From the basketball court to the pool, from Paralympic gold to becoming a beginner again, Tim Maloney OAM believes in the power of activity.
When it comes to keeping busy through sport, Tim Maloney has a wide roster of things that make him fulfilled.
“People say that I’m an adrenaline junkie and I guess I am to a certain degree, I will put tanks on my back and go under water, I will jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane,” Tim says.
A world-record holder in his classification in track at the age of 17, and a member of the gold medal winning wheelchair basketball team at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, after first competing in Barcelona in 1992, Tim is always looking for the next thing to try.
He was one of the first people to go underwater in the newly-invented Immersion Therapy with Determined2 in Adelaide in 2014, before being employed by the outfit and he is now on their development team. Immersion Therapy was a chance for the qualified SCUBA diver to get back into the water in a new way.
“For me it was all about getting back into the water and relaxing. Because I’m sitting all day, every day, my spine gets the ability to decompress in the water which I find really beneficial,” Tim says.
He also gets to witness other participants in Immersion Therapy – an experience which he never tires of.
“For me, the most beautiful thing is before someone that goes in for their first time, it doesn’t matter the disability, if you are non-verbal or verbal, it doesn’t make any difference, the face is always anxious,” Tim says.
“But then the beams of sunlight that come off that person when they come out of the water for the first time, they’re incredible, whether they’re non verbal, the screams of delight or pure joy of someone talking to you and saying the never thought they’d be able to stand on their head, or walk on the bottom of the pool or walk full stop, it has that intense high of changing a person’s world. And I’ve seen it hundreds of times!”
Not content with Paralympic basketball success, or the life-changing magic of Immersion Therapy, Tim started fencing in 2020.
“I took up fencing during Covid – you’re practically dressed in PPE and if anyone gets too close you poke them with a sword,” he says, joking that fencing is naturally socially-distanced.
“It was recreation and it had a nice social aspect to it and it was fun.”
It’s why he believes there is a sport for everyone – you just need to think about what interests you and find the sport to match.
“You’ve got to choose the sport that works for you. For example, if you are not confident in a team environment then basketball is not your thing,, look up other sports, like fencing for example, or you could do athletics or race walking or so many other things that are available you just need to choose the one that works for you.
“Sometimes that means having a try at a couple of different things. If team sports are not your thing that’s okay, there are other options. If you like pirates and Star Wars, take up fencing. Want to throw things? Look at shot put, discus and javelin – it really is up to you.”
And there’s never any shame in being a beginner, Tim stresses.
“We have all been there, you are not going to be put straight into high level sport, you are going in with a bunch of beginners, and even if they are better than you it wasn’t that long ago they were in the same space.”
The reason it’s worth pushing through any nervousness or apprehension is because of the whole-of-life benefits participating in sport can bring, Tim says.
“If you only leave the house to go to medical appointments, it really does make you isolated. The psychosocial benefits of getting out into any community group, be it sport, recreation or a hobby gets you out of the house, meeting people, developing social network, people of common interest, is so, so good. From there you are amazed at what can actually happen.”
