00:00Performing at the highest level against the best swimmers in the world is hard to beat,
00:07so yeah, definitely a very special part of my life and something that I'm going to remember
00:11for a very long time.
00:13And the peak of that was getting a medal at the Worlds, was it?
00:17Yeah, the 2015 Worlds, I was a member in the 4x200 freestyle relay team, so I was very
00:23fortunate enough to come away with a bronze medal at that championship.
00:27And then what happened over the next couple of years?
00:29Yeah, look, it was pretty tough, you know, there's plenty of stories out there with elite
00:35athletes and injuries, and unfortunately I was one of them.
00:39Had a bit of an injury leading into the 2016 Olympics, but actually missed that Olympics
00:45by about 0.3 of a second, so yeah, a bit of heartbreak there, but yeah, you know, it's
00:51part of life, so it's all good.
00:54The injury was from mucking around on a skateboard, what were you doing mucking around on a skateboard?
00:58Yeah, that came a bit later on actually, when I was making my comeback, so I was trying
01:02to make the home Commonwealth Games in 2018, and during those years of getting shoulder
01:07surgeries the only thing I could do that was fun was jumping on a skateboard, so yeah,
01:13stupidly I came off and dislocated my shoulder and that was the end of my career.
01:18Yeah, and so you'd put so much into swimming over the years, and so you get to that point
01:25where you realise that your swimming career is over, but what was that challenge like
01:31and what came up?
01:32Yeah, look, I suppose for me when my career ended I couldn't really do much, I couldn't
01:39work, I still was at uni, I didn't have much money, one of my mates just suggested, look,
01:45you've got to be grateful for what you've got and do some volunteer work, so I went
01:48out bush to a remote community called Uju and ran a swimming carnival out there and
01:53then haven't left since, so yeah, it's a big part of my life being out bush here now
01:58in the Territory.
01:59Yeah, and where did you grow up, Kurt?
02:02I grew up in the Hills District in Sydney, so north-west of Sydney, yeah.
02:06So had you seen much of the outback before?
02:09No, I hadn't, and that's why I did it, because representing Australia, I didn't know much
02:15about Australia, I hadn't seen much of Australia, and I was particularly curious about our First
02:20Nations culture and, you know, we swim with Indigenous artwork on our swimmers and do
02:27Welcome to Countries and it was something that I didn't know much about, so I was curious
02:31and to head out bush and learn and listen and understand, yeah.
02:35And so how was it when you arrived at your first community, Uju there, and you mentioned
02:41like, I think it's 200km west of Alice Springs, realising just how remote it was if you're
02:47a Sydney boy?
02:48Yeah, very different from growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, that's for sure.
02:53But I love it, you know, it's a bit old school, there's no phone reception, so you're forced
02:59to jump off social media.
03:02But yeah, it's just raw, it's life taken back and, you know, some of the most beautiful
03:08people out there that are so friendly and welcoming to invite me in their remote community
03:12and teach me about culture, it was just, yeah, it was just amazing.
03:17And so was that a temporary position, that first position at Uju, and was that kind of
03:22at a pool that was already established or not?
03:26Yeah, yeah, so I got the call up to come over and cover and actually open up a swimming
03:31pool.
03:32So I did that volunteer stint, and then the local regional council called me up after
03:36that and were like, hey, you know, we can't find any staff to open up our pool, do you
03:40want to come and help keep it open?
03:42And it sort of played in my mind, in the back of my mind for a while, and I thought, you
03:46know, here I am representing Australia and, you know, I think to give back, it's really
03:51important to make sure that the people and these people out bush need these pools more
03:56than anyone.
03:57It was to ensure that this pool was kept open for this community, that's, you know, a really
04:01important thing for me is to be able to give back to people that need it.
04:06And so, yeah, after a little bit of thinking, I went out there and worked for six months
04:11and then returned the following season and, yeah, just loved it, yeah.
04:14And now you're essentially going from community to community, are you?
04:18And sometimes it's not to pools that are established and operating, it's pools that have kind of
04:23fallen into disrepair?
04:25Yeah, that's right.
04:27So look, we started with two pools in Central and then since had a lot of other local regional
04:33councillors knocking on our door, asking if we can come around to their pool and bring
04:37it back to life and, you know, some of these pools haven't been running or have been running
04:43consistently, inconsistently, sorry, for the last decade.
04:47And they've just, yeah, seen what we've done in our Central pools and asked if we can help
04:52out and do the same.
04:53So it's been a big process over the last six months.
04:56We operate out of seven pools now and run them consistently.
05:00We have consistent learner swim programs.
05:02We've got a lot of local employment at one of our pools.
05:06We've got about almost 20 locals working on a rotating roster.
05:09So the idea is to put these pools back into the hands of community, ensure that they never
05:14close again.
05:15Yeah.
05:16And what's it like making those connections with locals?
05:20Yeah, really good.
05:22Like I said, they're so welcoming, you know, and they've got every right not to be.
05:26You know, a lot of these communities have been stuffed around by people over the past
05:31and, you know, to come in there and the important thing for me to do is to listen and understand
05:38and try and understand in that short amount of time that I've got their way of life and
05:43then trying to operate or help facilitate them to operate their pools to run it the
05:47way that they want to.
05:48So, yeah, it's been I've got incredible friendships out there now and I've learned a lot about
05:53culture and hunting and a lot of skills that you don't learn in the suburbs of Sydney.
05:57So, yeah, a lot of close friends that, yeah, we hang out a lot now, which is really fun.
06:03And how to fix your car when your tyre just rolls off into the outback?
06:07Yeah, exactly right.
06:10We're getting lift off locals back into town when the car stops working.
06:14Yeah, it's all the fun without you.
06:17And you're kind of essentially an Alice Springs boy now and has the, what have you, has kind
06:23of the beauty of the outback captured you too?
06:27Yeah, it has.
06:29You know, like being in Sydney, the hustle and bustle and, you know, you drive an hour
06:34to Sydney, you're still in the suburbs, but here you drive an hour and you're at the Larra
06:37Printer Trail, which I heard that you've done, Joe, and you've done a pretty good job of it.
06:41I've struggled pretty badly.
06:43It's a lot harder than I thought.
06:45Have you done it?
06:46Yeah, I tried.
06:47I tried to do the whole thing straight.
06:49I was a bit ambitious a few years ago and tried to do the whole thing straight and only
06:53made a hundred K in.
06:54But yeah, it's definitely one of the difficult, most difficult thing I've ever done.
06:58And it beats a lot of swimming races that only go for a minute, 47 seconds.
07:02But yeah, the lifestyle out here and the people and, you know, Alice Springs gets a bad rap
07:07in the media.
07:08But, you know, there's a lot of people doing a lot of good out here and trying to do a
07:12lot of change and make a lot of change.
07:14And I like being around that positive energy and I love the challenge and I love the outdoors
07:20too.
07:21So it's all good.
07:22And so it's the Remote Pool Project is the actual business name, is it?
07:27Yeah.
07:28So it's a YMCA Northern Territory initiative.
07:31So when these pools started shutting down, there was an issue with one of the pools in
07:35a local regional council, the two CEOs got together and then gave me a call and I'd been
07:40involved working for that particular council before and then just sort of jumped on.
07:45So yeah, it's a YMCA initiative.
07:48It's called the Remote Pools Project.
07:50If anyone out there is curious about what we do, jump on our socials and follow us and
07:55give us a bit of support.
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