John Quinn
Director GWS Giants Academy, Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS)
Ceremony: 13 May 2019, 2:00pm - Faculty of Health
Thank you very much for the introduction. Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, faculty Dean, academic staff, special guests, graduates and your families, welcome to this special day for you. A special one for the mothers, I think, today, of the graduates – you’ve got the double whammy. Yesterday was Mother’s Day and here you are at the graduation day, so well done to you and congratulations. This is probably a better present than what you got yesterday.
So, look at you, looking resplendent with your gowns and caps, clutching your certificates. Fantastic achievement. All that effort, all that time, all the stress, all the worry, all those nights where you didn’t go to bed because you had to get the assignment in the next day. You’ve made it. Here you are. And you think this is finished.
[Laughter]
You’ve just started. At least, I hope you have.
What I’d like you to do – what I suggest you do – is today think about how you feel when you walked across this stage, worried that you’d fall over; when you got your certificate, looked at it the first time to make sure the spelling was correct on your name; and the pride you felt with your family and friends watching. You should write it down. Write down why you put yourself through this. Write down what’s driven you to get to where you are today and what’s driving you to get to where you’re going to be tomorrow. Some of you are going to go onto more study, undoubtedly. Some of you are going to start your new careers.
I’ve been very, very lucky. I’ve been in this industry for more than 35 years. I’ve never worked a day in my life. Not one. There’ll be times when you’re going to be challenged in your work, in what you’re doing. That’s a part of the whole process. When you are challenged like that, I’d suggest that you look back on the words that you’ve written down today to remind yourself of why you do and why you’ve done what you do.
It’s interesting when I listen to my CV and really, I see myself as an athletics coach; the study bit just got out of control, really. And I just wanted to be the best coach that I could be, and I ended up down in Tasmania working for the Institute of Sport. I’d been there for six years and it was probably time for a bit of a change, and I got a phone call out of the blue from a fellow called Kevin Sheedy. I’d never seen a game of AFL; in fact, I barely knew how to spell it.
[Laughter]
So off I went, and I found myself in Melbourne and I was telling some of the staff behind me that it was such a busy move getting across to Melbourne. I kept thinking, I’m going to get a chance to watch a game. And I never really did get that chance until I was leading the team out onto the middle of the MCG against Carlton through a ridiculously oversized banner. I didn’t even know which way they went or how many points they got but anyway, I bluffed my way through that. And I stayed at Essendon for 10 years, but the first couple of months were quite challenging.
You’ve got your academic knowledge now. You’ve ticked that box that you’re qualified, but now you’ve got to show that you can implement that. You’ve got to show your creativity. Think differently. We went through a pre-season that first year at Essendon and I had beautiful periodised programs – great bar charts, intensity in volume, interacting perfectly, just as it did in the text book.
It got all through the pre-season, it got into the very early start of training, and that’s when the coach, Kevin Sheedy, took over. Training was done for 60 minutes. I went to Kevin and said at the end of the 60 minutes, ‘Ah, Kevin, training – that’s enough.’ He looked at me with a fair bit of disdain and continued coaching. One hour 20 minutes. I went back to him and said, ‘Sheeds, we’ve gone over now quite a bit.’ Yep. Training continued. One hour 40 minutes. This continued on to almost two hours.
I went up to him, into his office after, and said, ‘Sheeds, this doesn’t match the periodised plan that we’ve put together.’ And he lowered his glasses down on his nose and he looked at me and he said, ‘How many games of AFL have you played?’ The reality was I hadn’t even seen one. And I said, ‘No, not many.’ He didn’t let me finish; he said, ‘I think leave that to the coaches.’ He pushed the glasses back up. I walked very dejectedly down to my office. I thought, I’m not going to last in this. The next day the players had off, I worried all day. And then the next day was the maiden training session and it was down on the schedule for 45 minutes.
I spent that night in restless sleep and somewhere around midnight, it came to me. I went into my little study and I found the book The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It was about that thick. And I looked through it; I knew it was there somewhere and eventually there it was, and I found it. I typed it up and I printed it off about eight times. I got into work early. Sheeds had a carpark, I put it on the carpark where he went in, I put it on the gate that I knew he’d walk through, I put it on the wall where he’d walk past, I put it on the stairs going up, I put it on his front door, I put it on his desk and I put it on his chair. And I waited.
Then he came in. He rang me. This is a special ceremony today so I can’t tell you exactly what he said.
[Laughter]
But it was along the lines of, ‘What the hell is this?’ I said, ‘I’ll be right up.’ So, I ran up to his office and I said, ‘Oh, you got my note.’ He said, ‘Got your note? I don’t even know what it means.’ I said, ‘Sheeds, Shakespeare was a fantastic coach.’ He said, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve got training to get ready here.’ ‘Sheeds, it’s out of one of Shakespeare’s best plays, A Night’s Tale. “Hour upon hour, they ripe and ripe, and hour upon hour they rot and rot, and there by hangs the tale.”’ ‘What are you talking about?’ he said. ‘Sheeds, we spent all pre-season getting the players ripe. Now, every little bit extra you do, they’re going to rot and rot and if you don’t’ get the tale, we’re in all sorts of trouble.’ And he said, ‘You’re in trouble. Get this crap out of my office and go.’ So, I went very dejectedly down to my office and thought, my career’s finished.
That night we had training. It got to 45 minutes. I took a deep breath and I walked over to Sheeds and I said, ‘Kevin, 45 minutes, that’s it.’ He looked at me, got his whistle, blew the whistle and said, ‘Into the couch.’ I got a little bit of surprise; they came to me and as the last one was coming in, he said, ‘Can I see you?’ And I walked across and he leant over to me and he said, ‘Are they ripe yet?’
[Laughter]
I worked with Sheeds for the next eight years and we never had any problems with training times or volumes or intensities. He never questioned it. He followed what was there. Think creatively. You have the knowledge. How are you going to use your knowledge to bring about the change that you’re capable of bringing? Embrace everything that’s coming your way. Take it all on board and if you get nothing out of it all today, I hope you take one thing: Love every minute of it.
Congratulations.
[Applause]
Speech
Thank you very much for the introduction. Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, faculty Dean, academic staff, special guests, graduates and your families, welcome to this special day for you. A special one for the mothers, I think, today, of the graduates – you’ve got the double whammy. Yesterday was Mother’s Day and here you are at the graduation day, so well done to you and congratulations. This is probably a better present than what you got yesterday.
So, look at you, looking resplendent with your gowns and caps, clutching your certificates. Fantastic achievement. All that effort, all that time, all the stress, all the worry, all those nights where you didn’t go to bed because you had to get the assignment in the next day. You’ve made it. Here you are. And you think this is finished.
You’ve just started. At least, I hope you have.
What I’d like you to do – what I suggest you do – is today think about how you feel when you walked across this stage, worried that you’d fall over; when you got your certificate, looked at it the first time to make sure the spelling was correct on your name; and the pride you felt with your family and friends watching. You should write it down. Write down why you put yourself through this. Write down what’s driven you to get to where you are today and what’s driving you to get to where you’re going to be tomorrow. Some of you are going to go onto more study, undoubtedly. Some of you are going to start your new careers.
I’ve been very, very lucky. I’ve been in this industry for more than 35 years. I’ve never worked a day in my life. Not one. There’ll be times when you’re going to be challenged in your work, in what you’re doing. That’s a part of the whole process. When you are challenged like that, I’d suggest that you look back on the words that you’ve written down today to remind yourself of why you do and why you’ve done what you do.
It’s interesting when I listen to my CV and really, I see myself as an athletics coach; the study bit just got out of control, really. And I just wanted to be the best coach that I could be, and I ended up down in Tasmania working for the Institute of Sport. I’d been there for six years and it was probably time for a bit of a change, and I got a phone call out of the blue from a fellow called Kevin Sheedy. I’d never seen a game of AFL; in fact, I barely knew how to spell it.
So off I went, and I found myself in Melbourne and I was telling some of the staff behind me that it was such a busy move getting across to Melbourne. I kept thinking, I’m going to get a chance to watch a game. And I never really did get that chance until I was leading the team out onto the middle of the MCG against Carlton through a ridiculously oversized banner. I didn’t even know which way they went or how many points they got but anyway, I bluffed my way through that. And I stayed at Essendon for 10 years, but the first couple of months were quite challenging.
You’ve got your academic knowledge now. You’ve ticked that box that you’re qualified, but now you’ve got to show that you can implement that. You’ve got to show your creativity. Think differently. We went through a pre-season that first year at Essendon and I had beautiful periodised programs – great bar charts, intensity in volume, interacting perfectly, just as it did in the text book.
