By Jessica Anstice
Berwick’s Dayna Crees received a $2000 grant thanks to funding from a charity established by Australian Paralympic Gold Medalist, Katie Kelly.
The 16-year-old has had Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia since birth.
Dayna competes as a seated thrower in F34 class in Athletics at Casey Cardinia Athletics Club. She competes in both Junior and Open classes.
Dayna is aiming for the 2019 Junior Para World Championships in Switzerland.
She has set goals of distances needed to be achieved to reach a qualifying throw to gain selection in the Australian Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The grant will be used for this campaign for Tokyo which includes Coach fees, S&C training and out of pocket for travel and competition.
Ms Kelly, who won gold in the para-triathlon at the 2018 Rio Olympics said she was delighted to see that disability sports in Australia were becoming more recognised and growing in popularity for both participants and spectators.
“Since Rio and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, we’re seeing broader awareness of disabled athletes and what they can achieve,” she said.
“This is the second year that SAF has offered grants to young athletes who have a disability, and we were overwhelmed with more than 100 applications received from across Australia.”
The idea for a foundation to help fund younger Australian’s to get into sport, came about from Ms Kelly own experience growing up with the deaf-blind condition – Usher’s Syndrome.
“A barrier to playing sport for kids who have a disability, is often the access to the right facilities and equipment,” she said.
“This is where SAF assists with its annual grants.”
To donate visit: https://au.gofundme.com/daynacrees.
