The inaugural Libby Kosmala Para Futures Cup drew to a close at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) on Monday, with athletics providing a lively finale to four memorable days for Australia’s emerging Para athletes.

Team West (WAIS/SASI) were crowned the inaugural champions with 1302 Cup points, edging Team North (QAS/NTIS) by a solitary point. Team East (NSWIS/ACTAS), coached by the New South Wales Institute of Sport’s Paul Nunnari, finished third on 1072, with Team South (VIS/TIS) fourth on 955.

Team North and Team East shared the peer-voted Win Well Cup, recognising the way athletes competed, supported their teammates and contributed across the weekend.

The Para Futures Cup brought together emerging athletes from across Australia for four days of multi-sport competition and development, supported by coaches, staff and Paralympian mentors.

The event formed part of the Para System Uplift, led by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and Paralympics Australia (PA) in partnership with the National Institute Network to strengthen Australia’s Para sport pathway.

For many in Canberra, it was an opportunity to compete outside their usual sport, try new disciplines and spend time alongside other young athletes progressing through the Para system.

Few enjoyed watching that unfold quite as much as the Cup’s namesake, 12-time Paralympian Libby Kosmala, who was rarely far from the action either watching from the sidelines, talking with athletes and families or helping to run the shooting competition.

“Oh, there’s so many. I don’t know quite where to start,” Kosmala said when asked for her highlights, “I think I really enjoyed watching them all participating and having a go.”

“To see their excitement, and then to sit back and watch others, and then say, ‘Can I have another go? Can I have another go?’ It was very, very moving.”

By the final day, athletes who had arrived knowing little of one another were mixing readily across state lines, watching each other compete and offering encouragement between events.

“It has been nothing but smiles on all their faces,” Kosmala said.

Paralympics Australia’s Tim Matthews, himself a multiple Paralympian, saw the value of those interactions firsthand. He noticed two young athletes from different states sitting together after shooting, both wheelchair users and both wearing braces on their legs.

“I couldn’t quite hear them, but I could see they were referencing each other’s impairment, and talking about their feet or something to do with their impairment,” Matthews said.

“Just that sort of interaction is great.”

Matthews said what athletes took home from the weekend would inevitably differ.

“There’s some that just go back home and now have confidence to be social at school,” he said, “or just be comfortable with who they are.”

For others, the Cup could mark the beginning of a much longer sporting career.

“There’ll be a percentage who will go on to compete at World Championships, Paralympic Games, or whatever,” Matthews said.

“And someone will ask them, ‘Tell us about your journey’, and they’ll say, ‘I went to this Para Futures Cup, and it was bloody awesome. That was the thing that was the trigger for me to take it more seriously’.”

Kosmala is among many already hoping there will be another.

“I think it would be fantastic,” she said of the prospect of the Cup returning annually.

Australian Sports Commission/Paralympics Australia

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