Gold Coast paramedic finds connection to country through rugby A child of the Stolen Generation, Gold Coast paramedic Madi Schuck always struggled to feel a sense of belonging. Then, she found rugby union, Madolyn Sushames writes. 12
Hospital’s (GCUH) Emergency Department where she stayed for six years until she was offered a place in the QAS Graduate Paramedic Program (GPP).
Madi grew up in the Redlands area playing netball as there were no junior girls’ ruby teams, having to watch her younger brother play rugby from the sidelines.
Madi is part of the QAS Indigenous Network and is an Indigenous Liaison Officer and is keen to bring her own experience as an Aboriginal woman to both her workplace and in her work with the community.
“My brother and I were super competitive so I kind of took on rugby as soon as I could to show him I was better,” she joked.
“I loved nursing, especially on the Gold Coast at the GCUH because it has one of the busiest Emergency Departments in Australia,” she said.
Madi started out playing club rugby with Easts at the age of 18 and quickly rose through the representative ranks.
“But as much as I liked nursing, I just always wanted to be in a truck and to be a first responder.”
By 2013 Madi was competing against the world’s best in the World Rugby Sevens series and trying out for the Queensland and Australian teams.
Madi became a paramedic as part of the GPP in August 2021 – the same year she debuted for the Queensland Reds after more than a decade of playing rugby.
Around the same time, she started studying a dual degree in nursing and paramedicine.
“I sat on waitlist for six years before I got into the graduate program, it was a very similar story with rugby,” she said.
“It took me essentially 10 years to become a paramedic because I didn’t get the results I needed in school, so I had to look at alternate pathways and transfer through University courses,” Madi said.
“I played for 13 years and was rejected at six trials only to finally make the squad the seventh time.
“It’s the first time I felt a connection to that cultural side because the one thing we all have in common is we’re indigenous and we play footy,” she said.
“I eventually got into the course and finally got my degree which was a huge step.”
“After that sixth rejection from the Reds I was going to hang up the boots and just play socially, but luckily I had a coach push me and told me I can do it.”
“The first year (2017) I went into the Lloyd McDermott National Indigenous side we all sat in a circle, and they asked us to talk about where we’re from.
Madi applied for the nursing and paramedic graduate programs at the same time and was offered a nursing position in the Gold Coast University
This is Madi’s second season with the Reds and she is also set to reach another major milestone – her graduation as a qualified paramedic.
“I used to dread that because I don’t know where I’m from and I don’t have that connection.
Autumn 2022
“There’s a massive health gap in the Indigenous community because of a lot of distrust so being that link for our community to get them to engage with the help they need is important to me as it’s one of the ways we’re going to close this gap,” she said. Madi’s grandmother is from the Stolen Generation so, like many, Madi has felt a disconnect to country – something she has started to find again through her rugby circles.
