This week I attended a free 45-minute psychology seminar designed to provide athletes with information on performance anxiety. In theory the idea was great, to provide athletes, parents and coaches with easy access to this kind of useful information. In reality, however, the session was confusing and repetitive and will not be the reason that I will remember this particular night for years to come.

After the session had concluded, with a group of friends who had also been in attendance, we headed down Claredon Street to grab some dinner. Although the name of the restaurant I can’t recall and the food that I ate was nothing particularly special, I will make an effort to return to this little Italian place in the future.  The reason behind this being that in this particular spot, on a Monday night, there was a special Collingwood fan evening taking place, one featuring Dane Swan!

Now, I am not even a Collingwood supporter but I cannot say the same for a few of my friends, so naturally the night quickly took a turn towards ‘do whatever possible to get a photo with Dane Swan!’ At first this was through the sneaky selfies with small, blurred and unrecognisable figure of a man in a cap present in the background. As we finished our meals, however, one of my friends built up the courage to ask a waitress if she could inquire over the chances of us getting a quick snap with him on our way out. She replied, “I’m sure that would be okay” at which instantly our excitement escalated. This was short lived though, as she promptly returned to explain, “I’m sorry, it’s not okay. People have payed $75 to be here tonight so we can’t allow it.” Heads hung, we headed defeated out the door and took off down the street thinking of what could have been. We had only managed a few meters though when we heard the call of “Girls! Girls!” ushering us back inside.

The store manager had mistaken us as regulars and as we re-entered the building he promised us that he would see what he could arrange for his loyal customers. 45 minutes later, we emerged from the restaurant victorious! He had not just managed any photo for us, he had organised a professional photo, printed in A4 size and signed by Dane Swan himself for absolutely not cost, other than our patients. There is absolutely no doubt that we now all feel obliged to return back to this spot again!

Unfortunately we only received one copy of the photo, but here is a ‘photo of the photo’ taken on my phone.