Noella
“Never make decisions when you’re over-emotional. Be patient. Let the dust settle and then decide how you want to act.”
Noella’s strength spans further than just her athletic abilities. In her personal life, she has been able to empathize with others and understand their perspectives in order to forgive their shortcomings; this has proven to be one of her most valuable characteristics. Her care and concern for others is also reflected in her career path, devoting her time to educating, training, and bettering athletes through wellness programming. She is always striving to use the experiences of yesterday to build a better tomorrow. Meet Noella. This is her story.
K: Please introduce yourself!
N: I'm Noella Green, 35yro pregnant female athlete + full time professional. My full time professional role (during the day) is a Work Health and Safety Business Partner. When I'm not in safety, I do my clinical role as an Exercise Physiologist and Sport Scientist working closely with female athletes and functional rehabilitation in returning to sports.
I'm originally from Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia. I've been living in Sydney, New South Wales since 2008. At James Cook University in Townsville, I involved myself in as much work experience as I could, paid and unpaid, to better myself for when I transitioned into the real world. My last year of clinical exercise physiology, I chanced my luck travelling interstate to do something different. It was the scariest and best decision I've ever made.
Through my professional development and changing careers, I've gone from treating clients injured in the workplace (reactive) to corporate health and safety (preventative). Over the last 3 years concurrently in my safety role, I started focusing my clinical and science education onto female athletes and developing a program that educates Athletes and Coaches on considerations of working with female athletes. The focus is on getting the best sporting performance by understanding how to get the best out of female athletes and their physiology through education and wellness programming. I am now in my second trimester of pregnancy and looking forward to sharing this journey as well - especially for female athletes. Like leaving Far North Queensland to start my career, I feel like I'm taking that next big leap of faith again and I'm so excited!
K: Describe yourself in your own words
N: One liners that have inspired me...
Never lose control, because you don't know what you're doing - My Dad
Never give up on your dreams for those who lack vision - anonymous
Happiness is not ready made, it comes from your own actions - Dalai Lama
Chase your greatness - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Opportunities don't just happen, you create them! When I was young I was fueled to achieve by proving others wrong. Now, I've learnt to have more respect and gratitude towards myself. I am exactly where I am suppose to be because of active decisions I've made. Good or bad decisions, I acknowledge, I feel and I choose to have a glass-half-full approach and move forward. I won't ever settle for less than what I feel I deserve. I am always motivated by being the best version of myself not only for me but for others. I've always wanted to help others and that's why I became a health professional.
K: What is your favorite thing about yourself?
N: I am always striving to learn and be better than yesterday.
K: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
N: I learnt what forgiveness was and meant when I was 28 years old.
I have 4 siblings. The oldest being my big sister, my 3 big brothers and I am the baby. I never knew about my sister until I was 10 years old and it was soon after this age that growing up under my Mother's care was far different to what all my other friend's mother-daughter relationships were like in a teeny-tiny town in Far North Queensland called Tolga.
My Mother is from Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the highlands and grew up in a different world to the one I was bought up in. My Father is from England. My sister and 2 oldest brothers were born in PNG and my youngest brother and I were born in Cairns. We never had much. My youngest memories were living in a shed up the back of a Farmer's property. We moved from this shed to a small rental in Tolga, and my Dad always worked away, while my Mum looked after the kids at home. Once my brothers were old enough to look after me, Mum started working 5 days a week from 7am-3pm. Sometimes she would go out of an evening and leave me with my brothers. She always made sure there was food in the fridge, the house was clean and we had clean clothes on our backs - there was never a doubt about that. My brothers would sometimes leave me at home alone, lock all the doors and promise not to tell Mum or Dad they were out. I remember many scary nights alone. Once I was old enough to look after myself, 10-11 yrs old, my brothers were never home because they were with friends, and had school and sports. It was just Mum and I.
My Mum was very tough with me on many levels but the worst was being told that I would never amount to anything, that I looked promiscuous when I was 10 years old walking to a friends house a block away or laughing about boys out loud with my friends. That I shouldn't talk about myself because people aren't interested. There were many occasions of psychological abuse and it wasn't until I was about 14 years old that I started to stand up for myself - physically. We would have verbal and physically altercations that would cause me to run away in the middle of the night, and walk kilometres to my best friends place to feel safe. My Dad still worked away at these times making this situation harder for me to endure and stay strong.
The last physical altercation I had with my Mum resulted in my Dad flying back from the mines, telling me to come home and he slapped me across my face telling me "to never lose control, because you don't know what you're doing.” Whilst I never appreciated what that meant at the time, I appreciated in the years ahead. The last fight I had with my Mum was my last year of university - it was the same psychological tact she used on me previously. This time I did not lose my control at her, I walked out of the environment and smashed a timber chair on her verandah deck. I had everything in my car preparing to leave to Sydney. I got in my car with the intent of driving off a dam wall. As I was driving over-emotional up the road, I drove past my Dad who wasn't meant to be home, who called me as soon as he saw me driving too fast. I stopped in my tracks to speak to him. I still believe to this moment, typing this now, he never knew what he did that day - he saved me.
I was leaving to Sydney for my next chapter 2-3 days after this incident. He begged me to forgive my Mother for him. I did out of respect for him but there was no emotional connection to it for me. It wasn't until 6 years later in Sydney, that I was living my best life and doing what I love, that I still felt I had something unresolved in my life and I couldn't put my finger on it. It weighed heavily on me to the point, I decided it was input to talk out loud to a Life Coach about this. This is where I learnt some inner truths on why I am the person I am today. Good or bad experiences, they have all contributed to the person I am today. What I experienced with my Mother, is the only way she knew from her life and her culture. Everything she did was from the only way she knew how to love. Whilst the way I love is different, this is her love and I will always love her for it. I learnt what forgiveness is and meant when I was 28 years old.
K: What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
N: Never make decisions when you’re over-emotional. Be patient. Let the dust settle and then decide how you want to act.
K: What does being a woman mean to you?
N: Providing insight on a situation from a different perspective - physically, psychologically and physiologically.
An ultrasound of Noella’s baby
K: Who is one woman that inspires you? What would you say to her if she were here now?
N: It would be ignorant to to say there is "one woman" that inspires me as many in history, in my past and in my life now inspire me everyday to be better than yesterday...to name a few:
Florence Nightingale - paved the way for nursing and healthcare
Marsha P Johnson - for fighting for gay and transgender rights
Ruth Bader Ginsberg - fighting the female fight in history through law and gender equality for female and males
Oprah Winfrey - for her courage and resilience in career through much adversity
Miss Molloy - my grade 2 and 3 teacher who was always kind but firm
Victoria Povis - Physiotherapist who ran her our own business and I worked for her since I was 14.5yrs old. The life lessons she taught me about head down, bum up if you want to get anywhere in life. I still have a relationship this day with her
Kym McCubben - a high school teacher who always believed in me
Margaret Benson - a sports trainer for the local rugby league club who was a big part of my brothers lives playing footy and always looking after me when I tagged along. She also believed in me and gave me much guidance on being professional in whatever I do.
Pernille Aquiste - one of my big brother's Danish girlfriends who believed I could be anything regardless of the ups and downs in life.
Angela Ndaira - a different brother's girlfriend for loving me from the day she met me and helping me start a new life in Sydney
Sarah Ebsworth - for teaching me important life lessons about what being a true friend is about and how to plan/transition through life changes regardless of the bumps in the road
Cathy Brown - the mother who opened her family and home to me. For giving me my best friend.
Chrissy Lloyd (Brown) - for being the most loyal friend since kindy garden, for saving me.
My Mum - for teaching me love and forgiveness