2ndwind Academy Podcast
2ndwind Academy Podcast
109: Georgia Takarangi - Balancing Pro Netball and The Path to Clinical Psychology
Georgia also shares her deep connection to her Maori heritage and how it shapes her identity beyond the court. We dive into her academic pursuits in clinical psychology and what it means to balance a rigorous schedule of training, work, and studies. Her role as a sports coordinator and the support from her family, friends, and two rescue dogs play a crucial part in her life.
We explore Georgia’s professional career, which kicked off amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and how she balanced the adrenaline of playing in front of large crowds with personal aspirations, such as opening a holistic clinic and planning a family. Her journey from facing rejections to achieving a co-captaincy and securing a contract with the Magic team is both inspiring and practical. This episode is packed with valuable insights on managing life's multifaceted demands while pursuing one's passion and dreams. Tune in!
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When you think then, for you know someone who's coming up trying to follow in your footsteps and you, you know, and you think about helping them with that career transition. What sort of guidance would you give to them?
Speaker 2:last year, every year, because then, if it is, you have not not necessarily a backup plan, but you know other things that you have that are important to you. So I think, even if I didn't have a career, I do have a husband and a really good support system and my family and my dogs, and those things I think are more important necessarily than having a career, because I mean, if I was to retire now from netball and I didn't have my degrees behind me, like I still got so much life left, so it's not like I can't just go to uni and do that, it's not the end of the world. And I think when people talk about transition, they're thinking about career transition and not actually about the support that you need around you when you have that identity change from being an athlete to being a person. So maybe figuring out who that person is before the change happens, so that it's not such a big grieving point in your life.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Ryan Gonsalves and welcome to a Second Wind Academy podcast, a show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes. Each week, I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story. Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations. Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty. Elite athletes are still people after all. Let's be inspired by the stories of others. Georgia, welcome to the show. It's great to have you on here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:As you know, I'm really looking forward to this session. We've been trying multiple times over the past month, but the beautiful thing is, you are a wonderfully busy individual and it's so. It's great that we've been able to find the time for us to sit together now and go through some of your your story, where you've been, where you are and what's coming next.
Speaker 2:So thanks for joining me yeah, I'm excited for this chat, long time coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, it is. Well. Listen, there's going to be a few people listening to this who aren't going to know who you are. Can you just give me that rundown? Give us that rundown about who you are and what?
Speaker 2:you're up to. I'm a New Zealand Maori from Aotearoa, new Zealand. I play professional netball for the Waikato Bay Flinty Magic and I have played for the New Zealand Silver Ferns before. I'm not currently involved in that, but always hoping to get back in the fold there. Outside of that, I'm a sports coordinator for University of Waikato in Hamilton. I'm a well-fit coordinator, so we probably will touch on that later, but I'm studying to be a clinical psychologist, so sports science and psychology is kind of like my niche and that's where well-fit fits in. And I'm a wife and a dog mom and obviously a daughter and a sister and all those good things.
Speaker 1:Love that, georgia, thanks for that, that introduction. I love the dog, mom part. Uh, that's, that one is a new one for me. Uh, a new one, yeah, it is, but, but I like it. But now we're on there and they're going to be people wondering well, okay, who's the dog? What, what type of, what breed of dog do you have?
Speaker 2:uh, yes, okay. So I've got two dogs. I've got a two-year-old um, well, they're both rescue dogs, so we don't know 100% what they are. But, um, I've got a two-year-old well, they're both rescue dogs, so we don't know 100% what they are. But I've got a two-year-old bullmastiff cross with a pit bull. So he's big, 40 kg boy. He's actually in the room now, so we might hear some barking if someone walks up the stairs or something. And then I've got an eight-month-old puppy. He is a Belgian Malinois and Staffy cross, so he's not as big, is a Belgian Malinois and Staffy Cross, so he's not as big.
Speaker 1:Belgian Malinois are kind of those army dogs that you see like hanging on people's arms.
Speaker 2:you know, yes, okay, yeah, he's got a lot of energy. They both got a lot of energy. We actually got the second one. We got a dog for our dog, because our big boy he has a lot of energy.
Speaker 1:So he needs a friend to be out with him during the day. Love that, thanks, um. Do you know? It's funny you mentioned because they're rescue dogs. You don't know their heritage and I know you opened up, as you know, talking about maori and you know, the other day I was having a conversation and we were playing a random game. We're just trying to understand our diversity.
