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EPISODE TWO, SAMANTHA CHILD - HOCKEY
16 Plays22 days ago
In this episode, we are joined by Samantha Child (née Charlton), a former Black Sticks midfielder, a 3 x Olympian who played 277 games for New Zealand across a 14 year career.
Sam's story is a unique one and shares how she navigated pregnancy and a return to international sport with twins! After having initial concerns about her fertility, Sam shares her experience of this journey, what the return to training looked like for her, and her thoughts about we can better support mums to help make this option of having a child during an athletic career an easier, more informed choice.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Equipment Setup
00:00:41
Troy
we're going to crack right into it,
Sam's Early Career and Family Planning
00:00:42
Troy
yeah? So can you, I want to start by getting you to give us a bit of a little intro about yourself, your sport, and where you were, I guess, in your career when you started thinking about having a family.
00:00:56
Samantha Child
Yes, so I'm Sam. I ah played hockey for our New Zealand Black Six team. So I started my playing career when I was 18. So I'd just finished high school. and Played for a number of years and it wasn't until I was probably in my late 20s that I started thinking about You know, if and when um we might start thinking about having a family.
00:01:20
Samantha Child
I also married a hockey player. um so it was something we kind of like knew that we'd want to do one day, but we're never quite sure sort of where it would fit in. I think naturally we thought about it um around Olympic cycles and Commonwealth cycles and maybe, you know, watch which games might I make it to and then think about maybe having a child.
00:01:28
Troy
Mm-hmm.
Health Challenges and Family Planning Considerations
00:01:38
Samantha Child
um And it was actually a kind of ah a bit of a long story, but for a bit of context, before the Tokyo Olympic Games, I was 29 at the time. um And I actually got quite sick before those games.
00:01:51
Samantha Child
So kind of like a cascade of things happened, but essentially had a bunch of different autoimmune conditions pop up for me before the Tokyo Games and got quite unwell.
00:02:02
Samantha Child
um and managed to make it to the games sort of just like hanging on by a thread, competed there.
00:02:07
Troy
And
00:02:08
Samantha Child
And then naturally sort of heading towards my 30th birthday at the end of that year. That was my third Olympic Games. And it was kind of that point in time where i was like, OK, cool. I could either continue to play knowing that the I think it was the Birmingham Con Games were kind of coming up. And we also had a World Cup for Hockey.
00:02:25
Samantha Child
I thought, or like, is this a time I want to pull back and maybe start thinking about having a family? At that point, I didn't know um if that would sort of end my career or not. I hadn't really thought about that. um And I was kind of keen to keep playing. Like I thought I had a little bit left in me.
00:02:42
Samantha Child
Somehow after, i don't know, 10 or 12 years or whatever it was at this point.
00:02:45
Troy
Okay.
00:02:45
Samantha Child
um And there was something in me that kind of just went, okay, well, I've been quite unwell this year. I'm nearly 30. If I'm going to continue for another two years, I think I just want like a little bit more information about ah my body and my fertility, if I can get that.
Fertility Concerns and Egg Freezing Decision
00:03:02
Samantha Child
I think I'd seen an article from Valerie Adams, maybe the year before or something, and she'd spoken about getting your AMH levels checked, um which is, it's it's not the most like wonderful predictor of fertility.
00:03:15
Samantha Child
It doesn't um tell you like the quality of your eggs, but it can, I understand, give you a rough idea of like, maybe where you are in your fertility window and if um if it's something you should think about maybe now or a little bit later. And there was something that just really like made me think I think I need to do that. And I remember my friend Rose and the team was like, you'll be fine. Like, why are you even worrying about it? But there was just something in the back of my mind. i was like, I need to just go and do this test. And if that test is all fine, then like, yep, let's carry on. Let's do Birmingham and the next World Cup.
00:03:47
Samantha Child
and And so towards the end of that year, I got my AMH levels tested and they came back as like drastically quite low. So I had the same fertility as someone who was probably like 10 to 12 years older than me.
00:04:02
Samantha Child
um And I think that was enough of a indicator for me to be like, okay, i think I need to pivot here like I don't like I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I think starting a family is something I need to think about now and not in the future and at that point in time I didn't really feel like I could do that at the same time as high performance sport because I didn't think I'd give equal either the enough attention if that makes sense so
00:04:10
Troy
yes.
00:04:28
Samantha Child
Our decision um at that point was to do some egg freezing first before we started trying. So anecdotally, it can take a little bit longer for those with a low AMH to conceive.
00:04:39
Samantha Child
And so we weren't really thinking about trying to conceive straight away, but sort of just like protecting ourselves against the possibility that it might be difficult to conceive like a second or third child later
Natural Conception Attempts and COVID Experience
00:04:49
Samantha Child
on.
00:04:50
Samantha Child
and So we chose to do a round of egg freezing, which was incredibly expensive. um But we were lucky enough to be able to do that. um And we didn't get many eggs, which kind of confirmed, um you know, the testing, I suppose, at the time.
00:05:06
Troy
The tasting, yeah.
00:05:09
Samantha Child
um And we were going to need to do two rounds to get enough eggs to kind of um have that sort of safety net, if you will. And then at that point, we were going to try conceive naturally and just sort of see how we went.
