The Canberra agent pushed to his limits for the ultimate fundraiser

Only the brave would volunteer to be blindfolded and put on a bus in the early hours of a Saturday morning to be transported to an unknown destination where a gruelling two days of physical and psychological activities awaited them.

The purpose, says participant and real estate agent Mathew Kocic of Canberry Properties in Gungahlin, was to complete a Special Forces Challenge through the Terry Campese Foundation (TCF).

After following a six-month training regime, 30 recruits from all walks of life came together over a weekend in February to be put through their paces, nearly to breaking point, all in the name of raising funds for disadvantaged youth.

Despite the extreme endurance tests, Kocic says he loved the entire experience of building up his resilience.

“It was the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done and I used to play semi-professional soccer,” he says. “But you learn so much about yourself and what you can accomplish. No matter how you were feeling, you had to keep going. I feel like there isn’t much I couldn’t do now.”

Run by an elite team of ex-military personnel, the challenge focused on fostering teamwork and mimicking conditions experienced by servicemen and women either in their training or when in the field on tour.

For the recruits, this included carrying 10-kilo torsion bars and sand bags, trudging over rough terrain, performing an evacuation, kayaking, and training drills.

Kocic explains there were even consequences for minor slip ups.

“After packing up camp the next morning and running through our first exercises, we were made to jump into skip bins of cold water because we weren’t quick enough,” he says.

“We completed the rest of the day’s challenges completely soaked!” 

Founder Terry Campese says the idea for the Special Forces Challenge came about in response to covid’s impact on TCF’s usual face-to-face fundraising activities. The initiative would allow the foundation to raise money through individual sponsorships of participants, culminating in the outdoor challenge and, when restrictions lifted, a charity ball.

Within six months, 20 local community members had signed up as recruits who raised a collective $250,000 to support vulnerable young people from across Canberra and surrounding regions through the TCF Youth Mentor Program.

“By 2023, we had 25 recruits who raised $350,000 and this year’s group of 30 managed to reach nearly $550,000,” says Campese. “That’s more than $1 million in total in a few short years, which is extraordinary. It’s making a massive difference in the community.”

While the main goal has been to continue funding for the youth program, he says the benefits have proven to be far greater than they initially intended.  

“Not only is it changing the kids’ lives but the recruits get a lot of mental and physical benefits out of the challenge, too,” Campese says. “The ex-special forces guys who run the challenge have also said it’s helping them stay connected post-service. It’s a huge community engagement activity, with lots of local businesses supporting us as well.”

For Kocic, who says a highlight of the weekend was meeting some of the kids the program supports, he would do it all again in a “heartbeat” and is keen to continue supporting the foundation’s causes.

“It’s an experience that not many people will get and something I’d definitely encourage others to look into to see what it’s all about,” he says.

“TCF does great work in the local community and if you nominate yourself for the challenge and are lucky enough to be selected, you’ll love every moment. It will hurt but you’ll come out of it so glad that you did it.”