There are not many who live, breathe, and work sports to the same extent as twenty-year-old Otago Polytechnic student Dylan Lloyd. Ever since Dylan got into his first Wheelchair Rugby chair at a Halberg Games event in 2019, he instantly knew that it was for him. He’s devoted his life to Wheelchair Rugby and parasport ever since.
Born with cerebral palsy, Dylan has overcome every obstacle on his journey to high performance sport. Alongside playing for the Otago WheelLanders and joining the New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby Development Squad, Dylan’s sporting career has spanned into advocacy. He champions parasport as a member of the Youth Council for the Halberg Foundation (a disability sports organisation for youth with physical disabilities), and as a committee member of the disability advocacy organisation I.Lead.
Now in his third-year of studying for a degree in design communication, he’s paved a path of digital design in the sporting world. Dylan’s undeniably impressive resume includes collaborating with the Southland Stags as a design intern, taking photographs for the Highlanders, designing for ruggers retail outlet Rugby Bricks, and landing a position as graphic designer and social media manager for the Wheel Blacks.
Though rising above the odds to achieve his sports stardom, Dylan doesn’t see this as inspirational. As an athlete, designer, and individual, he expresses that just because his achievements have been done from a wheelchair, they shouldn’t be measured on a different scale – one that confuses “impressive” with “inspirational”. Speaking to Critic Te Ārohi, Dylan recounts his beginnings in sport and design and an intense desire to show the world that no matter their circumstances, all athletes deserve to be taken seriously.
Where It All Began
Rugby has been a part of Dylan’s life from day dot. Hailing from a self-professed “rugby-mad” family, some of his earliest memories are of rugby pitch sidelines, whether that was cheering for his dad’s team’s scrums or singing Waisake Naholo’s chant at ’Landers home games. “Sport has always been a big part of my life and the way that I live,” says Dylan. But with his cerebral palsy – a coordination-based impairment that disrupts the brain’s ability to control balance and posture, and affects muscle stiffness and strength – he could never take part in traditional sport himself.
Despite his disability confining him to a wheelchair, Dylan says his parents never wrapped him up in cotton wool. “They never really treated me any differently,” he says. There were of course things that were more out of reach compared to his able-bodied peers while growing up, but Dylan’s parents let him figure out ways of doing things that worked for him. It was this attitude that landed Dylan in wheelchair rugby. Or, as Dylan blunty puts it: “The closest I’m ever going to get to playing rugby union.”
With sport being a constant presence in the Lloyd household, Dylan set his sights on the high-performance path from a young age. He grew up near Dunedin, a city known for its parasport talent. Local Paralympians, such as shot put gold medalist Holly Robinson and long jump gold medalist Anna Grimaldi, became role models in the Otago parasport community and put stars in Dylan’s eyes.
The talent of local parasports athletes wasn’t the only source of inspiration; what stood out to Dylan was their passion for growing the sport in New Zealand. This influence sparked his own advocacy for parasport, something he aims to push into the national spotlight.
Dylan was introduced to Wheelchair Rugby at a national Halberg Games give-it-a-go day event when he was fourteen. “We just ran it straight at people in wheelchairs and that got me initially hooked,” he tells Critic. At the time, Otago was forming its first regional team to compete on the national stage, making it the perfect timing: “The stars sort of align with things.” Having found his place in Wheelchair Rugby, Dylan knew it was the path he was destined to follow.
A Whole New World
Wheelchair Rugby opened up a new world for the young buck. In high school, he’d struggled as his able-bodied classmates had joined any sports team they wished: netball, basketball, football, rugby. As a disabled person, however, those opportunities simply did not exist. He was instead introduced to individual parasports in areas like athletics, including wheelchair racing. But that didn’t satisfy his desire for team sport: “I just liked the whole idea of being with a team.” As soon as his wheels hit the wheelchair rugby court, he knew instantly that this was his sport. “It will continue to be right until the day that I die,” says Dylan.