00:05:21
Samantha Child
um and actually in between our two cycles of egg freezing I got COVID because it was that time which meant that I actually had to delay my second round of egg freezing and at that point we were kind of like man maybe we're just lucky here like if we can conceive at all you know so like why don't we just like not not try but just like yeah sort of sort of just see what happens like stop trying for it not to happen in
00:05:45
Troy
Relaxed on it all, right?
00:05:46
Samantha Child
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:46
Troy
but
00:05:47
Samantha Child
And in between those two rounds of egg freezing is when we fell pregnant naturally and conceived. So a bit of a long-winded story, but it kind of started out from like, yeah, being unwell and then wanting to know a bit more about my fertility and then actually making a decision to act on that quite quickly.
00:06:06
Samantha Child
um So yeah, little bit of a long-winded story, but that's sort of how we ended up conceiving, I suppose.
00:06:06
Troy
Yeah.
00:06:12
Troy
Wow.
00:06:13
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:06:13
Troy
No, that was fascinating to hear, actually. I mean, i know I feel like I know you reasonably well now over this, and I'm learning some
00:06:18
Samantha Child
Yeah. Yeah.
Support in Sport During Pregnancy
00:06:20
Troy
stuff.
00:06:20
Troy
um what So, I mean, i guess taking into that, like, did you feel –
00:06:21
Samantha Child
yeah
00:06:27
Troy
yeah So your your journey's been, you know, you've talked about it, you've fallen pregnant. But if we just backpedal a little bit, when you were talking about this with your um partner, husband,
00:06:40
Troy
um did you feel that you were would be supported by your sport? Or did you even have any idea of what that would look like if you were to come back?
00:06:52
Samantha Child
Yeah, I reflect on this quite a lot bri because I feel like a lot of what I felt at the time was just maybe possibly my perception, but also like a product of how the environment had been.
00:06:59
Troy
Mm-hmm.
00:07:04
Samantha Child
So for a bit of context, like in hockey, I can think of maybe like two or three players from my career. So I was there from when I was 18 and I'm nearly 30 at this point. And over that time, I'd seen maybe two athletes have ah excuse me, have a baby and return to play.
00:07:23
Troy
and
00:07:23
Samantha Child
um There was a few more who maybe had like a longer gap in between, but um a few that kind of made that gap shorter. But it never seemed like something that you did while you were in the team.
00:07:36
Samantha Child
Like to me, from the outside, and whether those athletes had conversations with the sport prior, i I don't know.
00:07:37
Troy
Yeah.
00:07:41
Samantha Child
I haven't really asked them. But it sort of seems like something that you, you chose to step away and you say, no, I'm going to, you know, choose to have a baby.
00:07:50
Troy
yeah
00:07:50
Samantha Child
going to do that on the side. And then if I want to come back, i'm going have to prove myself to get back in the team. I had never seen, I'd never seen an example of someone who was in the squad or the team at the time, it gets renewed and like yearly or annually, um have and fall pregnant within that window and then stay on with the team.
00:07:55
Troy
and i internet
00:08:09
Troy
Yeah.
00:08:09
Samantha Child
Like it it just felt like it was something that you did. And so That was my perception. and And I suppose on top of that, I don't really ever felt like it was an environment where you sort of spoke about it openly.
00:08:22
Samantha Child
Like I reckon planning for a family and talking about having babies, it was like something you did sort of behind closed doors in your hotel room and you wouldn't let your coach or your staff find out about it because, you know, how would that impact your selections going forward if they knew that, oh, you might be planning on having a baby.
00:08:35
Troy
yeah yeah
00:08:38
Samantha Child
Or there was also this perception, I think, that in a sport like hockey where resources are quite finite, if you are going to choose to try and conceive during that time and you do fall pregnant and then you can't compete, you're like, it felt like you were taking someone else's spot, I suppose, and someone else's resource.
00:08:54
Troy
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:08:56
Samantha Child
So again, like those are all things that maybe were just how I perceived it to be like that. And I certainly, even as a senior player, I certainly didn't really feel like it was a conversation that I would feel really comfortable having at that time.
00:09:11
Samantha Child
And I was pretty comfortable having a lot of conversations. Like I just, and there was a bit of me that I wanted to step away for a period of time to, to try and conceive.
00:09:14
Troy
i Yeah, yeah.
00:09:20
Samantha Child
Cause I didn't feel like the way my body had been over the last 12 to 24 months that it would cope physically with the demands of training and allow me to fall pregnant. So there was a little bit of that too, but I definitely didn't feel as though it was an environment that
00:09:30
Troy
Okay.
00:09:35
Samantha Child
it was talked It wasn't talked about all the time and it didn't feel like, yeah, you could sort of stay in there while you were doing it
00:09:43
Troy
So, okay, so we've addressed that. Let's let's fast forward a little bit to you're pregnant. Woo-hoo! In between those cycles. um So what, can you take me through kind of what that felt like at that time? So obviously you're now thinking, you know,
00:09:59
Troy
um yeah what's going to look like right and and like any mother or mother to be we always have this of what it could look like and what it what it turns out to be like so we'll get to that soon but yeah just in the pregnancy journey and then and what that looks like with your sport at that time and for you
00:10:19
Samantha Child
Yeah.
Training Adjustments During Twin Pregnancy
00:10:19
Samantha Child
And I suppose that's where it it gets tricky, right? Because if I had stayed engaged with my sport, I would have had a bit of a better idea of sort of understanding maybe what that path would look like. But I obviously chose to step away for a period of time.
