Shane Gould talks on a sports champion's qualities, 2008

Transcript of the recording

You need to do a lot of different activities. You just need to move and do it playfully and experimentally, and that way you get an all around good physical development. So I think when you, if you want to be good at something and you're quite young, like under 13 or 14, you just need to move. And the more you can do in nature, you know say on the beach, doing Nippers, or riding a BMX bike in the bush, or doing cross-country running, or climbing trees, or going fishing and wading through, you know, through creeks and things - anything where you have to scramble and climb in nature is really good. So you've got to want to move. That's the first thing. You've got to like moving, and in nature particular I think is very very helpful.

And then I think the second thing is you need to want to improve. So if you do well, you've always got to think, 'OK how can I do better?' And if you don't do so well, you've got to think, 'Well what mistakes did I make and how can I not make them in the future?' So you need to be humble, and you need to be curious about how can I do better. So that's the second thing.

And you've got to be able to try hard. It's hard work at times, and sometimes you don't want to do it, or your muscles are sore, or you're tired, or you want to go and do what your friends are doing who aren't training, so you've got to want to try hard and keep to it, stick to it. And if you do lose interest, well finish out the season, and then drop it. But don't stop in the middle of a season. I think that's important. So try hard, and you might, if you lose interest, you might recover it, you know, once you get over that hump, where things are a bit hard.

And I think the fourth thing is you've got to like to race [laughs] or play the game. If you want to be a good basketballer in a team, you need to be able to enjoy the competition, and love competing.