Olympian told he can't play sport

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OLYMPIAN TOLD CAN’T LEARN, CAN’T PLAY SPORT

Danny Liddell, the principal of Kinesiology Schools Australia’s Brisbane campus along side Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games diver Ethan Warren.


Elite Athlete and Olympic Diver Ethan Warren This article was written with the consent of Olympian Ethan Warren.

When Ethan was 6 years old his parents knew he was struggling. He had an illness from which the doctors told his parents that he would not be able to play sport. Assessments also showed he had the mental aptitude of a 4½ year old. They were basically told, your child is always going to struggle and be behind at school and he won’t be able to play sport. Just get him comfortable and content to spend his days as a couch potato. These were not the words they used but it was the message they gave. To their credit, Ethan’s parents did not accept that he couldn’t learn and decided to look for help. They took him to tutoring where he was reassessed every 8 weeks. A mental aptitude of a 4½ year old at the age of 6 is not a great way to start your early schooling life, but unfortunately it is quite common. After 8 weeks of tutoring Ethan had progressed but quite slowly. At least he was progressing. His mother booked in to see if Kinesiology could help him. I saw Ethan a number of times over the next 8 weeks. Our aim was, using basic nonscientific words, to rewire his brain and sort out his neurological reflexes and responses. He continued with the tutoring as well. After 8 weeks Ethan was re-assessed. This time it showed he had improved 8 months and was quickly catching up and closing in on his classmates. The tutoring company was very impressed. 8 weeks later Ethan was re-assessed once more. This time he was equal to where he should be. His aptitude was the same as the others in his class. Once the Kinesiology had sorted out the wiring in his head, the tutoring suddenly became easy and he understood the instructions presented. His processing ability had improved meaning he was now able to process and understand what was being taught and could keep up with the teachers. His short and long term memory was now able to remember and retrieve the information he was being taught. Suddenly school became a lot easier and


his self esteem grew in confidence. Ethan was like a new child. The child he always was but tuned up like a high performance vehicle. I saw Ethan a couple of times over the next 2 years to make sure he was on track. He had progressed from the bottom of the class to the higher end of average. The family was happy with that. What they didn’t expect, but I often see in clinic, is that Ethan’s sporting ability had also improved. This often goes hand in hand when the cause of learning difficulties is addressed. Two years after being told he would never play sport, at the age of 8, Ethan’s mother enrolled him in gymnastics. He picked it up so well that by the age of 10 Ethan made the state team and represented Queensland. I’m told it normally takes about 5 years of being in gymnastics to make the state team. Ethan did not just make the state team, he won GOLD ! Not bad for someone they said would never play sport. Every year after that Ethan made the state team and moved to elite athlete status. At the titles each year Ethan would win between 3 to 5 Gold medals. Nearly every year, about a week or two before the state championships or national titles Ethan would manage to injure himself. He would usually injure himself quite badly in fact. They would be bad enough that he would be told by the medicos that he would not be able to compete. They would only look at the physical side of his injuries. Through Kinesiology we were able to look at how his headspace, emotions, was affecting his physical body and work on them both as one. I learnt to keep a booking available for Ethan during these periods as it was almost a given that his mother would phone. With the wonders of Kinesiology, he would be up and going and not just in the competition but winning gold. “As a youngster I was a state gymnastics champion. The doctors and physios would write me off after an injury. But usually with just one or two treatments, Danny would have me back competing and winning,” Ethan said.


At the age of 14 Ethan needed a change and tried his hand at Trampolining and Diving. He competed in trampolining for 2 years and won a silver medal. This was his second sport and he won a state medal. Ethan also attended a training camp for Diving. They saw so much potential in him that he earned a 3 month scholarship to the Qld Institute of Sport. He was then rewarded with a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Ethan quickly become an elite diver and member of the Australian team and has won gold medals in the prestigious Grand Prix events. There are 6 of these world events each year and Ethan has won 3 of them so far in 2012. Just before the 2010 Commonwealth Games Ethan broke a bone in his hand. He went on to represent Australia and won 2 Silver medals at the games.

Ethan Warren in action representing Australia.

What I haven’t yet told you is that in January 2011 Ethan tore a cartilage in his left knee. But even more concerning was that he caught a virus that affected his heart in June the same year. Within an hour his heart had swollen so much it had put excess pressure on his rib cage and kept him in hospital for 7 days. He was very ill and in a lot of pain. Doctors told him that; 

if he did not make it to hospital when he did he would have died in less than an hour



if he was not as young as he is he would have died in less than an hour, plus


if he was not such a fit athlete he would have died in less than an hour.

After this illness Ethan was laid up for 3 months. He struggled to walk up the 13 steps at home. He would make it half way then have to stop for 5 minutes before continuing. He was that exhausted. Ethan was not able to train for months. When he returned to training he was not able to get through a session. After he trained his legs would go to jelly and shake. If he ran he would only make it a very short distance before he would ‘hit a wall’. Being such a competitive athlete and such a high-quality diver, Ethan was still chosen in the Australian team to compete in the Olympics but stayed behind as a precaution when the rest of the team left Australia for the pre Olympic tournaments. In early June 2012 Ethan contacted me and asked if I could help. After the first consultation he saw much improvement. After the 3rd consultation he completed a full training session and found his focus and ‘head space’ had improved. With the help of Kinesiology Ethan is gaining quickly and will join his team mates at the Olympic Village. Ethan will represent Australia in the 2012 Olympics and is highly expected to win a medal … possibly gold. ………….. Not bad for someone told to be a couch potato and would never play sport !

Yes, this is a story of how Kinesiology can help with many aspects of health. It is also a story about not accepting possible negative outcomes or that, this is just the way it is. Ethan’s mum knew he was better than that and


searched for help. She found it in Kinesiology. Ethan moved past the label that had been placed on him and picked himself up, planned and built a dream. He never gave up and through pain, illness and a get up and go attitude he believed that progress is better than perfection and that without progress you will never reach perfection. He did not chase gold for the money. Un-like the money and sponsorship laid out to the elite swimmers, the divers receive hardly any media or financial assistance. He did this because he can. If you run a business and can afford some sponsorship then our divers would be grateful. Australia is ranked number 3 in the world yet has very little funding. I’ll say it one last time, “Not bad for someone told to be a couch potato and would never play sport !”

Ethan Warren in action with his 2008 Olympic gold medal partner, Matthew Mitcham. Article by Danny Liddell Bracken Ridge Natural Therapies 3261 5346 danny@brnt.com.au Danny is the head lecturer at Kinesiology Schools Australia’s Brisbane Campus. www.kinesiologyschools.com.au


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