Fresh off four competitions in seven weeks, Australian Taekwondo athlete Matty B. Summerfield joins Kate Elizabeth for one of the most honest conversations to land in the Champions Corner.

Matty just came off the back of a bronze at the Canada Open, a quarterfinal appearance at the USA Open in Vegas, and a gold medal at the Oceania Championships on home soil. And yet, the most powerful moments in this conversation are not about winning. They are about what happens after you lose, what real preparation actually looks like, and what it means to take full ownership of your athletic journey.

This episode covers the mental resilience piece in a way that goes beyond theory. Matty talks through the actual protocols he put in place to compete back to back without falling apart mentally or physically, the lesson he learned from a Christmas break that nearly cost him a full season, and the mindset shift that changed how he bounces back from results that sting.He also gets into the bigger picture, where Australian Taekwondo is heading, why collaboration between states and coaches matters more than ego, and what he genuinely believes it will take for Australia to become a country other nations fear on the international draw sheet.

And for the parents in the community, Matty has some words directly for you. Words worth sitting with.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS EPISODE:

Bouncing back between competitions, the recovery protocol that changed everything.

What Matty would tell the young version of himself who won bronze at the Junior World Championships.

The reason he couldn't compete at 63kg at the start of 2024 and what owning that mistake looked like.

How he mentally prepares to fight specific opponents and what he is working toward with GP2 and GP3.

Why playfulness and creativity might be the most underrated skills in elite Taekwondo.

What collaboration looks like at a national level and why it matters more than most people realise.

What he actually needs from the sideline on competition day.

The one piece of advice for every athlete who is showing up but not seeing results.

SOUNDBITES FROM THIS EPISODE: "Disappointment is just information you can use later." "We want to be a country that's feared." "Taekwondo has given me lifelong friendships." "I always fall back on my feet. Life gets tough but I'm always back at training on Monday morning."

CONNECT WITH MATTY:

Instagram: Join Matty B on Instagram

RESOURCES:

Taekwondo Australia: https://austkd.com.au/ World Taekwondo Federation: https://worldtaekwondo.org/

Let's start building stronger villages together. Because Remember Teamwork Makes Their Dreams Work.

I'm Kate Elizabeth and I will see you around.

The finished stance. The full push-up. The bed you throw the doona over before you start your day. These are the 1% habits that don't look like much on their own. But compounded over time, across every session, every morning, every tiny decision when nobody is watching? They build the athlete, the parent, and the person you are becoming.

In this episode I get personal. Really personal.

I talk about growing up with a dad in the army, where making the bed wasn't a suggestion, it was a military standard. Hospital corners. Flat. Perfect. And how the moment I left home I stopped making my bed entirely, not out of laziness, but as a quiet act of rebellion. A daily declaration that said, I am not in the army. You cannot tell me what to do.

I kept that up for years. Long after it made any sense. Long after I had built a career, raised kids, and become a coach who stands in front of athletes and talks about discipline and showing up and doing the work properly.

Until my incredible friend and fellow coach Jarna looked at me and asked the question that stopped me cold.

Kate. Are you in forty-year-old adult mode right now? Or are you still the teenager rebelling against your dad?

The penny dropped. I wasn't hurting Dad. I was hurting me. Walking into a messy room every morning and carrying that energy into my whole day. The only person my rebellion was punishing was myself.

Now I throw the doona. Not perfectly. Most days. And honestly? It makes my heart happy.

I also share one of the most full-circle moments of my life. Jaxson, my youngest, has just started Taekwondo at the same dojo where Matthew first trained. The same mats. That same feeling of coming home. And watching the instructors there stop and truly celebrate when a child finishes a technique correctly, not just kick and back of the line, but noticing the finish, naming it, making it matter, cracked something open in me.

Because that is exactly it. The basics aren't what you do before the real training starts. The basics are the real training. And they are fundamental not just for sport, but for life.

We also get into the science. Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes interviewed over 400 of the world's most remarkable performers for their Micro-Habits book and found that real success isn't built on one defining moment. It's built on small, often invisible behaviours, repeated faithfully, especially when no one is watching. Dave Brailsford took British Cycling from one Olympic gold in a hundred years to 60% of available medals in five years using exactly this philosophy. And the mathematics of 1% compounded over a year? You end up 37 times better.

This episode is for the athlete who rushes through the basics. The parent who only asks about the result. The coach who forgets to name the small wins. And honestly? It's for anyone who is still carrying a rebellion that stopped serving them a long time ago.

How you do one thing is how you do everything. On the mat and off it.

You’ve just walked off the mat. The match is over. And someone asks “How did you go?”

In that split second, before you even open your mouth, yourwhole body tightens.

That moment? It’s not just about a result. And in thisepisode, Taekwondo Mindset Coach Kate Elizabeth explains exactly why and what to do about it.

Kate opens with a story about a nine year old BJJ girl who hadlost the same fight twice against a bigger, stronger, more experienced opponent and then made the decision to win. It took her ten seconds. Because the mind went first.

This episode unpacks the identity trap that quietly runs everyfreeze on competition day, every post-loss meltdown, and every athlete who trains brilliantly but falls apart when it counts.

In this episode:

• Why losing a match can feel like losing yourself and the psychology behind it

• The difference between “I do taekwondo” and “I AM a taekwondo athlete” and why it changes everything

• What the post-loss tantrum is actually telling you (and why it’s not processing your emotions, it’s your emotions processing you)

• 3 practical tools to feel big feelings without being consumed by them

• A powerful moment: coach Safwan Khalil lifting his athlete’s head after a loss live at competition

• Quotes from Lauren Burns 🥇 (Olympic Gold, Taekwondo Sydney 2000), Cathy Freeman, and Ian Thorpe on identity, self-belief, and being more than your sport

• Community shoutouts: Rose Ward 🥇 Canada Open, Gaby Blewitt 🥇🥉 Canada Open + US Open, Leon Sejranovic’sfirst comp back post-ACL, and our Juniors heading to Europe this week!

Resources & Links:

• 🎯 Competition ConfidenceWorkshop replay DM Kate on Instagram to get the link

• 📲 Instagram:@thekateelizabeth https://www.instagram.com/thekateelizabeth/

The Champions Corner is the podcast for taekwondo athletes,parents, and coaches who know that winning starts in the mind. New episodes every week.

Let’s start building stronger villages together, because remember Teamwork Makes Their Dreams Work.