27 Conrad (“Caveman”) Stoltz: 3x Visualisation-Ninja DAD, 7x World Champion, 2x Olympian athlete and multiple African Champion

“The hardest thing I have ever tried to do was to truly, truly emotionally connect.” Conrad Stoltz, 7x world champion, 2x Olympian Athlete, 5x African Champion, 5 Times South African Champion - DAD of three! Conrad Stolz, aka the “Caveman” is an exceptional triathlete from South Africa. He’s a powerful man and humble dad of three kids, Sina 4.5, Zander 2.5 and Zoe 5 months. In my mind Conrad is the definition of hardcore. He is a 7x Cross Triathlon World Champion, 10x XTERRA USA Series champion, 2x Olympian athlete and so many more amazing results… The first ten years of his career he lived hand to mouth, sleeping on park benches or in police stations as he came straight out of Apartheid and without a sponsor he actually couldn’t afford to compete on that level globally. Conrad told me he had to win to be able to eat! He says his own Dad, an Afrikaans cattle Farmer and proud, hard man, was a true icon for him and ultimately he learned the essential life-lessons for his success from his father. Through visualisation Conrad is able to disassociate his mind from physical pain and enter flow or peak state during competition. In the session we explore how this ability can be applied to being a parent. Conrad opens up about his own upbringing, his personal fears and struggles as a dad, athlete and husband and his journey and struggles of retirement from competing after 34 years when his child was born and becoming an entrepreneur The most powerful takeaways for me as a dad where: Being a Dad is an endurance sport all by itself. Have more patience. Be vulnerable, show emotion. Nobody told us it’s going to be hard. Prepare outcomes. Visualise. Have a pre-prepared outcome of what you want to happen for any given situation. You have to also visualise the failure. What you put in is what you get out: Perseverance, Suffering, Connecting with people. “If you follow your passions it’s very easy to commit, suffer and succeed.” Teachable moments: during play if a teachable moment arises, stop everything (in a playful way), explain what you need to explain, carry on playing. Another amazing quote from the Caveman: “Racing is even harder if you’re being chased.” On a final note: many of you know that I am based in Cape Town and we are currently in one of the hardest lock-downs globally. The result of the lockdown is that the economy has collapsed and COVID-19 has brought hunger and, sadly in some cases, violence. Together we have started an initiative called www.togetherforcapetown.com. Our aim is to raise enough money for 3.000.000 meals for underprivileged kids before the year is out. Conrad's website: http://www.conradstoltz.com/ Conrad on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Stoltz