THE START LINE
Your Para Sport Journey
Begins Here
Aaryan Shah has climbed Machu Picchu, gone canyon swinging in New Zealand and dodged piranhas in the Amazon.
He’s done radio broadcasting, likes to try exotic foods like snails and alligator, and found time to gone on safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara.
“I’ve always been one of those people that just likes to try random things,” the 25-year-old said.
“I like trying weird stuff. I’m just like, ‘Why not?’ Yeah, it’s unconventional, but why not try it?”
The challenge for Shah now is to harness his daredevil tendencies into a sport which demands, as he describes it, robotic and metronomic discipline.
Shah has been selected in the Australian team for the Boccia World Championships in Seoul, South Korea, between August 24 and September 4. He is the fresh face in the squad, alongside Paralympic Games silver and bronze medallist Dan Michel and ramp operator Ash Maddern, and Paralympic Games silver medallist Jamieson Leeson and ramp operator Jasmine Haydon.
It’s a Paralympics audition playing against the world’s best, so it’s exciting.
Michel and Maddern are the reigning men’s BC3 world champions from the 2022 event in Rio, Leeson and her then-ramp operator Amanda Leeson won world championship silver in the female BC3 and Michel and Leeson won gold in the mixed pairs BC3.
Michel is ranked No.2 in the world in his classification and Leeson is ranked No.3. Shah plays in the BC2 classification and will enter his first championships ranked No.22.
He said his selection came as a big surprise as he hadn’t realised he had gone up the rankings so much, propelled in part by his silver medal at the World Boccia Challenger in Canberra last year, whose attendees included the Governor-General and the Federal Minister for Sport.
“I was like, ‘What the hell? This is crazy’. It was quite as surreal thing,” he said of being named in the squad.
“The ironic thing about it all was, this year was meant to be a year to focus on uni, doing my Honours in psychology, but now there’s a live opportunity for the Paralympics in LA.”
“They were like, ‘If you urinate in here, piranhas will come and eat you’. But I was like, ‘Why not take the risk?’” Aaryan Shah.
Shah admits, however, there is plenty of work to do to cement his place among Australia’s and the world’s best players and potentially qualify to compete at the Paralympics.
“What I’m mostly focusing on now is getting the fundamental shots right, getting the draws and the drives and everything that separates the top players from everyone else.” he said.
“It’s about how well they just do the basics; they’re almost robotic and metronomic. I think I have a little while to go.”
He’s got the talent, he’s got the mindset. He just needs to go and attack it.
Shah anticipates a stern test in Seoul.
“When you’re at the Worlds, you can’t make little mistakes or you’ll get absolutely punished,” he said. “You give those top players any little sniff and they’ll take you down.
“There are definitely some areas I really need to work on, but it’s a pretty cool opportunity. It’s a Paralympics audition playing against the world’s best, so it’s exciting.”
Backing Shah will be his training partner, Scott Elsworth, who represented Australia in boccia at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
“Having someone like that to train against and chat with about different things – and just backing you – he does it because he wants me to do well,” Shah said of Elsworth.
“We have great chats about being successful, which I think is a really beautiful, powerful thing.”
Shah wasn’t even born when Elsworth competed at the Games, but it hasn’t stopped them forming a friendship.
“He’s an up and coming athlete with plenty of potential,” Elsworth said.
They were like, ‘If you urinate in here, piranhas will come and eat you’. But I was like, ‘Why not take the risk?
“It’s great to see new players coming through. He’s got the talent, he’s got the mindset. He just needs to go and attack it.”
Much like Shah attacks life in general.
“I do a lot of stuff. I love to exercise, stay fit. I do a lot of swimming and walking, physio and things like that. I also study, I want to practice and do my masters. Hopefully I’ll become a clinical psych, or even a sports psych, which would be cool.”
Shah credits his family for inspiring his positive outlook and wanderlust.
“I’ve been so lucky, they’ve always encouraged me to do everything and they’ve made so many things possible for me,” he said.
“Even if it’s been tricky, they’ve always just instilled that attitude in me that you can do anything and you can make everything possible. That’s been really powerful and just enabled me to go do whatever I want.”
Asked what his favourite travel experience was, he said: “Getting a piggyback to the top of Machu Picchu is probably close. My mum found this company which had a bunch of porters, so they piggybacked me in a chair, it was so fun.
“The canyon swing in New Zealand was pretty crazy and so was swimming in the Amazon.
“They were like, ‘If you urinate in here, piranhas will come and eat you’ and all this stuff. But I was like, ‘If we’re allowed to go in, why not take the risk? Why not do it?’
“It’s amazing the influence a family can have on you. It changes the way you perceive the world.
It’s meant that I’ve lived such a rich life so far.
“Regardless of how many barriers there are – we haven’t been to the most wheelchair accessible places – but my brother and my dad will help with most of the physical stuff, my mum does so much research to make sure it can be as successful as possible.
“It’s meant that I’ve lived such a rich life so far.”
Your Para Sport Journey
Begins Here
Paralympics Australia is only able to continue doing its work driving the Paralympic Movement forward in Australia because of the generous support it receives from Government, Corporate Partners and donors.
The focus continues to be on delivering teams to each Summer and Winter Paralympic Games and supporting Para athletes as they enter and progress through the Para sport system and into their post-sporting careers.
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