NSWIS Lights Up: Wisdom of the ages allows Graham to give his all

As he prepares for his fourth Olympic campaign, Matt Graham credits his current stage of life – that of a proud family man – for adding an extra purpose to every training session and every competition.

“Becoming a father sort of, it’s just given me a whole new motivation at the moment to really push forward in the sport,” said Graham, the besotted father of little Ada who stole the show at the NSWIS Lights Up red carpet launch at Sydney Olympic Park after making an impromptu appearance to join Matt on stage.

“You know, essentially, part of me knows that I have to do this, I’m not doing it just for me anymore, I’m doing it for my family too. And if I can succeed in the sport, then I’m also helping my family out. So that’s really instilled a new motivation in me.”

Graham, an Olympic silver medallist who became a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holder when he was only 13, said he has also learnt as an athlete to appreciate the importance of making the most of every moment.

“I’ve learnt over the years to not really take anything for granted,” he said. “Whereas when I was younger, it was probably easy to . . . sort of, I guess . . . let opportunities slip by.

“But as I’ve aged and as I’ve got more experience, I’ve learnt that sport is such a finite period of your life and you’re going to have the most of each and every opportunity.”

Graham, who was a four time national champion sailor before focussing his attention on moguls, said another change was his old belief that winning was the only thing.

“Whether it was snow skiing or sailing, I was very competitive and I just didn’t want to come second to be honest,” he said. “I wanted to win everything and that really just pushed me to excel in the sport at a young age.

“When I was young, I didn’t have much control over it. I remember coming- more so in sailing than skiing – when I would come second in a race, I’d be absolutely gutted, and I’d be hating myself for it.

“So, learning to lose as I got older, and in skiing, was something I had to comprehend and understand and more or less take the focus away from the results and focus more on the performance and then I sort of was able to, I guess, find more satisfaction in just the execution of a really good run or a really good performance rather than the result.”

Graham said he realised he needed to curb his blinkered outlook about winning when, as a teenager from the central coast, he started racing against older competitors on the slopes at Perisher.

“When I was a sailor, I was sort of racing people, at least within a two or three year age gap so you could always compete against those guys,” he said. “But as a 12-year-old I was competing in open fields [for mogul skiing], I can’t expect to win those sorts of events. 

“That’s what taught me to focus purely on my own performance. In the back of my mind, I was always trying to hunt down the older guys in the competitions and on the training hills, but yeah, I guess probably my early teenage years was when I really just focused on my own performances.”  

While Graham admits he has 100 percent confidence in his sporting abilities, he made it clear he was not reckless in taking risks.

“Sometimes a moguls course can be pretty daunting, it can be steep, it can be icy, in some cases it can be a little bit scary,” he said. “So, I guess you have to have a screw or two loose to, I guess, take that step and really attack each day in each competition.  

“I’d say generally I’m quite conservative in life. The risks we do out in the snow, they’re very calculated. I mean, we do a lot of practice from general acrobatic training on the trampoline, gymnastics hall, to trying tricks for the first time on water, to then taking to snow . . . the risks we take are very calculated.  

As for any fear Graham may fear about committing himself to put everything on the line?

“When I’m at the top of the gate, there’s not really too much fear going through my mind,” he said. “I’m more or less just focusing on the course in front of me and what I need to do to execute my runs as best I can. I guess fear can sometimes really creep in, in and around or after a big crash.  

“Sometimes, you know, you’ll have a big crash, a big stumble and you’ve got to get back up and, you know, go . . .  right your wrong and learn from that mistake. So, yeah, I guess I’ve just developed a bit of a way to sort of push past those things and just, really just know that I’ll be fine. If I attack a course and I’m hesitant or conservative, then I’m at more risk than if I more or less just attack it.”  

Daniel Lane, NSWIS