Corey Smith
Corey has lived all his life in the South Burnett, a rural area of Queensland, about 300 kilometers from Brisbane Australia. He lives with his Mum and Dad and sister in Goomeri and attended school at Murgon.
Corey has always been a good athlete and during his school years won many medals for athletics, cross country and swimming. He also represented his school at rugby league and played cricket for his local club and still plays lawn bowls and golf. During his year 10 at high school, Corey was named “Sportsman of the Year” - the highest sporting award given by the School. Corey’s name is on the Honour board at the Murgon High School alongside Australian Representatives Stephen Renouf and Brian Neibling and is also now in the green and gold for Australia. He is very proud of his achieve-ments as are his friends and family.
When Corey left secondary school and his commitment to further study and work made it difficult for him to continue his many sporting activities he found that judo during the evening more manageable. Corey’s natural abilities have enabled him to enjoy the competitive aspect of judo and his outgoing personality allows him to enjoy the friendship that is part of being a member of a sporting club.
Competition in Australia is tough being the only SN player
Corey created history by being the first Australian Special Needs judoka to be a Bronze medalist in his Division in the morning and Gold medalist in his Division in the afternoon.
This was an official Australian team supported by the JFA. No Funding was available however fund raising raffles and generous donations from Jols, JFA Qld. and Murgon Council and many others made it possible.
For Cory Smith, a Special Needs judoka, this was his first competition despite the fact he had been practicing judo for over 18 months. He was graded to 4th Kyu (orange belt) after the JFA changed their grading policy to include Special Needs judoka.
In the ensuring 2 ½ years Corey has had 2 more gradings (3rd Kyu and 2nd Kyu) and many competitions and many wins and losses, but with every loss Corey has gained value - and a Scholarship from “Acceleration”; a fitness program sent to us for Corey.
Corey’s core strength, balance and aerobic fitness have improved markedly with this training as well as his judo technical abilities.
Michael Eddie took over the Pulse last year and the Pulse was transferred to the South Burnett PCYC. This has benefited Corey immensely by being more flexible with training times.
We are very pleased to anounce Corey as the first member of the SB-PCYC to represent Australia at an International Event
One of the main problems has been reliable training partners for Corey however we have addressed that issue by holding a morning session for a few seniors who work night shift. One of these seniors that stand out is John Ward who has shown himself to be very reliable and committed.
