On the eve of the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Sport Access Foundation is very proud to announce that 5 of our Honor Roll Members who have been awarded grants since 2017, have been selected for the Australian Paris Paralympic Teams.
Sport Access Foundation provides grants for young Australians with disability to achieve their sporting goals. Whatever their goals, our aspirations have been to ensure there are no barriers to their sporting aspirations. Many of our 90 plus recipients have been able to use their grants to enable and facilitate more seamless access by supporting the cost with modified equipment, additional travel and carer costs.
For others, including these five athletes below, from the moment they applied for a sporting Pathway to Paralympic grant it was very clear of their amibitoins to represent Australia. Two will make their debut for the APT, Jack Howell and Grace Brimelow in the sport of para-triathlon.
A big congratulations to all athletes, and to your own community of family, coaches, education providers, friends and others who have helped you along the way.
In this latest video I talk about the goals I had for Sport Access Foundation and the importance of continual investment to remove barriers for young people with disability to access sport.
2017 Honour Roll Member
Col Pearse - Swimming. Age 20. Classification S10.
Echuca, VIC
Studying: Bachelor of Social Media in Melbourne
Trains: Coach - Matt King in Melbourne
Interesting fact: Sport Access Foundation inaugural Grant recipient + Swam in his parent's country dam during COVID lockdowns.
Results:
2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London. Won Bronze in 100m Butterfly
2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Won Bronze in 100m Butterfly.
2022 World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira. Won Silver medals in both 100m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley.
2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Won Gold medal in 100m Butterfly.
2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester. Won Bronze medal in 100m Butterfly and Silver in 200m Individual Medley.
2024 Paris Paralympics
2019 Honour Roll Member
Jamieson Leeson - Boccia. Age 21. Teams and BC3
Dunedoo, NSW
Studying: Bachelor of Economics, UNSW
Trains: Coach - Ken Halliday, NSWIS, Sydney.
Interesting fact: 16 years of age, she was the youngest person ever to represent Australia.
Results:
2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Teams event.
2022 World Boccia Championships, Rio de Janiero. Gold medal in the Teams Event. Qualified for Final Women's Single BC3
2024 Paris Paralympics
2020 Honour Roll Member
Keira Stephens - Swimming. Age 21. Classification SB9/10
Hervey Bay, QLD
Studying: Bachelor of Social Work, University Southern Queensland
Trains: Coach - Glen Baker, Gold Coast
Interesting fact: Born in England.
Results:
2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Cairns. Silver medal in 100m Breaststroke
2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London.
2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
2022 World Para Swim Championships in Madeira. Gold medal in 4 x 100m IM relay and 100m Breaststroke.
2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Bronze medal in 200m IM.
2023 World Para Swim Championships in Manchester. Bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke.
2024 Paris Paralympics
2021 Jack Howell - Para-triathlon.
Age 21. Classification PTS5
Studying: Bachelor of Education, Melbourne
Train: Coach- Brendan Sexton on Gold Coast
Interesting fact: Born in England, and trains with Glen Baker at Sotuhport on the Gold Coast.
Results:
2022 - Oceania Triathlon Junior Cup in Devenport. Finished 20th
2022 - Oceania Para-triathlon Championships in Stockton. Finished 2nd.
2022 - National Para-triathlon Championships in Newcastle. Finished 1st.
2022 - Oceania Triathlon Junior Cup in Werribee. Finished 26th
2022 - World Triathlon Para Cup A in Coruna. Finished 3rd.
2022 - World Triathlon Para Series in Montreal. Finished 4th.
2022 - World Para-triathlon Championships in Abu Dhabi. Finished 7th
2023 - Oceania Para-triathlon Championships in Stockton. Finished 2nd.
2023 - World Para-triathlon series in Devonport. Finished 2nd.
2023 - World Para-triathlon series in Yokohama. Finished 2nd.
2023 - World Para-triathlon series in Montreal. Finished 6th.
2023 - World Para-triathlon series in Swansea. Finished 4th.
2023 - World Para-triathlon Cup in Paris. Finished 9th.
2023 - World Para-triathlon Championships in Pontevedra. Finished 6th
2024 - Oceania Para-triathlon Championships in Stockton. Finished 1st.
2024 - World Para-triathlon series in Devonport. Finished 1st.
2024 - World Para-triathlon series in Yokohama. Finished 6th.
2024- Paris Paralympics
2023 Grace Brimelow - Para-triathlon.
Age 17. Classification PTS4
School: Sunshine Coach Grammar
Train: Coach - Charlie Barry on Sunshine Coast
Interesting fact: The youngest Para-triathlete ot make the team and in her debut year of international competition remains undefeated..
2023 - Oceania Para-triathlon series in Busselton. Finished 1st.
2024 - Oceania Para-triathlon Championships in Stockton. Finished 1st.
2024 - World Para-triathlon series in Devonport. Finished 1st.
2024 - World Para Cup in Vigo. Finished 1st.
2024 - Paris Paralympics
Video
Sport Access Foundation provides grants for young Australians with Disability to access Sport. In our short history we have helped many athletes achieve their sporting dreams including the pinnacle, the Paralympics.
We are an Australian registered charity.
To donate or learn more visit www.sportaccessfoundation.org.au
Audio and Visual Descriptions
The video includes Katie sitting on a high stool chair by herself, in a navy outfit. It is being filmed in a film studio and throughout the video Katie is talking and facing the camera as she shares insights on disclosing disability. At times there is soft gentle music in the background.
There are no other sound effects.The video starts with Katie talking and throughout shares footage of young Australians who have applied for grants with Sport Access Foundation. Some of the athletes are playing wheelchair tennis, or in action shots such as Swimming, Boccia or athletics. Other footage includes Katie walking along a beach and talking in an ABC Radio studio.
The footage then cuts back to Katie talking. As Katie talks about of the importance of supporting young people with disability to access sport.
The video ends with an image that includes the text Katie Kelly OAM PLY, Disability and Inclusion Advocate and 2 x Paralympian, with the website www.katiekelly.com.au The image includes at Katie Kelly logo which has the letters KK, and it is on a navy background with white font.
Transcription:
As a high performance athlete, when I was competing at Rio and Tokyo, I had to fundraise for two carbon custom made bikes in America.
Something like $20,000 each that myself and my guide could ride on. And it really honed in on me, the additional barriers for people with disability to access sport and particularly young people with disability, like the financial barriers and additional costs for parents to get modified equipment and support.So I was really proud, with the help of friends and family, to establish Sport Access Foundation.
We've been going now for seven years and we give away sporting grants to remove some of those financial barriers. In seven years since we've been established, we've given away over $90,000 up to 500 children, have applied for grants across Australia.All of our recipients have gone on to achieve incredible things and really helping their participation from grassroots right through to high performance sport.
Three of our recipients have gone on to represent Australia at the Paralympics.
Several our recipients are world champions and Commonwealth Games athletes as well.So it's wonderful to see the impact that the grants are having, not only in their sporting lives, but then as they go on into their young adulthood.
Sport is the start of setting any young person up for life. With the impact say of Sport Access Foundation, to ensure those kids have a chance to play with their mates on the field, they feeling more a sense of belonging and connected. It's improving their education outcomes, which eventually leads to better employment opportunities and being able to reach their own potential in their lives and in their young adulthood.
I’m really excited about our future, particularly in south east Queensland here in Brisbane, where we're heading towards 2032 Paralympics.
We've got some great innovative products that we're developing with some sponsors and supporters that will be a real game changer to improving access for young people with disability in our workplace.So I'm really proud of the work of Sport Access Foundation, and the impact it’s having on improving access for our kids with disability in sport.
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