Jay’s Story.
Jay Eanor started his journey in sports when his mum thought Auskick Football would help him step out of his comfort zone.
As a teenager, Jay found school very hard socially, he could never seem to make friends easily and became an easy target for bullies. When Jay was 16 he was introduced to Leisure Network and Jay has been supported by some wonderful support workers who have encouraged him to broaden his horizons and expand on his abilities. Initially Jay used his amazing stats skills with the Geelong Falcons to type up all of the week’s stats, then in 2015, his support worker Lauren suggested to him to give umpiring a try as the role of a field umpire would be a great opportunity for him.
With Lauren’s support and accompanying him to umpire training, he was able to get Certificate 1 in umpiring and officially start umpiring on weekends. In that same year he umpired the Encompass Cup for the under 14’s age group.
During the following years Jay has now become independent in being able to get himself to umpiring and training without support and have also umpired Football games by himself when other umpires have been unable to attend on short notice.
With the help of Leisure Networks Jay has also got back into All Abilities Basketball which he is enjoying and providing him with another network to socialise with.
I’ve really enjoy the opportunity to be a field umpire and see it as an ongoing career option for me well into my 80’s hopefully, it also helps me look after my health because I need to be fit and healthy to do it.
What a wonderful Journey Jay has embarked on, we can’t
wait to see what’s next for this exceptional young man!