Historic change opens Little Athletics to para-athletic kids
The Australian Little Athletics Championships roars back to life post-Covid with a more inclusive program – changes Paralympian Jaryd Clifford says build visibility as much as accessibility.
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YOU can’t be what you can’t see – which is why Jaryd Clifford is thrilled that athletics is moving towards inclusion.
The 22-year-old, three-time Tokyo Paralympic medallist is proud the Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships are holding multi-class events for the first time.
“As a little athlete 10 years ago, we didn’t have the option to run as para-athletes at state or national championships. I remember raising this as a 13-year-old,” he said.
Held across Saturday and Sunday, this weekend’s Championships are happening for the first time in three years because of Covid cancellations, bringing 250 of Australia’s best little athletes from across the country to Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium.
The scoring system for multi-class athletes is Baseline Performance, a simplified way to compare performances in multi-class events. It uses a base time/distance/height in each class for each contestable event and measures this as a percentage against the individual athlete’s performance to generate a percentage score.
“With the 2032 Paralympic Games being hosted in Australia, it’s a great opportunity to start at a grassroots level,” Clifford said. “Some of these athletes could be vying for spots on the Paralympic team in 10 years.”
He believes sport has the power to change culture and create a new conversation around disability.
“When I was younger, I was an anomaly on a team, but now kids are going on teams with para-athletes and that’s normal,” he said.
“Paralympians have only ever been able to be heroes to with kids with disabilities, but now they can be a hero for any kid doing sport. This is where it’s going, I definitely noticed it after the Tokyo Games.
“Accessibility isn’t just about making you be able to do things, it’s about making things visible. If people can’t see what’s possible, they won’t know they can do it.”
That was the case for Liam Costello. The 14-year-old will be competing in the Under 15s multi-class events (100m, 200m, shot put, discus and long jump) at the Championships and wants to be a Paralympian.
His mum, Sharon, said success on the sports field allowed her son to blossom.
“He went from being the quiet, shy, disabled kid to being that sporty kid,” she said. “People started to know his name and we started to see his school grades go up a bit.
“It’s been an amazing journey – I never would have picked it. He had a tumour removed when he was three because of brain cancer and we were told he would probably decline quite quickly and would be in a wheelchair full-time by high school. To see him excel has been incredible.
“One of his goals is to be a para-athlete, once he figured out they existed. We had absolutely no idea this was even possible.”
Little Athletics clubs and centres nationally have received equipment grants and banana donations from Coles since 2017.
To celebrate Sunday’s National Banana Day, Coles is donating 10 cents from every kilo of Cavendish bananas sold instore until Tuesday 3 May, to a maximum of $150,000. All funds raised will be directed to the Coles Little Athletics Community Fund.
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