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When Australia's Paralympians set sail for Paris in August, the Australian men's blind football team and the Australian women's goalball team will have their feet planted firmly on the ground.
Funding, amongst other issues, impacted their ability to qualify for the Games.
Blind football player Shahram Jazan is the self-described "grandpa" of the team, known as the Bilbies.
The 51-year-old concedes his hopes of representing Australia at the Paralympics are likely over.
"It was always my dream, I wanted to play blind football," Jazan said.
"When you run on the field, you feel free. You are achieving something for yourself and for the country as well."
While the Bilbies have never qualified for a Paralympics, the Aussie Belles could be considered veterans, with five Games under their belt.
A decision to shrink the number of goalball teams competing in Paris, and significant challenges for the squad, meant the Belles missed out on Games qualification.
"We had a core team, a lot of those ladies retired at the end of the Tokyo Paralympics," Belles coach Simon Smith said.
"Goalball is its own sport, there's no parent sport that can support goalball.
"At the moment the sport is fully athlete-funded."
Having been a part of the team in Tokyo, 25-year-old Brodie Benson is one of the few Belles left with Games experience.
She believes the heartbreak of missing out on Paris 2024 can help propel this new generation of athletes towards Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.
"Building that base of players now gives us plenty of time to expand them and grow them and help them continue to develop, so we'll have a really strong team moving forwards," Benson said.
Increasing opportunities
Of the 22 sports at this year's Games, Australia is likely to be represented in at least 16, equating to 170–175 athletes.
Funding is largely determined by a sport's historic performance, with Australia currently having eight Paralympic sports that do not receive any high-performance funding.
As well as blind football and goalball, this includes sports like wheelchair fencing, sitting volleyball and para-powerlifting.
Senior performance and talent advisor at Paralympics Australia Tim Matthews is hopeful of this changing in the lead-up to Brisbane.
"We're really confident and working closely with our system partners and key stakeholders at the Australian Institute of Sport to ensure that those programs have support moving into the future, so they're best placed to not only compete in Brisbane in 2032, but also be successful," he said.
That includes more opportunities for people with disabilities to engage in sport, reducing barriers to pathway progression for developing athletes, opportunities to gain sport classifications for new athletes, coaching support and increased funding.
Paralympics Australia is hopeful of a team of 300 athletes for Brisbane 2032, where the host nation earns automatic slots for some team sports, including blind football and goalball.
Funding issues
Australian Blind Football National Manager Dave Connolly says preparations for 2032 have already begun.
"We've really focused on getting young athletes into our squad. So, we're looking at 15- to 18-year-olds," Connolly said.
"If we're looking at those that are going to be around in Brisbane 2032, a large proportion of our squad have the opportunity to do that."
For the Bilbies to have a fighting chance in 2032 it largely comes down to one thing — money.
"There is no funding at the moment, so all the players have to pay from their own budget," Jazan said.
This lack of funding resulted in the Bilbies being unable to attend what would have been their first-ever world championships in Birmingham last year.
"All of our athletes [and] volunteer staff would have had to pay out of their own pocket. It was going to cost around $150,000 for our squad to attend those championships," Connolly said.
Excited for the future
Despite these challenges, both Benson and Jazan believe the future is bright for their beloved teams.
With a home Games in 2032 on the horizon, Jazan still has a lot to give the squad over the next eight years.
"This [team] is my baby, and I would love to be involved when I'm not able to play," Jazan said.
"I will be able to do some coaching, some mentoring — taking the team to the next stage."
"I'm just excited for the future," Benson said.
"I think the future can always be so uncertain. But I think by getting your head set in the right frame of mind, that there's no mountain too high."