AgilityMagazine Issue 6 July 2019
Hannah
Moore Aiming to make history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
OLIVIA BREEN | NICK BAKER | JESSICA-JANE APPLEGATE | ACTIVITY ALLIANCE
Editor's
Welcome Celebrating our parasports stars…
A
very warm, summer welcome to the July edition of Agility – the digital magazine focused on disability sports and our Paralympic stars. With the 2020 Games little more than a year away, we talk to Tokyo hopefuls Hannah Moore, Olivia Breen and Jessica-Jane Applegate as well as British Rowing coach Nick Baker in another actionpacked issue. Regular columnist Hannah Cockroft is joined by our wonderful new contributor, paracanoe champ Emma Wiggs, as the build-up to Tokyo suddenly hots up. Despite that, we’re staying cool and even have a touch of snowsport action (in July!) thanks to a inspirational interview with Disability Snowsport UK’s CEO Mark Kelvin. DSUK are doing some truly fantastic work promoting adaptive skiing and transforming lives.
“There’s a real thrill and a rush with that wind against your face and that fear of falling,” enthuses Mark. “That can start to awaken something in people and help to unlock a new sense of self belief. It’s beyond a sport or physical activity benefit – it’s more the emotional and mental wellbeing that comes with that.” There’s plenty more from Mark and DSUK and a couple of cracking embedded videos to boot - so head to Page 32 to find out more about their initiatives. Also, massive thanks again to our friends at Activity Alliance for their latest update, which focuses on the highly successful GOGA programme. This community-centred approach is delivering activity that includes everyone – exactly what Agility is all about. Thank you once again to all our readers, supporters and contributors – and enjoy the sixth edition!
Lee Jones Agility Magazine, Managing Editor
Many thanks to…
Agilitymagazine | 1
AgilityMagazine Issue 6 July 2019
Hannah
Moore Aiming to make history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
OLIVIA BREEN | NICK BAKER | JESSICA-JANE APPLEGATE | ACTIVITY ALLIANCE
Cover image: Hannah Moore Credit: ITU Media/Petko Beier © AWJ Publishing. All rights reserved. ISSN-2516-4872 +44 7747 763977 info@awjpublishing.co.uk www.awjpublishing.co.uk Twitter: @Agility_mag Facebook: @AgilityMagazine Managing Editor: Lee Jones Digital Editor: Damien Wilde Sales Manager: Emily Saville Contributors: Hannah Cockroft, Barry Horne, Emma Wiggs Images: ParalympicsGB, Activity Alliance, Leonard Cheshire, British Rowing/Pete Reed, British Rowing/ AllMarkOne, Disability Snowsport UK, Parasport, World Triathlon (ITU Media/ Petko Beier), British Canoeing Design by:
info@newroadcreative.co.uk @newroadcreative Agility Magazine is published by AWJ Publishing. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of the Managing Editor or AWJ Publishing. Reproduction is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the Publisher
Contents Issue 6 July 2019
10 14 18
HANNAH MOORE Britain’s European and World champion wants to make Paralympic history JESSICA-JANE APPLEGATE The World Para Swimming Championships will revive some fantastic memories
NICK BAKER Can GB’s Paralympic rowing squad excel once again on the big stage?
24 28 30
OLIVIA BREEN Injury comebacks, the Superhero Tri and preparing for the World Champs HANNAH COCKROFT Hannah’s sticking to racing after her first powerchair football session
ACTIVITY ALLIANCE Chief Exec Barry Horne describes what people ‘get out’ of being active Agilitymagazine | 2
32 36 38
DISABILITY SNOWSPORT UK How snowsport can change perceptions and transform lives EMMA WIGGS Paracanoe champ Emma discusses ‘when injury strikes’ in her new column PATH TO SUCCESS Let’s fund our female athletes on the path to Paralympic success
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In the News...
