It's been barely a year since Jarrod Emeny started playing wheelchair basketball, but just last weekend at the 2019 Wheelchair Basketball Country Cup, his side came away with silver against one of the strongest teams in the sport.
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Jarrod says his path to basketball wasn't how you'd expect.
"I was actually approached by Wheelchair Sports NSW when I was in rehab, getting into a sport can help keep your mind off things," he said.
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"A friend I met five years ago played wheelchair basketball for Australia - Grant Mizens - I learned a lot from him. When I had my accident I felt like I could relate to Grant because he had his accident when he was about 17 and he went straight into basketball, so I had a mentor almost from the start.
"Pretty much as soon as I had my accident, I was like 'hell yeah, I can play'."
Jarrod went into the competition, which was held in Narrabeen, to play for Blues Academy Dark with almost no idea what was in store and he says things were a bit tough early on.
"It went really well, I didn't really know what I was doing going into it seeing as I'd never done this type of comp before. But at first I thought it was going to be a lower level competition," he said.
"Instead we played against people who were from, you know, the age of 20 up to 65 with a lot of experience and game time with their team.
"Our team hadn't played together as a unit before so we got flogged in the first two games, but then we figured out how to work together as a team and then we just started dropping numbers on everyone."
Pretty much as soon as I had my accident, I was like 'hell yeah, I can play'.
- Jarrod Emeny on his path to basketball
Despite coming in second against the Illawarra team, Jarrod says they didn't make it easy for the side to get their 50-32 win.
"One of the best shooters in Australia at the moment was on our team and he was dropping them like there was no tomorrow," he said.
"That last game we had the biggest crowd and everyone said it was the best final game they've seen.
"The team we played in the final had won the last 8 years in a row. Normally going into a gold medal game, you'd get flogged, but we held them by a couple of points until half way, we were holding them really well the whole time.
"They had to work for it, they didn't just walk in and start scoring."
Jarrod juggles time in the gym, studying for his HSC and getting court time in to better his skills. He says he hopes to go to uni and play wheelchair basketball at a higher level.
