On top of his game
INSPIRATIONAL Burleigh bowler Jake Fehlberg has been awarded the honour of being a finalist in the Queensland Sport Awards’ Athlete with a Disability category.
Fehlberg who is vision impaired, will join mother Sheryl and father Grant (also his on-green director) at tomorrow night’s awards to be held in Brisbane.
This year he won gold in the Commonwealth Games Vision Impaired Mixed Pairs, Australian Open Vision Impaired Singles and National Blind Bowls Championships.
He also guided the Australian Vision Impaired team to trans-Tasman glory.
I spoke to him recently.
BW: When did you start playing and where?
JF: I started at Burleigh Heads aged 11 around 2005.
BW: What got you into bowls?
JF: My dad, Grant, was a bowler, a coach called Ken Spilsted was starting a junior squad, he asked me and my brother, Cody, to join in.
He was the same guy who got Sean Ingham and Scott DeJong (current Queensland reps) to start at a similar time.
BW: What impairment do you have?
JF: I have an eye disease called cone-rod dystrophy that affects my central vision, making it hard to see details. It was discovered at age 10 and my eye sight deteriorated until about age 13.
It has been more stable since then but it could further deteriorate.
BW: Can you describe what it was like to win gold on the Gold Coast?
Representing Australia was a privilege in itself, but in front of the home crowd was an amazing experience. They were the biggest crowds I had ever played in front of, with the vast majority supporting us. It was also great to have so many friends and family in the crowd, a lot of whom had never seen me represent Australia or even compete in vision impaired competition. Winning gold with my dad (Vision Impaired director) beside me just topped off what was already an unforgettable experience.
Fehlberg is a finalist in the award with his Gold Coast Games team mate Lynne Seymour along with Curtis McGrath (canoeing), David Nicholas (cycling), Lakeisha Patterson (swimming) and Tristram Peters (football).
■ The Australian Jackaroos and Emerging Jackaroos squads are on the Gold Coast for an induction/training camp. They will train at the 2020 World Championship and 2019 Asia Pacific Games venues – Helensvale, Broadbeach and Musgrave Hill.
■ Tweed Head’s Di Cunnington and Gail Crompton teamed up with Broadbeach’s Christina Pavlov to win the Gold Coast Tweed Ladies District Triples.