00:10:32
Troy
Thank you.
00:10:34
Samantha Child
And I think I always like at the time I said, Oh, I don't know if I'll go back. I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. I reckon in the back of my mind, I knew that I wanted to, but I also knew that like having a baby could do things to your body and mind that could change it completely.
00:10:50
Samantha Child
And so I was just really open to the fact that like, yeah, it might happen. It might not. And so in that vein, The training for me, like, didn't, I didn't feel like I needed to keep training at, like, a high level because I wasn't, well, interestingly, I did end up going back quite quickly.
00:11:09
Samantha Child
But I just had sort of taken that pressure off a little bit, I suppose. And i i i have to admit, I was maybe a little bit more nervous to train than I thought I would be.
00:11:20
Samantha Child
And I don't know if that's because I just didn't have the knowledge to know that I could keep running and it was absolutely fine. um But, or whether it was because I actually fell pregnant with twins.
00:11:31
Samantha Child
And i I think there was just an element of nervousness around like having two babies inside of me and just being like, well, what does that, what does that mean for my body?
00:11:37
Troy
Yeah.
00:11:40
Samantha Child
So I kept really active, but it was very low key and low intensity. Like I didn't do any hockey. i gave up running quite early, which I felt a bit sad about because i love running and it like just makes my mind feel really good. But I gave that up quite early and just stuck to, I'd say probably exercise like more than your average, um you know, like recreational athlete.
00:12:04
Samantha Child
But I definitely wasn't doing like a ah full regime to be like, yeah, when I get off the back of this pregnancy, i'm I'm back into it. Like I was just sort of seeing how I went.
00:12:14
Troy
Do you think there's some kind of like something nice? I mean, I guess if I was a reflector, i like just hearing you talk about that, like I felt there was something quite nice about that pressure not being there with your training because you've come, like, would you, did that feel that way to you?
00:12:30
Troy
Or did you feel a little bit in the back of the mind like, oh, I'm like, I would normally be doing this and I'm not, you know, like, was it it like an internal battle a little bit?
00:12:37
Samantha Child
system oh a little bit but I think you're right like I hadn't I hadn't truly given myself a break like a proper break from training since I was a teenager essentially and so
00:12:52
Troy
Yeah.
00:12:52
Samantha Child
wasn't really a break for the body like I'm still growing two babies but but that mental I think for me like that that mental um that mental pressure like I would have had I so had I stayed within the sport and made it known outwardly yes I'm coming back to hockey then I think I would have felt a lot more pressure to do certain things physically and interestingly i don't know if it impacted my return not doing it and you know like again, you can kind of say that retrospectively, but, and maybe, i don't know, maybe some things would have been easier afterwards, but yes, i actually think it was really nice just to like kind of take that pressure off and just like,
00:12:55
Troy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:02
Troy
and
00:13:21
Troy
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:33
Samantha Child
have pregnancy for what it was and stay active in a way that was appropriate for my body um I was really lucky though like I I didn't have like for for a twin pregnancy I felt incredibly lucky like I could still go to the gym right up until that 36th week before I had the twins and and walk and and do all those sorts of things so I I also acknowledge that like
00:13:39
Troy
Yeah, totally.
00:13:56
Samantha Child
sometimes you can't exercise from week 12 or 14 just because your body doesn't beat you. So yeah, very lucky in that way too.
00:14:01
Troy
Yeah.
00:14:04
Troy
I do from, like, I can't speak ah as a ah broad thing, but I have noticed this trend of people that are naturally, and naturally is probably the wrong word because it's not natural, but um who are coming off such a high intensity, you know, like ah fellow athletes or anyone that does that kind of sport at a high level who then fall pregnant.
00:14:16
Samantha Child
assist
00:14:25
Troy
I feel the body... get picks up where it left off a lot better on the other side.
00:14:33
Samantha Child
Yeah, I think so.
00:14:33
Troy
But I guess where that's where, so that's where I guess that's going to lead me into this next question is is like that we, you know, in hindsight now, and now you've had two pregnancies,
Postpartum Recovery and Return to Training
00:14:47
Samantha Child
yeah
00:14:47
Troy
um very different because one you haven't come back to your sport at a high level, but um and the other one you did.
00:14:53
Troy
But, you know, looking back on that and what we've just talked about, do you think that, had you have had a little bit more access to and knowledge and of of being able to come back to your sport, do you think that it would have impacted your return on the other side?
00:15:12
Samantha Child
yeah, it it may it may have. Again, like, I'm a really big believer in that so much of it is, like, luck and how your body responds to certain things, right?
00:15:23
Samantha Child
So there's that element of it and that, like, I didn't experience much injury and pain or during after.
00:15:29
Troy
Yeah.
00:15:31
Samantha Child
yeah, Yeah, I think it would have it would have helped for sure. Like it's hard to say how much quicker things would have happened. But even just like maybe not even physically but even mentally, just having that reassurance because even when I was doing stuff during my pregnancy, like yes, I felt comfortable to go the gym and do X, Y and Z, but I was just Googling all the time like can I do this?
00:15:43
Troy
Yeah.
00:15:54
Samantha Child
Can I do this? Is this appropriate?
00:15:55
Troy
yeah
00:15:55
Samantha Child
Like I just had no idea.
