Dylan Streller’s love of sport was almost taken from him on Australia Day 2008.
Streller, 18, was doing what thousands of young people have done over the years when he suffered an injury that changed his life forever.
The Lavington youngster was mucking around on a rope swing at the Murray River at Oddies Park when he fell onto a sand bar, suffering major spinal damage.
The former champion springboard diver and football player was left a quadriplegic.
But rather than wallow in self-pity, the sports-loving teenager has thrown himself into wheelchair rugby, an often brutal sport originally known as “murderball”.
The sport includes elements of wheelchair basketball, ice hockey, handball and rugby and is played indoors on a hardwood court.
Physical contact between wheelchairs is an integral part of the game.
The seeds of Streller’s foray into wheelchair rugby were planted when he was recovering at Melbourne’s Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre soon after his accident.
With members of the Victorian wheelchair rugby squad training at the centre, Streller’s imagination was captured.
“When I was in hospital, the Victorian team was training and I watched them every time they came ... I got to know a couple of the boys and I’ve been hooked on it ever since,” he says.
“It’s addictive.”
The Starlight Foundation played a major role in making it possible for Streller to take-up the sport, giving him a $10,000 wheelchair designed specifically for rugby.
He hasn’t looked back.
Streller drives down to Melbourne every week to compete at club level in the Victorian Wheelchair Rugby League, and as well as being able to satisfy his competitive urges, he says the sport also helps him release pent-up aggression.
“I really love sport and rugby gets my frustration out of me,” he says.
“You do get frustrated about things here sometimes, so I just head down to Melbourne and play rugby.
“I drive up and down on the same day to play and practise — in my first season we got to the grand final.
“It’s really good.”
Streller admits games can get heated but believes the sport isn’t as rough as it looks.
“I think it’s pretty easy actually, it sounds worse than it actually is,” he laughs.
“I’ve been lucky enough not to be knocked out of the chair yet, you do see it quite a lot — everyone gets knocked out sooner or later.”
What is important to the former James Fallon student is the fact that he’s competing.
The under-16 NSW Combined High Schools springboard gold medallist says he was terrified of sport being taken away from him after his fall at Oddies Park.
“I was worried at the start, definitely,” he said.
“I’d hate not to be able to do it (play sport) ... I just love getting out there.”
And after a tumultuous two years, the positive youngster has his eye on representing not just his state, but Australia, in his adopted sport.
“I’m hoping to make the Australian team but that will probably take a couple of years,” he says.
“I’d have to make the Victorian team first, but you have to train all the time down in Melbourne and I can’t do that at the moment.
“I’ll have to see how it goes.”
- Streller is the third nomination for the 2010 Norske Skog Young Achiever Award. He will be among 12 nominees who will be honoured during an awards dinner in Albury.
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