Speaker 1:I did it, so I did my dna test and oh yeah, I want to do one of those oh highly recommend it because it just calls, it's just fantastic for conversation and so I've got 11 different, I guess, tribes. You could say where I I come from. My my blood was 11 different places around the world, from Western Africa, europe, south and. American, caribbean, england. Well, was it English? Yeah, or maybe Scottish, all of these different places which were for me quite random. So it was for you then, forgetting the dogs for a moment, but looking back yourself and your heritage. Yes, you say Maori.
Speaker 2:Talk to me about that a bit. Yeah, so maori people are the indigenous people of new zealand. We were colonized, um in the 1800s by um captain cook, so obviously I have very fair skin, but maori people have have darker skin. In new zealand there's no full maori people left, um, just from colonization, and that's probably a whole other chat that we could get into. But, yeah, I identify as Māori just because obviously we're a minority here now and I think I don't know off the top of my head, but definitely under 20% of the population identify as Māori. So, yeah, very strong Māori woman. I've got a tribal tattoo on my arm which is called a tāmoko and it tells this usually tāmoko tell about your whakapapa, which is kind of like your heritage, um, the story of who you are and where you've come from, um and yeah. So I guess just trying to identify as maori because we are minority. So I don't need to identify as pakeha, which is um european, because my skin is white. So it kind of goes without saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, wonderful. I love that. You know, you can tell. You know just through the conversations we've had and everything you know. This really is about the story, and understanding that background for me is always important. But you know, it's kind of vital just to sort of know who the person is and how that has helped to shape you as an individual and I think your, the story you've had so far is, you know it's it's kind of like the underdog story in some respects, but I think it is quite fascinating and so thanks for just for that, that little bit, and you know, leading on from that, I'd love to then sort of kick in to understand a bit more about you in terms of you know what your relationship with sport was like as you grew up. You spoke about being a professional netball player. Was it always netball for you?
Speaker 2:No. So I well, I've got an older brother and so he's two years older than me, and I have all boy cousins on both sides of my family, so we spend a lot of time outside playing all different types of sports and also made up sports that we would make up with different balls of different sorts. So, yeah, I've always really been an active person and both my parents are very active. My mum was a PT when I was growing up. My dad's always been like a runner, so yeah, he played cricket and rugby and my mum played netball, I think. So I'm six foot, which is actually short Well, not short, but short for my position in netball, but I was this height when I was 13.
Speaker 2:So I played kind of all of the tall sports. So I played netball and basketball and volleyball when I was at school. I think that playing a lot of different sports actually helped me in netball because it made me realize that's the sport that I really love, but also helped, like, with my coordination, because I feel like if you just specialize too early, it can go downhill, you know, like you just become a netballer and that's it. So, yeah, playing different sports definitely helped. I went to a school that wasn't very strong in netball, so I feel like they didn't kind of, I guess, force me into that, whereas a lot of girls now will go to a school specifically that's good at netball and then they play that from a really young age and by the time they get to my age they kind of resent the sport. So, grateful for my mixed sport upbringing.
Speaker 1:I want to say when did netball then become serious for you? When did you start to realize you were good at this sport, if it wasn't something that you participated at least to a top level at school?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I was on the top team at school and I was the captain, I think in my last year. It was a while ago now. So that's why I say I think. So I always really enjoyed it and I always tried to make representative teams, but I just never was quite good enough, I think, because I was. Also I had my fingers in a lot of pies, Like I was playing a lot of different sports, doing a lot of extracurricular activities, so netball was always my main sport and that's the one I prioritized. If there was another training for another sport At the same time, I would go to netball training. So it's always been the one that I love the most. When I finished school, I prioritized study and so I only played netball because that was the only thing I had time for. It wasn't until I probably. Well, I kept trying to make rep teams but didn't actually make any rep teams until I was 24 and I moved cities.
Speaker 1:So for many people, when I asked that question, the response is I usually when I was about 14, 15, I made rep teams and I started progressing. I had this challenge between school and the amount of training I was doing. That doesn't sound like it was the case for you.
Speaker 2:No, definitely not, and I think it made it easier for me to keep trying to get into these rep teams, because I was only playing it because I liked it. I wasn't playing it because my identity was that I was a netballer and that I was a representative netballer, or you know that that was going to be my key to being successful. So I think that that's kind of one of the things that I try and portray when I talk about my journey is that it's a superpower to enjoy your sport because it makes it easy to go through all of the hard times. You know, even now it's still hard, even when you get to play your sport professionally, but the playing is the fun part, so that's what gets you through all the trainings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really great, well just approach to sports. You're doing it for the fun, which essentially is what it is all about. So at that time, so whilst you were, you know, in your teens, mid to late teens was your idea to become a rep or professional netball player? Was that something that you aspired to?
