Sam Fricker on Trust, Setbacks and Showing Up

Layne Beachley AO (0:02)

You're tuning in to A Wake Up Call, which is your weekly dose of purpose packed with science-backed tools to beat burnout and boost happiness.

Tess Brouwer (0:09)

Hosted by us, Tess Brouwer, and seven-time world champion Layne Beachley, we're the founders of Awake Academy.

Layne Beachley AO (0:16)

This podcast mixes raw life lessons, expert wisdom, and practical tips to help you stop sleepwalking through light and start living it on your terms. You ready to wake up and thrive? Let's go.

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Tess Brouwer (0:42)

Welcome back, dream team. Today's episode on Awake Up Call is someone who we admire greatly for the human behind the person on the diving board. Welcome, Sam Fricker, to Awake Up Call.

Sam Fricker (0:56)

Thank you guys so much for having me.

Tess Brouwer (0:57)

Sam is an Olympic diver, a Common Games bronze medalist.

Layne Beachley AO (1:01)

Also known as the Commonwealth Games. What did I say? Common Games.

Tess Brouwer (1:05)

Oh, yeah. Well, it's not that common.

Sam Fricker (1:07)

Common Games can shut up and have a crack.

Tess Brouwer (1:09)

He's an entrepreneur and one of Australia's biggest athlete creators and probably just a creator in general. He became an Olympian at 19 and his family moved from Newcastle to Sydney so he can train at the New South Wales Institute of Sport.

Sam Fricker (1:22)

They won't let me forget about that.

Tess Brouwer (1:23)

No. The family won't?

Sam Fricker (1:24)

My siblings, when I was younger, they'll be tough on me. Yeah. They're like, you better make the Olympics.

Tess Brouwer (1:29)

Did that put extra pressure on you?

Sam Fricker (1:31)

For sure. Yeah. Okay.

Tess Brouwer (1:32)

We're going to talk about that. Outside of the pool, he's an incredible human. You do so much advocacy in the space of well-being, mental health.

You've certainly inspired LB's life by jumping off a 10-meter platform.

Layne Beachley AO (1:44)

She inspired me with that. Thank you. I didn't do the 10 meter.

Tess Brouwer (1:48)

Sam has got more than nine million people following him, which not to overwhelm you, but that generates billions of views every year. You built a business from 17 and you now host a podcast called Diving Deep.

Sam Fricker (2:01)

I have a crack. Yeah.

Tess Brouwer (2:03)

You do have a crack, don't you? You've definitely got an inner drive that we want to dig into today.

Layne Beachley AO (2:07)

We want to dive deep with Sam.

Tess Brouwer (2:10)

One of the most fascinating stories is the moment that you missed Paris Olympics and you had to rebuild an identity, and that's something that we really focus on in here is the rebuild. Yeah.

Now you're chasing LA, 2028, and Brisbane, 2032, and you've come straight from training to be here with us today. Hair is dry though, it's beautiful mop of hair there.

Sam Fricker (2:32)

Thank you. Yeah, we do a gym of a morning and dive of an afternoon, so we'll be back in the Speedos soon.

Layne Beachley AO (2:37)

Okay.

Tess Brouwer (2:38)

The Nike Speedos.

Layne Beachley AO (2:40)

No, they're not yet. We're looking for a sponsor though.

Tess Brouwer (2:42)

Nike Reach Out.

Today we're talking about pressure, failure, focus and the two scoreboards we all live with. What happens when you learn to use feedback without letting it become your identity? Sam Fricker, welcome to A Wake Up Call.

Sam Fricker (2:57)

Thank you guys so much for having me. I feel like I interjected a lot during that intro as well.

Tess Brouwer (3:01)

We stand at light.

Layne Beachley AO (3:03)

If you don't, I do. Okay.

Sam Fricker (3:06)

It's great to be here. I'm inspired by the stuff you guys do as well. So thanks for having me.

Layne Beachley AO (3:11)

Thank you. So we love to start every episode with the same question around a personal wake up call. Was there one that really shook your core or woke you up to the point where you're like, okay, things needed to be done a little differently now?

Sam Fricker (3:26)

There's kind of two I think of. One was personally, and that would have been when after they moved the Olympics back and we were all in COVID and we couldn't train.

Layne Beachley AO (3:34)

Japan?

Sam Fricker (3:35)

There was just before Japan. Yeah, just before Tokyo. So 2020, because they moved the Olympics to 2021, we were training in lockdown and I hated it. I hated Zoom calls.