The Ross Hill Primary School student made the journey to Adelaide on Saturday to show his stuff at the Pacific School Games. 

He joined about 3500 athletes from 12 different countries, as he competed in the 50-metre, multiclass breaststroke. He was the youngest in his age group.

Last week, Damon said he was excited about “being one of the fastest” and was determined to keep his nerves under control. He was keen to watch and learn from other swimmers.

“I like competing, and I like seeing them compete, and I just like the sport.” 

In yesterday morning’s race, Damon’s aim was to shave four seconds off his personal best (PB) of 58. Damon’s mother, Emma Murphy, said that when he qualified for the games in May, he was more excited about beating his PB.

“Because we’d agreed if he’d done a certain PB, he got new goggles,” she laughed. “We set what we thought was an unrealistic PB, and he achieved it, so he actually got his new goggles”. 

“Well they were thinking, ‘nah, he’s not gonna do it’,” Damon said with a proud grin. 

Damon is competitive by nature and enjoys keeping fit, but for him, the best part about swimming is having fun with his friends. He and his family are incredibly grateful to his friends and teachers at Ross Hill for their unwavering support. 

“The kids just look up to Damon a lot. They don’t want to swim some days because ‘Oh, Damon will win,’” Emma said.

“But all the kids know him, they all cheer him on.”

“Some lanes are like, they’re best friends, but they’ll put them out and put me in front, and cheer for me sometimes,” Damon said.

He was a bit disappointed that he missed out on competing with his mates at the Inverell Swimming Club Carnival, but thought it was worth it. 

“Well we’re going to the world’s biggest kids’ carnival, so it’s better than being here,” he said.