00:15:56
Troy
yeah
00:15:56
Samantha Child
And so I do think, like I just think it would be so useful for athletes particularly high performance athletes just to have that access to that knowledge because like you say your body their body starts out in a different place than you know your recreational athlete and whether or not you know whether you want to come back to your sport I don't think it matters I just think it's nice to know that like if you're used to training intensely and you still like doing that regardless really want to come back to competition it's actually great to know that you can still do that if it was make you feel good um but I didn't know that I was I was so nervous was so scared of like doing stuff and so I think having that access just would have like taken away that mental load for sure of like constantly wondering wondering like oh is what I'm doing appropriate and then like inevitably I think it would probably have helped you know physically on the other side of it too
00:16:04
Troy
Yeah.
00:16:21
Troy
and
00:16:32
Troy
yeah
00:16:47
Troy
yeah I definitely yeah ah yeah i agree with you there okay so we're going to fast forward a little bit to babies have been born two beautiful babies um you mentioned 36 weeks or oh look at that
00:16:56
Samantha Child
Yes. Yes. yeah i They were born at 37 and 3, which is like basically full term for twins. I was very lucky to get them there.
00:17:06
Troy
That is, that is.
00:17:07
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:17:09
Troy
um So can you talk me through your experience of returning to training? So you've had you've pulled away from, just to get a bit thing, you've pulled away from sport a little bit, gone, I'm doing this on my own, don't really know where to look for um this stuff. And you've obviously had the twins and then gone, something's gone, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go back, take me through that process a little bit.
00:17:32
Samantha Child
Yeah, so I had the twins in January, oh sorry, December of 2022, like right at the end, and so again, i think the whole time I sort of knew that I wanted to try and return, but I don't know, maybe I was a bit nervous to say that out loud in case I couldn't do it, or that if like I changed my mind, because I, again, I'm a big believer that like you don't know, you don't know how becoming a mum will change you, eventually,
00:17:37
Troy
Yeah. Oh.
00:17:49
Troy
yeah
00:17:57
Troy
oh
00:17:58
Samantha Child
or physically and what your wants and needs and desires kind of will be once those babies are there but um my first the first part of my like postpartum recovery was incredibly slow with absolutely like no forward thinking into um getting back into high performance sport like I'd had a c-section which I didn't recover particularly well from lots of people do they're like up and walking in two days I was like found it really difficult for someone who I think I have a pretty high pain threshold like Yeah, actually just done really hard.
00:18:30
Troy
and Yeah.
00:18:32
Samantha Child
And so the first like six to eight weeks were really slow. Like I basically was only doing long walks at maybe five or six weeks, which um for an active individual, you know, you do start to get ants in your pants a little bit.
00:18:47
Samantha Child
So I took it really, really slow. And then, it was probably around eight to ten weeks where I started to think okay like I had a bit of think about the timeline so for context you know my postpartum recovery started essentially January 1st the boys were born on December basically New Year's Eve and the qualifiers for the Olympics were in August of that year so the twins would have been seven months and so I knew that in the back of my mind I didn't know if like
00:19:10
Troy
Mm-hmm.
00:19:15
Samantha Child
I'd even be good enough to be in the team by then. But I was sort of like keen to try and make myself available and get myself physically to a point where possibly that could that could be an option. um We'd had a changeover coach at the time. So that made me a little bit nervous because the coach was new and he didn't know me and what I wanted and me as a player, you know me as a player he doesn't really know. um And so I think it must've been around...
Planning a Return to Hockey
00:19:45
Samantha Child
maybe three or four months postpartum, i was like, okay, i I think I need a bit of like advice here. Like I've got no idea what I'm doing. I'd seen it and a pelvic health physio just off my own bat, off the recommendation of others at Unity Studios in Auckland.
00:19:58
Samantha Child
And they're amazing for assessing kind of pelvic health. um So she's,
00:20:02
Troy
Good plug there. Good plug there.
00:20:03
Samantha Child
yeah honestly if anyone it's just like they just they just know what they're talking about so nice to have that reassurance although sometimes and this is where this like high performance stuff comes in it's like trying to explain to a physio they're like oh so you'd like to return to running and you're like yep and also needing to explain oh and i also you want to qualify for the olympics later in the year but how do you explain that to someone without sounding like a complete noob and so like
00:20:04
Troy
ah
00:20:26
Troy
Yeah.
00:20:30
Samantha Child
They're like, oh, do you want to do, you know, high intensity? I was like, yeah, pretty high intensity.
00:20:33
Troy
Quite high.
00:20:34
Samantha Child
Like, you just feel like such a dick.
00:20:34
Troy
Yeah. ah
00:20:37
Samantha Child
And so, God, it would be nice to just have some, you know, like something that was dedicated to you as a high performance athlete. Anywho, she managed to kind of get my drift and like I sort of had to sheepishly explain what I was doing.
00:20:48
Samantha Child
And I don't know, I find that stuff so awkward. Like I'm not super, I don't love like talking about that kind of stuff with people. anyway she put me on a return to run plan and then I was kind of like man I need to get back into into some hockey like ASAP I've got about three months to get to like international level um and so I did I did reach out to I think I might have reached out to the coach at the time or maybe like through some of the friends in the team I'd said hey can you just like tell the coach that I'm kind of keen and just like see what happens and I might have reached out to the high performance director as well just to indicate like, hey, I'm kind of keen, like what do I need to do to get back in the team?
