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My name is Zara Perry, I am a 19-year-old Para-athlete with low vision, and I have dreamt of becoming a Paralympian for what seems like forever. Para-sport is my life, whether I’m training and competing, or writing and speaking about it as an advocate. But sport is never a one-person show.
Let me explain…
I have an old photograph of myself from 2013 – I was eight years old – at a Disabled Wintersport Australia (DWA) introduction camp. In the photo, I’m sitting on the floor of Finsko’s lodge in Jindabyne with an athlete who is now one of Australia’s most renowned winter Paralympians, Melissa Perrine.
The presentation she gave helped me start to realise how successful an athlete with low vision – an athlete like me – could be. Not only that, but she was also so clearly in love with her sport and told her story with confidence. Along with Mel’s green nail polish, I vividly remember thinking to myself that I would get there one day too. Somehow.
My story is full of moments like this, where athletes and coaches have inspired, supported, and guided me.
I currently represent Australia on our national women’s goalball team, the Aussie Belles. More recently, I also transitioned from recreational alpine skiing into ski racing and, previously, I competed in Para-athletics for nearly 10 years, which is where I discovered my love of sport.
I’m lucky enough to have grown up in the Para-sport community, surrounded by a plethora of talent across a range of sports. However, it’s only since stepping back into the Para-alpine space with mature eyes that I’ve started to fully understand how impactful this community can be. For emerging athletes in particular, the mentors and role models we connect with through sport are a defining factor in our careers and our lives. They help shape our mindset, self-confidence, and much more. Instead of just seeing our idols on posters and livestreams, we get to meet and learn from them.
Fast-forward to 2025 and I’m back at Perisher. My skiing guide Lara Gilson and I met in June and clicked right away. We attended several Para-alpine training and development camps together during the 2025 season, alongside other Emerging Talent Program (ETP) athletes, and the High Performance (HP) squad preparing for the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics. Notably, Lara and I had the opportunity to learn from a fellow VI skier, Georgia Gunew, and her guide, Ethan Jackson. The pair are set to compete at Milano Cortina 2026 and still took the time to give us valuable advice on-snow.
Several events this year also saw legends of Australian Paralympic winter sport like Mitch Gourley, Tori Pendergast, Toby Kane, Michael Milton and Mel Perrine step in as both mentors and, in Milton’s case, returning competitors.
While I can speak to my own experience as an emerging athlete, I was also curious about the perspective of these Paralympians, who sit on the other side of that dynamic. Mel took the time to discuss what it’s like to take on a role as a mentor in the growing landscape of Para-sport.
“What’s really brilliant about [Para-sport] is that the community is bonded by a shared love of the thing that you’re all doing together,” Mel said. “It’s really good to examine the role of mentors in sport, because it’s not something that’s often spoken about.
“I was incredibly lucky to have quite a few mentors over my career […] I learnt the power for good that a mentor can have. To simply be someone’s ear in a really trying time or, you know, share a joy that may not seem big to other people, […] or just be a place of, or a person of, comfort and understanding in what can be a very tumultuous world or moment.
“If I can do that for other athletes, the way it was done for me, then I think it’s worthwhile, because that kind of lived experience, it would be sad if it just went out of the sporting world.”
Mel also shared the importance of making the most of the dynamic, saying, “if you do have that mentor figure in your life or a couple of them, be willing to listen to the hard truths as well as just the good supportive things that they might say. That’s super important if you want to grow as an athlete.”
One of my 2025 sporting highlights – and a lovely full-circle moment – was the chance to ski with Mel at Snow Australia’s Spring Adaptive Festival. And while there was no green nail polish in sight this time, the little girl in me who’d sat enthralled by her at the DWA camp in 2013 was grinning from ear-to-ear.
As elite athletes, we strive for excellence at the highest level. However, alongside our goals and aspirations, Para-sport is also about the joy and power in a community. It is the bonds of shared determination, shared love of the sports we’ve chosen to dedicate ourselves to, and shared life-experience that have often kept me going on the days when it’s all felt too hard.
Seeing our stories reflected in someone else’s is incredibly powerful and might just push some of us to go further than we ever thought we could.
By Zara Perry , Paralympics Australia.
Published 23 October, 2025.
