Aug 26, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
From the market garden to the ad agency- this episode is about the real life jobs I worked before and during my coaching career. Labouring, apple picking, working in sales, even a stint in…
Rick WillsmoreHost
So, um, then I got finished year 12, um, decided to take a gap year and basically train in tennis to get good enough to go to college tennis, because I'd played a lot to 14 year old and then 15, 16, didn't play much, had changed my forehand from two handed forehand to one.
So the decision was to take a year off and just to play tennis every day and work every day, both to save money and get better at tennis so that I could go to college tennis the next year.
And next door neighbors to us or across the road was a big giant apple orchard.
And so I picked up a job there where I worked all through the school holidays full-time, and then I switched to part-time, which was 7 to 1, all right? So 7 a.m.
So basically, I went through, had a smoko in the middle there, went back, and then finished at lunchtime.
And then at lunchtime, I would go and either organize a hit with a friend another tennis tennis player so a few people who were good players and we would basically you know there would be a training session we'd have a hit play a set um and or i would obviously i joined a gym so i was going to the gym in the afternoon sometimes but basically it was yeah working in the morning and tennis in the afternoons now in the apple watcher job um I quite enjoyed it really.
Um, you know, what we're doing, we're doing pruning, uh, we're obviously picking fruit, pruning.
Um, I remember putting one of the first jobs was putting little plastic sleeves on baby apple trees.
Um, and I remember getting through a row and thinking, oh, we must be, must be close.
he uh i won't repeat exactly what he said but he pointed to the rest of the the hill and more or less said mate just keep your head down because we've got a lot to go so um i guess i learned to just grind a little bit and work you know it's repetitive work a lot of times so you've got to you've got to entertain yourself so you know we would have music playing on the radio and um every now and again you might get hit by a little rotten apple um you know you've got to throw that back and get you get your workmates back and things like that um but got to you know got to ride motorbikes around which was nice um got to drive a forklift a little bit when i was in the in the packing shed um learned how you know apples work as far as the, you know, the first apples go to market, the seconds go somewhere else and you're just sorting through things.
It's pretty tough when it gets wet and cold to be outdoors and, you know, you've got your wet weather gear and, you know, things have to continue.
Remember had to fix sprinklers, you know, again, massive, massive, uh, hill full of sprinklers where, you know, the job was to check it, see if it works.
So, um, then I got finished year 12, um, decided to take a gap year and basically train in tennis to get good enough to go to college tennis, because I'd played a lot to 14 year old and then 15, 16, didn't play much, had changed my forehand from two handed forehand to one.
So the decision was to take a year off and just to play tennis every day and work every day, both to save money and get better at tennis so that I could go to college tennis the next year.
And next door neighbors to us or across the road was a big giant apple orchard.
And so I picked up a job there where I worked all through the school holidays full-time, and then I switched to part-time, which was 7 to 1, all right? So 7 a.m.
So basically, I went through, had a smoko in the middle there, went back, and then finished at lunchtime.
And then at lunchtime, I would go and either organize a hit with a friend another tennis tennis player so a few people who were good players and we would basically you know there would be a training session we'd have a hit play a set um and or i would obviously i joined a gym so i was going to the gym in the afternoon sometimes but basically it was yeah working in the morning and tennis in the afternoons now in the apple watcher job um I quite enjoyed it really.
Um, you know, what we're doing, we're doing pruning, uh, we're obviously picking fruit, pruning.
Um, I remember putting one of the first jobs was putting little plastic sleeves on baby apple trees.
Um, and I remember getting through a row and thinking, oh, we must be, must be close.
he uh i won't repeat exactly what he said but he pointed to the rest of the the hill and more or less said mate just keep your head down because we've got a lot to go so um i guess i learned to just grind a little bit and work you know it's repetitive work a lot of times so you've got to you've got to entertain yourself so you know we would have music playing on the radio and um every now and again you might get hit by a little rotten apple um you know you've got to throw that back and get you get your workmates back and things like that um but got to you know got to ride motorbikes around which was nice um got to drive a forklift a little bit when i was in the in the packing shed um learned how you know apples work as far as the, you know, the first apples go to market, the seconds go somewhere else and you're just sorting through things.
It's pretty tough when it gets wet and cold to be outdoors and, you know, you've got your wet weather gear and, you know, things have to continue.
Remember had to fix sprinklers, you know, again, massive, massive, uh, hill full of sprinklers where, you know, the job was to check it, see if it works.
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