00:21:03
Troy
before Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:26
Samantha Child
But it was it had it was all off my own confidence to do that. And as someone who'd been in the team for 12 years, like I was still a little bit nervous. I can't imagine if I'd been like a newer player.
00:21:36
Samantha Child
I don't i don't know if I would have had the confidence to just sort of reach out.
00:21:38
Troy
No. No.
00:21:40
Samantha Child
and And so they put me in touch with the S&C at the time who was like really keen to help, but I didn't feel as though, he had like real particular knowledge about what I needed. So like, I was like, hey, my primary concern is that I've had a C-section and I want to make sure that like, I'm giving my body the sort of like resources it needs. And I don't want to miss anything or like overdo it and then have some problems later on.
00:22:05
Samantha Child
And his advice was kind of like oh, just, you know, make sure you've got the basics locked down and you'll be sweet. And i was kind of like, i feel like there's a bit more to it you know and maybe maybe there isn't but I just I don't know I just I didn't have that full faith that like I was really getting what I needed and I just I essentially just had to trust my own body and my own um experience and and training my own body for so many years but yeah I I felt like I really missed that yeah
00:22:33
Troy
Can I interrupt it there for just one bit on that? Would you... if it had been a female and C coach who had had children, had maybe even had a C-section or something like that, who had, or, and I don't know, i had had that, do you think that would have changed your trust in the process or even, um how am I trying to word it?
00:22:58
Troy
Like, yeah you do you get my flow with this?
00:23:00
Samantha Child
i i get what you I get what you're saying and honestly probably which I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing but quite honestly I probably would have had quite a different perception of that knowledge which maybe is unfair like yes
00:23:04
Troy
You know, because it's like,
00:23:13
Troy
But also their knowledge would have been better, right, too, all right? Because, I mean, granted for him, he's never going to have a child, um but you know, so he's not he that he's not going to understand exactly what you've gone through, you
00:23:27
Samantha Child
No, and if it if he if I knew that he'd had like, if he'd done some specific like training or education or something into the space, then I would have, of course I would have trusted, you know, him But I had only, I'd literally, again, knew S&C.
00:23:39
Troy
know? Yeah, exactly, exactly.
00:23:43
Samantha Child
I'd never met him before. And, you know, it wasn't like he was like, hey, I'm i really, like I'm really experienced in this. I've done this, this, this and this. Like, I just, ah yeah, I just didn't have that full like trust, which i don't know if that's a me problem.
00:23:57
Samantha Child
But yeah, I honestly think if it was a female person, I probably would have had quite a different...
00:24:01
Troy
And I'm not trying to, and i yeah and I don't want it to sound like, like gra you know, I mean, there are people that are male that are very specialised in this area, but it was more just, ah I just wanted to get a feel of, you know, that perception can change sometimes when you, it's like a mid ah midwife, most midwives are female, right?
00:24:09
Samantha Child
Totally.
00:24:16
Samantha Child
Yes.
00:24:20
Troy
And most of them have had a baby or are going to have one at some stage.
00:24:22
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:24:23
Troy
And so, you feel connected when it's a midwife that can, can share a journey with you that you, um that's almost similar to what you've been through or yeah.
00:24:30
Samantha Child
yeah yeah yeah i totally agree you're fine
00:24:34
Troy
Anyway. So. I've gone off um off of our of things, but, i' yeah, sorry. I'll pass it back. The baton back to you.
00:24:43
Samantha Child
no
00:24:45
Troy
Or, oh, actually, well what I will ask you from there is, um you so you you' kind of taught you've you've done stuff you've kind of had to reach out to people that you know, and luckily being in high-performance sport, there's some people there and some help.
00:24:58
Troy
You've started putting, it so you're probably like, what, three months out from World Champs, Olympic qualifiers,
00:25:05
Samantha Child
Yes,
Balancing Motherhood and Training
00:25:05
Samantha Child
yeah. bi
00:25:06
Troy
yeah ah Take me through that, like, okay, so we've got August and we're three months before then. You're just kind of getting into the flow. You're starting to play hockey again. Take me, like, I want to understand how you got back onto that, like, that level of play in such a short amount of time.
00:25:23
Samantha Child
I think there's like, I've always loved fitness, which I think helps. Like I definitely think that helps. I've always loved, I've loved pushing myself. And so I knew that that wasn't going to be a problem. I knew that it might take a little while. um But certainly like, and you would know the way you train changes drastically in the sense that like, if I, if I compare it to like an injury I had when I was in the team, like I did my meniscus, for example, and,
00:25:51
Troy
Yeah.
00:25:52
Samantha Child
my whole, I didn't, I wasn't working. And so my whole life was rehabbing this injury. I could go to this and then I'd do my swimming and I'd do my biking.
00:25:59
Troy
Yeah.
00:26:00
Samantha Child
And I had the whole day to to train for something. All of a sudden you've got, okay, here's 35 minutes go. What can you do with it?
00:26:09
Troy
Yeah.
00:26:09
Samantha Child
Like literally, quite literally, that's all you've got.
