Hawkesbury’s Jasmine Haydon Wins Paralympic Medal
Jasmine Haydon and Jamieson Leeson in action. Picture: Courtesy Paralympics Australia
Hawkesbury has a newly-minted Paralympian medalist in Jasmine Haydon. The Bachelor of Occupational Therapy student at Western Sydney University student and good mate Jamieson Leeson won the gold/silver medal in boccia at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, capping a marathon journey of sheer hard work, and hours of training.
Their success in Paris should not be a huge surprise because they were the top ranked team in the world, going into the Paralympics, and vindicates Jasmine’s decision to team up with Jamieson, after her Mum retired as her ramp operator.
Jasmine said she is heavily motivated by two siblings at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Having a brother and sister with several disabilities, the 23-year-old Hawkesbury local always wanted to study Occupational Therapy (OT) so that she could help her family and others.
Boccia is a sport for athletes in wheelchairs with severe physical impairments affecting all four limbs. Jasmine, who has represented Indigenous Australia in Oztag, is the ramp operator who follows instructions from Jamieson to aim the ramp and then place the ball at a certain height before she tips it down the ramp and into play.
Jasmin Haydon and Jamieson Leeson with their silver medals. Picture: Courtesy Paralympics Australia
“OT’s have had a significant impact on my life with having two severely disabled siblings, I watched first-hand what positive things Occupational Therapy can do for a person and their families,” said Jasmine.
She said her mum initially pushed her towards taking up boccia seriously. “Jamieson Leeson used to have her mum Amanda as ramp operator for her, but Amanda decided to retire,” Jasmine said. “So, Amanda put an ad up on Facebook searching for someone to replace her as ramp operator for Jamieson.
“My mum saw the post and tagged me in it saying, ‘It’s a shame there’s not enough hours in the day’.”
Jasmine met Jamieson and her mum before quitting her job the very next day to commit to the sport. The rest as they say is history.
“Boccia is a target ball sport similar to bocce, there is a white ball called the jack, which is rolled down the ramp first,” Jasmine explained. “then the players have to throw or roll their balls to get as many balls as possible of their colour closest to the jack, with each ball that is closer than your opponent’s equalling one point.”
“Jamieson’s job is to tell me what to do. For example, move the ramp left or right, and I am not allowed to speak, or turn around to look at the balls or the court, and I’m not allowed to make any movements without her telling me. I must keep every piece of equipment in the box which is one metre wide.”
Jamieson told the ABC that boccia, “is not as easy as it looks”.
“It looks like you’re putting a ball on a ramp and rolling it down,” Jamieson said. “But there are so many little factors that go into, you know, whether a ball rolls straight, whether it’s the weather of the day, the humidity, the floor that the balls are rolling on.”
The Paralympic Games end on September 8. – Lawrence Machado. Published in Hills To Hawkesbury Community News