OH! Magazine - Australian Version August 2015 | Page 7

It’s made me realise
Every week we start as a beginner in the
presence of masters, and every week we
try to achieve some degree of competency
at a new sport. It’s a reminder of what new
members at fitness clubs go through every
day as they try to ‘fit in’ with those who are
already fit. This entire journey has
reinforced why I started the Face-to-Face
Fitness Program back in 1995. I now
understand, more than ever, the
importance of receiving ongoing mentoring,
advice and feedback, to ensure that new
participants (in any pursuit) won’t quit and
will have their best chance at achieving
their true potential.
My expectations
Much of the experience has been even
better than any of us expected, particularly
in regards to our task of filming the journey.
We’ve had media accreditation at many
major sporting events, so have been up
close to the action and the players, getting
their real perspective on how and why they
love their sport. That’s been very cool and
the kids we are here to inspire really like
that aspect to our story.
It’s how we get their attention, allowing us
to then share our message of how

important sports, exercise and smart food
choices are to being healthy and happy.
The unsual sports we’ve tried
There are a lot of sports that fit in to this
category! There was Hurling in Ireland,
Dog Sledding in Russia and a gruelling Eco
Challenge in Chile’s Patagonia.
Have you heard of Floorball? We hadn’t, so
we went to Finland and played with
European Champions SSV Helsinki. From
that we were invited to participate at the
Australian Floorball Championships, just
five minutes from our Gold Coast home.
Canoe polo is also big in Europe but again,
we’d never hear of it, now we love it. We
did Parkour, which is a French sport where
you run through the city and leap from
buildings. It was one of Ben’s favourites
but it’s really tough, in fact I broke my big
toe doing one of the jumps but that’s an
occasional part of playing hard, so no
complaints from me. At the RUHR games
in Germany we also played Wheelchair
Table Tennis and we tried Sports (Cup)
Stacking.
Not all sports are so physical or risky,
there is something for everyone on our list
of 50 great ways to get off the couch.

www.tonikrasicki.com.au

TONI
KRASICKI

How the family have fared
We’ve really got travelling down pat and
Jacqui and Ben have become incredibly
resilient to the kind of schedule we’ve
kept. I’m very proud of how my wife and
son have stepped up to each and every
challenge, showing amazing resolve and
courage, time and time again. The amount
of work we have done has been hugely
intense. It’s probably a bit less fun for Ben,
simply because he’s missing his mates back
home.
The impact of 50 Sports in 50 Weeks
The direct measurable impact is evident in
every school we’ve visited. We’ve got a
following on social media and people are
regularly hitting 50sports.org to watch our
videos; but the real impact is the absolute
change in the kids. You can see it. Last
month we entered an auditorium full of
high school kids whose body language
suggested they’d rather be in a math
exam! But by the end of the hour, we had
them eating out of our hands – you could
tell the message we shared really got
through to them.
That one-hour will hopefully influence
their choices for the rest of their lives; and
that is exactly what 50 Sports in 50 Weeks
is all about!

( OH! MAGAZINE ) AUGUST 2015

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