Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As with the members for Griffiths, Cowper and Swan, it is a great honour to stand here today to congratulate all members of the Australian Paralympic team. The team arrived home from London last week with a total of 85 medals, 32 of them gold. Their hard work and commitment to their sports certainly paid off, with the Australian team winning medals in nine of the 13 sports it competed in. This placed our team fifth overall in the medal tally, making it the most successful Paralympic team since the 2000 games. This is a fantastic achievement by all our athletes, who put on a great deal of training and made huge sacrifices to compete for their country at an international level.

I would like to give a special mention to swimmer Jacqueline Freney, who won eight gold medals at the games. This was the most individual golds won by any athlete at the games, a fantastic achievement that I am sure she is very proud of. I also want to mention swimmer Matt Cowdrey, who became Australia's most successful Paralympian by winning five events in London, taking the number of Paralympic gold medals won throughout his career to 13. I am also pleased to say that our wheelchair rugby team won its first Paralympic gold medal ever, a great achievement by all players on the team and their coaches.

The success of our Paralympic team in London is a great sign of the support available to our athletes here in Australia and a promising sign of things to come in the years ahead. I know there are many programs run across New South Wales to support young athletes living with a disability to help them develop into elite sporting champions. In my electorate the South West Sydney Academy of Sport supports the development of athletes living with a disability through its AWD program. The academy develops specialised programs for each athlete according to their individual requirements. These programs are also developed in conjunction with the New South Wales Department of Sport and Recreation, the Paralympic Committee and Macarthur Disability Services.

We are very lucky in Macarthur to have a local resident, Gerry Knights, working hard as Executive Director of the South West Sydney Academy of Sport. Gerry is also a sports ambassador for athletes with a disability for all New South Wales regional academies of sport. This means he has strong links with the Paralympic Committee, the New South Wales Institute of Sport and the Department of Sport and Recreation, all great organisations which give so much support to our developing athletes. As part of the academy's AWD program, coaching and support staff members are welcome to take part in the program to continue supporting their athlete and to help enhance the athlete's current training program. Coaches can also join the academy through the coaching education program, which gives them many opportunities for ongoing personal development. The AWD program is open to both individual and team athletes and their coaches. Once an individual program is set up, the athlete is given up-to-date coaching resources, sports education programs, expert coaching advice and the opportunity to participate in all South West Sydney Academy of Sport functions. The academy is currently looking for its next intake of athletes with a disability for the 2012-13 program.

Also in my electorate, Macarthur Disability Services run a variety of programs to encourage children and adults living with a disability to develop their skills on the sporting field. MDS currently run a wheelchair sports track program in partnership with Wheelchair Sports New South Wales. This program is open to junior and senior athletes as a pathway for long-term wheelchair sports participation. The program provides coaching by accredited coaches to all wheelchair athletes, with a focus on classifications T51 to T54 and F51 to F58. MDS also run a track and field program for people with a disability who are aged seven to 25. Participants receive professional coaching in sprinting, discus, shot-put, endurance and wheelchair athletics.

I am very proud to see these services running in my electorate and the great support that Macarthur's athletes living in with disability can receive by signing up for these programs. I am sure that with the help of these programs in my electorate we will see some Macarthur athletes on the 2016 Australian Paralympic team in Rio. I am sure that the great success of our London Paralympics team will inspire many young athletes across Macarthur to continue trying their best to achieve their goals. Australia's Paralympians are proof that no dream is too big. They should all be very proud of their achievements in London.

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