Mobility Blog

Paralympic Year!

Hi there readers, a lot has happened since my last blog and the last two months have absolutely flown by with games, travel, holidays and getting back to work here in Italy.

Firstly, we reached the midway point of the season before Christmas picking up a good win and a narrow loss to finish equal second on the ladder, which in turn has qualified us for the preliminary rounds of the all important Coppa Italia (Italian Cup). It’s never good going home at Christmas time with your last game being a losing one, but there were some positives to take away from it and I think with the New Year and a focused resolve we will only improve in 2012.

I would like to wish everyone out there a Buon Natale e Cappo Danno and hope that your festive season was as great as mine. Hugo’s first Christmas was always going to be a special occasion and once he recovered from the jetlag of returning to Australia he soaked up every minute of attention from Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and the multitude of friends we caught up with while we were back. The two weeks absolutely flew by and while we all wished we could stay at home for just a little bit longer we bundled back out to the airport (it seems like we live there!!!) and headed back to Italia.

Getting back into the habit of training is always a bit difficult, even after a short break, but with the motivation of losing my ‘Christmas cheer’ I got straight back into it and we have since come away with our first win of the year against Torino, far to the country’s north (read a nine hour bus ride that took us straight to the game because we stopped too long for lunch on the way, priorities right!!??).

My next Rollers commitments are in early February for our first training camp of the 2012 Paralympic year, it will be great to see where everyone is at physically in their preparations for London; however I don’t relish the fact we are travelling again so soon! This trip is not all hard work, as we will get to enjoy the extra special occasion of my younger brother getting married in Melbourne, I am proud to say I will be the best man for the event and can’t wait to help him and his fiancée celebrate in style!

I am sure you have all heard of or seen the Segway personal mobility device (for followers of the Aussie cricket team I believe one of the cameramen at the boxing day test fell off one in the field!), well a friend of mine got the opportunity to try one out here in Italy a Segway made for wheelchair users! I kid you not, the machine utilizes the same principals as a standing Segway, just in a seated position, and has enough support that it can be used by anyone that can manually transfer. The kicker is it costs around 10,000 euro and weighs in at a hefty 70 kilos, but the manufacturer suggests it can fit into the back of a Smart car (I will believe that when I see it!) and is designed to run on a sandy beach. I’m not sure when these will reach an Australian market but I can just see a few of these cruising the beaches of Perth very soon!

Stay tuned and enjoy the Perth summer as we shiver through winter here on the other side of the world!

The machine was reportedly caused a nuisance to residents after it was driven through a field, scaring wild deer and annoying neighbours, the Yorkshire Post said today.

Doncaster Councillor Cynthia Ransome said the machine, which was seized on Sunday with the help of local police officers, was a "feat of engineering" - but that noisy vehicles annoy residents immensely while terrifying both local wildlife and walkers.

The council released a photograph of the supercharged scooter on its Facebook page.

The 24-year-old owner was able to claim the scooter back after paying a fee and agreeing not to cause a nuisance again, the council told the BBC.

Mobility scooters are commonly used by people who, due to age or disability, have difficulty getting about - but the owner of the seized vehicle was not thought to be disabled.

La Dolce Vita

Well it has been a little while since my last blog, but this will be the first one from our new home in Rome!

The first thing I want to talk about is our journey here with a 2 month old baby Hugo, over the years I have experienced many flights with the screaming baby up front so I know what it could have been like but we must have had some serious karma up our sleeves as the guy was an absolute little champ on the way over, sleeping for most of the flight and only really waking to have a feed or change, but I think the thing that most impressed me was he equalized the air pressure all by himself on take-off while his mum and dad watched nervously with dummy, bottle and toys at the ready!

Arriving back at Fiumicino airport brought back a lot of memories for me, it has been four years since I played in Italy and even though my Italian was a little rusty we got the basics sorted out pretty quickly: setting up house; re-learning to drive on the other side of the road; Italian SIM card; internet at home and getting reacquainted with my old friend the Diavola pizza (hot salami pizza with olives)!

