Victorian School Sports Awards 2022 – Jack
[Jack Howell]
Swim. Ride. Run.
Swim. Ride. Run.
The only thing that sort of gets me going, the only thing that pushes me along that extra step would be that willingness that one day I can represent my country at the highest level.
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Jack Howell
[Jack Howell]
My name is Jack Howell and I am a para triathlete.
Actually, the majority of my career so far has actually been racing able-bodied races with people age alike, but definitely not ability alike. Not only am I racing in some of the highest ranked age racing that I was in so, there's people three years older than me that also have two hands, that are also fully able.
If that's not challenging enough to, you know, race on the world stage, I don't know what is because I was still keeping up with them. and often times I’d find myself on the podium or if not higher and from there, like, I didn't see it at the time, but I was becoming more of a role model and I think that's amazing.
I've always been really confident in public speaking and sort of really been able to, sort of get my message out through like presentations and actually just getting out there and telling people my story.
Although I do things in my day to day life that I don't think are inspiring at all, to other people, it is an inspiring story. It's amazing how something small can change someone's life and all of a sudden they're doing things that they never thought that were going to do. And I'm so happy with that.
Being that a lot of awards that I do get are around performance and showing that you have a connection to the community and have an impact for change, it really did mean a lot to me. Sometimes being athletes, you actually get, like, bored or like sort of drawn away from those performance based awards. Whereas something like this has
more of a deeper connection and deeper meaning than just being a good sports person.
Well, I think my overall goal since I was really young was was to go to the Paralympics and the closer we, sort of, get through next year. the more excited I do get because I'm almost there. And I'd also love to represent Australia at the Paralympics in Brisbane as well. If I could get there, then that would be like, definitely a dream come true.
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Education State / Victoria State Government / Department of Education logo
Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.
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Updated