How to raise a champion coach
How to raise a champion coach
August 28, 2008
Section: News
When rowers Scott Brennan and David Crawshay powered the Australian men’s double scull to gold at the Beijing Olympics last Saturday, the first person coach Rhett Ayliffe called was his mum Maureen.
“Did you see it mum?” he said to her over the phone within half an hour of their medal victory.
“You said you could make them go faster and you did,” Mrs Ayliffe said.
At her home in Tarrawanna, Mrs Ayliffe said her two sons Karl and Rhett get their leadership skills from her, after becoming the first woman supervisor for Flemings Fabulous Food Stores back in the day.
“But I think after all their years of playing sport, they want to give back what they’ve learnt in the business,” she said.
Former vice captain of Bulli High School more than 20 years ago, Rhett went on to become the head of the Institute of Sport in Tasmania where he has coached the rowing teams for the past four years.
Meanwhile, brother Karl, who is a three-time world champion in karate, now teaches in Camden.
“Karl said he also wanted to congratulate me for raising a champion,” Mrs Ayliffe said. “I said to him I had raised two champions.”
Mrs Ayliffe said that for Rhett, watching his team win gold was just the icing on the cake as Beijing was the first Olympics he has been to.
“He was just so excited when he phoned to tell me they were going over,” she said.
“They’ve put many hours into what they do and deserve to have won.”