Para Unit funding inspires de Rozario to target Brisbane’s ‘catalyst’ Games

Madison de Rozario credited the sense of hope that accompanied the millions of dollars’ worth of funding that is being used to create the NSWIS Para Unit for inspiring her to aim to compete at the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games.

Earlier this month, the NSW Government, Federal Government and Paralympics Australia announced a combined funding package worth $4.6 million to allow the Institute to form it’s Para Unit.

The Unit will be based at NSWIS HQ, and de Rozario – a two-time Paralympic gold medallist – was adamant the Unit’s goals would change the landscape for Para sport throughout NSW.

“We need the investment,” de Rozario told Channel Seven’s Andrew McKinlay. “We know how good this can be, we’ve seen the potential.

“I’ve grown up in it. I’ve been surrounded by people who live and breathe it. For so long we’ve been saying ‘this could be so good, we need the investment.’ It’s quite incredible what the starting point for Para sport is going to look like after an investment like this.”

The funding aims to get more NSW athletes involved in Para sport and, by doing so, increase the nation’s medal prospects at major events, including Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.

The investment also comes at a time when Australia has targeted Brisbane 2032 to be the nation’s most successful Paralympic Games campaign.

However, a study of Para sport identified 160 systemic barriers are preventing Australians with disabilities from participating in sport. The study also discovered while three out of four Australians with a disability want to participate in sport, only one out of four do because of the barriers.

The role of the NSWIS Para Unit, which is headed by Andrew Logan, is to work in conjunction with Paralympic Australia Try Para Sports, and the Australian Institute of Sport’s Futures Green & Gold Talent Sports Initiatives and sporting organisations to identify talent and determine whether they should enter a high performance program. 

De Rozario predicted NSWIS’s Para Unit would help potential athletes overcome the barriers that have frustrated many potential athletes as they try to enter sport.

“We know the gaps,” she said. “We know what’s missing, and grassroots pathways to sport is the biggest gaps we’ve been identifying for a very long time.

“A lot of us were lucky to have that support – but it was through volunteers, incredible individuals, that gave their time; gave their energy to bridge that gap for us.

“I could name all of the people that have been critical to my career . . . who turned up unpaid and allowed me to become the athlete – and the person – I am. [But] our system shouldn’t depend on the kindness of people who have been in the sport for so long.

“And while they’re not going anywhere, I think [by] creating a really structured support they guarantee we do have pathways and we’re not over burdening any individuals; we have a beautiful ecosystem of sport that allows [athletes to] progress to pathways in a really linear way.”

De Rozario, who attended the funding announcement with fellow NSWIS Paralympians Timothy Hodge (swimming), Jamieson Leeson (boccia), Gordon Allan (cycling), Mali Lovell (athletics) and Chloe Osborn (swimming), revealed she was inspired to compete at Brisbane 2032 because she believed the Games will provide the Paralympic movement with a ‘spark.’

“If I make it to LA, I don’t see myself stepping away when the next one on the horizon is a ‘home’ Games,” enthused de Rozario who’ll be 39 when the cauldron is ignited in Brisbane.

“I heard so much what [Sydney] 2000 was like for the Paralympians/Olympians who were able to compete at those Games, and I got a small taste at the [2018 Gold Coast] Commonwealth Games.

“There are some Games that are ‘catalysts’ in the Paralympic movement, and in my life, I’ve benefited from the catalyst that was Sydney 2000.

“I saw what London was, and 2012 was the last time we had something like that. I see 2032 as being that. We know Australia has the potential to be a catalyst Games. They did it in 2000, and what we saw happen to Para athletes in 2018 at the [Gold Coast] Commonwealth Games.”

A number of young para-athletes who attended the launch, including 10-year-old Lachlan Reid [pictured above with Para swimmer Tim Hodge] who competed in the 10K Oz Day event in Sydney’s The Rocks Precinct last January, against Paralympians and internationals from Japan and the USA, said the formation of the Unit was a game changer.

Sixteen-year-old high school student Coco Espie, who won the Australian 1500m title just two seconds outside of the T33 world record, echoed his sentiments saying the support the Unit will provide young and emerging athletes is crucial.

“I think the support [that is going to be provided] is exciting,” said Espie. “For people who haven’t had [support], it’s great to think that NSWIS [Para Unit] is going to help them achieve their goals.”

Aimee Fisher, who was a gymnast, dancer, and state representative in athletics before becoming a paraplegic after a fall at gymnastics, predicted the Unit would open a new world to many.

“I think it’s so incredibly important,” said Fisher. “As someone who acquired their disability coming through, I was lucky enough to very quickly gain the support and the experience of people I believe in [Paralympians] Christie Dawes, Madsion de Rozario and Eliza.

“I think for a lot of young people . . . anyone with a disability . . . that dream is always there and now [with the creation of the Para Unit] it’s visible to us that we can become Paralympians and be anything we want. And that is great because often it can be hard to find the pathways, and support, to make that happen.

“I believe NSWIS’s Para Unit is going to achieve amazing things in providing a very clear pathway for emerging athletes and those we’re still to see come on the scene.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS