Paralympic team member returns from the trip of a lifetime

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A Murray Bridge resident has returned from a trip to the 2024 Paralympics – but not as a competitor or a spectator.

After serving her communities as a nurse for 50 years, the Paralympics was Helen Smith's last hoorah before retirement.

Ms Smith said she thought she'd be able to help someone, so she applied to work with Paralympics Australia and within the week she had a lady in her dining room saying 'I've got a team for you'.

“And it was a table tennis team ... so, for the last ... eight or nine years, I've travelled the world with them,” she said.

Ms Smith has been with the team to places like Thailand, Slovenia, South Korea, the Solomon Islands, Darwin and Melbourne, caring for the athletes and, for the past five years, caring for Hayley Sands.

Sands is a young lady from Adelaide who suffered a spinal injury at the age of 13.

She first picked up a paddle in 2017, represented her country at the Thailand Open just two short years later, and now has made her Paralympic debut.

Unfortunately Sands lost both her matches but Ms Smith said she was still happy to be there.

“She's ... always going to be a Paralympian, that's not what everyone can say,” she said.

The Paralympic table tennis tournament was a knockout event.

The team – Australia's largest para-table tennis team in decades – finished its Paris Paralympics campaign with two gold and three bronze medals.

A highlight Ms Smith noted was staying in the amazing Olympic village.

“We have doctors, nurses, physios, dietitians, a lot of behind the scenes people as well as the athletes, to keep them healthy and ticking along,” she said.

But the best part of the trip was just watching the athletes competing and supporting them throughout the tournament.

“The good thing about the Paralympic team is they're very positive people,” she said.

“Some of them, you know, have been born with birth defects ... some of them have had an accident and the outcome is maybe an amputee or something.

“They're just a great bunch of people to work with.”

Ms Smith received plenty of messages about being seen on live television, especially with her stand-out hats.

“I gave my hat to a little girl as I left for the last day ... she was very thankful for her new hat,” she said.

Hats and flags became a common way to support the team during her time with them, along with a battle cry.

“I have a catch cry of 'whoop whoop' when they do something really good ... or 'you can do it'.”

Anyone with a disability shouldn't let that stop them from going out and giving sport a go, she said.

“Don't think you can't, because you can.”