Dylan’s parasport journey wasn’t just about taking up a new hobby. It was about overcoming the limitations of his disability. “Growing up, I could barely catch a ball just with the way my impairment is," he shares. “It’s a coordination-based impairment so I struggle with balance, hand eye coordination and muscle tightness [...] but now that’s the least of my worries.”
Parasport opened up a world beyond physical achievement; it created connections that filled a deep void. “A lot of disabled people don’t have an opportunity when they are younger. Individual sports are your first port-of-call to get exercise. I struggled in high school, I missed that team bonding aspect,” he explains. “A lot of people in parasport say that when you find wheelchair rugby or wheelchair basketball, it’s like [catching up] on what you missed out on in high school. Teams will banter and travel away together, getting food together.” In parasport, Dylan found not only physical strength but also the social connection that had been missing for so long.
A Veteran of the Sport
Wheelchair rugby is still a fledgling sport in Otago. With four years of experience under his belt, then, Dylan’s considered a local veteran. As an ever-present face in the wheelchair rugby scene, Dylan plays as much wheelchair rugby as possible – either locally or at a national level – to constantly improve, gain knowledge, and grow the sport in Dunedin.
Despite the Otago squad not being able to make every tournament due to funding restrictions (as they are commonly hosted in the North Island) Dylan often fills in for other squads, most recently representing Auckland at a national competition in Hamilton. Whatever he learns from going to camps or going to play for more experienced teams, it’s all brought back with him to Otago.
Halberg was the foundation that Dylan’s passion for wheelchair rugby was built upon – one he’s built up to the international parasport stage from. He donned the silver fern last September, representing New Zealand for the national Wheelchair Rugby Development squad in a double-header against Australia. The games proceeded immediately after New Zealand’s national competition, where the Australian Development Squad swept the competition.
There was then a fierce bout with Dylan’s squad where Australia ultimately went home with two wins under their belt. Despite the loss, the opportunity to put on the black singlet was a moment of immense pride and motivation, one that gave him the insight that this is only the start of his journey. Dylan says, “It has given me that belief, the belief in yourself, but it has also given me that drive to keep going and be like, ‘Right, Paralympics one day.’”
A Shot at the Paralympics
When he’s not on the court, Dylan spends time behind the scenes of New Zealand wheelchair rugby as the social media manager and graphic designer for the Wheel Blacks. As part of this job, Dylan was involved with the Wheel Blacks’ bid to qualify for Paris 2024. The 2024 World Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic Qualification Tournament was hosted in Upper Hutt in March. It was a milestone as the first major international competition to take place on New Zealand soil since the Asia Oceania Tournament in 2017. It was also the last call for the Paralympics, where the top three teams would be guaranteed a ticket to Paris.
The tournament’s return to Aotearoa’s shores had inspired the Wheel Blacks. They sought a return to the golden era of New Zealand Wheelchair Rugby, having won gold at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Leading into the qualifying tournament, New Zealand bolstered their squad with the addition of seven athletes who had recently been selected to the International Wheelchair Rugby World Cup in France. They also brought back Wheel Black legend Dan Buckingham who was a part of the gold medal-winning team in Athens. It was a shaky start for the squad, losing their three first games before finishing strong in a courageous effort to land the fourth place spot. Just shy of top three, New Zealand did not qualify.
Just as abled-rugby is a sport for hooligans played by gentlemen, wheelchair rugby is often referred to as “murder-ball”. While athletes aren’t allowed to hold or push other players, the contact in wheelchair rugby is rough in other ways. Ramming chairs, for instance, is all too common. A series of collisions over the course of a match can accumulate so much force that wheelchair frames have been known to crack. The sport itself is so full of contact and aggression that when it was formed in the late ’70s, “murder-ball” was its first official name. Dylan reiterates this, recalling that the qualifying games for the Paralympics he witnessed were “cut-throat”: “I think that Wheelchair rugby internationally is the strongest that it has ever been.”
As he reflects on his time at the tournament, Dylan mentions the 2024 three-part docuseries Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line, which followed the team's bid to qualify for Paris. The series highlighted the challenges of playing a niche parasport in New Zealand and sought to dismantle misconceptions about it. Dylan jokes, “The amount of questions I get like, ‘How do you tackle? Or do you play on grass?’ People think [they know] about rugby as a sport, but then they watch wheelchair rugby and it’s quite different [...] there are elements of handball, basketball, rugby union, even netball. It is way different than any other discipline of rugby.”