00:26:11
Troy
yeah
00:26:12
Samantha Child
Or, okay, your training slot is tonight once the twins are in bed. Oh, you've already done 30,000 steps and you're exhausted. Like too bad, you know, like I was really surprised I think I surprised myself that like maybe you don't I don't know you can do quite a lot with a short space of time and you just have to prioritize right like I knew i knew that I couldn't do absolutely everything that I would want to have done I knew that I couldn't go i couldn't get myself to the gym two or three times a week I just couldn't especially with two babies like it was really hard
00:26:21
Troy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:45
Troy
yeah
00:26:46
Samantha Child
Um, so I just had to make do. i was like, right, well, what can I do at home? And that's all I can do. And that's just going to have to be good enough. And I'm just going to have to trust in my, you know, last 12 years and ability that it it'll be okay.
00:27:00
Samantha Child
And so, yeah, that, that changed for me massively because I was a real type like needed to tick all these boxes.
00:27:01
Troy
Yeah.
00:27:06
Troy
Yeah.
00:27:06
Samantha Child
and but you'll know like babies don't let you be type and they don't let you tick your boxes and you just have to like you just have to figure it out and yeah it was it was really fucking hard sometimes like so many times I was just tired and exhausted and unfortunately like the boys you know they weren't the best sleepers in the world and so you're constantly doing it off less sleep than you thought you had or actually you don't have time to make toast before you go to training and And you've just got to figure it out.
00:27:11
Troy
Yeah.
00:27:28
Troy
yeah
00:27:34
Samantha Child
But it's actually quite amazing. I think what surprised me is how your body actually can do it without without perfect prep and perfect training.
00:27:40
Troy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:43
Samantha Child
I think that's what really surprised me. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:47
Troy
I find it crazy that to think that, like, once I had children, I was like, how did I ever think I was tired?
Motherhood's Impact on Training Perspective
00:27:54
Troy
like um Like, seriously, Sam, I'm like, but like i' you know, like you, right?
00:27:56
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:28:00
Troy
my my job Well, i had to i had work around, but I was working part-time training full-time, and I was tired. And I'm like, mate, I want to look at, like, you know, 30-year-old me and be like, you don't know what tired's like.
00:28:09
Samantha Child
yeah
00:28:13
Samantha Child
yeah totally and i don I mean I don't want to like shock anyone but I think I think you've got to know these things like you've got to really you do have to really want what you're trying to achieve because unless you've got like an incredible amount of support around you which I did I still did but I again I had two newborn babies
00:28:14
Troy
Yeah.
00:28:25
Troy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:33
Samantha Child
it is like, it is pretty hard and you do have to like sacrifice some of that time that would otherwise be for resting, which it's hard in those first few months, but.
00:28:40
Troy
yeah Or that thing of like when you feel like you want to do something and you can't. Like it's like I feel right now I feel like I want to go to the gym, right?
00:28:47
Samantha Child
a
00:28:49
Troy
And then you go, what i can't because I've got these two – you would have these two humans that you can't – what are you going with them, you know?
00:28:50
Samantha Child
and
00:28:53
Samantha Child
Yeah. Yeah. Totally.
00:28:56
Troy
so And then it's like so you've got to wait for certain times and it's all, you know.
00:28:57
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:28:59
Troy
it Yeah.
00:29:00
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:29:00
Troy
you Yeah.
00:29:02
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:29:02
Troy
It's different that.
00:29:03
Samantha Child
100% so yeah.
00:29:03
Troy
And it's not to put anyone off it.
00:29:04
Samantha Child
Oh 100% yeah
00:29:05
Troy
I actually, what I'm actually praising is the fact that actually you find it in your inner self. Once you've had children, you we would like it's incredible. Like my husband will turn to me sometimes. He's like, Oh, I'm just so tired.
00:29:16
Troy
I'm like, sorry, you're tired.
00:29:17
Samantha Child
yeah yeah and
00:29:18
Troy
ah So sorry. You don't even have to do the night. What are you talking about? that but But you know, but they don't, it's just, I think we are incredible.
00:29:24
Samantha Child
yeah
00:29:25
Troy
Like we're just, yeah, we're just made differently.
00:29:26
Samantha Child
yeah yeah and Gosh, and like couldn't, you you can't do it without support. Like I'm very clear on that.
00:29:33
Troy
Oh, totally not.
00:29:34
Samantha Child
Like I had a husband who, he knew what I wanted to do and he was and he was willing to sort of, you know, like help me however he could and and make that happen.
00:29:42
Troy
Hmm.
00:29:43
Samantha Child
I had... My mum like drove up from Tauranga every fortnight to help me. Like I had all of the help that I could, but gosh, it it still felt really hard.
00:29:47
Troy
No.
00:29:51
Samantha Child
But i i I don't know. I think there's some, and I don't know if this is physiologically correct or if I'm just being a bit woo-woo here, but yeah I just think there's some, there's a lot of muscle memory in the body.
00:29:58
Troy
yeah
00:30:02
Samantha Child
You know, it's not it's not like you're,
00:30:03
Troy
Oh, totally.
00:30:05
Samantha Child
coming to high performance in your first year and having no idea what to expect and your body's figuring it out like trust trust in the fact your body's done it before and it's not going to take you 10 years to get back to where you were at year 10 like your body knows what it's doing and your mind knows what it's doing and you you have to put a little bit of faith in that I think
00:30:18
Troy
Yeah, agreed.
00:30:25
Troy
So that leads me on to this question for you, Sam.
