Lauren Caulfield at Australian Youth Paralympic Games
23 December 2009
The Australian Paralympic Youth Games were held in Melbourne from Monday 5th October to Sunday 11th October 2009.
It was the first of event of its kind in Australia and provided national and international standard competition in 6 Paralympic sports. Athletes from all states of Australia and countries from around the world took part in the games (eg. New Zealand, New Guinea and the US). In total, approximately 250 athletes competed in the games.
Lauren has Cerebral Palsy which causes stiffness and tightness in her muscles from the waist down, making it difficult for her to balance when walking and difficult for her to kick when swimming. She has been swimming since she was first diagnosed at about 18 months of age for both enjoyment and as a form of physiotherapy and rehabilitation from the various operations she has had to undergo to treat her condition. Lauren now swims at Swimland and has swum in Gold swims from 3 km up to her most recent 8km Gold swim in June this year.
Lauren first got involved with the Australian Paralympics Committee in March 2009 when she was invited to attend a Paralympic talent search which allowed children with disabilities to try out in a number of different Paralympic sports. In June she was invited to go along to a training day for the Victorian Swimming Team and was subsequently invited to join the Victorian team to participate in the 2009 Australian Paralympic Youth Games. A series of training sessions were then held on Sunday mornings in Richmond in preparation for the games. Lauren swam at all of these training sessions except for one which she attended but didn't swim in as she was recovering from an operation she had had 2 days earlier to remove a screw from a plate in her right knee.
Lauren was one of 56 participants representing Victoria, and swam in four swimming events which were held on Days 3 and 4 of the games (Wednesday and Thursday).
Lauren swam in Girls U15 400m Free, Girls U14 50m Free, Girls 100m Free and Girls 50m Back. Lauren won a Bronze medal in the first swimming event of the games in the 400m freestyle with a time of 8:33.12. She placed seventh in each of the other events beating her previous Personal Bests in 100m free and 50m free by 5 and 4 seconds. She swam only half a second outside her PB in 50 backstroke, which was her last race of the games (perhaps the busy week had caught up by then).
All athletes stayed in the Athlete's Village situated at the Sebel Citygate Hotel on Queens Road Albert Park, and when they were not competing, went along to show support in other sporting events taking place throughout the week. The games week ended with a formal Closing Ceremony in the Grand Waldorf Ballroom at the Sebel Citygate followed by the Athletes Party on the Saturday night. Althletes left for home on the Sunday morning with many new friends and experiences to put smiles on the faces of all involved.
Overall, the games proved to be a fantastic experience for Lauren. She has made quite a lot of new friendships and competed with some very inspirational people.
Click Here to see a highlights clip on the Wheelchair Sports web site in which Lauren appears briefly (Day 3 clip) as well as the signs Nathan had hanging in the stands.