Take a look at this great video from BP
GB Women net dramatic double success THERE was a dramatic eight days of worldclass competition in Rotterdam at the 2019 European Championships as the GB Women’s wheelchair basketball team claimed an historic silver medal and secured their place at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. The GB side completed the tournament’s pool stage qualifying for the semi-finals having accrued three wins and two losses - to Germany and hosts the Netherlands. The GB squad proved their grit when they faced Germany in the semi-finals two days after suffering a tough pool game loss to the same opposition. GB dug deep to win 49-48 and claim their spot in the final. That saw GB once again face long-time rivals the Netherlands. The GB team will have taken confidence from their strong pool game performance against the side. However, it was not to be with a strong Netherlands side claiming the win (65-52) despite a battling
fourth quarter by the British side. Celebrating the silver medal and Paralympics qualification, British Wheelchair Basketball’s CEO Lisa Pearce commented: “This team is simply exceptional. Every time I watch them play I see them leave their heart and soul on
the court. This team has made history at every major since 2016, building upon success after success after success. “They are changing the face of the game of women’s wheelchair basketball and they are a team to be feared as we head into Tokyo.”
Ace Lapthorne claims historic Wimbledon triumph medallist Lapthorne was delighted. “It’s amazing. To be here in the first place was a massive achievement. It’s taken a lot of time and effort,” he said. “To come here and play doubles with Dylan, a good mate of mine, and to be the first-ever doubles team to be up on that board means everything to me.” Lapthorne couldn’t add the quad singles title, however, losing 6-0, 6-2 to his friend Alcott in the final of that event.
ANDY LAPTHORNE teamed up with Dylan Alcott to become Wimbledon’s first-ever quad doubles champions. The duo won the inaugural final 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) against Koji Sugeno and David Wagner, with a packed home crowd cheering London native Lapthorne on to glory. After a successful exhibition showing at last year’s Championships, the All England Club incorporated the quad doubles into this year’s programme, and triple Paralympic
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In the News... Skelley, Hodgson and Stewart star GREAT BRITAIN’S judokas continued their push for Paralympic qualification with three podium finishes at July’s qualifying event in Fort Wayne. Christopher Skelley finished with a silver medal in the men’s -100kg after losing to reigning Paralympic champion Zviad
Gogotchuri in the final. World number one Skelley beat Oleksandr Pominov of Ukraine and Benjamin Goodrich of USA to reach the gold medal match, but was unable to overcome his Georgian opponent who had a point to prove after being recently dethroned by the Brit at the top of the world rankings. Meanwhile, Jack Hodgson and Elliot Stewart both picked up bronze medals after defeating Greece’s Theoklitos Papachristos and Germany’s Daniel Goral in the +100kg and -90kg respectively in their third-place play-offs. Elsewhere, Dan Powell narrowly missed out on a bronze medal after losing to Dmytro Solovey of Ukraine in the -81kg to finish fifth. Evan Molloy and Natalie Greenhough finished in seventh after losing to world number eight Nathan Petit of France and Greece’s Theodora Paschalidou.
Brits closing in on Tokyo ‘goal’ GREAT BRITAIN women’s goalball squad’s sixth-place finish at an international tournament was a significant step in their ambition to achieve qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Despite losing out in the quarter-finals at the IBSA goalball event in Fort Wayne, the team put together a series of performances of the highest quality. Victories over Spain, South Korea and Germany set up a last-eight match against
the host nation. Great Britain fought to the end but were beaten by the eventual runners-up and Rio 2016 bronze medallists. In the placing matches, Great Britain won a nail-biting penalty shoot-out against Finland before coming up short against Canada to finish sixth. Great Britain now look forward to the European Championships in October. The event represents the final chance to secure their spot at Tokyo 2020.