It got all through the pre-season, it got into the very early start of training, and that’s when the coach, Kevin Sheedy, took over. Training was done for 60 minutes. I went to Kevin and said at the end of the 60 minutes, ‘Ah, Kevin, training – that’s enough.’ He looked at me with a fair bit of disdain and continued coaching. One hour 20 minutes. I went back to him and said, ‘Sheeds, we’ve gone over now quite a bit.’ Yep. Training continued. One hour 40 minutes. This continued on to almost two hours.
I went up to him, into his office after, and said, ‘Sheeds, this doesn’t match the periodised plan that we’ve put together.’ And he lowered his glasses down on his nose and he looked at me and he said, ‘How many games of AFL have you played?’ The reality was I hadn’t even seen one. And I said, ‘No, not many.’ He didn’t let me finish; he said, ‘I think leave that to the coaches.’ He pushed the glasses back up. I walked very dejectedly down to my office. I thought, I’m not going to last in this. The next day the players had off, I worried all day. And then the next day was the maiden training session and it was down on the schedule for 45 minutes.
I spent that night in restless sleep and somewhere around midnight, it came to me. I went into my little study and I found the book The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It was about that thick. And I looked through it; I knew it was there somewhere and eventually there it was, and I found it. I typed it up and I printed it off about eight times. I got into work early. Sheeds had a carpark, I put it on the carpark where he went in, I put it on the gate that I knew he’d walk through, I put it on the wall where he’d walk past, I put it on the stairs going up, I put it on his front door, I put it on his desk and I put it on his chair. And I waited.
Then he came in. He rang me. This is a special ceremony today so I can’t tell you exactly what he said.
But it was along the lines of, ‘What the hell is this?’ I said, ‘I’ll be right up.’ So, I ran up to his office and I said, ‘Oh, you got my note.’ He said, ‘Got your note? I don’t even know what it means.’ I said, ‘Sheeds, Shakespeare was a fantastic coach.’ He said, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve got training to get ready here.’ ‘Sheeds, it’s out of one of Shakespeare’s best plays, A Night’s Tale. “Hour upon hour, they ripe and ripe, and hour upon hour they rot and rot, and there by hangs the tale.”’ ‘What are you talking about?’ he said. ‘Sheeds, we spent all pre-season getting the players ripe. Now, every little bit extra you do, they’re going to rot and rot and if you don’t’ get the tale, we’re in all sorts of trouble.’ And he said, ‘You’re in trouble. Get this crap out of my office and go.’ So, I went very dejectedly down to my office and thought, my career’s finished.
That night we had training. It got to 45 minutes. I took a deep breath and I walked over to Sheeds and I said, ‘Kevin, 45 minutes, that’s it.’ He looked at me, got his whistle, blew the whistle and said, ‘Into the couch.’ I got a little bit of surprise; they came to me and as the last one was coming in, he said, ‘Can I see you?’ And I walked across and he leant over to me and he said, ‘Are they ripe yet?’
I worked with Sheeds for the next eight years and we never had any problems with training times or volumes or intensities. He never questioned it. He followed what was there. Think creatively. You have the knowledge. How are you going to use your knowledge to bring about the change that you’re capable of bringing? Embrace everything that’s coming your way. Take it all on board and if you get nothing out of it all today, I hope you take one thing: Love every minute of it.
Congratulations.
About the Speaker
John is an accredited exercise physiologist, Director of the Greater Western Sydney Giants Academy and Director of Quinn Elite Sports Service, which is an elite performance consultancy and rehabilitation company.
John has extensive experience in the elite coaching field in a wide variety of sports and a speciality in allied health. With a career reaching over thirty years, John has worked with a huge array of Australia’s top athletes and coaches. With especially notable roles being the sprints and relay coach for the Australian track and field team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, head fitness coach and High Performance Manager for Essendon Football Club (AFL) from 1998 to 2008, and High Performance Manager of Greater Western Sydney Giants Football Club (AFL) from 2010 to 2014.
John is a member of Exercise and Sports Science Australia in his capacity as an accredited exercise physiologist.
John graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Sports Science in Exercise Physiology and Coaching and with a Master of Science and Technology in Occupational Health and Safety. He graduated from Deakin University with a Postgraduate Certificate in Human Nutrition.
