Jeff Simmonds

{{short description|Australian rugby league player & paralympian}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Jeff Simmonds

| image = Xx1068 - Jeff Simmonds on tarmac prior to departure to Tel Aviv - 3a - scan cleaned cropped.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| fullname =

| nicknames =

| nationality = {{AUS}}

| club =

| collegeteam =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|27 April 1944|df=y}}

| birth_place = Castlecrag, Australia

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height =

| weight =

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSilver| 1968 Tel Aviv|Men's 50 m Breaststroke class 3 complete}}

| module = {{infobox rugby league biography

| embed = yes

| position = {{rlp|FE|SH}}

| club1 = North Sydney

| year1start = 1964

| year1end = 65

| appearances1 = 10

| tries1 = 2

| goals1 = 0

| fieldgoals1 = 0

| points1 = 6

}}

Jeff Simmonds (born 27 April 1944) is a former swimmer and athlete who participated at the 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympics, winning a silver medal.{{cite web|title=Athlete Search Results|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=aus&name=Simmons&fname=&gender=all|work=International Paralympic Committee Historical Results Database|accessdate=4 June 2012}} Before being a Paralympian, he was a notable rugby league half back with North Sydney Leagues Club.{{cite news|last=Ramsay|first=Tom|title=League ace's comeback|newspaper=Daily Mirror|date=27 March 1968}} His rugby league career ended after a series of concussions and a serious fall.

Personal

Simmonds was born on 27 April 1944 in the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag. At the age of 21, in September 1965 he played in the premiership first grade preliminary final against Souths where he suffered concussion. He then went to Queensland for end of season games where he suffered further concussions. Finally, he fell from a hotel's fire escape in the Queensland town of Sarina. This fall, according to Simmonds, fractured his spine a few inches above the waist and he was then left a paraplegic.{{cite journal|last=James|first=Bill|journal=Rugby League Life|date=August 1968|pages=13–15}}

Following the accident, Simmonds, a patient at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, received a visit from Kevin Betts, remedial gymnast at Mount Wilga Rehabilitation Centrewho encouraged Simmonds to get back into sport.{{cite book|title=The ParaQuad NSW Story|year=2012|publisher=The Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Association of NSW|location=Sydney|isbn=9780646568874|pages=51}} On moving to Mount Wilga, Simmonds recalls his rehabilitation and sports training under Betts,"He never lets you get the idea he's satisfied with what you are doing. That is his way of making you train harder." In moving into Paralympic sport, The North Shore Clarion reported "Jeff has two things in his favour, superb physical condition and courage" {{cite news|title=Jeff Simmonds comes back|newspaper=Northshore Clarion|date=17 April 1973}}

Before his accident he was a compositor/linotype printer. After his accident he worked in various roles at the North Sydney Leagues Club in clerical work and was the club's first time Coaching Director, and Secretary to the Under 23 Side. His philosophy on life was "I'm normal and that's the way I expect to be treated".

Career

File:141182 - Jeff Simmonds and John Newcombe promote WC tennis - 3b - scan cropped.jpg open the 1982 "Para Fun Day" at St Leonards Park in Sydney to help raise funds for the New South Wales wheelchair tennis association]]

File:Xx1168 - Jeff Simonds receives Paralympic silver medal Tel Aviv - 3b - scan.jpg

At the 1968 Australian Paraplegic Games in Perth, he won two gold medals in backstroke and breaststroke. His breaststroke time of 64.1 seconds equalled his Australian record.{{cite news|last=Wilson|first=Leslie|title=Jeff's still a champ despite affliction|newspaper=Sunday Telegraph|date=8 September 1968}}

At the 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the Men's 50 m Breaststroke class 3 complete event and narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in backstroke and wheelchair sprint. At the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Edinburgh, he won two bronze medals in breaststroke and backstroke.

In 1983, the Australian Wheelchair Tennis Association selected Simmonds together with nine other wheelchair athletes as linesmen for the 1983 Custom Credit Indoor Tennis Championships. This followed the suggestion of John Newcombe, famous Australian tennis champion. Simmonds, secretary of New South Wales Wheelchair Tennis Association, assured the public that the linesmen would be able to handle John McEnroe and other competitors.{{cite news|last=Hurst|first=Mike|title=Tough breed set to keep 'brat' in line|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=2 June 1983}} Well-known Australian radio announcer John Laws informed the public that "Jeff is one of the tough, no nonsense linesmen Superbrat will encounter at this year's Custom Credit Indoor Championship."{{cite news|last=Laws|first=John|authorlink=John Laws|title=Wheelchair champ a match for Superbrat|newspaper=Sunday Telegraph|date=5 June 1983}} According to Newcombe, most linesmen selected were able bodied before their injury, “They have great reflexes and good eyesight and they are involved in the game already so they should make good linesmen”.