Josh Nicholson

Since making his international debut in 2017, wheelchair rugby player Josh Nicholson has proved time and again why he is one to watch in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Josh, who swapped a basketball for a rugby ball just five years ago, won his first major international medal in 2018 – silver at the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) Wheelchair Rugby World Championships in his home town of Sydney, NSW. Although this silver marked the end of a six-year reign for the Australian Steelers, the tournament was a prime opportunity for Josh to go toe-to-toe with the best wheelchair rugby players in the world, ahead of the Steelers’ Paralympic title defence in Tokyo.

For Josh, becoming a Paralympian would be the culmination of everything he has worked towards – for far longer than he has been playing wheelchair rugby. In fact, he was on track to represent Australia in his first love, wheelchair basketball, after making his national debut for the Queensland Cyclones in 2014. Josh was also named in the All Star Five at the 2014 Wheelchair Basketball State Championships, and junior champion with the Queensland Rolling Thunder at the 2014 Kevin Coombs Cup.

As a relative rookie in wheelchair rugby, Josh is navigating his way through entirely new territory – and his teammates are taking full advantage. He hilariously recalls three-time Paralympian Cameron Carr once telling him that a function at that year’s National Championships had a formal dress code. In the ultimate stitch-up, Cameron took Josh shopping for a tailored suit – waistcoat and all. Josh arrived at the function to see every other player, including Cameron, in their team polos.

Off the court, Josh holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Griffith University, and is currently studying a Master of Education, which he hopes to complete by 2022. He is also an actor, and earned the nickname ‘Shark Bait’ after playing a shark attack victim in a movie.