#NVW2021: Josh Hanlon thanks the volunteers who make para snow sports possible

Para alpine skier Josh Hanlon is one of the developing athletes in the Snow Australia para snow sports program and he recognises the contribution volunteers have made to his life.

In fact it was a volunteer-focused organisation, Disabled Winter Sports Australia (DWA), that supported his passion for snow sports from the start.

“[They] were definitely the biggest help at the beginning. They sorted all the gear out, they taught me how to get going and pointed me in the right direction to start my journey into the sport,” he said.

Josh’s journey into para alpine skiing is fairly recent as his first time on the slopes was in 2019. He got nationally classified in the same year and now, just two years later, he’s already looking forward to trying to qualify for the next Paralympic Winter Games.

Many people do not know what a classifier does, but it’s a volunteer role that underpins the credibility of para sports competitions. 

The classification process determines which athletes are eligible to compete and how athletes are grouped together, according to the degree of activity limitation resulting from their impairment. This helps with creating a level playing field and ensuring fairness in competition. 

“Classifiers are so important for para snow sports and they volunteer so much of their time to classify us nationally and internationally. What they do is huge, constantly travelling around and giving up their weekends to support us,” Josh said.

Leanne Rees is a Melbourne-based physiotherapist who has been volunteering as a classifier at national and international level for the past 13 years. 

“I really only noticed adaptive skiing for the first time when I was in Whistler, Canada, while I was taking a year off from physiotherapy. When I came back to Australia I started working in a spinal injury unit, so I got more exposed to adaptive sports and I became aware of the role of classification,” she said.

At the time Leanne had already started volunteering with DWA, so she made further enquiries through Paralympics Australia and ended up participating in specific training recognised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). 

“There was a course in New Zealand that year, so I paid for myself to go over and do that training. That’s how I became an international classifier,” she said.

Like Leanne, thousands of people across Australia give up their time and money to support sport at all levels, from grassroots to high performance. Leanne said that one of the most rewarding things for her is getting to play a part in the athletes’ journey, following them as they progress through their careers. 

“For example, I remember Tori [Victoria Pendergast, Australia's first ever female sit skier at the Winter Paralympics] when she was young and it was lovely to see her grow as an athlete and then go on to compete at the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games.

“But with any athlete, the commitment that goes into competing at that level is very admirable. So it's always exciting when you see someone grow and achieve success internationally,” she said.

In volunteering, Leanne also found an opportunity to build new relationships and be part of the wider sporting community, meeting a diverse group of people that she wouldn’t necessarily come across in her day-to-day life. 

“I’ve got friends all over the world now and I wouldn’t have that privilege without my involvement in para sports, so I feel very fortunate about that,” she said.

As research shows that up to a quarter of Australian sport’s 3.1 million volunteers are considering whether to return after the challenges posed by COVID-19, volunteers are needed now more than ever to rebuild sporting communities and our nation’s passion for sport. 

“It’s like a game of Jenga,” Leanne said jokingly. “We’re the building blocks and if you start taking out too many at the base, the whole building falls apart.”

“Come back, we really need you,” echoed Josh, who volunteers himself and also supports his partner running Activate Inclusion Days and other Disability Sport Australia activities. For him, volunteering is a way to give back to the sport and follow the example of those who helped him get a start in his career.

“Volunteering at those events is also a great way to learn a thing or two you didn’t know already about the sport, and there’s always a role for everyone. There have been plenty of young kids out of school who have been giving up their time to help run those events and we are very grateful for that,” he said. 

📷 |Volunteer Leanne Rees travelled to South Korea for an IPC Classification training