WAIS athletes Shaun Norris and Nigel Barley have shared top honours at the 2012 Wheelchair Sports WA’s Sports Star of the Year Awards.
The pair both returned home with silver medals from the 2012 London Paralympics Games, with Norris one of the stars of the Australian Rollers men’s wheelchair basketball team, whilst Barley created history, winning Australia’s first ever medal in the sport of hand-cycling.
Norris’ performances in London, combined with his role as the captain of the Be Active Perth Wheelcats, made it hard for the selection committee to look past him.
At just 27 years of age, Norris is a 3-time Paralympian after winning silver in Athens (2004) and gold in Beijing (2008) and says the silver in London has ensured there is still a little bit of fire left in the belly.
“Yeah it does leave a little bit of a sour taste in your mouth, I honestly believe we were, and still are the better team than the Canadians that beat us in London”
“When you sit back and reflect on the Games, I mean I am still very proud to have been able to come away from London with a silver medal.”
With London behind him now, Shaun will look ahead to Rio and the 2016 Paralympic Games.
“2013 will be a bit of an off year for most of us so my attention will turn to helping get the Be Active Perth Wheelcats back on top. We’ve won silver the past two seasons and that’s not a feeling we are particularly used to,” he said.
Parkerville resident Nigel Barley accepted the award for a second year in a row, after an incredible 2012 campaign.
Barley won the award based on his history making performances at the Paralympic Games in London earlier this year where he won Australia’s first ever medal in the sport of hand-cycling after taking home silver in the Time Trial.
“It took a while to sink in, especially because I had to get ready for the road race a couple of days later, but I’ve taken the medal out a few times since I’ve been home just to have a look at it and reflect a little bit and yeah, it’s a pretty amazing feeling,” he said.
Barley has dominated the National circuit for a number of years with 2012 marking his eighth consecutive National title.
The Paralympic debutant also broke through for his maiden international win in 2012 with a World Cup win in Spain against the same field he would later race at the London Paralympic Games.
“I came away from Spain with good form, and that’s what cycling is all about is good form. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t,” he said.
“I started sort of middle of the field and I knew there were some good cyclists behind me. I knew I’d put in a good time trial because I’d caught up to the rider in front of me but I had to wait and see people come in across the line without really knowing where I had placed.”
Rounding out a successful night for WAIS scholarship holders, Australian Gliders representative Amber Merritt claimed the Junior Sports Star Award.
The 19 year old Wanneroo resident won the award after she dominated the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball league and backed that up with a highly successful campaign at the 2012 London Paralympics, where in her first appearance at that level, she helped the Gliders to a silver medal.
Merritt was the leading scorer for the Australians in London despite coming off the bench in every game.
Her size, speed and ability to control the tempo of a game was one of the key factors in the Gliders reaching their second ever gold medal match, and it’s hard to believe the young talent, won’t add further medals to her collection in the years to come.
“I didn’t have any real expectations going into London, so to come away with a silver medal in my first ever Paralympics was incredible” Merritt said when questioned about her experiences in London.
“We were obviously disappointed not to have won gold, especially seeing as we had beaten Germany a number of times in lead up tournaments, but we are now ranked second in the world which is a pretty amazing feeling.”
When accepting the award, Merritt was very quick to recognize the people that had helped her achieve so much in such a short space of time.
“Of course I’d like to thank all of my coaches and teammates that I’ve had along the way but above all else I’d like to say thank you to my parents who have supported me in everything that I’ve ever done, both on and away from the court.”
– Wheelchair Sports WA
