Ben Leaudais' life changed irrevocably three years ago after a car accident left him a quadriplegic.
Now, the 21-year-old is on the cusp of playing in the Wheelchair Rugby national championships.
But that is just where his dreams begin.
Eight men are playing wheelchair rugby at Sydney's Olympic Park.
Among them is Ben Leaudais, for whom the sport has proven to be more than a pastime.
It is a life-changer.
"If it wasn't for wheelchair rugby, I don't know where I'd be today."
Three years ago, the native of New South Wales' Central Coast was an apprentice carpenter, skateboarder and drummer in a band.
But his life took a huge turn after he got into a friend's car for a joy ride late one night.
"I had been drinking and, in my drunken state, didn't put a seatbelt on. We hit a telegraph pole. I was probably only in the car for 10 or 15 seconds."
Ben Leaudais would awake in hospital a quadriplegic.
He says he does not remember the first few weeks.
After intensive rehabilitation, it would take him nine months to regain some use of his arms.
"I went to a wheelchair-rugby training session while I was still in rehab, and I saw how much these guys were doing on their own, and it gave me so much motivation to become more independent. In hospital, you're told, 'You can't do this, you can't do that,' whereas, when you're around these sort of guys, it's about what you can do."
Now, Ben Leaudais trains six days a week and is a mainstay for the New South Wales Gladiators, often driving himself to practice in Sydney.
Watching from the sidelines, his father Geoff says it is clear the training sessions are important on a much deeper level.
"It's pretty hard for the boys to vent, vent a bit of anger, because you can see so much frustration coming out in them here. There's nothing else like it, really."
His son's focus is on the upcoming national championships in August, which he hopes to use as a springboard for selection for the World Championships in Sydney next year.
The global event will bring together 12 nations, with Australia looking to defend its world title.
Ben Leaudais is already a development player in the national team set-up.
"That's my goal at the moment, to get to them. Working really hard. If I do make it, I'm going to be so happy. It's been a long time coming. I've been training six days a week for a few years now, and, if I do make it, it's going to be the biggest tournament of my life."
Wheelchair Sport New South Wales development officer Mark Wilson says he is firmly in the picture for national selectors moving forward.
"Having won gold at the Rio Paralympics, they're not resting on their laurels. They're looking at the next four-year cycle, and Ben's very much a part of that."
As Ben Leaudais sees, he is not there because of his accident.
He is there because of what he wants to achieve.
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