TYNDALL’S TOKYO THRILL
COMPETING AT PARALYMPICS STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF FOR TYNDALL WHO ENJOYS TIME ON BIG STAGE
If you had asked Jeremy Tyndall what his sporting dream was 10 years ago, there is no way known suiting up for the Australian Rollers at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics would have crossed his mind.
Growing up in the small Goulburn Valley town of Waaia Tyndall was sports mad as a kid, showing great talent as a footballer, captaining the Murray Bushrangers’ under-15 squad, as well as taking a liking to cricket and motorbike riding.
Seemingly destined for a long career for his home town Bombers, fate would get in the way in 2012 when he crashed in a motorbike race, resulting in the then 16-year-old breaking his back.
Losing the ability to walk, Tyndall was quickly approached by current Rollers player Jannik Blair to give wheelchair basketball a crack and a new dream was born — to get to the Paralympics.
Now nine years removed from the incident, Tyndall achieved this goal, taking his place as part of the Rollers team that finished fifth at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
He described what was a surreal experience taking part in one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
“It was a great experience, obviously going to the Paralympics itself is a great accomplishment — obviously with the COVID restrictions it did make it a little bit testing at times,” Tyndall said.
“Being able to play in the stadiums we played in was unreal and something we don’t often get the opportunity to do here in Australia, so despite those little hurdles it was still an unbelievable experience and something I am very fortunate to have been a part of.”
In what was his debut appearance on the Paralympic stage, he described the build up to that first game.
“I was probably a bit more nervous than I expected — but once we got out there and got into the warm-up and started getting stuck into it they started to die down a bit,” he said.
“You feel like ‘yeah I am up for this’ and once you get going and calm down you feel good, so there were definitely a few nerves, but nothing too crazy once we got started.”
Beginning with convincing wins against Iran, Algeria and Germany, the Rollers would hit a road block in their final two group games falling to the USA and Great Britain, before losing to host Japan in the quarter-final.
Securing fifth position with a playoff victory against Turkey, Tyndall said the competition certainly went up a few gears on the Paralympic stage.
“The intensity absolutely went up, you are playing against the world’s best and facing a team like the USA, who were the dominant team, that was pretty impressive to see just how well drilled they are as a team — I noticed if you made one little mistake they pounce and make the most of it, so I really had to be on my game,” he said.
“For us it was probably a disappointing finish, we were coming in expecting to finish a bit higher and hoping to win a medal, so finishing fifth definitely was not what we were after — our best basketball was a top three contender, but unfortunately we didn’t bring that out consistently and that cost us in the end.”
Watching on from thousands of kilometres away, Tyndall said the support of his beloved Waaia community gave him a much-needed boost throughout the cut-throat tournament.
“All the support from everyone back home was massive, they really got around me and got involved in it and showed a lot of support by everyone watching and just getting a lot of messages sent to me,” he said.
“It is a good feeling knowing you have a lot of people backing you, so I am really grateful for the whole Waaia community for supporting me over the past two weeks.”
Now back on Australian soil completing a stint of hotel quarantine, he is gearing up for what is set to be another busy period for the national wheelchair basketball team.
“It is a quick turnaround with the world championships coming up in Dubai late next year, so we have our qualifiers for that in March and if we make it through to the worlds that is something I will be aiming to be selected for,” he said.
BEING ABLE TO PLAY IN THE STADIUMS WE PLAYED IN WAS UNREAL AND SOMETHING WE DON’T OFTEN GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO HERE IN AUSTRALIA, SO DESPITE THOSE LITTLE HURDLES IT WAS STILL AN UNBELIEVABLE EXPERIENCE AND SOMETHING I AM VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF.