Eric Brown is on top of the world, and also on top of a podium in Spain.
He's just travelled to Barcelona and won the adaptive athlete CrossFit championships, cleverly titled Wodcelona.
It's a satisfying moment for the Yuin, Bidgigal and Gundungarra man, who has managed to turn his life around after being in a dark place a decade ago.
Back in 2011, Brown had moved to Central Queensland to work in the mines, and won the local first-grade Rugby League competition with Moranbah.
He was living his dream.
“I got to a point in my life where I thought I was at the top,” says Brown.
But all that quickly changed.
He was competing in the Murri Carnival, the annual celebration of First Nations Rugby League in Queensland, and was heavily involved in a heated match.
The opposition had scored and gave Brown a serving. He was riled up.
They’d never seen an injury like that in football
“The trainer came up to me and told me to come off for five minutes, and I said 'Nah, I’m going to smash this bloke off the kick-off.'”
Then, in a tackle gone wrong, Brown received a severe blow from an opposition player's knee, tearing the muscles connecting his neck to his shoulder.
He lost all control of his left arm.
“When I was in hospital they were asking me if I was in motorbike or high speed water skiing accident – they’d never seen an injury like that in football because of the severity of it,” he said.
Eric Brown in hospital following his injury Source: Supplied
A downward spiral
Already trying to cope with a crippling injury, things got worse.
“The worst thing was I had no one around because I was up in Queensland by myself," said Brown.
"I had no family. All I had was the boys I had met pretty much 3 months earlier."
A tough four-month period followed, in which Brown, isolated and on pain medication in hospital, dealt with the prospect of essentially losing an arm. With his loss of direction, he found himself deep in the clutches of addiction.
“When I left the hospital... I spent two years in a drug and alcohol addiction. I got addicted to oxycodone and endone, and everything else that went with it, the alcohol and other drugs.”
In the depths of his struggle, it was a lesson in tough love from family that helped him turn the corner.
“The point that led me in another direction was my sister coming up to where I was staying," he said.
"I was in there off my head, and she said 'Eric, please don’t do this to yourself – you’ve got a family there that loves you and are there for you.'
“That switched my thinking [from] myself to how I was affecting my family. I wouldn’t say I stopped straight away, but it led me on another journey to heal myself.”
Rut to Redemption
The next part of Brown’s journey of healing was rediscovering his love for training, something that had always been a constant in his life.
“I was on and off with my training; sometimes I wasn’t turning up, sometimes I was just going back to my old behaviours," he says.
The gym Brown was training at recognised he was falling into a rut. They offered him two free sessions with a personal trainer.
This is where Brown would meet Darren Tahu, and in turn he was introduced to Crossfit.
Brown would soon find himself making solid progress, pushing to compete in 'adaptive athlete' competitions, defined as someone with a permanent impairment that limits work capacity.
Then in his first competition in 2015, he placed fifth.
Since then he has placed first at the 2022 WheelWOD, first in the Australian CrossFit Games Open in 2022, has become a worldwide semi-finalist and finished eighth overall at the CrossFit games.
He has done it with style - despite the limited movement with one arm he impressively throws around weights and has achieved a great level of fitness, and happiness.
On to the next
It's evident on his face as he stands proudly atop the podium in Barcelona, a long way from his home in Sydney's La Perouse.
Speaking from the coastal Spanish city, he thanks his partner Jade for sticking by him through the tough times.
"She saw the good in me through my hurt, she's given me 5 beautiful children who I want to make proud," he said.
"She also puts up with me walking around the house at 3:30 am when I’m getting ready for the gym to leave at 4:30am."
He is also ever grateful for the love of his sister Sharon, when he was at his lowest.
"[Her] words stuck with me in the time of my addiction and I was able to walk away after her voice played over in my head to continue."
As he turns his thoughts to the next challenge, in the United States in December, Brown is reflective on the journey overall.
"No matter how much life can knock you down you can always find a way to get yourself back up," he said.
"And never give up, no matter the adversity."
With this attitude, it sounds like only a matter of time before there's another podium under his feet.
Brown in training Source: Supplied
