James McQuillan presented and answered questions from gathered students and community members at Nanneella Estate Primary School on Thursday. Photos: Matthew Kappos.
Students and community members at St Joseph’s Rochester and Nanneella Estate Primary School enjoyed an informative visit from Paralympic medallist and former local James McQuillan on Thursday.
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The wheelchair rugby star, who grew up on a dairy farm at Nanneella and attended St Joseph’s, Echuca, took an opportunity to return home and speak to locals about his journey to the bronze medal at Paris 2024.
He visited St Joseph’s, Rochester, earlier in the day before making an afternoon presentation at Nanneella Estate Primary.
McQuillan was left a quadriplegic at 20 years old after suffering a spinal injury playing football for the Albury Tigers in 2014.
During his presentation, McQuillan detailed those first weeks and months of surgery and rehabilitation that resulted after his injury and how he was feeling during that time.
He admitted to being scared but emphasised the need to let people know how you were feeling, regretting not sharing his emotions with his loved ones sooner after the accident.
McQuillan also encouraged the kids to get active during his talk, demonstrating the range of movement he has.
James McQuillan brought along his Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medal on his visit to St Joseph’s Rochester and Nanneella Estate Primary.
Photo by
Matthew Kappos
The home-grown star, who now lives in Melbourne, fell into the sport of wheelchair rugby, volunteering to fill in for a few games at his local club in 2021.
“I filled in for three games and after the third game the assistant coach of the Australian team was down there playing and came over and said ‘Mate, I reckon you might want to come over and try to train and play for the national team,’” McQuillan said.
“I laughed at him because I thought that was absolutely ridiculous.”
In less than a year McQuillan was a world championship winner with the Steelers and then went on to claim a bronze medal at this year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
The Australian Steelers came within seconds of securing a place in the gold medal match, going down narrowly to eventual winner Japan in the semi-final, before rebounding to avenge a group stage loss to Great Britain in the bronze medal contest.
McQuillan brought his silverware with him on his visit, giving the gathered students and community members a photo opportunity with a piece of history.
The deceptively heavy bronze medal features a piece of the Eiffel Tower, preserved from a recent refurbishment.
Being from Nanneella, McQuillan was familiar with plenty of the community members in attendance.
“Mum used to be a school teacher here, so she knows the school group really well,” he said.
“It’s teachers and friends (here) as well, so they’ve all come in for a listen today, which was fun.
“A lot of them wouldn’t have heard me speak before so hopefully they found it interesting.”
McQuillan was hopeful he had made an impression on the local students.
“They had great questions,” he said.
“They’re all really interested and they all had lots of really interesting thoughts about what being in a wheelchair would be like, so I think they learnt a bit, which is great.”
