UPLIFTING MUSIC Captions by Sarah Maiava. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES He'd be in the top 15 in the world in the high jump for his disability, and there's nobody in NZ that jumps as high as Jono. He could go to the highest level of the Paralympics. ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTINUES You just know where athletes have got that little X factor in them that could make them an international athlete. Jono Brownjohn could be a world-beating Paralympian, but he's at a crossroads. At 18, he's asking himself whether he can afford to go on to student life and pursue the sport he loves. (INHALES) So, yeah. PEOPLE CHATTER, SHOES SQUEAK Hey, David. How are you? Yeah, very good. Yourself? Yeah, pretty good. That's good. Oh, yeah, we're playing now. UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYERS SHOUT, SHOES SQUEAK So instead of me being not so good, I have to up my game and be at their level. Oh. LAUGHTER (GROANS COMICALLY) He's used a prosthetic leg since he was a toddler, and he works it to the limit. I've played volleyball. I've done boxing. Um, I've done cross-country. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Um... What else have I done? But now... (CLEARS THROAT) I'm just on athletics. ENGINE HUMS JOCELYN CHUCKLES I think. (CHUCKLES) He's mad about it. He's passionate about it. He's, um... Yeah, he lives with sports. Mum. Yes? Can you give me a hand? Come and do this, and I'll iron your shirt. I do not know how to do this. Jocelyn met Jono's Kiwi dad in the Philippines. She brought her two children here seven years ago for their schooling. OK. Go and get dressed. REFLECTIVE MUSIC REFLECTIVE MUSIC CONTINUES CAR ENGINES HUM Jono's school days are almost over. He's made prefect this year at New Plymouth Boys' High. You can see, look` looking at all the different, uh, things and so forth that are around, in terms of our famous men, and you are going to be part of this, OK? You will be part of the history of this school. Our greatest teams are in the 1950s, where the team never lost ` the first 15 never lost. And these are some of the head boys all the way along. There as well. Uh, this... 'Yeah, we're` we're incredibly proud of Jono. The` The achievements that he's made, not only the sporting field but also in terms of his leadership around the school, have just been outstanding. Uh, we appointed him as a prefect this year, and Jono's been an outstanding prefect, and one of the great highlights was when we acknowledged him in front of the whole school, and the whole school gave Jono a standing ovation. 'You can achieve anything in life, and then` and don't` don't take any, uh, barriers in terms of that. 'Really work hard. That's what we're about.' SCHOOL BELL RINGS, STUDENTS CHATTER He loves this high school, but his primary years were not happy ones. ...make funny noises, make funny faces, call me names, only because I had one leg. BIRDS CHIRP PENSIVE MUSIC MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC In 2014, Jono won the title Taranaki Secondary Schools CrossFit Champion against all comers. What to do next is Jono's biggest challenge. It's a crossroad for all NZ athletes as they leave school. They've had the` the protection and the support of the school environment, and` and now they're pretty much on their own, and we lose a lot of athletes in all sports, and, uh, that would be a real shame if` if Jono was lost to the system. He's got the talent, but he needs good support in` in a pathway that is unexplored, really; we` he doesn't really have mentors to follow in the Paralympic, uh, mode. BIRDS TWITTER Lock the car. There are plenty of opportunities in front of him if he chooses. Sport Taranaki has put him forward for a place in the national Paralympian development squad. He'd have to move to Dunedin, but Jono is worried about the money. Hello again. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Jono. Guy. How's things, mate? Good? Yeah. Welcome. Tell me what's been happening? Oh, just here and there, you know? (CHUCKLES) I just don't wanna end up with a big student loan. So, like any good athlete, you need to have a plan B in case you're gonna come second. So what are you gonna look at doing if you're not accepted? < And staying where? New` New Plymouth. < OK. If Jono could get a Prime Minister's Scholarship, it would cover his tuition fees and solve a lot of problems. That's just my thoughts. Would there be an advantage for you to be based in Dunedin around the High Performance Centre, where you're getting all that top-quality coaching, one-on-one, < all that stuff with nutrition, um, sports psychology? So if... < That if you` you` you just lived down there,... Yup. ...um, but you are` you are hooked into the High Performance Centre. When I went off to uni, ha` half the opportunity there was to get away from home too, uh, and to experience new things, make new friends, uh, see a bit more of the country. Um, so personal call, but I think if you're looking at your sports career, Dunedin's definitely