South Australian table tennis talent Hayley Sands lands in Paris ahead of 2024 Paralympics

The Adelaide interior designer has touched down in Paris ahead of her first Paralympics.

Adelaide interior designer Hayley Sands has touched down in Paris ahead of her first Paralympic Games.

“Nervous but excited”, the 24-year-old is making her debut at the global sporting event as part of the Australian table tennis team.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I’m just going to try and enjoy the moment and soak it all in … it’s fun, everyone is excited and very welcoming,” she said shortly after arriving in the French capital.

“It is exciting and great to see and meet everyone (and will be) great to watch everyone succeed over the next few weeks.”

Hayley Sands became a tetraplegic after a swimming pool accident when she was 13. She is representing Australia in table tennis at this year’s Paralympics. Picture: Supplied

Hayley Sands headed to Paris during the week to compete as part of the Australian table tennis team in the Paralympics. Picture: Supplied

Her partner of seven years, world champion in the same sport Sam von Einem, is also among the South Australian sporting stars wearing the green and gold – for the third time.

As a young teenager, Sands was a promising netballer but was left a tetraplegic after a tragic, out-of-the-blue accident in the home pool as she practised her diving with dad Paul.

She suffered whiplash as she hit the water, causing a C4/C5 incomplete spinal cord injury, leaving her unable to walk. She was just 13 at the time.

“I didn’t touch the bottom or anything like that, it was just the force of water pushing my head back,” Sands has previously told this masthead, adding she doesn’t dwell on the accident or the “what might have been”.

Hayley Sands and partner Sam von Einem will represent Australia at the Paralympics - it is her first and his third time competing at the global sporting event. Picture: Supplied

“You have to take life as it comes, accept it and move on.”

Sands’ first taste of competition will be on Day Two of the games, a doubles match against a yet unannounced opponent in her “Class 2’ category.

The UniSA graduate says she will draw on her defensive skills, adding preparation for the Games has been gruelling, training around full-time work at Woods Bagot in the CBD.

“You can never (anticipate) who’s going to win, everyone is so talented and has trained hard, it will come down to who plays best on the day,” she said.

“I am a defensive player but I like to attack with my backhand where I can. … (my classification) is quite a different game, so it’s quite open to varying shots.”

Mum Sharon and big sister Courtney, an emergency department nurse, will travel to Paris to cheer Sands on — as will some of the nurses who looked after Sands post accident more than a decade ago.

“We are just so proud of her … from the time the accident happened to now,” Mrs Sands said.

“She is just a quiet achiever and a really good role model for kids coming through like her, who played netball and loved it and then all of a sudden had it taken away.

“She always says, ‘Mum there are others worse off than me in the world, we can’t reverse my injury, I have to go forward’.”

State politician Jayne Stinson, who visited Sands to share the local community’s wellwishers – and pride – before she flew out, described the young athlete as “just a ripper of a person”.

“She has crazy good talent … when adversity strikes, some people look at what they can’t do rather than what they can … her ability to overcome adversity and strive for excellence is truly inspiring,” she said.

Away from sport, Hayley Sands is an interior designer at Woods Bagot. Picture: Lydia Borrillo

Hayley Sands, 24, is in Paris to make her Paralympics debut. Picture: Supplied

Sands will compete in three events as part of the Para-table tennis team; the women’s “Class 2” singles (W2), women’s doubles (WW10) with Dani Di Torro and mixed doubles (XR7) with Chris Addis.

Para-table tennis was included in the first Paralympic Games in Rome, in 1960.

Away from her sport, Sands says she was drawn to her profession through personal experience.

“I was struggling to find fully accessible spaces and wanted to change that,” she writes in a Woods Bagot newsletter, adding working as part of the team designing the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital has been an early highlight.

“After spending almost a year in and out of the same hospital, it’s been great to contribute from the other side ... (it’s) been a full circle moment for me,” she says.

“There’s a certain perspective that I’ve gained through being a patient that has allowed me to understand aspects of the healthcare experience like patient flow, long-term care and connection between different offerings that I feel can improvethe final design.

“For me, healthcare design is about getting the little things right as much as the bigger picture.”