About

My story

Zac Schultz launching off the starting blocks in a Parafed Waikato cap at a para swimming meet in Hamilton
Off the blocks — Parafed Waikato

Kia ora. I'm Zac. I'm 14, I live in the Waikato, and I have cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy means the messages between my brain and my muscles don't always arrive on time. For me that mostly shows up in how I move and how quickly I tire. It is not an illness and it doesn't get worse — it's just the body I train in.

I started out doing whatever anyone would let me try. Riding for the Disabled at Te Aroha. Touch rugby on a Saturday. A rowing machine in a primary school hall. Somewhere in there I worked out that I actually like the hard part — the training, the nerves on the blocks, the bit where it hurts and you keep going anyway.

I'd rather be the kid who tried eleven sports badly than the kid who watched.

These days it's swimming and shooting that have my full attention. I train with Parafed Waikato and race whenever I can, and I shoot air rifle. They could not be less alike, which is exactly why I want both. Swimming is noise and lungs and effort. Shooting is stillness, breathing, and one clean moment. Golf and pickleball fill the gaps and keep the whole thing fun.

The Halberg Foundation and Parafed Waikato are the reason a lot of this happened. If you're a disabled kid in New Zealand reading this and you haven't been to the Halberg Games yet: go. That's the whole tip.

Watch

Me, at the
Halberg Games

This is the bit that's hard to put in writing. It loops — press the orange button to hear it.

Prefer it full size? Watch it on Vimeo

How it went

The road so far

  • 2016

    Sitting tall in the saddle

    One of the first times anyone wrote about me. Riding for the Disabled at Te Aroha put me on a horse and, more importantly, showed my family that "can't" was going to need better evidence.

  • 2021

    My first Halberg Games

    Three days in Auckland with hundreds of other young disabled athletes. I ran the 100m, played touch rugby and cricket for Waikato, had a go at table tennis and got in the pool. I came home with a list of sports I wanted to keep doing.

  • 2021

    NZ Indoor Rowing Championships

    Representing Hukanui Primary on a Concept2 erg. Two thousand metres is a long way when you are that small, and I learned that a race can be entirely between you and a screen.

  • 2022

    Toes in the water at Whangamata

    The first time I got down the sand and into the sea in a beach wheelchair. Stuff came along and wrote about it. I said I never knew I could have so much fun — I meant it.

  • 2024

    Back at the Halberg Games

    Older, faster, and this time I knew everybody. RNZ came and wrote about the friendships that get made there, which is honestly the real reason people go back.

  • 2025

    NZ Secondary Schools Swimming Championships

    Racing at a national schools meet, up on the blocks in front of a full pool. Swimming had quietly become the sport I cared about most.

  • Now

    Four sports, two priorities

    Swimming and shooting are the two I am chasing hardest — the pool early, the range steady. Golf and pickleball keep me sharp and keep it fun.

What I'm doing now

Training week

Swimming and shooting are the priorities. Everything else fits around the pool and the range — which is fine, because everything else is fun.

Swimming Parafed Waikato & school squad — lungs, laps, early mornings
Chasing hardest
Shooting Air rifle — breathing, stillness, one clean shot
Chasing hardest
Golf Nine holes and counting
Competing now
Pickleball Fast hands, short court — my newest sport
Competing now
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