a really really good option. Yup. But Jono remains unconvinced. All the professional advice is against it, but he thinks a gap year might be the best answer. There was an option about going to Otago` oh, going to Dunedin; um, maybe getting accommodation, uh, get a job there and earn some money. (CHUCKLES) It would mean leaving girlfriend Kiera behind. BOTH CHUCKLE Cheater. He's really cute. I dunno. Like, he does really nice stuff. (CHUCKLES) I like hanging out with him. We hang out, like, every second day almost. BOTH CHUCKLE BIRDS TWITTER (CHUCKLES) If he gets a scholarship, he'll be going to Otago. So that'll be in ` what is it ` applied science? S-Sports science? Is that right? (CLICKS FINGER) Got it. < And how does that feel? Pretty shocking, since it's just around the corner. (CHUCKLES) So, yeah, got a lot to think about. Jono will have to make a decision pretty soon. His mother is giving up the Taranaki house and moving to Papua New Guinea, where Jono's stepfather lives. (CHUCKLES) Are you coping? It's gonna be nerve-wracking. I'm gonna be pushed into the deep end to be an adult, but I guess we all need that push to be grown-up. Well, he has to decide whether he wants to go to Otago or not for sure. Well, he's really independent. He's one of the most independent people I know. You can't even dry the bottom. So he sorts everything out by himself, and he doesn't need us to push him. Mum. Here, son. > Bye. Take care. Yup. Be good. Bye. Once a week Jono travels 45 minutes to Hawera, where he has the attention of a top coach and a tough taskmaster. BOTH CHUCKLE Change your leg, Jono. (CLICKS TONGUE) Jono's an achiever. He just goes out and competes, and it doesn't matter who's there; he's competing against himself and whoever's on the court, whoever's on the track. Now he has a blade, he could be even better. Rotary and Sport Taranaki fundraised to get this for him. JONO CHUCKLES Active feet, please. BIRDS TWITTER Grab with the skips. Just go easy. If you get on seven... Before Jono got a blade, he was jumping on a walking leg, which means there was no` no spring to it whatsoever. So that's when I really had a lot of admiration for what this kid was doing, because he was` he wasn't getting anything` anything out of it. RELAXED ELECTRONIC MUSIC So now it's the blade, it's a whole different situation. So he's got this` just this little bit of a blade that he has to learn to coordinate and when and where to push off of it. RELAXED ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTINUES You have to plant that foot like this. (STOMPS) OK? (STOMPS) And we can't be going down to come up. We have to... here and react off the ground. That's what we're feeling today. BIRDS TWITTER (GRUNTS SOFTLY) It's there. BAR CLATTERS That is the best jump you've had at 70 all this year. Do up. I'm trying to get him to do some more classical high-jump technique, such as leaning away from the bar and creating a lot of space between his shoulders and the bar, because you have to put your foot down, and while it's` your foot's bending and straightening, your upper body keeps coming. So he has to be able to stay away from the bar so that when he does leave the ground, he goes straight up in the air. OK, you're starting to get into a little of that concentric stuff that we don't like. Trust yourself that you are strong enough to react off the ground and clear that. You don't have to bend yourself and push yourself over the bar, OK? Yup. (CHUCKLES) We haven't jumped this this year! (CHUCKLES) Finally. I'm not a failure. (CHUCKLES) How hard was that? Yeah. It wasn't hard. No. Jono's jumping 1.7m in practice. The NZ para-record sits at 1.72 ` just 2cm difference. Well, we got our confidence back. Yup. OK, two weeks we go 75. < (CHUCKLES) It's gonna happen. It's coming` It's there. UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC PERSON CHUCKLES > PEOPLE CHATTER SOFTLY ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTINUES 1 Nah. This will be the second time you've done the top? Third time? Fourth time you've done the top. Nice. Nice. His coach is also clear about what Jono should be doing next year. We're done here. We're gonna go down there now. Just wanna reiterate that you know that my feelings are get down to polytech, cos as far as your athletics is concerned, that's a good place for you. Raylene is down there. You have a whole support network of people in the Paralympics down there, Paralympic community, and they know that they can send me videos, and we'll talk about your training, and it'll all work out real smoothly. PEOPLE CHATTER BOTH CHUCKLE Otago's probably the one that's going through my head at the moment, not New Plymouth. Start packing. Yup. Can you get me some shoes from...? And jeans. Jono, we got heaps of these trophies of yours and medals, so what should we do about them? Um, I don't wanna take them. Just leave it. When` When you go to Papua` When you go back, you'll just take it back with you. To Papua New Guinea? I'm not` What am I gonna do with them there? What am I gonna