Madison’s words of wisdom highlight self-care and teamwork

Tokyo Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario OAM – who has competed in punishing wheelchair marathons and gained a worldwide army of fans for pushing beyond her limits – provided a series of hard-earned insights to the athletes who attended NSWIS’s recent Para Accelerate Program Induction.

One of the most crucial messages de Rozario (photographed above with Paul Nunnari PLY, PSM) shared with the group of 51 Para-athletes, who aspire to follow her lead and represent Australia, concerned the importance of how they treat themselves as elite athletes.

“A lot of the times, in pursuit of great athleticism, we often mistreat ourselves as people,” she said. “You need balance . . . [so] be kind to yourself, know where your energy level is, and be really conscious of that.”

De Rozario also shared that during her 17-years as an athlete, a career which commenced when she was a wide-eyed 14-year-old selected to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, was the importance of having a support team.

“It’s huge,” she said of the support she receives from an army of NSWIS experts. “One of the really cool things about NSWIS [as a scholarship holder] is the team you get to build around you.

“I’m not expected to be an expert on physiology . . .  my job is to race; that’s what I bring to the table. But the team we build around us, the team I have around me, is a game changer.”

De Rozario, who has won eight Paralympic Games medals including two gold, and starred on the world’s wheelchair marathon circuit, was one of a number of presenters at the induction for the first group in NSWIS’s Para Accelerate Program.

The entire NSWIS Para Unit staff – Head Marianne Loh, Para Transition Coaches Paul Nunnari, a 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games silver medallist, Glen Lebeau, and Ben Senior, Senior Strength & Conditioning Practitioner Tim Rogers, Head Para-swimming Coach Misha Payne (photographed above with swimmer Aaliyah), Sports Physiotherapist Emily Boulton Smith and Sports Coordinator Chris Steffan – re-enforced de Rozario’s messages during their presentations.

Nothing was lost on the athletes, coaches and parents in attendance with Adam Mobbs, whose daughter Matilda is a talented Para-archer, conceding de Rozario’s views on the importance of team support hit home.

“Madison said it best . . . that a team puts a program together for an athlete,” he said. “Matilda is in an individual sport and kids with disabilities can sometimes feel a little isolated in that regard.

“But getting firsthand knowledge from someone who has been there and done it, it’s good for [these emerging athletes] to realise it’s not an individual process; there’s coaches, there’s managers, there’s nutritionists, physios . . . everyone working towards that same goal.

“I think Maddy and NSWIS explaining what can be achieved from that, is going to really help change the mindset.

NSW state representative Para-archer Stuart Hume said the messages during the induction, especially de Rozario’s, resonated with him.

“Madison gave some really good insights concerning internal performance versus internal goals,” said Hume, who commenced Para-archery in 2023. “That’s something I’m trying to master, and I think a lot of the people would have viewed that as a great takeaway.

“Hearing you can navigate the quagmire of what you can and can’t do, what you need to do was great. As someone said, the ‘one percenters are going to help me’. I have a fulltime job. I work for the state government in transport. I also have a wife and two kids – a six-year-old and a four-year-old – at home. So, I have to navigate all of that, as well as trying to be an athlete.

Boccia player Moustafa Ardati said he left the induction feeling motivated and uplifted.

“I loved it,” he enthused. “Today validated how I think about sport.

“I played for Australia in other sports, but I left them because they’re not in the Paralympics. Today’s talks – and messages – validated why I am here.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS