Michelle Rzepecki

Michelle Rzepecki

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Rzepecki
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1986-11-06) 6 November 1986 Wollstonecraft, New South Wales
Height	173 centimetres (68 in) (2012)
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Goalball

Michelle Rzepecki (born 6 November 1986) is an Australian goalball player classified as a B3 competitor. She made her debut for the Australia women's national goalball team at the 2011 African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in goalball.

Personal life

Rzepecki was born on 6 November 1986 in Wollstonecraft, New South Wales,^[1] and is 173 centimetres (68 in) tall.^[2] She has the visual disability rod monochromatism, which she acquired at birth.^[1][3] She can play the saxophone and piano.^[1] Rzepecki is a third-generation Australian, as her grandfather moved to Australia from Germany.^[1] While attending Castle Hill High School,^[4] she returned to the country of her grandfather's birth to do study abroad that was funded by a scholarship from the Society for Australian-German Student Exchange Inc.^[4] She also lived in Bolivia for a while, working at a school for children with visual impairments. While there, she introduced the children to goalball.^[1] Part of her work in the country was funded by a mini-grant.^[5] As of 2012, she works as a Sydney Tower Skywalk guide.^[1]

Goalball

Rzepecki is a goalball player, and for visual disability sports, is classified as a B3 competitor.^[1] She is a centre and winger.^[2][6] She has a goalball scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport.^[7] Rzepecki started playing the sport in 2002.^[1] She competed at the 2004 Australian National Goalball Championships, playing for the New South Wales goalball team which beat the Queensland goalball team in the finals.^[1] In 2011, Rzepecki made her national team debut during the African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition.^{[1][2][8][9][10]} She played in the game against the New Zealand women's national goalball team that Australia won.^[9][10][11] As a member of the 2011 team, she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup.^{[8][11][12][13]}

The Australian Paralympic Committee had chosen to work on her development as a goalball player with the idea that she might be able to qualify for, and win a medal at, the 2016 Summer Paralympics.^[13] She was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics,^{[1][3][7][12][14]} in what would be her debut Games.^[7] That the team qualifyied for the Games came as a surprise, as the Australian Paralympic Committee had been working on player development with an idea of the team qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.^[12] An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics, when they earned an automatic selection as hosts, and the team finished last in the competition.^[12][15] Going into the Paralympics, her team was ranked eighth in the world.^[7] In the 2012 Summer Paralympics tournament, the Belles played games against Japan, Canada, the United States and Sweden. They lost every game, and did not advance to the finals.^[16]

References

External links

• "Michelle Rzepecki - Goalball". Australian Broadcasting Commission. Retrieved 22 May 2013. 

v t e Australia women's national goalball team – 2012 Summer Paralympics 1 Jennifer Blow 2 Meica Christensen 3 Tyan Taylor 4 Nicole Esdaile 5 Rachel Henderson 6 Michelle Rzepecki 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . Coach: Georgina Kenaghan