do with them? It's yours. LAID-BACK MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES Yeah, good, good. Good to see ya. You too, man. Jono's been awarded a Prime Minister's Scholarship, and with a student living allowance, he's been able to make the leap to Dunedin. Boarding with a family keeps his expenses down. Hey, Jono. How are you going? Hey, Jean. Yeah, yeah, good. Oh, you came back. So, how was, uh, your morning? Uh, it wasn't too bad. First day of courses. Yeah, yeah. How did you get on with the` you know, the bus? Oh, the bus was good. Um, they stop by PAK'nSAVE. Then I have to walk` There's a 50m walk. Well, we'll, uh, catch you later in the day. Sweet. I've got training soon, so I'll be out. Good. Good. Sweet. Thanks, Jean. Good boy. > RELAXED ELECTRONIC MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES Keep it close. Keep it close. Keep it close. He came to a development camp here in Dunedin last year, and we put him through a bat` all of the athletes through a battery of tests, and it wasn't just the physical attributes, cos he did come out of that testing session very very well; Good. it was just his whole attitude. He's just got a bit of a drive about him. Pole vault. Pole vault. (CHUCKLES) 1.73m is Jono's personal best. That puts him first in NZ. It gives him a NZ para-record for his classification, which is a, um, T44, so, yeah, which is pretty awesome. Nice. Run-up's good. Mastering the blade is a work in progress. I think there's so much room for improvement for him as an athlete. Uh, getting the blade has been a major. Basically, what you're doing is re-educating them. You know, so what they've learnt since birth` They've learnt to do things in a way that has enabled them to do it as opposed to, perhaps, the best biomechanical model, so sometimes it is actually completely retraining the body and the brain. I'm real inconsistent. I've been inconsistent for about four or five months. Uh, I keep chopping my steps, extending it... (GRUNTS) So, how did that go, guys? Yeah, it wasn't too bad. It felt all right. This is my first jump at running, but it was all good. So, knee just from your socket. That was sore when you took off? No. This one. Oh, the other one. Oh, the other one. OK. RELAXED ELECTRONIC MUSIC CONTINUES REFLECTIVE MUSIC MICROWAVE BEEPS REFLECTIVE MUSIC CONTINUES CELL PHONE BEEPS Jono has to be at training at 7.30am, and that means walking 30 minutes to the gym. Straight up. Nice and tall. That's it. Nice and tall. So it's just coming straight up here. You're trying to be tall up here and as strong in the core as you can. It's all about body balance and functional movement. We've done a lot of research last year particularly on the para-athletes and their body and their balance and then the correlation between that and functional movement and strength, and we've found if we can actually balance their body up as much as we can, it actually gives them better ability to be able to undertake their technique. Miss Holly's just gonna show you exactly how it's done. > Can you just walk over these, please? Can you just walk over this here? Good. Thank you. Ta. Right. So we're gonna go single leg first. That's it, and just keep the momentum going. That's it. (MUTTERS) That's all right. It's OK. Just` Just` Just feel the movement. So just, sort of, try and feel yourself bounce along with it, OK? Because this is your prosthetic leg on the left, it will be harder to do. You go the other way. All right? So we'll just try it first, and just see how you go. It's OK. Good. Good! Who said he couldn't do it? (MUTTERS) I couldn't... (LAUGHS) It's good. If we can adjust everything else, get him fitter, stronger, faster and, you know, actually start to learn to feel his body as well, who knows? Nice. Nice. LAID-BACK ELECTRONIC MUSIC BUS ENGINE REVS Jono is embarking on a two-year diploma in sports management and leadership. (CHATTERS, CHUCKLES) OK. Can I get the PT students to come down this end here, please? What's gonna happen now, team, is we're gonna split you into two groups. So A to Ks, please jump into, uh, recept` to the gym now. Brendan will be down shortly. It's a course that's both practical and physical. WOMAN SHOUTS MAN: Nice. (CHUCKLES, YELLS) WHISTLE BLOWS PEOPLE CHATTER LAID-BACK MUSIC If we start with PTs, fill the room and then the next room. There might be a half-room for the ladies. Jacob. James. Jordan. Jack. Joel! Jono! Josh. Josh. Josh. Jesse. (SHOUTS JOVIALLY) UPLIFTING MUSIC It takes a long time to become an international athlete, and it takes a lot of hard work, but the way he's tracking, certainly with his ability and his testing, I think he has the ability to be a podium finisher at a Paralympic Games. UPLIFTING MUSIC CONTINUES Nominations for the eighth annual Attitude Awards are now open. For information and entry forms, go to... It's great to be in an audience where people are talking about ability and not disability. PEOPLE CHEER Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 Attitude was made with funding from NZ On Air.