Dylan Alcott

Dylan Alcott
2016 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Alcott
Country (sports)  Australia
Residence Hampton East, Victoria
Born (1990-12-04) 4 December 1990
Melbourne, Victoria
Turned pro 2014
Plays Quad, Right-handed
Singles
Career record 151–22 (87.28%)[1]
Highest ranking No. 1 (29 June 2015)[1]
Current ranking No. 2 (9 July 2018)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open W (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
US Open W (2015, 2018)
Other tournaments
Masters F (2014)
Paralympic Games W (2016)
Doubles
Career record 63–21 (75%)[1]
Highest ranking No. 3 (3 September 2018)[1]
Current ranking No. 3 (3 September 2018)[1]
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (2018)
US Open F (2015, 2017, 2018)
Other doubles tournaments
Paralympic Games W (2016)
Basketball career
Dandenong Rangers
Position Guard
League National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL)
Career information
Playing career 2004–2012
Career highlights and awards
  • NWBL Low Point MVP (2010)
  • 4x Wheelchair Sports Victoria Junior Athlete of the Year (2004–2006 and 2008)
  • Junior National Championships MVP (2010)
  • Dandenong Rangers Most Improved Player (2007)

Dylan Martin Alcott, OAM (born 4 December 1990)[2] is an Australian wheelchair basketballer, wheelchair tennis player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". Winning a gold medal win at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. At the age of 17 he became the youngest Australian "Rollers" wheelchair basketball gold medal winner for wheelchair basketball, and was the youngest to compete in the Wheelchair Basketball competition.[3] In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aiming of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[3][4] At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles.[2][5] He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio Paralympics.[6]

Early life

Dylan Alcott was born in Melbourne, Victoria, to parents Martin and Resie. He has an older brother Zack.[3] He was born with a tumor wrapped around his spinal cord which was operated on during the first few weeks of his life.[7] The tumor was successfully cut out, however it left Alcott a paraplegic, leaving him a wheelchair user for the rest of his life.

Alcott attended Brighton Grammar School from grade 6, and competed for Victoria in swimming, and Australia for wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball. Alcott graduated Brighton Grammar school in 2008.[7]

Alcott's first sport of choice was wheelchair tennis, where he represented Australia on numerous occasions, reaching a ranking of 100 in the world by age 16 (4th in the world under-18s).

Basketball

Alcott in a game versus Great Britain

Alcott played his first game of wheelchair basketball aged 14.[3] Alcott made his debut for the rollers in the paralympic world cup, where they won a medal. Alcott continued to hold his spot and was a member of the Rollers who traveled to the Beijing Olympic warm up tournament in January 2008. Alcott made his name in basketball through his performances in the national league competition, competing for the Dandenong Rangers and being selected in the all star team for 2008. He has achieved success through junior competition as well; being named the Most Valuable Player at the Junior National Basketball Championships.

He was part of the gold medal winning Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics,[8][9] for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia.[10] In his first Paralympics Dylan was quoted; "To be 17 and win gold... well it just doesn't get any better than that".[11]

In 2009, Alcott accepted a scholarship at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he went on to win the College Championship division with the University of Illinois wheelchair basketball team. After one year of study, he decided to move back to Melbourne to train for the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

In 2010, Alcott was a part of the Rollers success at the 2010 World Championships in Birmingham, England. It was the first world championship the Australian wheelchair basketball team had ever won, and Alcott was named in the World All Star 5 for the tournament.

At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver.[12]

Tennis

Alcott during the 2014 Swiss Open in Geneva

In 2014, Alcott returned to wheelchair tennis.[13] At the age of 16, he was ranked inside the top five juniors in the world.[13] In July 2014, he defeated beat world number three Andy Lapthorne 7–5 6–1 in the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship final in Nottingham to win his first Super Series crown.[14] Early in the year, he won the New Zealand Open in just his second tournament appearance.[14] In January 2015, he won the quad wheelchair Australian Open title by defeating David Wagner in straight sets.[15] It was his maiden grand slam title.[15] At the conclusion on 2015, he was ranked number 1 after winning eight titles including two grand slam singles titles.[4]

Grand Slam tournament finals

Quad singles: 6 titles

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponents Score
Win2015Australian OpenHardUnited States David Wagner6–2, 6–3
Win2015US OpenHardUnited States David Wagner6–1, 4–6, 7–5
Win2016Australian Open (2)HardUnited States David Wagner6–2, 6–2
Win2017Australian Open (3)HardUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne6–2, 6–2
Win2018Australian Open (4)HardUnited States David Wagner7–6, 6–1
Win2018US Open (2)HardUnited States David Wagner7–5, 6–2

Source:[1]

