Describing himself as determined, approachable and cheeky, Tige Simmons believes in living life to the full. When not working as a marketing coordinator for Tourism Queensland, Tige definitely enjoys the outdoors. He enjoys tennis, music, sit down water-skiing and trick water-skiing, for which he has won a gold medal at the Australian National Titles.

Tige’s personal goal is to be successful and respected at sport, work and in his personal life. He hopes to become a starting player for a victorious Australian basketball team and is setting his sights on one day becoming Australian captain. He looks forward to every game he plays at an international level and aims to finish each game having put in one hundred per cent effort.

He first represented Australia as part of the gold medal winning basketball team at the 2002 FESPIC Games in Korea and subsequently won gold in the Kitakyushu Cup in Japan in both 2003 and 2004.

In 2008, Tige was part of the team that went on to win gold against Canada at the Paralympic Games. He describes defeating Canada as one of the greatest moments of his life and the feeling of winning gold for Australia as indescribable. Shortly afterwards, Tige was named in the 2008 Paralympic Team of the Year.  

Since then, Tige has been part of the rampant Rollers team which won gold medals at the 2009 World Cup, the 2010 World Championships, 2011 Asia Oceania Regional Championships and silver at the London 2012 Games.

Domestically, he plays guard for the Brisbane Spinning Bullets and was named in the NWBL All-Star Five in 2005 and 2008. A proud Queenslander, Tige’s house was left completely under water after the 2011 Brisbane floods.