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Ingram calls time PARALYMPIAN Sam Ingram has announced his retirement from competitive judo. Ingram represented ParalympicsGB at London 2012, taking silver to add to the bronze medal he secured at Beijing in 2008 in the under-90kg category. The 2016 Paralympics marked Sam’s third consecutive Games, where he finished just outside a medal spot in fifth place. The 33-year-old also achieved silver medals on four occasions at the World Championships in 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2018, as well as successful European Championships where he achieved gold (2011 and 2013) and bronze (2010 and 2015) to bolster his impressive tally. He said: “Judo in Great Britain has long been at the forefront of inclusive behaviour. We have people of different genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities and race, and those with and without disabilities all training, competing and developing as judoka under one banner. I’m very proud to be part of this.”
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Hannah
Moore How Hannah’s hoping to make history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics…
B © ITU Media/Petko Beier
RITAIN’S para-triathletes will head into next year’s Paralympic Games with high hopes of medals across the eight races. But the greatest achievement of all could come from Hannah Moore. Having completed her first triathlon in 2017, the 22-year-old has progressed rapidly to elite status, claiming the PTS4 European and World titles last year and starting 2019 with World Series victories in Milan and Montreal. That represents an incredible rise to the top of her sport and would see Hannah as the hot favourite for Paralympic glory in her class in little more than a year’s time. Unfortunately for the Loughborough University student, the Toyko para-triathlon schedule doesn’t include a PTS4 women’s event. Undeterred, Hannah has set her sights on qualifying for, and competing in, the PTS5 race – and making history. “Paralympic qualification opened at the end of June and Montreal was the first World Series race within that period,” she told Agility after her victory in Canada equated to a fifth-place finish in the class above. “It’s obviously a tall order to try and be competitive when you’re classed as being less able than someone else but I think it’s so cool to have that opportunity to try and get there. “It’s something that no one has ever done and it’s never been possible before – to race up a category – so to get to this point where it’s a real possibility of being one of the first people to do it is amazing. That’s something that keeps me motivated. Now, it’s all about being competitive in that category. “The work we’ve done over the winter to make that possible was evident in Milan when I finished six or seven minutes ahead of people who were only a minute or so behind me last year, and effectively finished second in the category above. That was what we were aiming for,
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© ITU Media/Petko Beier
“I did my first triathlon in May 2017 which was a Super Sprint race at the Arctic One Foundation event. I really enjoyed it and have somehow ended up where I am now!” so to have achieved that so early in the season was really exciting for me.” Hannah’s achievement would be all the more impressive given her dislike for running as a youngster. “I did karate when I was a kid and had a black belt but never really did anything else,” she explained. “In fact, I absolutely hated running at school and would do pretty much anything to avoid it! “I enjoy running now and appreciate it so much more because it’s something I thought I may never be able to do again.” She continued: “Before I had my leg amputated in 2016 (after suffering with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome for four years), I used to do some wheelchair racing and met people who did triathlons. But I couldn’t swim because I had open wounds in my foot. It was always something I liked the idea of but it wasn’t possible at the time.
“I chose to have my leg amputated and decided that once my recovery was complete that I was going to give triathlon a go. I did my first triathlon in May 2017 which was a Super Sprint race at the Arctic One Foundation event. I really enjoyed it and have somehow ended up where I am now!” No longer the new face on the para-triathlon scene, Hannah is thriving under the added pressure from being European and World champion. She remarked: “I do have higher expectations of myself because I know the hard work that my coach and I put in over the winter. When I went to Milan, to be introduced as the 2018 world champion was a bit strange and a new feeling though. “Because of the Paralympics, I’m aiming to be competitive as a PTS5 rather than a PTS4. So actually my sights weren’t set on only winning my category, it was about doing well in the other class as well. That challenge provides a massive incentive for me to keep improving.”w
