A member of the Australian wheelchair rugby squad, Scott Vitale’s ability to overcome obstacles is a testament to his ‘never give up’ attitude to life.

In 2001, Scott broke his neck during a motorbike accident and as a result became a quadriplegic. When in hospital undergoing rehabilitation, Scott was shown a wheelchair rugby demonstration. Immediately drawn to the sport’s hard hitting nature, he began playing ‘murderball’ in December 2002. Less than one year later, he was selected to represent Australia at the Oceania Zonal Championships in Japan.  

Amanda Carter is one of the great comeback stories of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. At the Sydney 2000 Games, Amanda ruptured a tendon off her elbow against fierce rivals Canada. Knocked onto her right side, Amanda’s arm became trapped under her wheelchair, leaving the Dandenong Rangers star requiring an elbow reconstruction.

From the country town of Horsham in Victoria to the heights of American basketball, Jannik Blair is a star in the making.

Since first playing wheelchair basketball in 2005, Jannik plays for the Dandenong Rangers in the National Wheelchair Basketball League, where his impressive form as a one-pointer caught the interest of Australian men’s wheelchair basketball coach Ben Ettridge. He soon made his Australian debut in 2009 Asia Oceania Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Dandenong, which he considers one of his proudest moments.

Michelle Rzepecki has been training with the Australian squad since 2011 and having played goalball for much of the past decade, is hoping to become a permanent fixture on the Australian women’s team.

Having played for New South Wales at a number of national championships, winning the 2004 championships against a strong Queensland side has been the highlight of Michelle’s goalball career so far. She has also watched goalball change significantly in the past 10 years and is a strong supporter of growing the sport in Australia.

Maddison Elliot is just like any 13-year-old girl. She likes to skip, talk to her friends and play with her ipad. But unlike most 12-year-olds, Maddison is making a splash on the international swimming stage.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy which affects her right side when she was four, Maddison is aiming to compete at the Paralympic Games and is the youngest member of the Australian shadow squad for the London 2012 Paralympics.

Maddison made her international debut at the 2009 Youth Paralympic Games in Melbourne, where she won a stunning five gold medals.

Like many of his teammates, Nick Taylor competed at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. But unlike members of the gold medal winning Australian team, he did not win a gold medal, instead playing for his native South Africa. Having now moved to Australia, Nick is looking to fulfil his dream and take home gold for his adopted country.

The story of Lance Armstrong’s battle to overcome cancer and reach the heights of sporting greatness is widely publicised. Looking up to his hero, the sporting exploits of Australian wheelchair basketball Adam Deans may too go down in sporting folk lore one day, as the up-coming basketball star looks to make his place in history at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

It’s been a meteoric rise in wheelchair rugby for Darwin born Cody Meakin. Since taking up the sport in 2010, he made his first Australian side for the Great Britain Cup in 2011 and believes his best form is yet to come, with his eyes firmly on the London Paralympic Games.

Growing up, Cody was like any other teenage boy – he loved his cars, loved his music and loved playing rugby. Now in his early 20s, he still loves all those things except he now plays a different style of rugby.

When Chris Bond was 19, he became suddenly ill with a rare form of leukaemia. During treatment, he contracted a severe bowl infection that sent him into septic shock. The infection spread through his body and quickly developed into gangrene and with his life in the balance, doctors made the decision to amputate both his legs below the knee, his left wrist and all but one of his fingers on his right hand, before he could continue his cancer treatment.

Ben Newton loves sport. He watches it, wants to work in it and in 2004 started playing it when he first took up wheelchair rugby.

He has since crafted a blossoming career in wheelchair rugby, having won the National Wheelchair Rugby League with New South Wales five times. In 2010 he relocated to Brisbane and was named in the All-Star 4, was then selected to the national squad and in 2011 made his international debut by helping Australia win the Great Britain Cup.