00:00 Hi, my name's Denny Jeffrey. I'm from Marooba in Sydney and we're here today in the sunny Canberra
00:05 playing against a whole bunch of other teams in a club challenge for wheelchair AFL.
00:09 So I started playing wheelchair AFL only last year but I had a history of wheelchair sports
00:15 prior to that and I was actually a wheelchair tennis player on the circuit until
00:20 injury forced me off the circuit. Two years into my supposed retirement I got itchy feet so to
00:25 speak and jumped back in a wheelchair and discovered AFL last year. I lost my leg nearly
00:32 five years ago, heard about wheelchair AFL but there was nothing happening in the Illawarra which
00:37 is where I live so finally had the chance last year to have a go, ended up being the only one
00:43 that turned up so then decided to bite the bullet and drive up to Bankstown to participate in
00:49 training and we're now looking at setting up a hub in the Illawarra starting in about a month or so
00:54 so hopefully be able to train a little bit closer to home and bring some more people into the sport.
00:59 One of the greatest aspects of this sport is that we bring people from all walks of life.
01:04 Some people are only early days in a wheelchair for example or with a disability that prevents
01:10 them from being able to play a run on the field type sport so we bring them in and we introduce
01:14 them to the chair, we introduce them to the sport. They may be an AFL fan and they probably thought
01:18 wow I can never play AFL but we put them in a chair, we teach them the skills, we show them
01:22 that you can do it and they build their confidence. I think you need purpose in life. I work you know
01:30 full-time as well so this is a bit of an outlet for me but I also love the camaraderie and it's
01:35 great to catch up with the different people at the carnivals and whether it's at the championships or
01:40 just at these hubs and also yeah just to showcase your skills. I love the inclusiveness in the
01:46 wheelchair AFL and I love how it gives a chance for sort of the middle level players to actually
01:53 shine. It's great playing wheelchair AFL because anyone can play. It's just a fun sport to play
02:00 and makes me happy and everyone is just so friendly and welcoming. My dream for wheelchair AFL would
02:05 be to increase participation and overall and also for females as well so to see it grow more
02:14 over the next few years. So anyone's curious about wanting to know what wheelchair AFL is about just
02:18 come along to one of the hubs and have a go. Seriously you'll meet some great people and
02:22 you'll pick up some skills and you'll have some fun. It's there for everybody. You come in and
02:27 just try and push around a bit, learn the skills. It's a sport for everyone. It doesn't matter
02:32 whether you're disabled, it doesn't matter whether you're able-bodied, it doesn't matter how old you
02:35 are, it doesn't matter what your disability is, it doesn't matter who you are, what you do, come
02:39 and have a go. It's a fantastic sport and it rivals the on-field game. And you might find that you've
02:45 got a new sport that looks just like I do.
02:52 (clanging)
02:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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