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Jessica-Jane This year’s World Para Swimming Championships are sure to
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e Applegate bring back some fantastic memories
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I
T’S been seven years since Jessica-Jane Applegate stormed to S14 200m freestyle gold at the London Paralympic Games - and played her part in an unforgettable summer of sport. Aged just 15 at the time, Jessica-Jane was part of a British team that included fellow gold medallists, Ellie Simmonds, Ollie Hynd, Josef Craig, Jonathan Fox and Heather Frederiksen. It was an incredible experience for the youngster from Norfolk, who added to her Paralympic tally with three more medals in Rio four years later, and also has six world championship medals to her name. The announcement, earlier this year, that the rearranged World Para Swimming Championships are heading to the London Aquatics Centre will no doubt have thrilled many members of the GB team who were part of the 2012 experience. Here, Jessica-Jane looks ahead to September 9-15 when around 600 of the world’s top swimmers converge on the capital for the competition which doubles up as a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics… How’s the 2019 season going? Are you happy with your progress so far? Surprisingly, training has been going better than I expected. I had to have some time off after becoming poorly again and ended up having to have a heart loop recorder fitted into my chest. I had a bit of time off to allow the scar to heal and struggled to get used to training using different movements for a while but now I’m settled back into it and my racing results are getting better again so I’m really happy. Is this year all about being in peak form and condition for the World Championships? I would really like to do well at London at the World Championships in September - I like to do my best whenever I race! It’s a home games which we don’t get to experience much and my family don’t get to see me race often, so that’s exciting too. This year having our championships in September makes it a really long season, so if I don’t manage to get in peak condition it’s good practice as the Paralympics are held in September in 2020.
What are your targets for the World Champs? I am working on some process goals and I would be really happy to achieve one or two of those during the championships. Will competing in London again bring back great memories from 2012? What’s your favourite memory? London 2012 was seven years ago now and all seems a bit of a dream. I was so young and really had no idea how important it was, it was just another race back then. When I look back now at the videos and photographs it was just amazing and so big, I have never been to anything that big since. My favourite memory was winning the 200m freestyle the home crowd were just incredible! It’s little more a year until Tokyo 2020 - is that an exciting prospect? What are your ambitions for next year? It’s really exciting and really scary looking forward to Tokyo 2020. I would love to make the team but the qualifying times will be harder than ever as the competition across the world gets faster every year so I’m sure I will have to improve my times to make the team. My ambitions for next year are to concentrate on training through to the trials, hopefully qualify and then I would love to medal in Tokyo. Away from the pool, you’re a massive Norwich City Football Club supporter – you must have enjoyed last season with their Championship success? Last season was absolutely amazing! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to many games due to training but on Wednesday evenings I train in the pool next to the Carrow Road ground and the whole area was buzzing, it’s been such a great atmosphere! When the Canaries go up to the Premier League it makes such a difference to the local area, the investment from the big sponsors helps the whole area. Norwich City is a community club, it doesn’t have the financial backing like the big clubs in the Premier League but hopefully we can stay above relegation and stay in the top division - I have hope! w
“When I look back now at the videos and photographs London 2012 was just amazing and so big, I have never been to anything that big since. My favourite memory was winning the 200m freestyle - the home crowd were just incredible!” Agilitymagazine | 16
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© Pete Reed
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Nick
BAKER Can GB’s Paralympic rowing squad excel once again on the biggest stage of all?
