Sport
10 November, 2024
Goannas’ Asia Pacific Champs
Jarrod McEwen-Young and the Goannas have won the Asia Pacific Deaf Basketball Championships.
Jarrod McEwen-Young and the Goannas have won the Asia Pacific Deaf Basketball Championships and qualified for the Deaflympics next year.
Jarrod has played for the Goannas – Deaf Basketball Australia’s men’s team – for the past six years.
Mostly recently, he performed brilliantly as a forward/centre in the Asia Pacific Deaf Basketball Championships, held in Melbourne at the State Basketball Centre.
The competition took place from Saturday, September 21 to Sunday, September 29.
Teams from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Mongolia, and Chinese Taipei competed to qualify for the Deaflympics – the Deaf Olympics – to be held in Tokyo next year (2025).
When deaf athletes play professionally, they are not allowed any hearing aids. Usually, Jarrod hears well with the help of a cochlear implant. But whenever he is on the field, he takes it out.
The Goannas won convincingly in all their Championship games: 125-25 against Hong Kong, 123-48 against Mongolia, 107-51 against Chinese Taipei, and 106-56 against Japan who they fought in the finals, qualifying them for the Deaflympics.
Before he played for the Goannas, Jarrod was part of Deaf Basketball Australia’s under-21s team, the Geckos.
He successfully tried out for the Geckos when he was still in school.
Back then, his mother Leanne McEwen explained, they raised funds through the community to give Jarrod the chance to pursue basketball.
“When he went to the under-21s deaf championships, we fundraised to make [the trip] possible,” she said.
“We held a raffle to help him out, and the community supported him a lot. We’re very grateful to the Gilgandra community for their support.
“We are very proud parents.”
It didn’t take long for Jarrod to be given a spot on the men’s national representative team; the Goannas.
Nowadays, Jarrod travels to Melbourne – where most deaf basketballers gather – to train.
Off court, Jarrod studies a Bachelor of Medical Radiation Science at Newcastle University.
