MILNE Jonathon

Classification
Open (World Archery, 11 Jan 2021)

Type of Impairment
Spinal Cord Injuries (bluemountainsgazette.com.au, 21 Oct 2019)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (bluemountainsgazette.com.au, 21 Oct 2019)

Impairment Details
He has quadriplegia as the result of an accident while swimming in the sea in 2012. He was on a beach holiday with his wife Sarah when he misjudged a routine dive into the ocean. "My wife and I were about three metres off shore, I dived through a wave and my hands went into the gully of a sandbar and my forehead just clipped it. I came up out of the water and wanted to pull my feet underneath me but they didn't move. I could feel them on the sand but couldn't move them. I knew straight away. I couldn't stand up. I put two and two together. It was just one of those things. It was two and a half to three months before I started doing any walking. I can now drive a car without assistance and I can walk short distances with ­crutches, but I don't have any core stability." (Athlete, 23 Aug 2015; bluemountainsgazette.com.au, 21 Oct 2019)

General
DISTANCE COACHING
While training during the COVID-19 pandemic he was able to receive coaching through an app produced by Paralympics Australia called 'Paralympic Connect'. "One of Paralympics Australia's skills acquisition guys, he's in South Australia, and every Friday he jumps on and we have a group training session. His job is to design training programs that put me under 'tournament pressure' and to work out how that affects my shooting and what we can try to do to mitigate that stress. Because when your heart rate gets up, it changes the feeling of everything in a sport like archery. So you have to put yourself in those situations during training, so that when you get to a tournament, you're not trying to figure it all out on the run. So like I said, because he's based in South Australia, it's a big help for him to be able to jump on Paralympic Connect and be able to just watch the training session, get that visual feedback, and get a better idea of what he can do to change it up, to put more pressure on." (paralympic.org.au, 17 Jul 2020)

SUPPORT FROM WIFE
His wife Sarah worked overtime to allow him to pursue his Para archery career, despite having initial doubts about the sport. "Sarah thought archery was a bit of a weird choice as I had never showed any interest in it before my accident, but if it wasn't for her I would probably never have accomplished everything I have. She works extremely hard in her job which allows me to not have to work full-time and train. She also loves to travel so if I do well I get to travel around the world, which is a good excuse [for her] to come with me." (paralympic.org, 15 Jan 2019)

COACHING
He has had a supporting coaching role in the Australian national Para archery team. "I have started doing some coaching with other archers that have come to me for help. I'm really enjoying seeing them improve. I want to see them get the same enjoyment out of it as what I've done." (paralympic.org, 15 Jan 2019)