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A
S High Performance Coach with the GB para-rowing squad, Nick Baker is ideally placed to provide an update on the preparations for Tokyo 2020 and beyond. Having joined up with the team in 2013, Nick works in tandem with Tom Dyson (Lead Coach – Paralympic Pathway) to ensure the British crews arrive at the start line in Japan in peak condition. After helping the team to medals in all four rowing events at the Rio Games (three golds and a bronze), the coaches and their support team are hopeful of more success next year as Nick explains… On GB’s chances at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics… We’re probably not going to have quite the same perfect storm we had going into Rio in all four boat classes. We haven’t been able to replace Rachel Morris in the female single, but the other three boat categories are looking very strong. We’ve got some familiar names returning in the four and a couple of new people through the cycle who have already put their name on the World Championship board. Even those new people have performed so far and are up to speed. We’ve also got the same double returning – Laurence Whiteley and Lauren Rowles – which is exciting. They’ve had their share of challenges post-Rio but are now back up to a really good standard and, if anything, surpassing what they were doing before. We’ve got a new, old face in the single because Andy Houghton has been around for a long time! He’s now leading our PR1 group and he’ll be the man on the line in Tokyo if he can keep performing and qualify the boat. On the team’s coaching and support staff… It’s undeniable that we’ve got fantastic support from organisations like the National Lottery and our sponsors who put an incredible amount of time, effort and resource into our programme. That enables us to have the staff team we’ve got. We have a team that’s been consistent for a number of years and in any successful organisation that’s a real big strength – people who have seen a number of scenarios and know how to react to anything that comes their way. On the GB Rowing philosophy… When I first came into coaching I read a book by Esther Wojcicki called ‘How to Raise Successful People’. She used the acronym TRICK – Trust, Respect, Independence, Collaboration and Kindness. Those are the five big cornerstones of what Tom and I try to instil in our group. Part of our philosophy is to have better people, not just better rowers. More often than not, if you help develop the wider person outside of the sport the performance will come with that. It’s developing that safety net so they know 100 per cent they’ve got a group that will be there for them Agilitymagazine | 20
perfo
© AllMarkOne
“The only thing you can influence is your boat and your ormance. So stay 100 per cent focused on that, communicate with your team-mates, do what you know and what you’ve practiced, and the result will be the result.”
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GB’s PR3 mixed coxed four, right, have dominated their class in recent years and are on the gold trail again. © AllMarkOne
whatever happens. That’s taken a long time to develop with our staff team and rowers, but it’s so powerful. On trusting the process and the GB system… The age-old saying that we always use is ‘control the controllables’ – when you’re going down a course the only thing you can influence is your boat and your performance, so stay 100 per cent focused on that, communicate with your team-mates, do what you know and what you’ve practiced, and the result will be the result. We just hope that the training we’ve done throughout the season is enough to win the race, but you can’t react to anything that anyone else is doing. All you can control is what you put into that boat. On planning beyond Toyko 2020… We work on two levels. One of those is the here and now - the performance group and making sure we hit our performance targets throughout the Tokyo cycle. We also work at a development level. We’re always looking one cycle ahead and we’ve got a development group of athletes that often train remotely but have got the aim of Paris 2024. We’ve always got this group building towards the
Games in 6-8 years’ time because inevitably people will come to the end of their careers and make decisions when a Games period ends. We need to make sure that there is always that momentum of talent, understanding and knowledge going through the cycles. On the GB development group… We’ve got some exciting people within that group. People like Ben Pritchard who used to be a pro cyclist and had an unfortunate accident while he was racing bikes. He has almost gone through his rehabilitation as part of our development programme. We’ve seen him come to terms with his disability and learn a new way of living and redefine himself through the sport. We’ve got people like that with different stories in the background getting geared up for an attempt on the medals in 2024, which is really exciting. On converting Talent ID into medals… With our Talent Pathway, we have someone who goes out and finds the talent who may be interested in the sport and have the right kind of physical qualities. The next stage, if they’re interested, is to get them classified and make sure they are eligible before they move on to our
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© AllMarkOne © Pete Reed
Talent Development Pathway. They will learn the ropes of the sport and when they start to progress towards the top of the group they have a little bit of crossover with the performance group, doing a few testing pieces with us and starting to learn how things work in our system. When there’s a space available or they hit the right performance targets they then migrate across. On the search for a new female single rower… I’ve learnt in this job to never say never because in 2015 Lauren arrived. We had around six months to teach her how to row from scratch and she ended up with a silver medal at the World Champs. Even I sometimes underestimate the power of our system. People can accelerate to quite a high level in a really short period of time. Yes, it’s looking less and less likely but if someone like Ellen (Buttrick) or Lauren turned up who’s relevant to that boat class then we could absolutely have someone at the top of the field again. It took Rachel very little time to get into the medals, so it’s just about finding the right person. We obviously have to get someone classified so the absolute deadline would be the final qualification regatta next year, which is April, so we still have time… just! w
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Olivia
Breen On returning from injury, the Superhero Tri and preparing for the World Champs
S
PORT has had a massive impact on Olivia Breen’s life. The 22-year-old is already preparing for her third Paralympic Games, having medalled at London 2012 and claimed World, European and Commonwealth golds in the years since. The T38 sprinter and F38 longjumper hopes that by participating in this summer’s Superhero Tri event she can inspire other youngsters to get involved in sport - and sample the same experiences she has enjoyed. “Sport has given me so many opportunities to travel the world and meet amazing people – you just never know what impact these events can have on a person,” Olivia remarked. “School wasn’t really my thing when I was younger but when I was five years old I won my first sports day and my parents saw that I was good at running. That changed my life. I went to my local athletics club when I was 13 and absolutely loved it and my parents encouraged me to really get into disability sport. “I went to an England Talent Day when I was 15, got classified and then ran a good time in April 2012 that put me number one in the UK in the T38 category. A few months later I was competing at the Paralympic Games – what a journey!” Agilitymagazine | 24
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“I’m hoping at the Superhe realise what a difference sp well and see what it can d Want to know more about the Superhero Tri event? Watch this great video...
