Amanda Tscharke (table tennis) made her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham where she was part of Australia’s largest ever table tennis team, competing in the women’s singles classes 3-5. Amanda had represented South Australia as a junior in athletics before a devasting motorcycle accident just before her 16th birthday in 1997. She underwent over a dozen surgeries, had a hip replacement when she was 30 and suffered many other complications. Although she had used exercise to find her way back physically and mentally, it wasn’t until 2013 when she was scouted by her former high school counsellor Cathy Lambert that she started competing in para sport. Over the next two years, she was excelling in javelin, shot put and discus. Tscharke also started playing at the Barossa Association Table Tennis Club in 2015 and quickly took to the sport, eventually moving to Woodville Table Tennis Club under coach David Lowe and then state coach Paton Wilson. A silver medal at the Oceania titles convinced her that she had made the right choice and she cites winning the teams event with Birmingham teammate Danni Di Toro at the 2019 Arafura Games in Darwin as a career highlight. She and husband Tony run wine tours of the Barossa Valley and are parents to two daughters.