IT is hard growing up different.
Especially when a big part of your life is sport.
Sport has been my life – I’ve played it since I could and now, at age 29, I still adhere to playing cricket in summer and football in winter.
I write about sport every day in my job, and most of my free time is spent following various sporting teams.
I was born with cerebral palsy.
This is why for me, despite being more that a decade older than him, Cosimo Cirillo is an inspiration.
I’ve never been a star at any sport, I often joke when I pull out various premiership medals that I’ve made a career out of being the worst player on the best team.
Unlike me, Cirillo is a star and there’s no two ways about it.
But there’s no doubt over his life he’s experienced similar stigma and low-level bullying as I would have at some point or another just for being different.
That’s just part of human nature.
Cirillo could have easily just given it all up and not bothered to play sport, especially being from the country, where he’d have been playing almost exclusively against “able-bodied” kids who physically might have been that bit quicker and more agile.
But he persevered and now he’s representing Australia regularly.
He may even be the Pararoos’ No.1 goalkeeper now that Christopher Pyne has retired. That’s a pretty big deal.
Cirillo’s story is now beyond one of perseverance.
He’s not just making it despite barriers, he’s smashed those barriers and now he’s enjoying the successes that come with that.
Well done to him.
