Birthday boy Joe Ingles talks family, autism, the FIBA World Cup and Utah Jazz from Salt Lake City
It’s the little things that Joe Ingles and wife Renae have learned to love the most and that’s why what happened after a 5.30am birthday wake-up was the perfect gift. Reece Homfray reports from Utah ahead of the Jazz’s clash with his home-town 36ers.
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Joe Ingles turned 32 on Wednesday and still fighting jet lag his three-year-old twins woke him up at 5.30am and then gave him the best present he could have wished for.
“Better than any material gift you could get,” Ingles said in Utah before his NBA team the Jazz plays the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday (Australian time).
“We had some early visitors in bed and you hear them talking and laughing, and then Jacob rolled over and gave Milla a kiss.
“Stuff that just doesn’t happen and that’s development with all kids but especially now what we’re going through with Jacob it’s really cool.”
Ingles had just dropped 11 three pointers in a row at practice with the Utah Jazz when he spoke to The Advertiser, his grey T-shirt soaked in sweat and wearing a blue ‘4 ASD Kids’ wristband next to the tattoo of a jigsaw piece which represents autism awareness.
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Jacob was diagnosed with autism in January and has been undergoing full-time therapy in recent months, and Ingles and his wife Renae have seen significant progress in his social skills including making eye contact and communicating — which delivered another birthday present yesterday.
“He (Jacob) said ‘mum’ the other day for the first time and this morning just before I left he was riding his little bike thing around the house and saying ‘mum, mum, mum, mum’ and to hear things like that ...” Ingles said.
“When we first put him in therapy in Melbourne the first month was really rough, he struggles with change and we were close to pulling him out but we stuck it out and the next week he was unreal.
“He was basically non-verbal, we had a couple of words, but when you’ve got Milla at home having full conversations that’s when we started to realise a little, but now he’s able to sign a few things that he wants as well.
“Now we’re back here (Salt Lake City) and he’s enrolled in a school and will go on.”
First week back at Utah Jazz practice and Smokin Joe Ingles is
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It’s now seven months since they went public with Jacob’s diagnosis via a heartfelt online letter that they did to help others, but it also helped themselves.
“When we did the article, I guess we didn’t realise how much of a platform we had,” Ingles said.
“We felt like it was the best way for us to deal with it and let people know because for a few months guys here (Utah Jazz) commented that I was a little different during that time, and I was.
“But I think it just put a bit of perspective on what we were going through and why, it was a rough couple of months so the response was better than we could have ever imagined.
“Not so much us getting messages to say ‘do we need help’ or people feeling sorry for us, we didn’t want anyone to feel like that, but we felt like our story could help so many other people and that’s why we did it.”
If they thought they could help others then they were right.
Ingles said he and Renae get emails, letters, tweets and texts “daily” from families dealing with autism.
“We’ve had millions of letters sent here to the Jazz,” says Ingles, which sounds like a slight exaggeration but then again might not be.
“There’s Twitter and Instagram, and Renae is a lot better than I am at reading all of them.
“It is tough at times, a lot of people are offering support but a lot are also stories and there are the odd few that really stick in your mind.
“There were a couple of stories that were really hard to read, what they’ve gone through and situations they’re in, stuff that’s been really full on.
“A lot were from families who don’t have the platform we do or the Jazz and Melbourne Vixens, but they were saying their story was so similar to ours and they felt like they were telling it through us.
“So they got to tell the world about their own little version of Jacob, and that was really cool for us.
“The biggest thing that helped me was when we put the article out there and made it public, even Renae said it, that it looked like I’d got a weight off my shoulders and I did. But the hardest part was not forgetting me and Renae and Milla our daughter who is growing up so quickly as well.”
The other reason for their public campaign which includes supporting former rugby league player Mat Rogers’ 4 ASD Kids charity is to help those who aren’t affected by autism to understand what it’s like for those who are.
“Before we’d gone through our stuff with Jacob, I’d heard of autism but I didn’t know what it was or how it affected the kid or the family,” said Ingles.
“It made you sit back and not judge people. You see a kid crying on the plane and you don’t know what’s going on.
“We used to do it, we’d sit on a plane as a 21-year-old and think ‘be quiet’ but once you understand there’s a lot going on in the world, you think differently and that’s why we think we can make an impact.”
Ingles, Renae and the kids only returned to Salt Lake City on the weekend after spending the NBA off-season in Melbourne where Renae played her final season of Super Netball for the Vixens.
They switched roles with Ingles going into “dad duty” as best he could in between travelling to China for the FIBA World Cup where the Boomers lost the bronze medal match to Spain.
“I haven’t fully reflected on it yet, everything happens so quickly, we flew out of there and by the time I got back it was full on with the kids and getting the house ready and sending stuff back over,” he said.
“Then we landed (in Utah), next day we had medicals, the next day was media and now training camp.
“I think about it (world cup) in little bits and pieces, some missed opportunities that we put ourselves in a really good position and didn’t capitalise on it.
“There’s always going to be fuel for the fire (towards Tokyo Olympics) until we get what we want done, and that’s not just the players but the fans go through that and the media that supports us.
“We have believed since the last campaign a few years ago that we have a team that can win it, and we didn’t capitalise on it.”
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While in Melbourne, Ingles and Renae also officially opened a new sensory room at Marvel Stadium which provides an environment for children with special needs and their families to access during major sporting events.
The pair also hope to tackle the Kokoda Trek next year as part of a fundraiser for 4 ASD Kids.
reece.homfray@news.com.au