I am incredibly honoured to be nominated for Deakin Alumni of the Year.

My three years at Deakin (Waurn Ponds) were so much fun and also where I made lifelong friends!

Thank you to my family for listening to me moan about the workload, for supporting me when I perhaps didn’t get the marks I had hoped for, and then celebrating with me when I graduated (and could now pay my own way!).

I’ve loved all the opportunities I’ve had to keep working with Deakin over the past 15 years (thank you Sally, Gael, Mike and Amanda).

Thank you to my best friend and partner Shane for making it possible for me to do all this in my “spare time”.

What a wonderful and unexpected honour (if you saw me in the chemistry lab you would understand).

Thanks to Deakin for proving such a nurturing learning environment and location at the Warrnambool campus and the brilliant and passionate lecturers there who inspired and continue to inspire me.

My family and friends for their unwavering support and lastly the marine animals for their endless hilarity and motivation. Cross dressing cuttles, penis throwing argonauts and seahorse males that give birth I’m talking to you.

It is an honour to receive a Deakin Alumni Award.

The support I received from Deakin University and its staff during my studies allowed me to be a student-athlete, and was a fundamental part of my journey to becoming an Olympian.

I would like to thank my parents and my brother for their support over the years, and my wife Amelia for always bringing out the best in me. I would also like to thank Athletics Australia, the Victorian Institute of Sport, and the Australian Olympic Committee for the opportunities they have provided for me to get involved, give back to my community and live my values.

It is an honour to receive the Deakin Young Alumni Excellence award.

Deakin has been such a great partner over the years, and to be recognised in this way means so much and is an amazing achievement.

I would like to say a massive thank you to my wife, Chloe for her unwavering love and support, my two boys, Finn and River who have made this life more fun and interesting than I thought possible and my parents who have been there from the start, helping me grow into the man I am today.

It is our team that bring my vision to life and so to the Sea All Dolphin Swims and SOEL crew, your passion and drive truly inspires so many, including me and I am so thankful that we are on this journey together and I look forward to the amazing years to come.

Thanks again, feeling blessed.

I am deeply honoured to be a recipient of the Deakin Alumni Award.

While overwhelmingly grateful, I do not wish for the spotlight of this award to be positioned on me, but instead for this moment to be used as a guiding light to enhance the pathways that are possible for all, as we continue to step into a world where all women and people with a disability are welcomed, celebrated, encouraged and empowered.

A purposeful thank you must be given to Deakin’s own Scott Field and Jack Duke who have lifted my spirits, standards and self belief more times than I can count.

Thank you also to Deakin University for the opportunity to develop and empower my own voice, as I push for greater investment in women, women in sport, and Paralympics Athletes as well as ensuring sport is an inclusive and safe space for everyone, as their true selves.

Thank you for the opportunity for this to be a conversation starter for current and future Deakin alumni and cheekily, here is hoping that this award propels my motivation levels to graduate from my Master of Business before the 2032 Home Paralympic Games rolls around. Who knows what incredible opportunities in sport there might be out there for a retired 2x Paralympian and Deakin alumni by then?