Dylan praises the docuseries as an excellent tool for educating people about the sport. The fact that it aired on Sky Sport gave wheelchair rugby – and parasport in general – a much-needed platform. Leading up to Paris 2024, the coverage brought parasport into the mainstream where teams like the All Blacks have long dominated the nation’s rugby-mad ethos. Dylan hopes to build on this momentum by providing more accessible media and insights around wheelchair rugby through his role as the Wheel Blacks’ social media manager –essential for not only growing the sport but also advancing parasport as a whole.
The Power of the Media
On the topic of the importance of media momentum leading up to, and during, the Paris Paralympics, Dylan voices concerns about the gone-viral Paralympic TikTok account. While the Olympics TikTok highlights elite talent, Dylan points out that the Paralympic TikTok tends to take on a more inspirational tone – a portrayal Dylan feels is damaging to the reputation of Paralympic athletes. “I understand that it is giving exposure to parasport, but how many of those people are going to go from watching a TikTok video to watching the sport? You read the comments – and I’ve talked to a lot of people in the community about this – it’s just making those jokes that aren’t helping the sport. It’s feeding into the stereotypes [...] giving people a platform to make those jokes, and you don’t want that all the time.”
Dylan loathes being viewed primarily as an inspirational figure rather than an elite competitor. “The issue with parasport at the moment is that it’s great you’re inspired by the sport, but every game the All Blacks play, you don’t call them inspiring for playing rugby. You hear a lot about Paralympic athletes and you may find them inspiring because they do things differently or have overcome barriers, but everyone is just an athlete at the end of the day. We still have to train. I don’t go out and play wheelchair rugby to be inspiring,” he says. “Every athlete is an athlete at the end of the day. [They should all] be taken just as seriously, no matter what [they] do.”
When it comes to the Paralympic social media accounts, Dylan acknowledges that humour, when used thoughtfully, can be effective. But this is only as long as it educates rather than simply attaching meme-like, bass-boosted sounds to a clip of the sport. In his view, social media should aim to attract genuine fans of the sport, rather than chasing viral content.
The Paris Games represented a major improvement over Tokyo, says Dylan, as the Paralympics were treated with greater equity. The integration between the Olympics and Paralympics, from media coverage to athlete recognition, felt more seamless. It fostered a sense of unity between the two events, something he says is just the beginning of what needs to evolve into year-round support and coverage for parasports to keep athletes in the public eye: “You can watch all parasport all the time, all year round. Not just at the Paralympics.” This would give parasports the respect they deserve, ensuring athletes are recognised for their talent and dedication every day – not just during the Paralympic window that rolls around every four years.
From Polytech to Billboards
Dylan’s true passion, besides ramming chairs in murder-ball, is sport design. And in a world where you’ll likely have scrolled as many kilometres as you’ve run, social media has become an indispensable tool for sports marketing, fan-engagement, and branding. Quality social media and quality engagement, therefore, is a massive part of any sports team. Whether it’s Instagram score updates, lineups or athlete anecdotes, sports consumption is almost solely driven through social media. You need look no further than the Highlanders borderline-thirst-trap gym compilations to see this for yourself.
Originally, Dylan had his eyes set on IT as a career that enabled him to work with his cerebral palsy impairment. It was fate that led him to stumble upon graphic design. He’s always had a knack for making things, sharing that he started off with the classic crafting “terrible” posters and iMovies at the age of ten. But he didn’t know he wanted to be a graphic designer until needing to fill an empty elective slot in his final year of high school. Graphic design clicked. As a self-described people person, design allows his communication to really thrive. “I just like making stuff, and it’s a great way to express your passions and create cool things,” he says. “You can’t beat it.”
