South West Sydney local Mick Leigh is the current world number one (B3) men’s visually impaired tennis player.
But the 49 year old father of four sons, who won the most recent tennis world championship, is also starting to dip his toe in another sport, lawn bowls.
After reaching the pinnacle of his sport, Mr Leigh says he’s looking for something new while remaining as competitive as ever in tennis.
“I’ve gotten where I want to with tennis. I want to try something new, something easier on the body,’’ he says.
But he made it clear during a phone interview with the South West Voice earlier today that he wasn’t giving tennis the flick.
“I’ve been in tennis for eight years and done well, but I have decided I also want to give bowls a go,’’ he says.
No doubt one of the reasons for this tennis champ’s bowls adventure is that his local is Austral Bowling Club, out there in Edmondson Road for more than 50 years.
It’s kind of his “local’’, even though he concedes the great South West has seen the establishment of a lot of licensed premises from Edmondson Park to Leppington and Oran Park to Gregory Hills.
“I do love the Austral Bowling club – it’s got the bowling greens, and the beer prices aren’t bad either,’’ says Mick Leigh.
“And they have been very supportive of me with my tennis career.’’
Mr Leigh was diagnosed as being legally blind at the age of 30. But this inspirational man didn’t let that diagnosis get him down.
He pressed on with his life, eventually picking up a tennis racket, and blitzed the rest of the world in vision impaired tournaments and championships for the next eight years.
And talking to him you just get the feeling his long term goal in his new sport, bowls, is to do that same eventually – be the best he can possibly be.
He does concede that it’s early days and he’s not super competitive on the bowling green.
“I am really enjoying the social side at the moment,’’ he says.
“I want to get a lot better before starting to be serious and get into competitions.’’
It’s not a definite strategy just yet, but you could say it’s at the back of his mind playing bowls and tennis at the Paralympics during the 2032 Brisbane Games.
“Oh yes, that would be quite something special, something worth shooting for,’’ says Mick Leigh.
