Lilliana Prucha is a 2025 John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship recipient - the first Wheelchair Rugby player to be selected.
It’s 2021. A pandemic has flipped the world on its head. Movement is restricted. Interactions are regulated. The world feels like it’s on pause. Lilliana ‘Lil’ Prucha is not too long out of school, working as an administration assistant, and living with her parents, brother and two sisters in Perth. And she’s kind of struggling to make sense of it all.
She isn’t alone, of course. People everywhere are being challenged in some way. But challenges are amplified when you have cerebral palsy and autism. Lil was feeling lonely, isolated and not just a little bit lost.
She had the love and support of her family, and a significant interest in music provided an important creative outlet (she’s recorded and released several impressive tracks under the pseudonym ‘Gremmybabe’ – more on that later), but deep down, Lilliana knew she had to do something new.
She wondered if being more active might help her find a spark. Something competitive. Something social. Lil had never been particularly sporty growing up, but that was about to change. She pondered several different para-sports. Then she committed to one – para ice-hockey.
“It just looked cool,” she says.
It didn’t take her long to realise she’d done the right thing. Once she got there, that is.
“I really, really, REALLY didn't want to go,” she says. “I was so nervous.”
“I arranged with a friend to force me to go no matter what. She wasn’t allowed to accept excuses. If I said I was sick, she had to take me. If I said I was too tired, or too busy, she had permission to force me to go.”
Thankfully, her pre-planning bore fruit.
“As soon as I got there, I knew it was going to be great," she says.
"I was so anxious and so scared, but it was just such a supportive environment."
“A community where everyone understood my experience so much more than I thought they would. I was thinking, ‘disability is really, really isolating, and no one understands’.
“But they totally did. And seeing and experiencing that was really refreshing for me.”
Lil played para-ice hockey for about three months before a slightly warmer alternative captured her imagination.
“I loved the ice hockey, but it was very technical, and I struggled with some of the skills. It was also really cold!”
When she changed things up and gave Wheelchair Rugby a go, she knew she’d found her niche.
“I felt it almost instantly,” she says.
“I was really confused at first because I didn't understand the rules, but I knew I loved it. I really enjoyed the physicality of it, which was something new to me.
“Before, I didn’t like my body. I wasn’t comfortable with it. I didn’t like my disability. But through this sport, I've learned that my body is actually great, and I can do lots of great things. It gave me a new sense of confidence.”
“Through this sport, I've learned that my body is actually great, and I can do lots of great things. It gave me a new sense of confidence.’’
Lil is progressing quickly in the sport. She’s in a national development squad and was on the ‘long list’ for the Paris 2024 Paralympic team.
She knows she has a lot of work to do, but representing Australia at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028 is firmly in her sights.
“I'm still quite new to it and I'm still building up my skills and understanding the tactics and chair positioning, but I really want to play for the Steelers,” she says.
“To get on that squad and play internationally is the big goal and that’s what I’m aiming for.”
She’s confident moving to the other side of the country presents exciting opportunities to achieve her objective.
“I love it in Perth but it's a very, very small Wheelchair Rugby community. Here in Queensland, it's massive. We train on the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and in Brisbane. There’s options everywhere," she says.
“I’m now training Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Queensland Academy of Sport and I’m starting up some gym work.
“And just the regular high-level practice. Working on speed, conditioning, positioning, and gameplay.”
Of course, there’s the academic side of her scholarship too. Lil has chosen to study a Bachelor of Data Analytics.
“I really want to go down the sports analyst path. I’d love to work with other para-athletes to help them track their progress and realise their potential. I find applying evidence to solving problems really interesting.”
Hers has quickly become a very busy life, but she’s slowly getting into the groove; on the topic of which, what about those musical aspirations?
“I still make music for fun,” she says. “I do it for me.”
“I have a lot of big feelings, and it’s a good way for me to get them out and express them.
“I'm always hesitant putting out my songs because they're quite personal, but I kind of think if I feel this way, then someone else probably feels this way.”
She’ll always tinker with music, she says. But for now, it’s all about settling into her new life as a Bond University student.
“I miss my parents and my brother and sisters of course, but I’m definitely getting into the swing of things.
“The John Eales Scholarship is an amazing opportunity. I wouldn’t be able to live here and study here without it. It would be really, really challenging for me to do that.”
“And the support I’ve received has been wonderful. Hayley (Martin, Bond’s Student Athlete Program Manager) has been so understanding helping me get the study/sport balance right.
“I’ve got access to all these resources that I wouldn't otherwise have access to.I’m super grateful and I’m really loving it.”
You can learn more about the Bond University John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship here.
Published on Wednesday 12 May, 2025.
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