The Mentor I Loved to Hate

The legendary Dennett in his god-awful white cricket hat. I'm in the white singlet on the right, having a ball.

Have you ever come across someone who changed the course of your life?

Maybe you had a teacher who saw something special in you… Or a coach who believed in you… Or even a family friend you connected deeply with.

What sort of impact did that person have on you?

Perhaps they inspired you to go down a career path… Perhaps they supported you to reach a goal… 

Or perhaps they sparked something inside you that you didn’t know was there.

I’ve been lucky to have known someone who was all of the above.

Bruce Dennett jogged into my life in 1998 when I was an eager 11-year-old.

I joined his running group one afternoon after getting a spot at Baulkham Hills High, where Dennett was a teacher.

As I walked down the grassy slope to the Alfred Henry Whaling running track, I could see a group of high school kids on the oval.

But they weren’t jogging uniform laps around the carefully marked 400m circuit.

No.

They were all running helter-skelter in the middle of the grassy field.

Looks like they’re playing some sort of ball game, I thought.

Hang on, are they throwing…

A shoe?

Jogging in their midst was a skinny middle-aged man wearing a wide-brimmed cricket hat… a tattered old t-shirt… and the biggest grin I’d seen on a grown-up.

At the time I had no idea that this quirky little man would have a massive impact on the next 26 years of my life.

But I liked him immediately.

I became a regular after school runner and kept this up throughout high school & beyond.

(I learned that the game was called ‘Footshoe’… the rules of which were never clearly

defined although Dennett was forever insisting that the ‘website’ would be back online again ‘soon’.)

Dennett also had a running group on a Saturday morning where a motley crew of students, ex-students and anyone in between would join.

His running groups were free… all-inclusive… and nobody ever came last.

Dennett was the O.G who brought people together to exercise & build community in the great outdoors… Wayyy before ‘parkrun’ was even a thing.

He had that rare and magical ability to get people to exercise for two hours by accident, inventing all sorts of weird and wonderful games to distract us from the pain in our legs.

Like ‘Fugitive’ – where we ran for miles trying to track him down…

Like the ‘Left-Right’ game – where we ran for miles by alternating left and right turns at every corner…

And ‘Choices’ – where we ran for miles… and then Dennett would start sprinting to the nearest corner without warning and we had to race to beat him there or else he’d choose to take us in the opposite direction of the school.

Dennett took great delight in making us run further, faster, up more hills… than we ever would on our own.

I’m sure I punched him more than once.

‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’

— Nelson Mandela

Dennett was also my high school history teacher for three years in a row.

Never one to abide by convention, Dennett’s lessons were wildly fun & dangerously educational.

We sang songs that are still stuck in my brain DECADES later…

*To the tune of Bizet’s Les Toreadors*

We are members of the Black Hand… We’re gonna kill… Franz Ferdinand.

(I can still see him singing & marching around the classroom like a madman.)

We re-enacted tribal initiations….

*Outside on the school oval*

Right class, today you’re all Sioux North Americans. To join the warrior tribe, you’re going to fill your mouth with water, run a 7-minute mile, and then spit the water on the ground when you finish. Ready? Go.

(I can still hear everyone spluttering.)

And we experienced the haunting past in real-time.

OK class, everyone stand up. Today you’re at Lone Pine. Eight out of every ten people sit down. Now look around you. If you’re standing – you’re the only survivors.

(I’ll never forget my goosebumps & the chilling silence as we all stared at each other.)

Some days Dennett would simply place his wooden armchair on top of his desk, sit on it, and tell us stories. I can still see him perched up high, legs crossed & arms waving as he kept us entertained for 40 minutes straight.

According to educational psychologist & author Joseph Chiltern-Pearce, there are three things you need for sustainable, lifelong learning:

• A role model who embodies the person you want to be

• A supportive environment

• And a structured program of learning.

As an educator & mentor Bruce Dennett gave me all three – in history, in running & in life.

He was a true role model in every sense of the term.

He created a supportive environment – both inside the classroom and outside it, through our running family.

And his teaching was world class.

Because rather than talking about “resilience” from a textbook…

He had us running in the rain up the Windsor Road hill.

Rather than showing us the bullet points on the curriculum…

He taught us to love learning for learning’s sake.

And rather than waiting for the bell to ring so he could get back to his own life…

He opened his classroom door and waited for the afternoon runners to arrive.

Dennett showed me to aim high, embrace struggle, and welcome the growth on the other side.

I lost count of how many gruelling hills we ran up together… only to reach the top & be met with that iconic Dennett grin and his trademark phrase…

It’s Groundhog Day!

After which we’d traipse back down and stagger up to the top again.

Remember – if you smile it hurts less.

Hating Dennett was so much fun.

But I think his biggest gift was to help others realise their own greatness.

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” 

– Benjamin Disraeli

Dennett’s passing has ripped a hole in the lives of those of us who were lucky to know him.

I am richer & wiser beyond measure because of him. His love of running, learning & life has infused into my soul.

I can only hope that I’ll be able to pass these gifts on to my own kids & to others.

One more quote –

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” 

– Isaac Newton

Dennett knew this. He got a kick out of seeing his students shine. He devoted his life to helping others see further.

Dennett was my giant.

He just happened to be 55kg (wringing wet).

So rest in peace Bruce Dennett.

Thank you for everything.

xxx