My name’s Theodore. Footy and family is my story. I recently started smoking, 16, 15 in school. My friends offered me smokes at lunchtimes, said, just kept on pestering me, and then it happened.
Smoking was bad because it was bad for my family and my health. I’ve got two little brothers, yeah, I quit smoking because I didn’t want my little brothers growing up thinking it was normal, and footy. I needed to work on my fitness in the AFL. It didn’t feel good when I was running out of breath on the footy field. It really affected me, because I couldn’t keep my running up.
My Poppi, he’s really into fitness and all that, yeah, he helped me by just training, yeah, he’s dedicated to his training as well, and footy, so he helped me help myself. My family supports me by coming to my games, cheering me on.
When I’m with my mates that smoke, it’s not hard, they tried to still offer me a smoke, but I was like “Nah, don’t want it”.
Yeah, now that I’ve quit, money goes to better stuff now, not just smokes. It’s just a waste, yeah.
If anyone was thinking of smoking, I’d tell them “Just don’t do it. It’s not worth it because of your family, especially if you have young, younger siblings”. Yeah, I’ll stay quit now for sure, 100%. I’ll tell everyone, don’t make smokes your story.