get- -Think you'd appreciate it as much?
Definitely not appreciate it
and I think one of the main points of every time I've had a major injury or major setback is
my appreciation grows more and more for what I do and what I can do,
and for the small things to get you through those tough times.
-Kyah, thanks so much for your time -That was great.Thank you.