'It's been a love story ever since': How discovery of boccia changed Daniel Michel's life

PARIS: Daniel Michel grew up in Sydney's south as a sports-mad kid, cheering every weekend for his beloved Roosters, barracking for his youngest brother during his games of football, and watching hours upon hours of cricket.

Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disorder causing weakness, wasting and movement problems, the Cronulla local could only ever fuel his insatiable appetite for sport by spectating.

"It frustrated me and it got me down, 100 per cent," Michel told Wide World of Sports.

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"It was definitely tough not being able to be on the field myself."

That changed when Michel went on a camp as a 15-year-old and was introduced to boccia — a sport played by people with severe physical disabilities in which an athlete tries to place leather balls, either red or blue, as close as possible to a white ball, known as a "jack".

Balls can be thrown or kicked, or competitors can use an assistive device such as a ramp.

It is a sport packed with skill and tactics, with shades of lawn balls, snooker and chess, that can be played individually or in a team.

Michel, now 29, will contest his third Paralympic Games over the next couple of weeks, featuring in the men's individual BC3 in Paris, as well as the mixed pair BC3 with teammate Jamieson Leeson.

Boccia and goalball are the only Paralympic sports that do not have an Olympic counterpart.

"When I saw boccia on the camp program I thought, 'Ah, it'll just be another sport I can't play'," Michel said, seated in his high-tech wheelchair at the Paralympics Australia headquarters.

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"I didn't really have any passions towards anything other than sport. All I wanted to do was play sport and it was the one thing I couldn't do, so it was tough.

"My youngest brother is very much like me; he's very into sport. So I kind of lived my sporting life through him vicariously for a long time with his soccer: going to watch, supporting him and helping him be the best that he could be.

"But for whatever reason I decided to have a look and check out boccia at the camp and see if there was some chance of me playing in some capacity."

Michel said he quickly discovered that not only boccia was a sport he could play, but a sport designed "exactly for people like me".

"So that was pretty awesome ... and it's been a love story ever since," he said.

"When I found boccia I just threw myself into it, as you'd expect, and I have just always loved playing every minute on the court and training, and I always had the goal of getting to the Paralympics. So I started working towards that and it became my complete life, really. It's an obsession.

"I remember when I first discovered boccia all I wanted to do was watch as many boccia games as I could. I had never seen one played before. I scaled YouTube, scaled the internet for every match. There was very little out there when I started. There were some highlights from the Beijing Games in 2008, and the London Games [of 2012] was about to happen, so I was frothing for anything to come out of London to watch ... I've definitely seen every boccia game out there, for sure."

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Michel is assisted by Ashlee Maddern, with whom he's formed an unbreakable bond since they met in 2013.

He is unable to use his arms, so Maddern sets up a ramp and places a device in his mouth, and he uses that device to push balls down the ramp.

He lives and competes in a chair worth $61,000.

His bionic arm, which he doesn't use in competition but does use in everyday life, is worth $75,000.

The chair can tilt back, lie virtually flat and elevate to eye level, and he uses his bionic arm to hold drinks, press buttons and do his hair.

"It's a package, that's for sure," he said with a laugh.

For Michel, landing a ball right next to the jack is like a cricketer hitting a cover drive for four flush out of the middle, or a golfer chipping in from a bunker, or a basketballer nailing a three-point swish, or a surfer gliding through a perfect tube and emerging on two feet as the barrel crashes.

"It's pretty awesome," Michel said.

"People always say there's nothing like it; the feeling of succeeding at sport at the top level. It's super addictive."

Maddern, the ramp assistant, is not allowed to look at the court as Michel pushes a ball down the ramp, but she can almost always tell by the look on his face if he's blitzed a shot.

"It's the best feeling," Maddern said, her face lighting up.

"He's not actually that expressive out there when it comes to a good shot, but I can always tell when he's chuffed about it."

In Tokyo three years ago, Michel won bronze in the men's individual BC3.

In Paris, he's eyeing gold.

He's set himself up superbly in his quest for glory, rising to the top of the rankings in both the men's individual BC3 and mixed pair BC3, dominating alongside Leeson.

He was emphatic when asked if he could win gold in France.

"One-hundred per cent!" he beamed.

"I'm going there for the gold, for sure."

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