Impairment Information |
Type of Impairment |
Cerebral Palsy |
Origin of Impairment |
Congenital |
Classification |
T36, F36 |
Further Personal Information |
Residence |
Hamilton, NZL |
Occupation |
Athlete, Student |
Languages |
English |
Higher education |
Social and Behavioral Science - University of Waikato: Hamilton, NZL |
Sport Specific Information |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She began competing in Para athletics at age 16 in 2017, at the Halberg Junior Disability Games in New Zealand. |
Why this sport? |
She comes from an enthusiastic sporting family that always supported her to do physical activities. "I did ballet and played netball and hockey. I also tried athletics, where I sprinted alongside the able-bodied kids at the Te Aroha club [New Zealand]. I played hockey for the school team and I enjoyed it but I found playing a team sport tough because of my lack of hearing." In 2017 she took part in badminton, swimming, triathlon and athletics at the Halberg Junior Disability Games in Auckland, New Zealand, and after realising she had a talent in athletics, she went on to compete at other events and began training for international competitions. "At the Halberg Disability Games I took part in athletics and afterwards a coach came up to me and said I had talent and should pursue it." |
Club / Team |
Hamilton City Hawks: New Zealand |
Name of coach |
Alan MacDonald [personal], from 2018 |
Training Regime |
Regular pain in her muscles mean she is restricted to train two weekly sessions on the track. This condition pushed her and her coach, Alan MacDonald, to adopt a different focus on training. "Many other athletes train every day to improve and I can't do that, so we've taken a different approach. Alan intends to target quality over quantity and he often says once you lose that quality there is not much point in training anymore. We just do what is needed." She also does one strength and conditioning session a week. |
Senior International Debut |
Year |
2019 |
Competing for |
New Zealand |
Tournament |
World Championships |
Location |
Dubai, UAE |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
Dani (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019; Instagram profile, 14 May 2020) |
Hobbies |
Reading, swimming. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019; Paralympics New Zealand YouTube channel, 20 May 2020) |
Most influential person in career |
Her mother Tracy. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019) |
Hero / Idol |
New Zealand sprinter Zoe Hobbs. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"Focus only on yourself, you can only control what you do." (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019) |
Awards and honours |
In 2018 she was named Best Female Para Athlete at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletic Association [NZSSAA] track, road and field championships. (NZ Paralympic Team Twitter page, 05 Dec 2018) |
Ambitions |
To compete at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019) |
Impairment |
She was born with severe jaundice, cerebral palsy and 80-90% hearing loss. (stuff.co.nz, 05 Feb 2018) |
Other information |
HEARING CHALLENGES
She was born with around 10% hearing. She has had cochlear implants in both ears, but still faces challenges in competition. "I have had to re-train myself to hear again since getting the cochlear implants. I struggle to hear the loudspeaker at events and it is also sometimes hard for me to hear the starting instructions, so that is why I ask for an assistant. If I do not do what I am supposed to, the assistant will tap me. Also my reaction time isn't that good, because it takes me a long time to hear the gun." (athletics.org.nz, 06 Jun 2019) |
