Trev Hendy Feature Story

OF all the memories, of all the podiums, of all the accolades that surf god Trevor Hendy has achieved, none captures his soul more than that of a crying five-year-old.

"That young boy crying is the essence of who I am. The ironman is part of me, but the real me is the boy who was crying. That is me. I know that is me."

Hendy, our greatest surf lifesaver, is talking of a time before he and the ocean were intimately acquainted, but there was already a connection.

"My father, a qualified builder and mechanic, came home one day and said we were packing up, leaving our Melbourne home and travelling around Australia," he recalls. "He told Mum we needed to 'live the dream' and 'show the kids something else'."

What followed was a book of experiences, but most significant was a visit to a whaling station in Albany, Western Australia.

"I remember getting to it, not knowing where we were, but crying my eyes out, refusing to get out of the car," says Hendy. "To this day I still tell my mum I could hear them, I could hear the whales dying. I could hear their screams.

"At the time Mum said 'But Trevor, it's shut today'. But no, I could still hear the screams. So Mum, Dad and my sister Diane went and had a look at the whaling station and I stayed in the car."

"There he goes, off with the fairies again," he says, self-mocking, the grin turning to a chuckle, before he becomes serious.

"You know, the biggest hurdle for anyone is to come out and be yourself.

"It takes courage to tell people I have a genuine connection to nature, the ocean, the water.

"I paddle out there (pointing at the ocean off Palm Beach) three or four kilometres and whales and dolphins turn up. It is ridiculous.

"Dolphins will come up face to face with me. I am not talking every now and again, this is a regular occurrence."

Hendy, now 41, is trying to put into words where he is in his life. He says he is finally closer to the big picture, happier than he has ever been, but says he just has trouble articulating that.

What he doesn't have any trouble doing is revealing the real Trevor Hendy. Yes, part of him is the sporting legend, but a larger part of him is 'nature boy' -- the man who now is more intent on helping others become the champion that is within us all.

If it sounds a bit ethereal, a bit 'out there', then that does not worry him.

"It's the truth," he says. "If revealing who I am helps someone trust themselves and trust their intuition to be who they really can be, then it is worth being called an idiot or airy-fairy.

"It is worth it if one person is able to get their life back."

Trevor Hendy has never followed the beaten path. The road he chose was most often less travelled, but took him to unbelievable riches.

Through it all has been a calling.

At first he thought that inner drive was to become unbeatable in the surf.

Now he realises that was part of the journey, but not the destination.

"I learnt so much from my years competing," he says.

"I learnt about hard work and discipline because I didn't win anything until I was 17. I was never the 'next big thing'. I was the kid who just scraped into the final.

"But at some stage I got pissed off with the winners getting all the attention. Deep down I didn't want to get pushed around any more.

"I wanted to give the rest of the world the finger. This skinny little freckly-faced kid wanted to develop a chest, win some races and get the girl.

"That became the motivator, but it is also a double-edged sword, misleading. I got all the accolades, the girl, the house, the car. I got it all and I was desperately unhappy. These are life's lessons."

For those not in tune with the Gold Coast's most iconic sport, Trevor Hendy is to surf sports what Bradman is to cricket, Peter Brock to Aussie motorsport, Dawn Fraser to swimming, Herb Elliott to athletics, Leigh Matthews to Aussie rules, Wally Lewis to rugby league.

He has nobody above him.