We then settled into a pretty heavy training regime as the two other Australian players here (Michael and Brad) and I were preparing for the qualifying tournament for the London Paralympics as well as getting straight into the Italian League.  Playing for a new team there is always a bit of settling in period but luckily I knew most of the guys already which made the transition a bit easier and this showed on the court  as we put four games on the trot into the win column.

Paralympic Qualifiers

It felt like no sooner had we arrived in Italy I had to leave again, which was made much more difficult as I was now heading to South Korea for the next  10 days and I had not been apart from Hugo for more than a weekend before. I can tell you that while Skype is a fantastic thing there is no substitute for a hug from my boy J.

It was great to catch up with the Rollers again though as we embarked upon the next step in our journey towards defending our gold medal in London. The Asia Oceana zone allows two teams to qualify for the Paralympic Games which means four of the six teams there miss out and as expected there was some heated competition for those spots. The Rollers made it through to the tournament undefeated, but the final pool game between Japan and South Korea was an absolute nailbiter with the hometown heroes going down by one point to round out the two London qualifiers.

So with Japan, and most importantly, the Aussie Rollers booking their tickets to London we were on the first plane back to Rome and a family reunion! Look out for my next blog for an insight into Italian life and a round-up of our tough games ahead, ciao ciao! 

Guest blogger Justin Eveson pops into Bluesky to give us all an update on his preparations for London 2012...

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Unthinkable…

Well, those of you that read my previous blog will know that the Perth Wheelcats were heading towards the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) finals full of confidence in bringing back a 6^th consecutive national championship.

How wrong we were.

The Wollongong Roller Hawks also came to the finals with something to prove and prove it they did, by beating us twice over the course of the weekend to take away the championship. Now, I am not one to make excuses and I will certainly not start now, the better prepared team went away deserved winners and in my mind it is now a new challenge for some of our younger players, to take that taste of defeat and to turn it around and create their own dynasty in the future.

This was not the only basketball for me in September.  I was also busy preparing for the Rollers selection camp for the team to travel to South Korea in November to qualify for the London Paralympic Games. As part of these preparations I have been doing some ground breaking work with the WA Institute of Sport in utilizing their brand new treadmill that was able to fit my basketball wheelchair on board. Under the guidance of Sacha Fulton we were able to develop a test to measure my fitness level (VO2 Max) from which we can then design a specific program to improve my overall chair speed on the court…. quite exciting really!

At the end of September I headed over to ‘sunny’ Canberra for our selection camp. It was a camp with a difference really as each on court session was a scrimmage session (meaning we played controlled matches against each other)… now this is my kind of camp!

The Australian Institute of Sport really is a world class facility in terms of the sport facilities, recovery centre, gym and of course the food hall, but the best part is certainly our recovery routine, consisting of jumping into 14 degree water for 10 mins after each session (we never enjoy it, however it is an important part of recovering for the next session).

Selection in the team is never a given and I am proud to say I will be once again representing Australia at our next international competition, slipping that green and gold jersey over your head is always a proud moment, and never one I take for granted.

My next challenge comes in the form of our rapidly growing bundle of joy Hugo, as my wife and I prepare to relocate to Rome, Italy in order to best prepare for London 2012. My next blog will tell you about our travels and my return to the European professional wheelchair basketball leagues so stay tuned!

The Bluesky team are proud to introduce our new guest blogger, Paralympic gold medal winning captain of the Australian wheelchair basketball team Justin Eveson. Over the coming months, Justin will be updating us regularly with his team's preparations for the 2012 Paralympics in London.  

Best of luck Justin, from the Bluesky team!

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Hi there readers,

As this is my first ever blog, I should start off by giving you some background on who I am and what I do... otherwise this blog will probably not make much sense to you at all!

