Four Stories About Cool Jobs (We Promise)

[Music] God wasn't known for being the most forgiving game but there's nothing quite like shanking your ball into the drink or pond that's where this guy comes in here at TPC Sawgrass hundreds of golfers lose their balls to the infamous par-3 17th hole but one golfers misery is another man's gold this is gordon davis my name is Gordon Davis and I'm a professional golf ball diver he makes a living diving for golf balls all over Florida other divers but golf balls approximately 50 years there are a lot of bones to be found on average I've when I'm diving I'll pick up three to four thousand three or four thousand three or four thousand whoa so how do you find these golf balls it's mostly you know just feel picking them up out of the mud and some places much too deep that you can't do nothing with it you know and it's that mud that makes it impossible to see well anything most courses they very few that if it has clear water most of them poor visibility because of the algae and all that so what happens next after I pull the balls out they go through pick out some of them and they take them from there they being someone who wants to repurpose these balls these balls are authentic these authentic balls are diced up placed in all sorts of usable keepsakes like cufflinks watches and bottle openers and Gordon he knows what it takes to be a professional golf ball diver well I tell people you got to be a kind of a special cat to be a golf ball diver somebody was grit and it wants to be independent person it's luckily any other business someone has to do it everybody has a different job and this is having to be Ryan seeing as you're kind of a special cat any advice for golfers trying to keep their balls drive yeah take up another sport [Music] hole-in-one there's something about standing on stage and thinking about the people that have doubted me in the past standing on stage and thinking about the people who I would say hello to and they would just look at me and keep on walking it's in that moment where I'm on stage where none of that matter where people see me as more than just a janitor I am Kenan Kyle's I am an internationally touring opera singer I performed it in Lincoln Center in Carnegie Hall and the Chicago theater and all these amazing venues but at the end of the day in order to support those dreams and support my life I am a janitor I am a janitor because bills are something that is very real and as you get older they get bigger the assumptions that people have about janitors are that they are uneducated impoverished I cannot tell you how many looks I've got it and the side eyes because they just think that all you're just a janitor it's so interesting because they never took the time to really know who this person is that is cleaning up after them being an opera singer is very hard it's not easy technically because opera music is very complex I meet with my vocal coach / mentor once or twice a week but I myself rehearse probably two hours on top of that a day I am currently rehearsing this lead role of Rigoletto for the client opera group's production in Scotland we're gonna let those my first title role which makes this moment so amazing for me because the whole opera is about him and his story coming from being a janitor to starring in a show is very empowering being a janitor has humbled me and has grounded me so much you have to hold on to yourself because nobody cares about your dreams more than you did [Music] [Applause] I've been told that there's no spot for a woman in this sport I've been physically assaulted in the cage but I didn't let any of that stop me sometimes the fight is outside of the Ring [Music] I'm squeezie Valentine and I'm the first and only cut woman in MMA what we do is we rap the fighters hands before they fight and do we take care of them between rounds if there's any bleeding we stop there's any swelling we take it away pretty much the cut man motto is to give them that one round that they needed to win [Applause] I saw my first live MMA fight and it was just such a cool experience and I wanted to be a part of that arena as much as I could I talked to the promoter and asked him what jobs there were he told me that my option was to be a ring girl I had to wear the tiniest string bikini it was super uncomfortable to be wearing that in front of all these people that was not a fit for me I saw the sliders getting her hands wrapped and I immediately got butterflies in my stomach and I knew that was what I was supposed to be a part of I would drive 60 miles one way to gyms and I would voluntarily sit there and rap fighters hands for their sparring sessions just a sacrifice of doing it for so long without getting any income out of it was really really hard I was a single mother of two young boys and still trying to be a cut woman rapping hands is more than just putting gauze around a hand if you do not wrap a fighter's hands correctly then their hands will break you need to wrap hundreds and hundreds of hands to be considered great I brought my kids hands around my pears hands I wrapped my friends hands I would wrap as many hands as I could possibly find it took me years to feel like I got it down [Music] my first paying gig was wsof world series of fighting in 2010 after four years of doing it for free in 2014 I was added to the roster of UFC come in UFC is the Ultimate Fighting Championship it is the most famous stage in the world it's like the Olympics of MMA and now I travel all over the world being a cut woman for the UFC during my journey of being a woman I had a lot of ups and downs my kids are a huge reason why I do all this they can see me you know not giving up and in the end hitting my goal and that's what carried me through 10 years of it you know it's just that desire inside of like going to going I understand what the fighter has to go through to get into the cage we both had to fight to get our spot in the ring [Music] [Music] [Music] there's a certain feeling of adrenaline once you get up there in the air it's a feeling unlike any other you feel power you feel like you're in control you feel special that's what makes chappies beautiful that's what makes the circus beautiful [Music] my name is Kristen Finlay and I'm a trapeze artist 15 years ago I was working for a brewery in Los Angeles I had a great life making great money that had you know my Lexus and I had a house I was only you know twenty four years old a friend of mine told me that she was flying trapeze and I said what are you doing I want to come watch I ended up taking a class and I was hooked it was addictive ride away and I'd quit my life in LA and I joined the circus I went from good paid to zero pay just had to give everything up pretty much overnight and here we are 15 years later I never looked back and I've been on the road ever since to run away and join the circus it takes commitment you have to be ready for anything you have to kind of live on your toes because you never know what's gonna happen your own personal space your RV or whatever that's your home and that's what has to be stable inside whenever you're flying trapeze you have to focus on what you're doing and the moment you doubt yourself in the middle of a trick most likely you're going to mess up you're not going to make it the fact that I was able to do it made it more appealing to me and I'm doing these tricks and they're harder and they're harder and this is awesome whatever you want to do in your wildest dreams do it anything's possible there's not too many african-american female circus performers but I was still able to do it your life is what you make of it and I wouldn't change my life for the world I really wouldn't [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 341,428

Rating: 4.8856707 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, documentary, docs, great big reels, jobs, weird & fun knowledge, lifestyle & entertainment, biography & profile, sports & action, new releases, circus, golf, opera, career, trapeze artist, MMA, UFC, cut man, Swayze Valentine, TPC at Sawgrass, Par 3, caddie, weird job, passion, hobby

Id: KqXbBg7xpvI

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 03 2018