I’d call myself ‘home-grown’. I come from Phillip Island, which is a pretty small coastal town in Victoria. My parents taught me to surf and I’ve been part of the surfing community my whole life. It’s given me so many opportunities.

There have been some really inspiring people that I’ve been able to look up to since I’ve been young - and many of them have put in the time to help become a better person. I guess I just want to give back to the community, and other athletes, so we can inspire each other.

The father of one of my best friends took his own life. He lived at the end of our street and he was someone I looked up to because he took all the grommets out surfing and away on camps. He was probably the last person you’d think would take his own life.

I believe that we all have stories to share, so by sharing my stories of challenges that I’ve faced as an athlete, hopefully other athletes can learn from what I’ve done in terms of successes and mistakes, and how I’ve grown.

Then obviously I’m going to learn from how other people have done things in other sports. It’s about sharing information and all working together.