My name is Justin Eveson, I was born and raised here in the greatest city in the world, Perth, and I am fortunate enough to be involved in the sport of wheelchair basketball. From humble beginnings as a youngster I have managed to ride the sport to the highest level, been a member of the Australian Paralympic Team since 2000, encompassing the last 3 Paralympic Games (with an eye on attending my 4^th next year in London) and played professional wheelchair basketball in a multitude of European countries.

But before we get into the elite level of the sport I wanted to start with something a little closer to my heart, the Western Australian team in the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL), the Perth Wheelcats.

Over the past 10 years I have come to realise that the Wheelcats are no ordinary team.  I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with 6 National Championships, 5 of which occurred consecutively.  However, it is not simply Championships that set this team apart.

The thing that makes this team so special is the bond we share from having developed our love of the sport as young kids through the mentorship of one of the greatest men this sport has ever known in Frank Ponta (RIP) and the development program of Wheelchair Sports WA.

This has lead us down the path to success and glory, but more importantly, it has seen us through hard times both on and off the court and has helped develop us into the men (and women) that we now are.

In this series of blogs I would like to share with you my personal experiences, as an athlete with a disability playing wheelchair basketball for state and country, of which hopefully you can relate to while finding my particular brand of humour amusing!

The Perth Wheelcats just ended our 2011 regular season and once again finished as minor premiers, our last games of the season were against the Brisbane Spinning Bullets.  While we took care of them comfortably, considering our run of injuries and illness to key players, it was the perfect opportunity for our younger, less experienced players to step up and push for selection into the team that will travel to the finals in September (this year being hosted by the Bullets).

Now while this did not occur unfortunately, I still think it was a timely reminder for the team as a whole that even though we finished the home and away season with only one loss, now is not the time to relax, but to make that final push towards our 6^th consecutive championship.

Upping the ante at training is always challenging but this month I believe I came across my greatest ever challenge, fatherhood. I became a father to my son Hugo Eveson on the 10^th August 2011 and while the lack of sleep, nappy changing and getting peed on (he has remarkable aim!) are not the most fun things in the world, the whole package of bath time, cuddles on my chest and his overall perfectness make this already the best experience of my life. Getting back to the routine of training after we returned home last week has been challenging, but I can think of no greater motivation than making my son proud of me when we look back upon my sporting career together.

I do realise this blog is becoming somewhat of a short novel.  Now introductions have been made things will be a little sharper; next month I look forward to chatting about the Perth Wheelcats and the NWBL Finals (which will also double as the first time I am away from the little guy) and my preparations for the Australian Rollers selection camp.   We are looking to qualify for the London Paralympic Games which are less than a year away... yes even the reigning Paralympic and World Champions have to qualify!

Until next time

Justin

The WA State Government has recently announced $1m in funding for eligible West Australians to receive the Equipment for Living Grant. 

The grant (up to $5000) will assist eligible individuals or sponsor organisations on behalf of individuals to purchase mobility equipment including:

• Electrically operated adjustable beds to make caring easier for families and unpaid carers
• Items that children/individuals are learning to use, and are not available through Community Aids and Equipment (CAEP) scheme due to restrictions regarding only one piece of mobility equipment being funded
• Car seats for children and adults and occupant restraint for travelling in vehicles
• Light weight inverters to power breathing equipment that fit a wheelchair better than the current larger inverter
• Alternative positional items for people with complex needs
• Electronic mobility aids for people with vision impairments
• Environmental controls
• Personal hygiene equipment such as bidets
• Assistive communication technology such as telephone adaptations

The grant will be administered through the Independent Living Centre (ILC) of WA.

Submissions for the grant are open from 15th July 2011 to Friday 9th September 2011.

For further information on eligibility please visit the ILC grant information page.

Please note Bluesky Healthcare have no association with the ILC or the Equipment for Living Grant, all enquiries about the grant should be directed to the ILC.