Speaker 2:Definitely not. Like I would say that even now, what, now that I can call myself a Silver Fern, which is the National New Zealand Netball Team? I never had the goal to become a Silver fern, and that's not taking anything from the people that are silver ferns, like obviously I'm still very proud of that achievement. But I was never a little girl who who thought, oh, that's what I want to do one day, you know, and I think some of it was that I didn't think I was good enough because there were so many teams that I didn't make.
Speaker 2:But but some of it was just that that wasn't my why, I think so, my why was more the enjoyment and that's kind of, yeah, what's helped me, I think to, rather than also thinking too far ahead, even now, because I'm 29, I've been playing professional netball for five or six years now. Every year I play as if it's my last year because, like, I might want to have kids next year or, you know, I might get a season-ending injury and then you know, it's not that likely that I'll come back in my early 30s because I'll probably, like, I've got other stuff going on. So I try and approach every year and make the most of every year, because you just never know what's going to happen. And the enjoyment factor really helps with that, because it doesn't put any pressure on me to play well, or even though it is my last year, if that makes sense yeah, yeah, well, you, you like.
Speaker 1:You say you play as if it is your last, which means make the most of it. And yeah, for you that that centered around enjoyment. You spoke there on trials. I'm guessing from that mid-teen age you must have. How many trials do you think you went to?
Speaker 2:Well, probably like in terms. So I would have gone to every age group trial, which would have been once a year, from the age of maybe 14. And then I also, so there's just your normal reps and you would rep your region. So back then I was representing North Harbourbour, which is a small part of Auckland in New Zealand, and then you'd also have Māori representatives. So I would trial for both your like all over representatives and then also Māori, and there'd be an Easter tournament where all Māori people would come together in different age groups and opens and play and wouldn't get into either of those teams. And so twice a year I would trial and not get into the teams. And each age group usually had an A team and a B team. So there's two teams I'm not getting into.
Speaker 1:Why did you keep going?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess I hoped that one day I would be good enough. I've always known that I have a talent for netball and I can read the game well. I'd had no coaching really at this time, apart from my school coach, which normally is like a mom or a teacher, because I wasn't at a strong school. So, yeah, I mean I just like playing, so I was just wanting to be in more teams.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess that is simple. You put it that way. I just want to keep playing the rejection that you get twice a year. At the time, to what extent did you have a sense of rejection?
Speaker 2:Oh, a hundred percent, and I think, like especially being like a young teenage girl, you're already worried that you're going to be rejected by your peers for every little thing that you do, so it definitely made me a lot more resilient, I would say.
Speaker 1:If you were the six foot 13, 14 year old girl walking into trials, I suspect everyone would have been looking at you, thinking, oh well, she must be in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then when I don't get in, it's like oh, oh, I must not be very good because I'm really tall, you know, yeah, it was hard, and also I would turn up and I wouldn't really have any friends. It's quite nipple's, quite clicky, because it's like all girls sport. Well, um, men are starting to play it now, but back then, um, it was an all girls sport. And so you turn up and everyone's already friends because they've been in the teams, teams before. So I'm just like over sitting pump itself waiting for my name to get called, you know.
Speaker 1:Let's fast forward. What changed for you when you were then in your early 20s? What changed at that event for you to then get through?
Speaker 2:I think some of it was maturity, in that I am the kind of player who I think has gotten better with age, because I can read the game well. The way that I play is quite deceptive and it's more about the person who's passing. I'm a defender, so it's more about the person who's passing rather than the person I'm marking. So I think in terms of my gameplay, I've gotten better with age. I actually owe a lot of it to a coach who, because I move cities, I feel like sometimes when you're in one city and you're in the system for so long and people just see you as that player who they first saw, who was not good enough, and they don't actually see your growth.
Speaker 2:I wasn't a really good club team and that I had a lot of growth from the coach, that of that club team, and it was actually her that referred me to the coach when I moved city. So I did have like some connections and I was playing high level club. I just wasn't making rep teams, so I was getting coaching in the club team and she pretty much that my coach at that time pretty much taught me. She taught me from the point of view of a shooter, so what she wouldn't want someone to do to her. So I play a little bit differently to other defenders, because I was taught by a shooter rather than being taught by a defender.
Speaker 1:um, you were taught the tricks of. If you do this, this will annoy a shooter yeah, a hundred percent, yeah.
Speaker 2:So then, um, yeah, she pretty much referred me to this other coach who, you know, said pretty much like there's a 24 year old, she's never been in any rep teams but she's got a lot of potential, she's very coachable, she's very hard worker give her a shot. And, um, that's actually my coach of my professional netball team now. So she kind of moved up with me so that, uh, that was my first representative team, was the team below the magic? Um, so that's, it's an amateur team that doesn't get paid, but it kind of has the same sort of season to prepare you. It's like a development team to prepare you for what it's like to be in the magic in terms of, you know, lots of training and having access to resources and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's really really impressive that you know. What do you think you did?
