Current waterskiing world champion and five-time Australian champion, Jason Sleep, is providing opportunities for children living with disabilities.

A keen competitive water skier, Sleep was injured in a quad bike accident which made him a paraplegic. Growing up in a water skiing family, Sleep did not let his accident stop him from excelling on the water-ski circuit.

Becoming an Active After-school Communities (AASC) community coach in 2009, Sleep has delivered 60 wheelchair basketball sessions at 22 different schools throughout Victoria.

Sleep said that despite being based in Bendigo, he travels long distances to smaller country towns to deliver his sessions.

‘I take my trailer of wheelchairs with me and my sessions consist of games of wheelchair basketball with modified rules, as well as other fun activities such as relays.

‘The children are often so captivated by the activities that I allow the session to go longer than the allocated one-hour time slot.'

Sleep says the activities are educational for children and provides them with the knowledge that sport and physical activity is available to everyone.

In addition to providing children with this rare opportunity, Jason works as an ambassador for Disability Sport and Recreation, a not-for-profit health-promoting peak organisation for the disability sport and recreation sector in Victoria.

He regularly participates in the Wheel Talk Disability Education Program which educates youth on the skills and abilities of people with a disability, athletes with a disability, and the important issue of spinal cord injury and disability prevention.