Fred
“Find your broom,” that is a favourite quote of mine by famous U.S. basketball coach Terry Wooden. By that, he means, obviously, find that broom which would lead people to you and then you can influence them. So the boxing, the fitness, the gym work – that’s my broom.
In 1980 I opened up my garage in Parklands to reach out to the community, to the people that would rather run around the streets and get into trouble. It was a free service, just a place to be. We had one bag and a handful of gear, no lights. I worked nights, and everyone just knew when I was around, that they were welcome. I did that for 25 years. Then I started to form my own gym. Schwalger’s gym has been going for 14 years now. I still help people out of my garage gym at home too.
I grew up left handed. I grew up with a learning disorder, struggling with different things in my life. I lacked confidence, I lacked self-belief and it was an effort. Everything I did was a real struggle. I spent most of my life like that; I felt downtrodden, put down, I felt worthless really.
Doors started to open for me, and I started to realise I had a message.
I could see other people in the position I had just come from and I wanted to reach out for them. I started to talk to people and help them to believe in themselves, believe in who they are and that they are worth something. That’s pretty much been my mission statement. Knowledge is of no value unless it is shared. I know that I have touched lives, I know that I’ve put a value in somebody’s life, that is important to me.
This is me, doing community work is me. I would do this all the time. This is all Fred. When people are struggling with anxiety, depression, whatever it is, the answers are really simple; there is nothing complicated about it. I have always maintained that life is not meant to be complicated; make it as simple as it can possibly be, because we as humans, we complicate things that we don’t need to.”