00:30:27
Samantha Child
m
00:30:28
Troy
Did motherhood, and you've kind of touched on this and answered a little bit, but did motherhood change your relationship with training and competition?
00:30:35
Samantha Child
Oh my God, a thousand percent. Like training, i've I've touched on it, right? Like I just had to be efficient, bang for my buck, do it when I didn't want to, do it in a way that I didn't necessarily want to.
00:30:46
Samantha Child
But yeah, I was really efficient with my time and I had to accept there was things I wasn't going to get done. And the old me wouldn't have accepted that. The old me would have just like got up half an hour earlier and fitted it in.
00:30:57
Samantha Child
But you can't, you just, you can't do that.
00:30:58
Troy
Mm-hmm.
00:31:00
Samantha Child
um And with competition, a hundred percent, like, I think, I think you everyone says it, and this maybe sounds a bit cliche, but like becoming a parent or a mum or a dad or whatever it is, it just gives you like a little bit of perspective, I think. And that, yes, like that was still incredibly important to me, like wanting to qualify and being a part of the team, like that meant a lot to me.
00:31:28
Troy
Thank you.
00:31:28
Samantha Child
But like having...
00:31:29
Samantha Child
young children at home you're like if it doesn't go perfectly you're like oh there's so much I don't know there's so much more to life and that sounds so cheesy and cliche but again I was a person for like 10 or 12 years who was so type A and like did everything to make sure that you know like my performance was at its best and I just like I gave my whole life to the sport and I think i think it i think it allowed me to come a little bit more type B and a bit more flexible which was actually probably better for my hockey to be perfectly honest like
00:32:02
Troy
Yeah.
00:32:03
Samantha Child
I think twins was the perfect thing for me because I couldn't control anything. I couldn't control anything at all.
00:32:09
Troy
Yeah.
00:32:10
Samantha Child
Whereas I would have been a type A mom if I'd had one baby. i would have been like schedule this, that. But I actually couldn't be.
00:32:14
Troy
Yeah.
00:32:15
Samantha Child
I just had to like let it all go. And I think that kind of transferred over into my hockey. And I think I was just like a bit more relaxed and a bit more like,
00:32:26
Samantha Child
Yeah, just not as uptight, which I actually don't think was a ah bad thing for me.
00:32:30
Troy
yeah
00:32:30
Samantha Child
And I think I was just able to like enjoy it a little bit more for what it was, despite the fact that, um spoiler, we actually didn't qualify for Paris, which was incredibly devastating because, you know, like part of me was like, holy shit, I've given up this like entire newborn experience to try and achieve something that we haven't achieved.
00:32:44
Troy
Mm-hmm.
00:32:55
Samantha Child
But equally... I've got these like beautiful babies to go home to. So it does, it can, I think it can change your relationship in so many different ways. It can be for the better, for the worse. But yeah, I think for me, probably like both in training and competition changed it for the better, I reckon.
00:33:10
Troy
I have to say i'm um my experience is similar to you with that as well.
00:33:12
Samantha Child
Yeah. okay
00:33:18
Troy
Cool. let's go to ah you're in here, you're training, you're with your sport. um How did you feel?
Support from Sport's Organization
00:33:27
Troy
like did you feel supported by your sport? So once you've gone back, you've gone to them, right, I'm making this return. You know, what was what was what happened there?
00:33:37
Samantha Child
I did. The sport was really, like hockey as ah as a organisation, they were really supportive. The hardest thing was, is that none of us knew how to support me, if if that makes sense.
00:33:48
Troy
Mm. Mm.
00:33:49
Samantha Child
So like, they're like, cool, let us know what we can do. Like, when you're away, what can we do? Like for Marcus, what can we do? And I i have no idea. i'm like, I'm doing this all for the first time.
00:33:59
Samantha Child
Like, I've i've got no idea what's useful and and to be honest in a sport that has money well money solves most problems because you can pay for a nanny or you can pay for extra I don't know whatever it is but in a sport that doesn't have money but are willing to help it's like what do you what do you do like there's only I don't know i just I didn't know how they could be supportive and I did I felt like I was very welcome and they were very like um because obviously in a team environment you don't want to be seen to like be treated differently or
00:34:18
Troy
And.
00:34:34
Samantha Child
do different things, but everyone was very understanding. and but But maybe something I regret is I kind of went out of my way not to be a problem because again, i hadn't really seen many examples of like this happening. And so like, I didn't ever want to be a hassle or a distraction or a problem. And so i think sometimes, yeah, I put myself, i I kind of put myself out to ensure that it seems like it seemed like I didn't have any kids, you know, which is so silly because everyone was so willing to help.
00:35:05
Troy
ah Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:35:07
Samantha Child
So yeah, I think like, I wish I'd sort of reached out maybe to some other people who had done it before and just and just sort of figured out like how, Things that would make the environment easier, like whether it was, i don't know, bringing the boys to training and having someone look after them.
00:35:24
Samantha Child
Like I just didn't want to be a hassle, so I never did that.
00:35:26
Troy
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:26
Samantha Child
I always made sure they were looked after at home. But I also think there was an element of me that I think I liked that separation. i think I needed to be able to focus when I was at training.
00:35:34
Troy
Mm-hmm.
00:35:35
Samantha Child
And so um i probably needed that distance from them too. But yeah, I felt supported. i just don't think either of us knew what that should look like or what it could look like.
00:35:47
Troy
Mm-mm.
