‘Amazing’: Legendary local a step closer to sporting dream

The Gympie athlete has another year of training, camps and selection camp, before the final decision for Tokyo is made

Gympie basketballer Steven Elliot said he is one step closer to his dream of being a Paralympian.

GYMPIE basketball star Steven Elliot is a step closer to fulfilling his dream of being a Paralympian after being selected to the Australia Rollers squad for the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

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The long list for the team was announced earlier this month and Elliot said he found out when it was released online earlier this month.

Elliot has an intense training schedule in the lead up to 2021 Paralympic selections, and trains 11 times a week.

“It’s a long list so it’ll get cut down to 12 people for Tokyo, but basically I found out when it hit Facebook,” Elliot said

Elliot was previously one of 30 people on the long list for the 2020 games before they were postponed, but said he would not have known until closer to the games if he was in the 12.

Elliot said his training schedule for the selection was intense.

Elliot said he found out he was selected for the squad’s long list earlier this month.

“With the games postponed we now have another year of training, camps and selection camp before it,” he said.

“Between on court and in gyms at the moment we’re hitting 11 sessions a week, and we’ll just continue that and the sessions will get more intense leading up to Tokyo.

“We’re not sure about camps at the moment because of the current situation but we’re going to keep training hard and hopefully we don’t get shut down with any spikes of the coronavirus.”

Elliot said each week they have three sessions on court and three sessions in the gym on the Sunshine Coast, and the rest of the sessions were in Brisbane.

Elliot spent 11 weeks training in Gympie during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Elliot said being selected meant a lot to him as he was one step closer to going to a Paralympic Games.

“I managed to get a spot in the last world championships, and that was amazing,” he said.

“It gave a bit of a taste of what you need to do to be at that level and the Paralympics has been my dream and goal, so it’s just one step closer.”

Elliot moved to the Sunshine Coast a few years ago but said he “did his lockdown” back in Gympie.

“When the coronavirus was on the Sunny Coast we stayed in Gympie for 11 weeks to train,” Elliot said.

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