Eating disorders and disordered eating have long been associated with athletes at all levels - in both female and male sportspeople. Every lived experience is different, from what triggers an eating disorder to how it takes hold and the way forward with treatment - and thankfully, in more and more cases, recovery. Our guest today is Suzie Rhydderch - a clinical psychologist with expertise and a strong interest in the impact of mental health issues on performance, on and off the field, including eating and body image concerns. She brings a personal background in athletics, winning a number of national titles before she suffered a devastating injury, which forced her out of the sport. She's recovered from an eating disorder herself and is now involved in competitive kayaking. In this episode, Suzie opens up about her own experience and provides practical advice grounded in her lived experience with an eating disorder and her clinical expertise. It's an important topic for sports mums, sports dads, and for coaches. What are the red flags and how can you help?

Contact information

Suzie has kindly provided her email, should you wish to reach out: [email protected]

For more information on the Butterfly Foundation, visit https://butterfly.org.au

This is a captivating and unusual story of how it takes a village to raise an #athlete. For Jaime Fernandez - or Hamma as he's affectionately known - three-time Olympian and silver medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the men's eight and currently the Deputy Performance Director at Rowing Australia - it wasn't only his parents who played an influential role in his stellar #sporting career. You'll hear about the many others who turned this "rough, bush kid" into a rowing champion, who loved the sport from his very first stroke. How a green and gold long-sleeve shirt, along with running away from buffaloes (and crocodiles!), helped shape Jaime's sporting career - confirming talent development isn't linear. There are many ways to take up a sport and many pathways to reach the pinnacle. With no grand plan to become an Olympian, it was little things along the way, Jaime's give-it-a-go attitude, and a childhood growing up in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory that propelled this "battler" to his representative debut at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Finding THE ONE in sport is a needle-in-a-haystack situation. "It's often not the athlete that ranks one, two, three or four in your lab tests that end up being THE ONE", according to Dr Deborah Latouf - a sports scientist, coach, administrator, representative Masters athlete and sports mum - who headed up the national talent identification program at the Australian Institute of Sport in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In this episode, Deborah talks about the talent unearthed by the program, including some GREAT stories about two athletes in particular, who've gone on to become household names. While Deborah is a big believer in data, her lived experience says there's something you can't measure that also sets athletes apart - the "mongrel" or X-factor. For sports parents, Deborah reveals how the message of patience is the name of the game.

We love our #sporting heroes in Australia. We celebrate them, we admire them, we want to hear their stories. But what happens when a sporting dream doesn't go to plan? What happens when the lines between "toughening the athlete" #coaching practices and abuse become blurred? What happens when a sporting culture that normalises abuse leaves a long-lasting legacy on your life - and the life of countless others? This is Dr Jennifer McMahon's deeply personal story. An Australian swimming gold and silver medallist at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, Jennifer went from being on top of the world one minute to her dream crashing down the next. This year, she received an OAM for her research into helping protect #athletes from abuse in sport. You'll hear what happened behind the scenes at training and at home - and how she turned her painful experiences into positives.

International Olympic Committee Toolkit on 'Safe Sport'

Mary Cain's speaks about physical and mental abuse in the now now-defunct Oregon Project

Sport is full of high emotion. There are moments of elation and joy. There are moments of frustration and deflation. For many sports parents, we're riding this wave of ups and downs with our kids, guided by little more than our intuition. In this episode, you'll hear from Dr Dianne Huxley. She's a high-performance track and field coach and manager, who's headed up Commonwealth, World and Olympic teams, an academic, a mum and a grandmum. Her recent research reveals the evidence on the specific role parents play in the pathway from junior sport to Olympic and World Championship representation - what works, and why? Listen up, because we're also making some big mistakes. If you're flying by the seat of your pants, this episode will provide you with rock-solid, evidence-based advice. It's a real eye-opener for all of us.

Download Di's helpful resources

Following on from last week's episode (part 1) with #sportsparents Melissa and John Trbojevic, this week, we speak with three of their four sons, Tom, Jake and Ben Trbojevic, for the other side of the story. If you're a #rugbyleague fan, the Trbojevic brothers need no introduction. Currently, Tom and Jake are superstars in the #sport, playing in the #NRL for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, NSW Blues and Australia. Younger sibling, Ben, 18, is following hot on their heels, signed last year in the Sea Eagles' full-time squad. While they've all got talent (including brother, Luke, who's carved his own successful path), something else makes them extraordinary - that elusive combination of "killer instinct and kindness". In this interview, you'll hear their perspectives on the role of their parents in their #sporting careers, funny family insights, and chasing childhood sporting dreams.

Jake and Tom Trbojevic, along with brothers Ben and Luke, have kicked some big goals in sport - and supporting them every step of the way are their parents, John and Melissa. In this episode of SportsParenthood, this proud and humble mum and dad reflect on Tom's backyard cricket antics, Jake's short-lived soccer career, the influence of their local footy club, The Mona Vale Raiders, on all four boys - and their most "surreal" moment as sports parents. In no mean feat, Tom and Jake currently play in NRL for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, have represented the NSW Blues in the State of Origin and worn the green and gold for Australia. Even if you're not a rugby league fan, you'll love hearing what John and Melissa have to say about #sportsparenthood, including thoughtful advice for fellow sport parents, and the one thing John wished he'd never said to Jake.

In the first episode of SportsParenthood, decorated swimming coach, Tracey Menzies-Stegbauer, known for coaching five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe and current head swimming coach for the Rackley Swim Team at the Parkinson Aquatic Centre in Brisbane, talks to John and Tiffany about the traits shared by champion athletes. Her captivating insights cover how to measure a young athlete's performance, the sweet spot for training loads, and what NOT to do before your kid's game or race. In her trademark honestly, Tracey opens up about THAT 400 metre freestyle event at the 2004 Athens Olympics, following the false-start controversy that attracted the intense media spotlight around the world. Raising her own sports kids, Tracey reveals the blurred lines of being their coach and parent. This is a must-listen interview, if you're a sports parent looking to hear Tracey's compelling story and get some clues on what you can do as you navigate #sportsparenthood.

SportsParenthood is a podcast for rookie sports parents. Join your hosts and fellow sports parents, John and Tiffany Bonasera, for in-depth conversations with sportspeople, coaches and professionals on what it takes to be a better sports parent. You'll hear different perspectives that'll give you clues - those golden nuggets of information - to help inform the way you sports parent. And, if there's one piece advice to give to your sport kids, what would it be?