Jason Schmidt at his happiest – with a cricket bat in hand. Photo: Australian Fathering Awards.
You’d imagine cricket is a sport where it’s somewhat critical to keep your eye on the ball.
Not necessarily.
This Father’s Day, Jason Schmidt has received national recognition as ‘Australian Sports Father of the Year’ for his role in getting Blind Cricket ACT – a local club specialising in actual cricket games for blind and low-vision people – to where it is today.
“I’ve been president for Blind Cricket ACT here for the last five years; it’s been all hands on deck to get it up and going,” he says.
The club started with four members but has since grown to the point where it competes against similar clubs in other states and in the annual National Cricket Inclusion Championships (NCI).
One of Blind Cricket ACT’s players during the 2025 National Cricket Inclusion Championships in Brisbane. Photo: Chris Hyde, Cricket Australia.
“It’s essentially the same as mainstream cricket – it’s the ball that’s changed,” Jason explains.
“So it’s a hard plastic ball with ball bearings in it, so it makes a really loud noise as it moves.”
It’s enough to bring the joy of sports to people who otherwise wouldn’t know it, even if it’s still an uphill battle to spread the word.
“Blind cricket has always been on the fringes in Canberra, and for the most part, it’s still a hard battle for us to get grounds and funding, but with each season, we’re slowly picking away at things and getting closer,” he says.
“We’ve been doing a lot of stuff in the background, engaging with schools doing blind and low-vision sessions with students, and connecting with the community as much as we can to make sure there’s awareness out there.”
An example of the ball used in Blind Cricket. Photo: Blind Cricket ACT, Facebook.
Jason was among three men – and one organisation – to receive an Australian Fathering Award during a ceremony in Sydney this week.
Created in 1957, these annual awards aim to “celebrate and acknowledge the vital role that fathers play within families, and in the wider community” by selecting Australian winners across four categories of Father of the Year, Community Father of the Year, Sports Father of the Year, and Best Workplace for Fathers.
The awards were managed by The Shepherd Centre, in partnership with the Australian Father’s Day Council, until 2021, when The Fathering Project took over.
Previous recipients for Father of the Year include Jimmy Barnes, Hamish Blake and Dick Smith, while Adam Desmond was last Year’s Sports Father of the Year.
Jason was “very surprised” to receive the phone call.
“It was right on the back end of my taking a redundancy of my job … so it was an interesting mix of feelings going through that day.”
Jason Schmidt with his son and two daughters (and, of course, the family dog). Photo: Australian Fathering Awards.
He says it was being a father to three kids that “really got me into this space” of mentoring people with disabilities.
“I spent 15 years in supermarkets until I trained to be a teacher, but I couldn’t quite figure out what I was looking for. My son Dave, who’s now 18, started playing soccer, and I was coaching his soccer team, until he decided on cricket, and so it felt like every couple of years, I was just diving into each and every sport he jumped into.
“And then the two girls came along, and I’ve been coaching them.”
While none of his kids have disabilities, Jason worked with many who did during 10 years living in Tasmania, helping to run Special Olympics Australia.
“I also earned a bit of experience working with disabilities in high school – running lots of different kids programs and things like that – and I just fell in love with it,” he says.
“There was a real appreciation from the kids that at times you don’t get running kids’ sports – when you’re sort of always on the back foot with parents, or they’re always expecting more or they’re expecting this. They just appreciated everything that you had to give them.”
Jason has coached all three of his children in various sports. Photo: Australian Fathering Awards.
Using the recognition from his award, Jason hopes to raise $20,000 for Blind Cricket to get its own home ground here in the ACT.
“We’re open to anything,” he says.
“But we’ve found that Hackett Oval is not used as often as other ones, but it could do with a bit of a touch-up, so we’re looking to apply for grants to build up the ground and get our own container there so we can store all our equipment.”
Visit Cricket ACT for more information on Blind Cricket ACT, or to join.
