Says Nett, 'many of us as spectators will get to witness the world's best athletes in action at these Winter Olympics. On our screens we get to see them up close and personal. We even get to know a bit about them and the people who support them – family, sponsors, managers, and coaches. But as Chaplains "trust" is the key to my role being effective. There are a lot of people athletes can't and perhaps shouldn't trust, but when they know they can trust me to keep everything they talk about confidential, it supports them. It gives them an unconditional confidante.
"The Olympics" is a very emotional and high pressure atmosphere. The athletes, and even the support staff, experience all the normal emotions all of us would feel: loneliness, isolation, fear, away from their family and support base. There are always things that go wrong: they can be injured and can't compete to the best of their ability or can't compete at all. That can be devastating. Their life is their sport and without their sport a lot of them feel like their life is gone'.
Nett has to seek her own financial support which is not the case for the majority of Sports Chaplains in Australia as they are also Ministers of Churches and so their work includes their Sports Ministry. To date Nett still has not raised her Air Fare let alone expense money. Fortunately she will hopefully be billeted with a family in Vancouver, but unlike the Beijing Games, Vancouver Olympic has not 'outfitted' their volunteer chaplains. The Beijing Games did provide uniforms.
Do religion and sport mix? That is an age old question. Says Nett, 'we saw them collide in Chariots of Fire, when Eric Liddell had to battle his own religious beliefs and those of the English in the lead up to winning his Gold in the Paris Olympics in 1924, so I think these days the relationship is much easier'.
Betty Moore, former International athlete and world record holder, who attended the Sports Chaplaincy Australia's 25th Anniversary Dinner in Sydney October 2009 says that Sport Chaplaincy is a very necessary adjunct to team management and it's available to ALL athletes.