"Being competitive is my coping mechanism"
Gabby Wright, the next athlete in our series, has always been involved in sports. From a young age, Gabby had been active and a fierce competitor, playing Netball for her school team and qualifying as a Netball umpire.
So when faced with a life changing illness in 2016, it is no surprise that Gabby chose to continue to pursue her sporting ambitions, demonstrating the perseverance and tenacity of a champion.
“In 2016, I fell paralysed due to a condition called Transverse Myelitis which is when I got a cold and my immune system overreacted to fighting off and attacked my spine.
“One day I was playing netball and I got a really sore back and ended up collapsing on the floor and losing all feeling and movement in my legs."
“I was rushed off to hospital and spent five weeks undergoing all sorts of treatment to try and reduce the inflammation in my spine and regain leg function. Unfortunately, that didn’t work so much.
“I went to a child rehabilitation centre and they taught me how to live life in a wheelchair. It was a hard time but I think what got me through it was participating in sport, that was a big thing for me.”
Gabby started Wheelchair Racing as a way of coping with her injury, with her competitive nature pushing her forward into professional sports.
“Sport for me was a coping mechanism. I grew up being very competitive, I think being competitive helped me bounce back from it as well.
“I didn't want to just sit at home feeling sorry for myself, I wanted to find ways to keep pushing and to reach my goals despite what has happened.”
In 2024, Gabby attended the Global GAPS camp in Mauritius where she, along with other athletes, participated in training and classes that helps athletes further themselves and their athletic performances.
“I think a lot around my independence has changed. Before I was somewhat reliant on my coach telling me what to do, when to do it kind of thing.
“After being on that camp, it was my first, big international trip without my parents. And I had to learn how to fully look after myself being in that training environment.
“Coming back, I think I was a lot more confident in myself and my abilities and handling things on my own.”
When we spoke to Gabby, she told us about how important the GAPS camp had been to her personally, particularly in helping with her perseverance to be independent and fully embrace new opportunities.
I didn't want to feel sorry for myself, I wanted to reach my goals despite what happened.
“I'll always say it's probably been one of the best experiences of my life. I think I learned so much about myself on that trip.
“I got a tattoo as a reflection of the trip, which just shows it was quite significant. Looking back, I think it’s helped a lot with resilience and made me more mentally aware of myself.
“Swimming in Mauritius that was probably one of the highlights. We all did a day trip to the beach and I remember our taxi driver was so determined to make it work for us and he grabbed my chair and rolled me through the sand onto the beach so I could get access to it.
“I just remember someone said to me ‘you should get in the water’ and I said ‘nah, it’s fine, it’s too hard’. And they all lifted me up. I had four people carry me. I was on a thrown down to the water and it was so much fun swimming around and just being immersed in that space.”
Having always been an adventurous individual, Gabby came back from the Mauritius GAPS camp with a newfound self-confidence to push herself into new activities that she hadn’t considered before.
“Throwing myself into stuff I do that a lot now and Outward Bound being the main one probably since Mauritius that I've done.
“The opportunity came to me and I wasn't quite sure. And I remember feeling the same way before Mauritius as well. I was a bit nervous of the unknown. But knowing that that had been one of the best experiences ever, I knew saying yes to this experience could be like that as well.
“We went on hikes through the bush. We had to do solo nights which was kind of scary. We had to set up a shelter and stay the night with no phones or devices. We also did the high ropes course.
“It was another amazing experience. So yeah, it's definitely given me confidence to say yes to experiences that at the start kind of made me a bit nervous.”
More recently, Gabby has completed her university studies in architecture and has set her sights on the LA 2028 Paralympics. Alongside Wheelchair Racing, Gabby continues to stay involved with Netball as a umpire, the first wheelchair user to do so in New Zealand.
Having broken multiple New Zealand national records in Wheelchair Racing, Gabby has her eyes firmly fixed on her goals.
“I’m looking at World Champs and just trying to constantly improve world rankings by going overseas and racing against the best in the world. Then obviously, long-term goal Paralympics in 2028 and hopefully all that all that those small goals lead towards that.”
Through its network of training camps and partnerships, the GAPS programme is strengthening Para sport systems across the Commonwealth. By supporting athletes and coaches from developing and emerging nations, it expands opportunities across a wider range of Para disciplines, improves performance pathways and contributes to greater diversity at major international events. Since 2018, over 700 athletes and coaches have taken part in GAPS camps.
Watch Gabby's journey here...
