But 2022 went a long way to topping that as the Dunedoo star achieved national and international glory.

One of the most memorable moments came at the end of the year, when 19-year-old Leeson and the Australian team starred at the World Championships at Rio, Brazil.

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The Australian team finished atop the medal tally, with Leeson and Dan Michel combining to win gold in the BC3 pairs division while Leeson also won a silver in her first major individual tournament.

"It was awesome," Leeson, now back home, said of the World Championships.

"It's been a long time coming to win a major event like that. It's the first time Australia has won a major event in BC3 pairs so that was really exciting.

"We'd been training hard for the past year and we'd been working towards achieving that goal in Rio. We knew we could do it and had the capabilities but it was whether we could execute on the day.

"We did just that and we were really happy with the performance."

The World Championships win capped a year which also featured national individual success and a pairs campaign which also included a gold medal win at the World Cup in Bahrain.

Leeson and Michel finished 2022 undefeated in the pairs format, something they had never achieved before.

"It feels so good," Leeson said of that achievement.

"Especially going to Tokyo in 2021 we didn't get the results we wanted and we lost to a few teams who were really tough.

"But coming into 2022 we put up a really good fight and we beat those teams and it was incredible to see how far we've come."

Getting to share those moments with Michel was special, but so too was the chance to compete individually at Rio.

Having only competed in pairs previously at major events, Leeson admitted going solo against the best in the world was a daunting prospect.

You wouldn't have known it when the action begun though and she finished the championships with the silver medal.

"It was crazy. It was insane," she said of the standard of play.

"All the number ones were there and it was such tough competition but we pulled through and it was great. Super happy."

Leeson, who has spinal muscular atrophy, first started playing boccia in 2018.

The sport is somewhat similar to lawn bowls and is only for athletes with a physical disability. Depending on their classification, athletes can throw, kick or use a ramp device to move leather balls as close as possible to the 'jack'.

Leeson is assisted by her mother, Amanda, in all competition.

While the pair are currently enjoying some down time back home at Dunedoo after a hectic 2022, the boccia action doesn't stop.

The sights are now firmly set on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, where Leeson and Michel are hoping for a pairs medal.

In May this year the pair will compete in a regional qualifier against other teams from Asia and Oceania. The winner of that tournament earns automatic progression to Paris.

Should Leeson achieve that, it will be another huge boost to the profile of a sport which is still in its relative infancy in much of the country.

"Boccia is not the biggest sport but we're trying to get the word out because there's so many people who can compete who don't even know about the sport," she said.

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