Quad doubles: 8 (1 title, 7 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up2014Australian OpenHardSouth Africa Lucas SitholeUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		4–6, 4–6
Runner-up2015Australian OpenHardSouth Africa Lucas SitholeUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		0–6, 6–3, 2–6
Runner-up2015US OpenHardIndia Gauri SharmaUnited States Nicholas Taylor
United States David Wagner		6–4, 2–6, 7–10
Runner-up2016Australian OpenHardUnited Kingdom Andrew LapthorneSouth Africa Lucas Sithole
United States David Wagner		1–6, 3–6
Runner-up2017Australian OpenHardAustralia Heath DavidsonUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		3–6, 3–6
Runner-up2017US OpenHardUnited States Bryan BartenUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		5–7, 2–6
Winner2018Australian OpenHardAustralia Heath DavidsonUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		6–0, 6–7(5–7), 10–6
Runner-up2018US OpenHardUnited States Bryan BartenUnited Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne
United States David Wagner		6–3, 0–6, 4–10

Source:[1]

Paralympic Games

Alcott teamed up with Heath Davidson to win the Men's Quad Doubles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[2] They defeated the reigning champions David Wagner and Nick Taylor in the gold medal match 4–6, 6–4, 7–5.[2] The day after winning gold in the Men's Doubles, he defeated Andy Lapthorne 6–3, 6–4 to win the gold medal in the Men's Quad Singles.[2]

Personal life

Alcott finished studying at the University of Melbourne and now has a Commerce degree. He currently works as a motivational speaker and as a radio host on Triple J.[16]

In his spare time, Alcott attends music festivals, and has become known for his 'wheelchair crowdsurfing'.[17] In 2018, he launched Ability Fest, a universally accessible music festival, featuring pathways for wheelchairs, quiet areas for people with sensory disabilities, and Auslan (Australian Sign Language) interpreters.[18]

Alcott's advice to young people with a disability is: "The biggest thing is that for every one thing you can’t do, there are 10,000 others you can. For every one idiot to give you a hard time, there are 10,000 others worth your time."[3]

In 2017, Alcott established the Dylan Alcott Foundation "with the core purpose of helping young Australians with disabilities gain self-esteem and respect through sport and study".[19] In September 2017, Alcott was appointed Australian Patron for International Day of People with Disability.[20]

Recognition

Listen to this article (info/dl)
noicon


Spoken Wikipedia
This audio file was created from a revision of the article "Dylan Alcott" dated 2012-1-1, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
More spoken articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dylan Alcott". International Tennis Federation website. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dylan Alcott". Rio Paralympics Official site. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 McLachlan, Hamish (7 November 2015). "Hamish McLachlan: What you didn't know about paralympian Dylan Alcott". Herald Sun. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Fan favourite Alcott defends quad wheelchair title". AustralianTennis Open website. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Paralympic glory in sight for Australia's wheelchair tennis athletes". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Archived from the original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Alcott crowned Paralympian of the Year". Australian Paralympic Committee News. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  7. 1 2 A c h i e v i n g S u c c e s s I n L i f e, L e a r n i n g & S p o r t : Eight School Aged Athletes Share Their Journey. Melbourne: Victorian Institute of Sport. 2008.
  8. ↑ McGarry, Andrew (4 September 2008). "Event guide: Wheelchair basketball". ABC. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  9. ↑ "Basketball Chronology". Basketball Australia. 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)". ABC News. 27 January 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Athlete Profile – Dylan Alcott". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Men's Wheelchair Basketball Results". London 2012 Paralympic Games. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Australia's Dylan Alcott returns to first love". International Paralympic Committee News, 10 February. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Dylan Alcott wins the British Open Tennis Crown". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 21 July 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  15. 1 2 Morgan, Liam. "Alcott claims maiden Grand Slam title in front of home crowd at Australian Open". Inside the Games, 31 January 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Wilmoth, Peter (17 July 2017). "The extraordinary life of paralympian-turned-DJ Dylan Alcott". The Weekly Review. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  17. ↑ Te Koha, Nui (14 December 2014). "Paralympian Dylan Alcott wows crowd at Meredith Music Festival". Herald-Sun. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  18. ↑ Asher, Nicole (7 April 2018). "Melbourne's first Ability Fest launched by Paralympian Dylan Alcott". ABC News. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "What we do". Dylan Alcott Foundation. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  20. ↑ "Dylan Alcott announced as Patron for International Day of People with Disability". Dept. of Social Services website. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  21. ↑ McGowan, Marc (24 November 2015). "Dylan Alcott's Newcombe medal snub a bad look following Kyrgios/Tomic excuse". Adelaide Advertiser. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "Australian Tennis Awards Honour Roll". Tennis Australia website. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  23. ↑ "Victorian Champion Wins VIS Sport Of Excellence Award". Minister of Sport and Recreation Media Releasr.
  24. ↑ "The Best of the Best Honoured at the Victorian Sports Awards". Best of the Best Honoured at the Victorian Sports Awards.
  25. ↑ "'The Don' 2016 Finalists Announced". Sport Australia Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  26. ↑ Walsh, Scott (8 December 2016). "Dylan Alcott wins double at Australian Paralympic Awards". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  27. ↑ "Alcott awarded 2016 Newcombe Medal". Tennis Australia website. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  28. ↑ "Mighty Mack wins Award of Excellence". Victorian Institute of Sport website. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.