How a Facebook ad could take Mattias to Paralympics

3 months ago 12

Mattias Lock is in line to become a Paralympian – thanks to a Facebook ad.

In 2016, Lock spent his days combining his passion with work. A scuba-diving instructor, he was refilling an oxygen canister when it exploded and blasted fragments of steel into his body, shattering bones in his leg and leaving him an amputee.

Mattias Lock at the Sydney Olympic Park Archery Centre.

Last year, the 36-year-old found himself drifting through life.

“I would describe it as I was floating along,” he said. “I was just a bit of a husk. I didn’t really have much going on, and it felt very gloomy at times.”

Spending a lot of time at home, Lock found himself watching the 2024 Paralympic Games. Soon after, he started seeing ads on Facebook and Instagram for the Australian Institute of Sport’s Olympic and Paralympic tryout days.

“I probably would have been just bumming around, you know, doing laundry or something and going, ‘Why not? Let’s just click on this link and see what it’s all about’,” he said.

Lock says finding para archery has changed his life.

Lock registered for two tryouts, but decided he would not sign up for anything if he didn’t actually have a chance to make a Paralympic team.

“I didn’t want to half-ass it,” he said. “I didn’t want to just pick up a new hobby or a new sport, I wasn’t there for that. I needed something to commit my mind, to commit my body, to commit my life to that can give me some sort of big payoff in terms of satisfaction, in terms of joy, in achievement through adversity.”

Inside a hall at Sydney Olympic Park, Lock approached the athletics and cycling stalls, but was told his chances of making the next Paralympic team were slim given he’d never tried the sports. Feeling deflated, he left.

On his way out, he was approached by head coach of the Australian para archery team Ricci Cheah.

After just four months of training, Lock won two of his matches at the 2025 National Para Archery Championships. His goal now is to make the Australian team for the LA Paralympics, and Brisbane after that.

Lock is one of 346 possible Olympic and Paralympic athletes found through the Australian Institute of Sport’s largest talent search, which was launched in September and designed to bolster Australia’s chances of success at a home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.

AIS director Matti Clements said the search, made possible due to the co-operation of the states and various sporting bodies, made for a better experience for athletes who had a greater chance of finding a sport that suits them.

“Some of the criticism of talent ID programs in the past, not just within Australia but internationally, is that it’s not a positive experience for a majority of those that engage in it. And we wanted to make sure this was vastly different, to the point where all sports that are part of this national program they needed to be ready to have somewhere for these individuals to go if they put their hand up,” Clements said, adding that sports also needed to be able to offer community-level participation for those who did not fit into the high-performance programs.

Amelia Prosser-Shaw is hoping to represent Australia at the 2028 LA Games when flag football makes its Olympic debut.

“High-performance sport is not for everyone, however sport should be for everyone.”

For Lock, who had never considered para archery, it is likely he’d never have found the sport if not for the talent search.

“I guess it’s just put a massive freaking smile on my face every time I talk about it,” he said. “Never mind being good for Australian sports, it’s good for those individual people because I know sports in particular can help a lot of people.”

With 212 people scouted for Olympic and 134 for Paralympic sports, NSW led the states in the total number of athletes selected, helped in part by Amelie Prosser-Shaw, who 10 months ago did not even know flag football existed. In 2028, she could be representing Australia in the sport at the Olympics.

Prosser-Shaw, an 18-year-old from Sydney, was in Hawthorn’s AFLW system and on track to make her debut, but once she was identified by NFL Flag Australia and the AIS, she shifted her focus to becoming an Olympian and is now a member of the NSW and national flag football teams.

“AFL has got me to where I am today, but to be able to chase an Olympic dream is something that I’ve always wanted to do,” she said. “And to be able to do it now with an amazing support staff around me, and my family supports me, and to be able to grow as an athlete and a person in flag football and the sport that it’s becoming, it’s amazing.

“It’s my ultimate dream and that’s why I’m really pursuing it and working hard for it because that’s where I want to be. I want to be on that Olympic stage winning gold for my country.”