Speaker 2:But, rhi, to say that about you, I'm definitely like someone who does a lot of extras and one percenters, and I think, once I'm in the team, I make it really hard for coaches to not play me, because I'm just, I'm just like, okay, what else can I do, though? Okay, but what about now? What are what other skills do you want me to get better at? What? What? How can I get on the court? I just want to be on the court, and so eventually they put me on the court and then, you know, it's kind of builds from there. So I think I, because I'm like a forever student, my husband would say, like I study a lot, I like studying. I feel like that um translates into netball like I'm quite coachable because I like applying things that I've learned. Yeah, so I think um, hard work and coachability, if that's a word I just made a word up.
Speaker 1:Probably we're going to use that, if perhaps we'll probably put that as something like the headline coachability, um, but being well to that point though, being highly coachable and that desire to learn, this love of learning and you know you touched on there one of the, probably for me, one of the essences of being an elite athlete is this love of learning, this desire to continually improve and get better and find new ways of doing that, and your dedication to to learning. It sounds like it transcends the netball court but also comes into your, your life as well. So when you think of that, you know, from a learning perspective, I'm now keen to understand what were you studying so when you left school at 18? What did you dream of doing at that point?
Speaker 2:um, I actually wanted to be a doctor from the time that I was five, like a medical doctor, like I actually wanted to be a brain surgeon, and so, yeah, I'm a very specific person and so, yeah, that was my. All the subjects and stuff I took at school were kind of, you know, aimed at that, and then I got in. I did in New Zealand at med school you do like a year of pre-med and then, if you get good grades in that, so you first have to get, have to get into uni with, get into pre-med, pre-med, and then, if you get good grades in that, so you first have to get into uni with, get into pre-med with your grades, and then, if you get good grades in that, then you can get into med school. So I did, went into pre-med and did a year of that and absolutely hated it. It was really competitive and I had my notes shredded. So I went to the toilet, had left my notes before my first test on my like study desk or whatever came back and my notes were gone and I found them in the shredder later and I just really struggled with like I'm always someone who tries to make new friends and gets along with a lot of people, but it wasn't ever like, oh, what have you got for lunch? It would be like, what did you get on this test, you know? So I just didn't really like the competitive nature.
Speaker 2:No-transcript. I obviously love sport, I love learning, and so I did a conjoint degree which is kind of like a double degree, so a bachelor of science in sports science and a bachelor of arts in psychology. And that was only because I wanted to do more psych papers rather than just doing a Bachelor of Science double majoring in those two Little pause. What is it then about psychology that fascinates you so much, the way we think and how that impacts things and how you know, like even stories of how, um, people have like used placebo to cure cancer, like that. Just it baffles me that your brain can, you know, physiologically change your body.
Speaker 1:It's just so powerful, I think there are too many stories of bankruptcies, mental health issues and, unfortunately, suicide, and so I think it's time to act. Every year, we see thousands of athletes that reach a point where they need to consider their life after elite sport. This might be a retirement injury, or they need to juggle dual careers, between sport and a job. As a former English professional footballer, I have somehow managed to transition from sport into banking strategy, innovation and now life coach, career practitioner and founder of the Second Wind Academy. So I want to help those around me find their career second wind. Find me on Insta or through my new Facebook group, second Wind Academy, where I'd love to know your thoughts and suggestions. When you shifted, so that was for you a shift in goals, a shift in desire of what you were going to be from, from a brain surgeon for all this time yeah to something else.
Speaker 1:If you can remember at the time, how did you describe this something else?
Speaker 2:what did you then want to achieve to become um, I don't think I had like a career in mind in terms of well, eventually I decided I wanted to become a mental skills coach while I was doing this double degree. But at the beginning I just knew that I was passionate about all of these things and I loved every paper. So I was trying to actually use the degree to figure out what I was most passionate about. So I was trying to actually use the degree to figure out what I was most passionate about, and it didn't take me long to figure out that I really liked psychology, which is why I thought that mental skills would be a good way to go no-transcript family or all of those kinds of things. So that's how I kind of started.
