What do you do outside of training? I study English at ANU and work part time at a suit store in the city, Ministry Menswear and other than that I'm patting my dog.
What was the best advice you were ever given? My Nonna who is nearly 90 years old and super sassy once told me "never do anything yourself dear if you can get someone else to do it for you." I'm not sure if that's the best or worst advice you could give but it pretty much sums up her sass-queen attitude.
If money were no object where in the world would you live and why? I'd probably live in Italy, mostly for the food, also because my mother's family is from there and they have a great way of living. Everyone goes home to nap and eat lunch between 12pm and 3pm everyday, which suits me fine.
What is one thing you're good at? (Apart from Muay Thai) I'm a bit of a karaoke king on Tuesday nights. There's a fine art to picking a good karaoke song and I got it down pat.
What is rewarding to you about training? How does this effect your life and work? Firstly, because it's probably the best physical exercise I've ever done. There's a real balance between strength and cardio so it kills two birds with one stone. Secondly, because it's a great stress reliever! I found since I started I can sleep better at night and I can focus much better at uni. There's nothing better than after a bad day, kicking the shit out of something.
At training what is your biggest challenge and what do you do to manage it? Probably remembering all the techniques when doing combos. It's a lot harder than it looks remembering where your feet are, when to pivot, making sure you're throwing your punches right, keeping your guard up. When it all clicks in, you can actually feel when you're doing it right. Thankfully, I have my trusty sparring partner and bro Dom Dingo Shanahan there to encourage and remind me.
What was it like for you when you saw your first Muay Thai show? I'd seen a lot of boxing previously but my first live Muay Thai fight was watching our coach Gaz Rees win his world title. It was incredible watching Gaz fight. You could see him doing everything he teaches us in class so well it was inspiring and made we want to train harder. Whereas, before I'd mostly done Muay Thai for the exercise and fun, after watching his fight it made me focus more and take training more seriously.