IAS Disability Athlete Zac Jones has been selected in The Pararoos, Australiaâ’s Menâ’s Paralympic Football Team. This month, they start their long road to the Rio Paralympic Games when they take part in the 2015 Cerebral Palsy Football World Championships in London from 13-28 June. Sport was always a passion for 19-year-old Zac Jones, but in his darkest moment, it also proved to be his salvation. Jones will make his international debut for the Pararoos next week in England, something that was unimaginable four years ago. In 2011, Zac suffered a serious brain injury in a skateboarding accident, when he wasn’t wearing a helmet. He spent a month on life support, and his family was told to prepare for the worst. “When Zac suffered his brain injury he became really depressed,” mum Tammy Jones said. “He basically sat at home. He was really in quite a bit of a hole, he just felt like he didn’t fit in.” Tammy was determined to find an outlet for her previously active teenager, and his sanctuary was the beautiful game. “I had a really rough patch and mum was trying to do heaps of sports, and I picked football, and I was really enjoying it,” Zac said. “Out on the soccer field he just feels part of a team,” Tammy added. “He feels that he’s contributing to a goal, and it’s given him hope. He’s just thrived since taking up football.” In addition to the weekly IAS resistance sessions in Wollongong, Zac completes the four-hour round trip from their home in Nowra to Sydney, for training twice a week. And that commitment has paid off, with Zac earning a coveted Pararoos jersey, for the prestigious World Championships. The Pararoos will not only represent Australia at the World Championships but act as true flag bearers for athletes with Cerebral Palsy, Acquired Brain Injury or symptoms resulting from stroke. The Pararoos transcend the football pitch as the team is vital to all Australians with a disability, providing an inspiring pathway for those who deserve the same opportunity as our able-bodied athletes.