Speaker 2:And then, when I did move down and made the rep team, I did my master's in sports psychology because I wanted to use that to become a mental skills coach. And since then I've kind of decided I don't actually want to do anything in sport at all and I want to be a clinical psychologist. I've just my kind of journey has gone to make real it, make me realize the order that I've gotten, that I want to help people, um, not just with their mental performance, but also, just um, you're a rich person because, um, you know, mental health is such a talked about subject these days and something that so many people need help with.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, yeah, wonderful. I love the way that's changed. You know, this show, these shows are all about transition, that generally that career transition and even and so here, listening to you, and that love of learning and how your learning journey has taken you through these different paths. Um, you know, I literally do, fascinated by that shift for you from outside of sport mental skills have been really very much inside sport to now stepping out and, I guess, tackling the broader societal problem around mental health.
Speaker 1:And you know, through being a clinical psychologist, I tell you one thing that did resonate with me there really well is you're doing the degree, the double, double degree, not knowing what it is that you wanted to do, but double, double degree. Not knowing what it is that you wanted to do, but use the degree. You were just following things that you enjoyed, you were studying things that you enjoyed and realized you wanted to add this extra piece because you loved psychology papers, fascinated by the mind. Yeah, yeah, you know, for me that resonates so well with this love of playing netball. You found this love of study, learning and eventually that led to something greater. Have you ever considered the parallels between the two?
Speaker 2:I mean, maybe you're just being a clinical psychologist to me right now. It's a really good way to think about it. I mean, when you actually say it like that, I've done some values work before and the two values that always come out on top are love and growth. So I feel like that kind of explains it in terms of I have to be loving what I'm doing and potentially the values work I've done has been in the last few years, so I was following these values without even knowing that I was, I guess. Yeah, I have to be loving what I'm doing and I have to be trying to get better every day, Otherwise essentially I'm not filling my cup. So love for me is also being around my family and friends and stuff like that, but also loving what I'm doing and doing things that I'm passionate about, and I think the older that I've gotten, the more that's evolved to helping people.
Speaker 1:So that's why I think clinical psychology has been the way that I've kind of steered my career yeah, that you can express yourself in that way and I just think I think it's like I say great that you've done that. Definitely not been a clinical psychologist, just really curious with you and where you are, but then talking about what you love in doing and and I guess, following that passion coming back onto that netball story really is, you know, getting my head around the fact that it's 24 years old where suddenly you are truly hitting that elite level and making those next squads. And what was that experience for you like? Can you just summarize what happened and how quickly things started moving for you?
Speaker 2:So I made the ENL team, which is the team below the magic when I was 24. Then at that time I was still doing my master's. So the way that, because it's amateur, we have trainings outside of work hours so that you're able to study or work or do whatever. So I would get up, we'd go to the gym at like five o'clock in the morning, then I would go to work, because I also had to pay for rent and stuff like that. So I was doing sports coordination back then too. So that was 28 hours a week. Well, still is 28 hours a week.
Speaker 2:After work then I would go to netball training. When I got home from netball training I would do my master's thesis. So I'd be up at about 4.30 and I wouldn't get to sleep until about 11, 11.30, which was for like that was for my first year and a half of in and out, and so I think everything after that just felt easy. To be honest, once I in my first year I was just a training partner at the beginning, because I was a nobody essentially. So I played well at trials, but she kind of, you know, had selected other people and I remember I was sitting in a circle with the team and everyone had to write their goals down for the season and everyone else said things like you know. I want to be in the starting seven, I want to get this many goals in, or blah, blah, blah. Mine was. I just want to make it hard for you to drop me after the six weeks and I'm a training partner. I'm going to do everything in my power to stay in this team that's fascinating.
Speaker 1:You wrote that down as your goal. You want to make it hard to be dropped. Why wasn't it? I suppose I'm asking this in the wrong way, but I'm just thinking why wasn't it to achieve something? Why why wasn't it as in? You wrote it in a negative way. Why not be such a positive thing like be in the sevens, score or block someone?
Speaker 2:Well, because I wasn't in the team. So the only thing I could do aspire to be was in the team and then, once I got there, that would be my next goal. I'm quite like process orientated. So for me, like if I said something like I want to, um, be in the starting seven, that's like five steps removed, kind of thing, you know. So I still needed to prove myself to even get in the team, because I was just a training partner, let alone, um, actually get on the court and do anything netball related best response ever.
Speaker 1:That is fantastic. Yeah and yeah. You just there. You said you know it's breaking it down. It's chunking it down into something that's tangible, and that was it. That for you was.
Speaker 2:Well, don't get dropped yeah, yeah, essentially my best how I. That's my goal, yeah. So then I, eventually there was an injury, and then she and then I, so I got pulled into the team and then she and then I, so I got pulled into the team and then I probably didn't play the first maybe three or four games, because there's 16 in the squad and only 10 get selected each week for the for the team. And then eventually I did get selected and then kind of made my way into more game time. Then the following year I was co-captain with another girl to more game time.
