For paralympian Jamieson Leeson, last Thursday's Western Region Boccia Final at PCYC Orange was an event that came around full circle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Leeson was a competitor four years ago at Orange which started an unbelievable journey that's seen her travel the world doing a sport she loves.
Leeson - who lives with spinal muscular atrophy - knew about the sport of Boccia from a young age but living in Dunedoo, she wasn't presented with many opportunities until that fortuitous trip to Orange.
READ ALSO:
Ever since then her career has gone on in leaps and bounds, reaching the pinnacle by participating in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics.
"I knew about the sport and played when I was really young but being out in the Central West there's not a whole lot of opportunities out here for Boccia so I couldn't really participate," she recalled.
"Then my school asked me to go to the day four years ago. I went to that day thinking not much would come out of it then everything has happened from then."
With Orange High School winning this year's event and progressing to the state final in Sydney, Leeson said there's plenty of interest coming from the students on how to take glory.
"They (all schools) loved it, especially Orange High School," she said.
"Towards the end of the day they were really excited and I was giving them some tips on how to improve. I think they're going to send me videos of their training sessions in the upcoming weeks so I can give them more advice. They're really keen and excited to go to Sydney, it was great to see."
And as for what that advice might be?
"The biggest thing is having a very analytical brain, it's a very strategic game - you have to be a fast thinker," she explained.
After attending the Western Region event in 2018, Leeson recalled only five schools participated that year with that number doubling on Thursday.
The paralympian is keen to double down on that growth as the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics nears closer every year.
"It's grown in leaps and bounds, it's so exciting to see what the future holds," she said.
"Boccia is definitely one of those sports that not many people know about, one of the main reasons I'm so passionate is because everyone can play and I'm so motivated to get the sport out there so more and more people know about it - it's definitely going that way.
"I'm so excited for Brisbane 2032 and hope that everyone will know about the sport and be cheering us on."
While that home Paralympics is in undoubtedly in the back of her mind, Leeson has plenty of events to focus on in the short-term with world championships in Rio at the end of this year.
Other overseas events are also possible next year before the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
After already ticking off plenty of travel in her career so far and even more in the future, Leeson said she wasn't expecting it to progress this quickly.
"It was in my goals but I didn't think it was going to happen this fast," she said.
"When I met my coach, Ken Halliday, in the first few weeks we had a talk and he said Paris Paralympics is looking pretty good for you.
"It was pretty promising and then when Tokyo popped up and I had the opportunity to compete I was so shocked. I'm so grateful for it all and so excited for the future to see how many (trips) I get to go on."
And with such a busy schedule will the paralympian have time to watch OHS compete for champion status at Sydney on August 10?
You bet she will.
"I think I'll be down there training anyway so it'll work out well," she said.
"I actually won the state finals in Sydney for the high schools three years ago so it'll be good to be back there again.
"It's kind of slowed down because of COVID so it'll be great to get the event up and going."
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send a letter to the editor using the form below ...