He took up design communication at the Polytech in 2022. Through what was initially a Polytechnic elective course, Dylan found his first paid gig as a designer for the former Otago NPC player Peter Breen’s company Rugby Bricks, an online rugby training and accessory business. Dylan was elected to an internship role with them a year early (second-year rather than third-year) and this evolved into paid employment. He worked for the company for over a year-and-a-half during the build up and running of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, an impressive achievement he kept fairly under wraps. “Not a lot of people know unless they follow me personally or follow my social media pages. I suppose not a huge amount of people know what I get up to outside my day to day,” he says humbly.
After parting ways with Rugby Bricks, Dylan worked his way into a digital design internship with the Southland Stags NPC team, a collaboration that he found massively rewarding: “Seeing kids get autographs on posters that you designed [...] or seeing your billboards around the streets [means] you can actually be a part of something you created. It’s quite a cool feeling and the first time I've experienced that as a designer. Seeing your bits and pieces around is something that you can really be proud of.”
Advocacy
The Halberg Foundation has supported Dylan since he was seven, an organisation dedicated to enhancing the lives of disabled Kiwi kids through sport and recreation with whom he has maintained an ongoing relationship. Under the slogan “the joy of movement” the Halberg Foundation hails the importance of simply getting active. Halberg events across the motu are instrumental starting points for athletes, Dylan says, whether that be in discovering the high performance pathway or just a love of sport.
Nearing the end of his eligibility for Halberg’s programs (who support individuals up to age 21) Dylan began thinking about how he could give back to the organisation that helped launch his sports journey. “When I’m older, I [want to] look back and enjoy remembering working with younger kids and showing them the potential […] of the benefits of sports for people with disabilities or really any activity or recreation. That is sort of my driver in giving back to the community.”
In recognition of Dylan’s enthusiasm for supporting kids once in his position, on August 18th of 2022 the Halberg Foundation asked Dylan to join their Youth Council, believing he had the ideal personality to help grow parasport and inspire others to get involved. Upon joining the Youth Council, Dylan has pushed for larger exposure to parasport and disability sport, where he advocates for the importance of just getting involved. “I won’t stop going on about parasport and why people should treat it equally. So I think that giving back to those people [and] being an advocate for parasport [...] [is] so important for everyone,” he says.
Other than the Halberg Foundation, Dylan’s advocacy extends to the newly formed Dunedin sect of I.Lead, a disabled youth organisation that is focused on disability rights and advocacy as a whole. I.Lead engages with issues of housing, health, and sport and recreation, working with various organisations to assist with disability plans to give advice from the disability community. Dylan and the organisation work to advocate and collaborate on disability plans to ensure they approach things in the right way.
Working with organisations like I.Lead, Dylan understands the importance of advocates in New Zealand. As one himself, he shares his story about the intricate loopholes he had to navigate to obtain his adaptive car through the public health system. He also speaks of his efforts to work with landlords to improve accessibility in flats, something that hindered his ability to live in North Dunedin. “They weren’t thinking about wheelchairs in the 1800s, and a lot of flats are quite old buildings,” says Dylan. The characteristic steep staircases and small bathrooms are enough for your average student to complain about, let alone tackling them in a wheelchair. Needless to say, his flat hunting attempts fell flat. “So that’s why you need advocates,” he concludes.
Life in the disability community doesn’t come without its hardships, but Dylan doesn’t see these as barriers. Whether it’s breaking into the wheelchair rugby space (where funding for equipment is a challenge for many), advocating for improvements in the lives of people with disabilities, or working his way into the world of design, there are no roadblocks for Dylan.
Reflecting on his sports design journey, Dylan states, “I feel like a lot of people will sort of see me or see the wheelchair in the stadium and think of accessibility as a barrier. But I am a real independent person so I’ll find my way to make it work. Or they’ll think that I may need more help than I actually do, but I find my way to get stuff done.”
Dylan doesn’t want to be seen as inspirational, a label that he believes to be condescending and stereotypical for parasports athletes and people with disabilities. In his words, he’s just a man building his career, quietly ticking along and finding a way to get things done. While Dylan might not label himself as an inspiration, his dedication to parasports, and the many ways this manifests, means he certainly deserves the label of all-around top bloke.