The only limitations I face are societal: Bonnell
Commonwealth Games-bound Para Jackaroo Serena Bonnell is as bursting to get onto the greens of Royal Leamington Spa at the end of the month for the biggest event in her bowls career.
Picked to represent Australia in the para-women’s pairs alongside Cheryl Lindfield, she will look to emulate her husband, Tony, in becoming a gold medallist at the Games.
Bonnell, who will celebrate her 40th birthday this week in the UK, has been forced to overcome some significant challenges throughout her life.
In the second year of her law and psychology degrees, she was offered a chance to undertake an internship in China and while there she became quite ill, with severe consequences.
“I was offered an opportunity to do a legal internship in China so I travelled there by myself and unfortunately I got quite sick while I was over there,” Bonnell told Bowls Australia’s (BA) official podcast, The Right Line.
“The doctors had theorised exactly what happened but it was difficult to identify the trigger, some believe that I had eaten a poisonous fish.
“The impact was nonetheless quite critical, by the time I had returned home I had very limited use of my left arm and I was starting to lose a little bit of use in my right leg.
“I was in hospital for six months, but by the time I was released I had full fixed flexion deformity on those limbs and a couple of comorbidities, there was nothing they could really do.”
Bonnell has always been the sporty type, and was very active throughout her teenage years, but with her condition she was doubtful she could find an activity that would give her a competition fix.
However, that’s where bowls came into the equation.
“With how I found bowls, I was quite sporty before the incident and I really didn’t think there would be an opportunity for me to participate in sport again but I saw bowls on TV and thought that I would be able to adapt the technique sufficiently to allow myself to deliver a bowl,” she said.
“I then trialled at a few clubs and a few times at home, then when I was more confident I went down to Burleigh Heads Bowls Club and they welcomed me and I’ve since moved to Broadbeach where I play now, the rest is history.”
The Queenslander does not believe that her disability holds her back in life, but that society puts a label on people and it can bring forth a stigma.
Furthermore, the recent Trans Tasman champion believes that bowls is truly the most inclusive sport on the planet, and that it can be the catalyst to reverse said stigma..
“If you’re a para in society you face some challenges, and what’s interesting about that is when I dream at nighttime I dream without physical limitations,” Bonnell said.
“I dream like everyone else, I can climb skyscrapers, I can jump off buildings, I can do whatever I like; when I wake up, my mindset is exactly the same.
“The only limitations that I ever face are societal limitations, those that are imposed upon me and not self-imposed by any means.
“I believe strongly that sport can be a vehicle for social change, and bowls is a perfect example of that.
“There is no inclusivity in any sport, in any way, that has surpassed the way in which bowls can provide our paras and those who are struggling with inclusivity in their workplace or schools.
“I’m really excited about where we are as a community in bowls, and I strongly believe that we can be the vehicle for societal change where we can have an impact.”