Speaker 2:Then the following year I was co-captain with another girl and by that stage I was 25 or 26 and kind of felt like you know, the next person in age after me was probably 21 or 20. So I felt like quite a lot older than the other girls. I'd had two years of learning, but I just felt like I kind of was then teaching. So I sent out my netball CV, which was like a video footage and like a document, but obviously the document wasn't very big because I'd only been in one rep team of all the things that I had done, and sent them out to every franchise team, which is the professional team Because I kind of was at the age where I was like, cool, I've played rep netball, but if no franchise team wants me, then I'll probably just stop playing rep netball, because it's a big commitment and a lot to sacrifice for and also I felt like I was taking up someone's spot who could potentially make make an ANZ franchise team.
Speaker 2:And if I wasn't going to, if that makes sense. So I kind of wanted to, yeah, reach for the stars. Eventually, the magic were like, oh, um, you should come in for a meeting with us. And then, um, that's how I got my first contract for magic, which was in 2020, was my first year for magic yeah, yeah, for obvious, challenging in many respects.
Speaker 1:Uh, 2020, year of covid kicking in, I guess I want to say covid aside, but what changed for you at that moment? How did your aspirations shift?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I finally realized that this was something that I could do for a job.
Speaker 2:Obviously, the first year you don't get paid like netball doesn't get paid, amazingly, otherwise I wouldn't still be a sports coordinator as well but but, yeah, like it was a decent amount of money and so I was, you know, kind of living the dream.
Speaker 2:Even I hadn't experienced netball franchise, netball outside of COVID. So it felt like everything was so new and I remember the first half of the season all of the games were at a centralized location because of COVID and it was a small, very small stadium, only allowed 50 people to come and watch or something like that. And then halfway through the season it opened up and we were able to have a home game in Hamilton with 5,000 people there. And that happened in my first game that I played and started. And I remember standing on the court feeling like I was going to vomit because I was so nervous, like all my family there and everything. And yeah, it's just so surreal thinking about that because I never thought I would ever play a game, one game for the magic and that's a great way of talking about it the that progression that you made.
Speaker 1:You know from your that professional career, the sporting career, that profession you didn't stop, you continued to keep moving up. And so what was next for you then you didn't get dropped, it was play debut co-captain, start moving forward. What was next for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it all kind of happened in quick succession. My first rep team was in 2018. Then I was captain of that team in 2019, then I debuted for the professional team in 2020 and then I debuted for the national team in 2021. So not a not a typical trajectory at all. Yeah, very lucky for my journey to be that way, because there are some girls who debut for a professional team when they're 18 and then never play for the Silver Ferns, let alone play for the next for them, the next for them, the next year. So very lucky. It was COVID again that I can thank, because there were a few girls that ended up in a lockdown in Auckland and I wasn't in Auckland and I was already in the mix in the development squad, so got the call up that way so how old were you when you made your debut for New Zealand?
Speaker 2:2020. I think I was just about to turn 26, because it was in October and my birthday is in October, so, yeah, or just about to turn 27.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Either way, it's probably later than most. Yeah, definitely. How do you think it's different making your debut at that age versus age versus, I guess, in your early 20s?
Speaker 2:like many might do, I think I have a bit more perspective than younger people. I think it's a blessing and a curse because it's a blessing I was talking to someone about this the other day. Actually it's a blessing because and it's a blessing having so much that I have away from netball, because it means that if something doesn't go right, I'm still going home to my husband, I still have to go to work the next day. You know, I'm still just your average person, but it makes it harder every year to make the decision to keep playing because I have so much going on that I'm putting on hold, I think.
Speaker 2:And I think that helped me with my debut, because I was kind of like well, in my debut, actually, because there was another COVID outbreak, there was only 50 people allowed in the stadium and my husband flew down from Hamilton to Christchurch and he did a haka, which is a traditional war dance, a Maori war dance. He did it by himself in the stadium after I debuted and so it was really special that he could be there. But at the end of the day he had said to me because the New Zealand colour is black, the Silver Fern dress is black. He said, just seeing your name on the dress and you standing there singing the national anthem will be worth my flight down. So it kind of like took all pressure away. You know he said that this could be the only ever time that you sing the national anthem for New Zealand, so I have to be there. You know not that he doesn't think that I'm good enough to be there some more, but he obviously knows the age that I am.
