{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/f3e7b3be-7600-55a2-ab13-90336700cf18/6a718c88e9d2c023de9ca1d8?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"#261 Matt Formston — Told He'd Never Play Sport Because He Was Blind. Now He's a 5x World Champion & World Record Big Wave Surfer at Nazaré","description":"<p>This week I sat down with Matt Formston AM, and I genuinely don't know where to start with this one.</p><p><br></p><p>At five years old, Matt was told he would go blind and never hold down a job or play sport. The doctors were half right. Matt did go blind. But everything else they said? He has spent his entire life proving wrong.</p><p><br></p><p>Matt is a four-time Adaptive Surfing World Champion, a World Champion cyclist, an Australian Paralympian, and holds the Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed by any para-athlete in history. He has had an award-winning Netflix documentary made about him — The Blind Sea — and has just released his debut book Why Not? through Wiley, out now.</p><p><br></p><p>We talk about what it actually takes to trust someone with your life on the biggest waves in the world, the mental health challenges that don't always make the highlight reel, what resilience really looks like when the odds are stacked against you from the age of five, and why the word \"can't\" has never really stuck with Matt.</p><p><br></p><p>We also get into his next chapter — Matt has become a world class free diver and is heading to Tonga in August to freedive with humpback whales. Because of course he is.</p><p><br></p><p>This is one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the privilege of sitting down with. This one will change the way you think about limits.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>In this episode we cover:</strong></p><ul><li>Being told at five he would go blind and never work or play sport</li><li>Four-time Adaptive Surfing World Champion and Guinness World Record holder at Nazaré</li><li>World Champion cyclist and Australian Paralympian</li><li>The Netflix documentary The Blind Sea</li><li>The role of trust on the biggest waves in the world</li><li>Mental health, resilience and life at the edge</li><li>His new book Why Not? and the message behind it</li><li>Freediving shipwrecks and swimming with humpback whales in Tonga</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Matt's Book — Why Not?</strong></p><p> <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com.au/Why-Not-Breaking-Limits-Business/dp/1394434626\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.amazon.com.au/Why-Not-Breaking-Limits-Business/dp/1394434626</a></p><p><strong>Matt's Website</strong></p><p> <a href=\"https://www.mattformston.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.mattformston.com/</a></p><p><strong>Follow Matt</strong></p><p><strong>Instagram</strong></p><p> <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mattformston/?hl=en\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.instagram.com/mattformston/?hl=en</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Connect with Cooper</strong></p><p> Workshop and Speaking Enquiries</p><p> <a href=\"https://form.typeform.com/to/DSPSnvEH\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://form.typeform.com/to/DSPSnvEH</a></p><p> 1% Good Club Book</p><p> <a href=\"https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/e1xrkr\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/e1xrkr</a></p><p> <a href=\"https://amzn.to/46ve1i2\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://amzn.to/46ve1i2</a></p><p> Instagram</p><p> <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cooperchapman/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.instagram.com/cooperchapman/</a></p><p> TikTok</p><p> <a href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@cooperchapman\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.tiktok.com/@cooperchapman</a>_</p><p> LinkedIn</p><p> <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooper-chapman-08a278151/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooper-chapman-08a278151/</a></p><p> The Good Human Factory Instagram</p><p> <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thegoodhumanfactory/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.instagram.com/thegoodhumanfactory/</a></p><p> The Good Human Factory</p><p> <a href=\"https://www.thegoodhumanfactory.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.thegoodhumanfactory.com</a></p><p> THE GOOD HUMAN FACTORY™️ 2020</p>","author_name":"The Good Human Factory"}