Stephen’s story: a dedicated leader with a passion for sport

He trains multiple times during the week, participates in competitions and attends meetings about how his sport is being run.

Through Special Olympics Australia, the national sporting organisation for people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, Stephen has represented his home State of Queensland in National competitions over the past 20 years.

He has competed in basketball, swimming, tennis, ten pin bowling and recently competed in the 2022 Special Olympics Australia National Games, held in Launceston, Tasmania, in October last year, in his latest sport of golf.

The biggest goal Stephen has for his golfing career is to go a step further than he did with other sports. He is hoping to represent Australia in golf.

Growing up with sport

Stephen’s mother, Barbara, and his sister, Kim, played representative basketball and he grew up with sport being an important part of family life.

In 1995, the family heard about a local basketball program that might suit Stephen, but when they arrived at the recreation centre they found there was little structure to the program.

Kim says, “Within two weeks mum and I were helping coach and setting up some structure and then we developed it into a regular weekly basketball competition.”

And that’s where the involvement with Special Olympics began.

The leadership role

Aside from competing, Stephen is a dedicated leader with the organisation and represents his club and State on boards, like the national Athlete Input Council.

The Athlete Input Council is a forum for athletes to share their ideas and opinions about Special Olympics programs, giving them the opportunity to guide the running of the organisation, be role models and develop their own skills.

Stephen says it’s important that athletes take on leadership roles like he has, particularly if they are at the end of their sporting careers, because they have a lot of experience and knowledge they can contribute. 

Having a leadership role also means they can continue to be involved in Special Olympics and sharing their valuable input after they have stopped playing sport.

“There’s other avenues to go into after you’ve completed your sport,” says Stephen.

“We want to get the Special Olympics movement, even though it’s run by volunteers, …to have it run so that it benefits the athletes.”

He says the more that athletes are involved in leadership, the more the programs will benefit them.

Through his leadership Stephen has been working with Special Olympics Australia, alongside other athletes and volunteers, to build selection processes for competitions that reward dedication as well as natural talent.

As a result of this, selectors now consider the commitment and effort an athlete has shown as part of the selection process.

Stephen believes it is important that athletes who have shown dedication to their training and have worked hard are rewarded by being chosen to represent their local clubs, States and country over others around selection time.

As part of his leadership activities Stephen has also had many opportunities to develop his independence, confidence and life skills.

One of his biggest achievements, Stephen says, was making a speech at the closing ceremony of the 2006 National Games on the Gold Coast – in front of 2,500 people.

He is now on a mission to encourage athletes to take control of the Special Olympics organisation, the way it is run and the programs offered by becoming leaders themselves.

“If I can do this then after your career this is something you can do,” he says.

Life outside of sport

Stephen’s other interests involve music and movies and he is known for his wide range in taste – listening to everything from opera singers to Eminem, R’n’B to rock music.

“I like my music as it makes time go by, I use it to tune and remove the chaos of my mind, and my mood depicts the genre of music I listen to,” Stephen explains.

He works three days a week at the Cerebral Palsy League Resource and Toy Library, which hires out disability-specific resources to support providers like occupational therapists and schools.

“I enjoy working as it gives me routine and inclusion, and the benefit of working at a job I enjoy is good for my whole self,” says Stephen.

Once a week Stephen uses funding in his National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan to attend exercise physiology with a support worker, and sometimes for the support worker to go to the movies with him after the appointment.

The support worker transports him to and from the appointments, as he doesn’t drive, but Stephen does make his own way to work by catching a bus and a train.

He says he would like to use his NDIS funding to become even more independent and move out of the family home.

“I’d like to be able to have a bit of independence,” Stephen says.

“At the moment I’m living with mum so I would like to eventually, if I can get financially stable, have my own unit and have Supported Independent Living where I’d have a support worker to come in and help me with basic day-to-day cooking or if I need someone to come and clean.”