Vision impaired NSW cricketer Courtney Webeck has an “anything is possible” strategy to sport and the 19-year-old resides that ethos to the complete on the National Cricket Inclusion Championships (NCIC) in Brisbane.
Webeck hails from a farm in Gloucester the place a trusty border collie-cross named Ted has been her ball fetcher since she took up the sport with the Sydney Thunder in October.
Now she is considered one of two females on the NSW blind or imaginative and prescient impaired facet that received the nationwide grand ultimate in Brisbane.
Her father Peter, two labradors – Coco and Milo – and dependable Ted ensured she obtained the coaching in.
“I don’t have anyone to train with, being about four hours north of Sydney,” Webeck instructed AAP.
“Dad doesn’t want to chase the ball so he has a couple of dogs that fetch it. It is pretty cool. I just hit the ball and the dogs run.
“Ted is about six months previous and he’s superb. He brings it again every time. He has misplaced his job as a cattle canine, so he’s the cricket canine now.”
Webeck has an eye fixed situation that she says is “like trying by actual thick fog”.
“What you see at 95 metres I’ve to see at six metres away to see it the identical,” she stated.
“It is a big problem however there are such a lot of nice function fashions on the NSW group and that makes you consider in your self.
“My parents let me do anything. I ride horses. No matter the sport, I just go for it. What could possibly go wrong?
“Anything is feasible. We all push one another to do nice issues.”
Webeck is a cricket allrounder and a sporting allrounder too. She won the national B2 tennis title at the Australian Blind and Low Vision Championships in Melbourne last year after taking up that sport in April.
At this year’s Australian Open the Bachelor of Agriculture student played against former Australian tennis star Alicia Molik, who wore darkened glasses, to raise awareness of blind and vision impaired tennis.
“It was a tremendous alternative to play with a former phrase No.8 and Olympian to only present her what it’s like being visually impaired or completely blind,” Webeck stated.
“We have gotten a bell in a foam ball and play on a shorter court docket however she discovered it fairly exhausting to have one thing taken away that she makes use of day-after-day.
“You have to use all your senses in so many different ways and it really put it in perspective for her.
“Having Alicia try this, as such an excellent function mannequin, was an excellent step ahead.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