Speaker 1:Like you say, perhaps being that bit older from a sporting perspective gave you a different perspective, a perhaps broader perspective in terms of how special that moment was. So I'm interested then for you, you know now, as a professional netball player. Well, actually before I ask that, could you talk to me about how it works professionally? Is it a 52-week season? Is it always on? How does it work in New Zealand?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so usually. So our season itself goes for 15 weeks plus two weeks for finals. So we play, there are six teams, we play every team three times, and then there plus two weeks for finals. So we play, there are six teams, we play every team three times, and then there's two weeks of finals, so the season itself is 17 weeks long. We usually have a 12-week pre-season before that. So the actual time that we're together is about seven or eight months, depending on the year, and so the rest of that time four months or whatever, depending on the year, and so the rest of that time four months or whatever is off season. But if you're involved in the national teams, then that is the time that you're with them, because that's when they have test matches against other countries and things like that. Our season does vary depending on when there's world cup and commonwealth games, because we have to adjust it for the national team. But that's kind of how it works, and then you can either be paid 12 monthly or seven monthly, depending on what works best for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. And so for you, you talk about yourself, your life today. You still have study, because you're only ever study, and you work and you play. How does that work?
Speaker 2:I have a very neurodiverse Google calendar that is Cal coordinated and pretty much if I didn't have that, I think I would crumble and burn. It's a lot, I do a lot, but I choose to do it all, so I try not to ever complain about it. And in the season I just work and play netball and out of season I work and study. So yeah, the hard thing with me at the moment is that I only have two more papers to do before I can actually do placements for clinical psychology, and they're both during the first half of the year, so I can't really do it at the moment. So I'm planning on doing that next season if I play and trying to work out something with work. But yeah, it's a continual yearly thing that I discuss with my husband. How are we going to make all of this work? Is this still something that fits with our life and our future?
Speaker 1:What do you struggle with the most?
Speaker 2:Honestly, spending time with my husband is something that I don't do enough of, and especially I know that we don't have kids, but we do have two big rescue dogs that require a lot of training, and we've had one that's just had surgery 12 weeks ago. The other one's a puppy. So, yeah, he does a lot for me to make it so that I can do what I what I do, and it's hard when I get home after like a full day of training and then I'm so tired and he gets the worst of me. So, yeah, I think that's the thing I struggle with the most, and also, he's very ready to have kids, which is why we have two dogs. So, yeah, he, he's definitely he's my rock, and that's the thing I struggle with the most. It's not the time management or being busy or anything like that. It's making sure that I have enough time for us as a family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it is a struggle, you know, balancing all of those things in a career. You know we talk often about our career probably more than one dimensional paid job type view, but in many respects that true definition of a career does encompass your life. You know personal life. It includes work, sport, and you know charitable activity as well. So all of those things together, all of that encompass your career. And trying to get the balance of those right when it shifts kind of, as we've discussed now as you move through ages, what's most important to you. So, yeah, I get it. I truly, in fact, I recognize that struggle a little bit in myself as well. So, yeah, it is a struggle. And and so when you think then of you know we've perhaps spoken or touched on clinical psychology as part of that that future for you, when you think of how that's going to happen for you, what comes to mind? You know, do you think about that transition out of playing elite netball? And you know how long does it take, what does it look like, what comes first?
Speaker 2:you know what goes through your mind I think about this a lot, like you know, because we also want to have kids and we want to travel, and, um, we want you know, we want to me to focus on my career and, um, there's so many things to fit in, and that's why we only look one year ahead at the moment, just because otherwise it's so overwhelming. Um, my husband's actually a youth worker, so our dream one day is to own a clinic that has one side of it that is not-for-profit helping youth, and then the other side of it is clinical psychology, and ideally we would have, you know, like a room with our dogs in there for dog therapy and like a gym, because both of us love working out and that's really important part of your holistic health, and that's the dream one day so that we could work together and spend time together and build something like beautiful together. So that is the end goal. It's just how we're going to get.
Speaker 2:There is the question and I guess that's what we think about when we make decisions is this kind of helping us get to that place that we want to get to? Yeah, it is hard though, because you know, when I finished playing netball, I still have two years to finish my clinical psych degree and I'm kind of like, how am I going to fit that in when we want, you know, two kids or if we're lucky enough that we can have kids? So it's, yeah, it's hard. That's a hard thing about doing it later, you know, because I'm I'm 29 now, 30 this year, so all those things come into every, every contract I get from magic.
Speaker 1:There's so many things that go into um, whether I sign or not yeah, yeah, there is, there's so many, and thanks for breaking that down, because hearing that, hearing the thought process that you have to go through every year I guess you know to to sign that contract is it's actually it's complex, and I think, for saying, for women listening, they'll resonate with all of those, those aspects, because me things about timing for families and you know, as a male, it's you know it's different, right?
