Fresh from winning Australia's first-ever Olympic medal for surfing at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July, Owen Wright has enjoyed some much-needed downtime with his family.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He missed it most in another year dominated by COVID which prevented him from spending it with wife Kita along with five-year-old son Vali and ten-month-old daughter Rumi.
He's made up for lost time.
"Family is the one thing that keeps me grounded," he said.
"When I'm with them I feel like my purpose is to be with them; that's where all your joyful moments are. It's those types of things in your life that make you really full and happy."
Wright admits he draws inspiration from his family and has enjoyed doing the school pick-up and drop-off since emerging from quarantine following his bronze-medal effort in Japan.
When I'm with them I feel like my purpose is to be with them; that's where all your joyful moments are. It's those types of things in your life that make you really full and happy.
- Owen Wright
"Coming home after quarantine I was just so stoked to see the family," he said.
"I've been doing school pickup, school drop-off and getting into all my son's hobbies and spending plenty of time with my little daughter and clicking back into that life.
"I feel like I've only just hit that point now where I'm like 'I'm ready to go again'.
The 31-year-old admits if he had to go straight back overseas it would have been a challenge to leave the family behind once again.
"I don't really want to do a stint away for that long again," he said.
Son Vali now has a favourite saying which Owen dad had taught him after he suffered a serious head trauma at Pipeline in 2015.
"I drew a lot of inspiration from getting back into life and showing my son that if you get knocked down you get back up again," Wright said.
"It's one of his favourite sayings so I do hold the family as some of my inspiration to keep going."
Wright will be in Port Macquarie - where wife Kita was raised - on Saturday along with fellow surfers Morgan Cibilic and Tru Starling as they pass on knowledge and advice to local groms.
The trio are focused on giving back to the small coastal communities from around Australia.
Wright was born in Culburra Beach but now calls Lennox Head home, while Cibilic was born in Newcastle and grew up in Yamba and Starling in Narrabeen.
They all know the importance of coastal communities.
I felt it was an important way to give back to the communities, stop in and get the groms frothed up while talking about the Olympics.
- Owen Wright
"I felt it was an important way to give back to the communities, stop in and get the groms frothed up while talking about the Olympics," Wright said.
"Hopefully we can get more medallists in the future come out of Australia.
"Everyone's been stuck at home and not able to get to surf events so that was another reason to bring myself to them."
The Olympic bronze-medal winning Lennox Head local said it was important for groms to aim high.
"Any moment in life you can count yourself out, but if you never count yourself out you've always got a shot," he said.
"We're going to have Morgan with us and he was working in a surf shop then qualified for the world tour so aim high and you'll land somewhere."
Wright will be available for an autograph and a photo at Saltwater Wine, Port Macquarie between 3pm and 4.30pm on Saturday.
What else is happening in news, sport?
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- You can support us with a subscription
- Follow us on Twitter: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Instagram: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Google News