00:35:48
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:35:49
Troy
Yeah.
Reflections on Personal Choice and Support Systems
00:35:50
Troy
um If we, if like, if you look back on your journey, so you know, is there anything you haven't shared that you wish you had known beforehand?
00:35:55
Samantha Child
and
00:36:05
Samantha Child
I think something that I think is really different for everyone, just maybe something I haven't touched on is the um the concept of like, you see lots of sports now,
00:36:17
Samantha Child
I think allow your babies to come with you on tour, which I think is incredible, especially if you've got like really long tours or um a long time away.
00:36:17
Troy
Yeah.
00:36:26
Samantha Child
But again, our sport wasn't really financially in a place that they could support that, nor was I in a place where I could financially support that. Like I'd need to bring two people, probably like one for each baby.
00:36:35
Troy
yeah
00:36:38
Samantha Child
And it would just, um the places we were going to compete, like the USA and India just like weren't really conducive to, that happening but I also think that it's okay to feel like not conformed to what everyone else is doing so I don't know like even if that's on offer for you if you feel like you want to have space away from your baby and just um focus on competition and preparation without them there then that's like totally okay as well I don't think there should be the expectation that just because you can that you should I think
00:37:13
Samantha Child
that it's important to know that like everyone's really different and it's great to get experiences and ideas from people but ultimately it's what sits best with you um so yeah I think I kind of wish I'd known that because I think sometimes people would ask like oh gosh how are you like how are you going away for three weeks and I actually felt okay about it like I felt which maybe again i think you mentioned something similar like
00:37:13
Troy
I
00:37:40
Samantha Child
Maybe I'm a bit selfish. I'm not sure. Like, of course I miss them, but I knew that they were well looked after, they were well cared for. and I knew that I needed that space to just let me focus on something like the competition that was really important at the time.
00:37:53
Samantha Child
So yeah, I think it's okay to feel different from what someone else is doing. And you just got to do, you just got to do what suits you and your situation. That's ultimately like what's most important, I think.
00:38:04
Troy
Well, I kind of think of it ultimately if it didn't feel right for you, you wouldn't do it, right? So obviously to some degree both of us felt that –
00:38:09
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:38:15
Troy
ah you know as much as there's a bit of mum guilt there that that there's nothing wrong with us being able to step away from our families for a certain x amount of time for what we were trying to achieve at that time you know um but it is nice to know that you don't have to feel bad about it because there is that you know like I would get a few people be like
00:38:27
Samantha Child
Totally. Yeah. yeah Yeah.
Advice on Navigating Pregnancy and Career
00:38:36
Troy
oh okay you're leaving your children at home like you know but it's like well who cares at the end of the day youre like you're not their mother like I am so exactly and that's the other thing is that they got they get to spend time with the father you know or the other person um so yeah so is there one Sam one piece of a advice such you could give to another athlete considering pregnancy during their career what would it be
00:38:40
Samantha Child
Yeah. I'm
00:38:46
Samantha Child
and like their dad leaves them every day, all day to go to work. What's the difference?
00:38:54
Samantha Child
Oh, totally. Yeah. yeah
00:39:07
Samantha Child
um i think it's art like asks ask for help from your sport ask for advice from other people and obviously you you know need to digest that information and make decisions for yourself but i just wish i'd ask more people about things because i just tried to do it by myself a lot of the time and perhaps if I'd had more conversations in the beginning it would have been quite different like maybe I wouldn't have had to step away from the sport and I would have had support to do both of those things and step back when I needed to and Yeah, I just think us, like pretty much everyone I've chatted to recently who who have been through this journey are so willing to help. They want to help because they were probably like us and didn't have that place to look for, for like information and knowledge and all those sorts of things. So ask around because there's help out there. And then I think just like collectively, i just think the more we openly talk about it, the more opportunity there is for everyone to learn.
00:40:06
Samantha Child
and not just retrospectively, but like in the moment as well. Like ah I think I said at the start, it feels like conversations about like planning for pregnancy, just like, happened behind closed doors and like god forbid you would discuss it with your staff because what would that mean for your selection etc etc and it feels like this place we're in with this space right now oh and maybe this isn't the best parallel to draw but like it sort of reminds me of where we were like years ago with like menstrual cycles and periods like it was a thing that happened but you didn't really talk about it and like it was actually great if it didn't come because, you know, like, and we, it just wasn't something that was openly discussed, certainly not with like male staff in your environment, but like over time, and I know that not every environment's at that space yet, but over time it's become something that's very commonly discussed and it's worked into the way that you train.
00:40:22
Troy
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:36
Troy
and we
00:40:42
Troy
yeah yeah
00:40:56
Samantha Child
And we just talk about it super normally, but I just don't think we're there with pregnancy planning yet because it feels taboo because of the way that it might impact your future in the sport.
00:41:07
Samantha Child
And I just think the more we talk about it, the less awkward it is.
00:41:08
Troy
<unk>
00:41:10
Samantha Child
And the more it's just like a natural part of how you plan your career. um so yeah, I just want everyone to talk about it more because I think it's important.
00:41:20
Troy
Yeah. Nice.
00:41:22
Samantha Child
Yeah.
00:41:23
Troy
Well, that's all I had for you, sam i appreciate your time. learned a lot more about you that.
00:41:27
Samantha Child
Thanks. Thank you.