Speaker 1:Um, you know, between my ability to still do you know the beep test, uh, and get to a high number, you know, unless, between my ability to still do you know the beep test and get to a high number, you know, unless I'm sleep deprived, perhaps I can go. My wife is probably going to listen to this. Go, oh, my God, forget it anyway, but no, listen. I said thanks, thanks for sharing that, because I'm interested. When you think about where you are today and sort of the path that you're heading down, do you think back and what is it that you would say? Well, okay, happy where I am now, but I wish I'd have done this differently to set me up for success.
Speaker 2:I struggle so much with these questions because I just feel like I am where I mean to be, where I'm meant to be, and I don't like having regrets. Yeah, I honestly don't have an answer for you. I honestly think that I love my life and all the choices that I've made to bring me here. I appreciate and I've definitely made some mistakes, but I feel like that's kind of who I am because of those mistakes, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it does. It does make sense, absolutely. I must admit, I'm reading, I've been reading a book called the Power of Regret and every now and again I listen to it again because he describes it beautifully around. Well, we have regrets and it's okay to regret. The key thing is to learn from it so it doesn't negatively define you. You know that. Those are the bits where you know, as you've described it, it means you can be happy with where you are, you know, lighted with where you are in life, recognizing, yeah, yeah, things that I've learned. But all of those things got me to where I am today, of enjoying that for what it is yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:I think there are some lessons that, as they have taken me longer to learn, that I would like probably. That's probably the only thing I would say. I'm very much a people pleaser, so I think it's taken me too long to say no to people. Niko, that's my one regret.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's funny you say that as a people pleaser. It's something I've just started to. I'm going to say here in, in these conversations that I have with athletes is and, and for those that I'm coaching is you know, because we ask what, what else can I do? What do I need in order to be fixed? What do I need to do? This it kind of puts in us well, you need to ask someone for that direction and set the bar, and right now I'm going to surpass that bar. So we have this people pleasing. Maybe that it's kind of in us somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. And also like you're better at taking criticism than your average person, because as you take criticism from coaches, you know in a training I probably would get like 50 negative things and two good things. You know. So like you're just kind of used to being told bad stuff and taking it on board and then making yourself better. So it's a good thing because you know, but then you kind of get used to that and you don't want to be in the habit of, I guess, like not putting up boundaries. I think, yeah, that's something I've definitely gotten better at since I've been older is putting boundaries up and like obviously I don't have heaps of time, so yeah, that's saying yes to everything is my downfall normally, because then I end up burning out. So being able to say no, yeah, and turn the athlete off and be like you need to look after yourself now, yes, very, very true.
Speaker 1:So when you think then, for you know someone who's coming up trying to follow in your footsteps and you, you know, and you think about helping them with that career transition, what sort of guidance would you give to them?
Speaker 2:be the one thing that you can take from my journey, if you haven't already got something outside of sport, is to plan as if it's your last year every year, because then, if it is, you have not not necessarily a backup plan, but you know other things that you have that are important to you.
Speaker 2:So I think, even if I didn't have a career, I do have a husband and a really good support system and my family and my dogs, and those things I think are more important necessarily than having a career, because I mean, if I was to retire now from netball and I didn't have my degrees behind me, like I still got so much life left. So it's not like I can't just go to uni and do that. It's not the end of the world. And I think when people talk about transition, they're thinking about career transition and not actually about the support that you need around you when you have that identity change from being an athlete to being a person. So maybe figuring out who that person is before the change happens, so that it's not such a big grieving point in your life.
Speaker 1:I know that I probably will grieve, even though I have other stuff going on and I know who I am because obviously it's a big part of my life, but yeah, Makes perfect sense, georgia, and thanks for well, one thinking out loud, but two, sharing it, because you know, I think for many listening they can take a lot from this whole conversation, but also from some of those specific points that you've just given. And listen, georgia, I think I want to say thank you for spending your time with me today on this conversation, and there are going to be others who are going to want to follow your story, follow you as a player and where you go. What's the best way for that to happen? Where can they find you?
Speaker 2:Probably Instagram. I'morgia takarangi. Um, it's my handle and I've just started to try and grow my personal brand a little bit more, because I'm thinking about if this is my last year. I need to make the most of um being a netball player. So, um, yeah, that's where I've. I'm posting a lot more of my life in netball, but also my life outside of netball, and trying to kind of grow my wellness expert hat, I guess, in that space as well.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, Wonderful Listen, Georgia. Thanks again. I'm glad we've been able to chat and record our conversation. Absolutely brilliant having you on the show, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. That was really fun.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Second Wind podcast. We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers. If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwindio for more information or to book a consultation with me. I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Brook Design, nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together. That's all from me. Take it easy Until next time.
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