First stop Northam, next stop the nationals

They’re young, sporty and talented and have what it takes to compete at national level. Northam athletes Jake Duperouzel and Toby Fillingham were recently selected to compete for Western Australia in their respective sports.

14 June 2011

Both boys are past recipients of Smarter than Smoking Country Sport Scholarships, which are offered each year by the Department of Sport and Recreation and Healthway.

Jake gained selection into the WA Water Ski Team after a strong performance at this year’s State Championships. He came second by half a buoy in the under 17 boys slalom and won the boys trick skiing in his age group.

Unfortunately, Jake was unable to attend the nationals due to financial reasons. This year has been an expensive one for his family which footed the bill to upgrade his boat to match the current tournament equivalent. His results at state level, however, allow him to ski at national level for the next two years.

Jake has also racked up some serious mileage this year, having to travel a 300 km round trip twice a week for training, in addition to travelling all around the state to compete at various tournaments.

Toby currently holds all WA titles in athletics for his age group, plus Athletics WA’s U18 division, and is ranked second in the state in the Open Men’s category.

For all the national competitions he qualified through winning the state events, and also by achieving the qualifying distances.

“At the national competitions there are usually around 10–12 competitors, with very strong competition from QLD and NSW usually, who have strong coaching setups for Jumps,” said Toby’s father Clive Fillingham.

“Toby doesn’t have a coach and trains usually twice a week during the season at the high school with me watching and helping. So he is very much punching above his weight performance-wise both state-wise and nationally.”

The achievements of both boys this year have come despite being hampered by injury; Jake battling issues with his knee and Toby trouble with his foot.

“When he won silver at the Australian Juniors, and then for the two state championships in March, he hadn’t trained at all, so a fantastic achievement to get what he got,” Mr Fillingham said.

“He qualified for the Australian Open Championships through his silver medal at the Athletics WA State Championships in the Open Men Category. This enabled him to compete against the best triple jumpers in the country, and was a fantastic experience for someone who had just turned 16.

“The competition at that level is far more intense, and Toby got a taste of the pressure involved at that level.”

For more information about Smarter than Smoking Country Sport Scholarships visit: www.dsr.wa.gov.au/funding