MERRITT Amber

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (communitynews.com.au, 02 Dec 2016)

Impairment Details
She was born with talipes equinovarus [club foot]. The Achilles tendon in her left foot stopped growing when she was still in her mother's womb. Her foot rotated because of the tight tendon. As a child she had several operations to correct the problem. Her left leg is less developed and smaller than her right. (paralympic.org.au, 11 Mar 2012; wheelchairbasketball.ca, 30 Jun 2011; communitynews.com.au, 02 Dec 2016)

General
TOUGH TIMES
She says she had to work with a sports psychologist after watching her teammates retire from the sport and not qualifying for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I remember being that new person coming into the team and looking up to athletes like Liesl Tesch and Kylie Gauci and I was always looking up to them like wanting to learn so much. And then after the London Games happened, a few athletes retired and people were like, 'Amber, you're now seen as a senior member of this team.' And I'm like, 'No I'm not, I'm not even 20 yet. Like, please don't say that about me!' And then eventually, after working with some sports psychs and having those conversations, I was able to come to terms with, 'okay, you are a leader in this team and what does a leader need to demonstrate for this team' and I started to create my own kind of leadership within myself to then put out to the team. And I faced battles. When we didn't qualify for Rio, I wanted to retire and then, ever since that point, I've always been like in the back of my mind questioning my sanity with this. But I always want to push on because I love it so much. And I'm so passionate about it." (sirensport.com.au, 16 Feb 2021)

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
In May 2020 she became part of the Australian Institute of Sport [AIS] Lifeline Community Custodians, a community engagement programme that focuses on increasing awareness around suicide prevention and mental health. "I'm not ashamed to admit I've had some really poor mental health in my life. And I've not been ashamed to now [speaking in 2021] admit that, I mean, two years ago, I was in hospital for an incident because my mental health just wasn't right. And then I stepped away from it. I had to reassess my life completely. And fortunately, now, I'm not ashamed, I'm very open about it, because I know that every athlete, at some point will struggle, in some way, shape, or form." (sirensport.com.au, 16 Feb 2021; Lifeline WA Facebook page, 16 Sep 2020; sportaus.gov.au, 04 May 2020)

PARALYMPIC EXPERIENCE
She was part of the Australian women's wheelchair basketball team that won silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. "Honestly, my parents in London, they were amazing, but my mum missed half of the quarterfinal and semifinal into the gold medal game because she was so nervous. She actually stood off and she was in the bar chugging beers because she was just so nervous for us. I ran out with the team [after] and we saw our families and we hugged them. And the first thing my mum said was, 'I missed it!' Good one, Jenny." (sirensport.com.au, 16 Feb 2021)

FROM ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA
Born in England, at age 10 she moved with her parents to Perth, WA, Australia. (paralympic.org, 02 Sep 2012)