What is the Question with Sam Rizzo

What is your name?

Samuel Joel Rizzo.

What is your occupation?

Currently, I am completing a metal fabrication apprenticeship.

What brought you to Ballarat?

I have lived in Ballarat my whole life. My Dad grew up here, also.

What is your favourite spot in the city?

My athletics training circuits. Lake Wendouree is a big one. It’s flat enough to get in some good quality training, and you can do as many laps as you want without going too far.

What do you like to cook?

I love to cook all different types of foods, but I would say that one of my two favourite things is homemade pizza. Why? The dough is the recipe that my Nono gave me when I was younger, and it’s the same one that he has used for a long time. He has owned and worked in pizza shops for most of his adult life. The other thing is cheesecake, just for fun.

What is the most expensive thing you’ve purchased – property aside?

With my sport, travel is the biggest expense. Going to competitions in Australia or overseas, the costs add up very quickly!

What building would you choose to be?

I couldn’t come up with anything, but my Mum, Debbie, thought I’d be a bus shelter because I am reliable, practical, and helpful.

What is your most treasured possession?

My friends and family; everything else you can replace.

What is the greatest love of your life – apart from friends and family.

My sport. Para-athletics has literally changed my life. From an eight-year-old listening to the great Richard Colman speak at a spina bifida camp, l began wishing that one day, I might have the opportunity to wear the green and gold for Australia and bring home a gold medal from the Paralympics. Para-athletics has not only made me healthy, it’s given me self-confidence; it’s allowed me to learn; and to see some really amazing things that otherwise, I never would’ve had the opportunity to experience.

What would you change if you could edit your past?

Not a thing. I believe that life is a journey and each person finds their own way through it. This journey is what makes us different from one another and makes us who we are.

What or who inspires you?

Being better than I was yesterday: self-improvement. If I can learn each day and do things to improve for the future, then that is something to chase.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Canberra! My family and I head there every year for the Summer Down Under. I love this city because it’s very accessible; there aren’t a lot of people in the streets, which makes it good for wheelchair users. There are lots of things to do: roaming the streets; looking over Parliament House; or enjoying the view from up the top of Telstra Tower lookout. Also, it’s the home of Australia’s fastest athletics track at the AIS – which is amazing to train and compete on.

What music and television do you like?

I have a very wide range, but I seem to prefer older entertainment.

What is your favourite quote?

“With God, hard work and focus I can accomplish what is ahead of me,” – Manny Pacquiao

What person – living or dead would invite to dinner party?

Bruce Lee! What he achieved in his lifetime is phenomenal; he was so beyond his years. Surely I would be able to learn and gain so much from having dinner with him.

What qualities do you admire in other people?

Commitment, determination and a willingness to give things a go – even if they fail – as long as they give 100 per cent.

What was your first job?

For three three-years, after school, I worked at the local comic book shop, Hero’s HQ.

What did you want to be when you were growing-up?

A chef, I’ve enjoyed cooking and baking since a young age.

What scares you?

Spiders

What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?

Enjoy every single part of this journey that you’re about to go on, it will be challenging, if it wasn’t everyone would be doing it. But if you concentrate and put in the work hard, you’ll make it.