Olivia Breen is hoping to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as a long-jumper and sprinter
On her inspirations, Olivia continued: “I didn’t know much about Paralympic sport but I really admired Jessica Ennis-Hill. I liked her determination and how focused she was on that day in 2012. All the pressure she had from the press, sponsors and supporters and she delivered. “I’m hoping at the Superhero Tri we can inspire people in a similar way and make them realise what a difference sport can make to their lives. I hope the families see that as well and see what it can do for their children.” August 17 sees the next instalment of the popular Dorney Lake event where participants have three unique challenges to choose from – and three different ways to take part. They can fly solo, unite with family and friends for team relays, or tow their superhero around the course in ‘Sidekick Tris’. Olivia is team captain for Leonard Cheshire – a charity which supports individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability.
“I’ve never been to the Superhero Tri before but I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “There are other Paralympians doing it but it’s also a real family day where everyone can join in together and have great fun. It’s so inclusive and getting involved can inspire other people with disabilities and their families to try it too. “Leonard Cheshire got in touch - I did a carol service with them in December and we got on really well. They initially joined Superhero Tri in 2017 and this year invited me to get involved to help other people have the same opportunities as me through sport and physical activities.” It promises to be an eventful second half of the year for Olivia, who has the World Championships in her sights following an injury comeback last month. She remarked: “I had a quad injury but was back in action at Loughborough – that was my first competition since the Commonwealths because I had a knee injury last year. It’s great to be back and, with the Worlds in November, it’s a long season which gives me time to prepare.
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ero Tri we can inspire people in a similar way and make them port can make to their lives. I hope the families see that as do for their children.”
“I’ve got that time to work on little things and improve. I’m at the Welsh Championships this month and then the Anniversary Games, so heading back to the Olympic Stadium again which I’m really looking forward to. Fingers-crossed I can qualify for the World Champs, have a good run-in and can get a medal. I’m hoping to do the long jump and the sprint.” Olivia added: “It will be my third Paralympics next year and I’ve never been to Tokyo. It promises to be a great experience! I’ve got a four-year plan and the Paralympics are always in the back of my mind. As soon as Rio ended I was thinking about the next Games. “We’ve got a young team and there are some really talented athletes coming through. It reminds me of my London experience – I was only 16 and it brings back those memories when you see the youngsters coming through and improving with every race. “I’ve just got to keep myself healthy and enjoy the moment – I can’t wait.” w Agilitymagazine | 27
Hannah Columnist
COCKROFT
Hannah’s sticking to racing (for now) after her first experience of powerchair football
I
have a whole new respect for football following my taster session with the fantastic players and coaches at Leeds Powerchair Football Club. They signed up to the Parasport website and won a competition to have a Paralympian of their choice attend one of their sessions. For some strange reason they chose me! So I went along and gave powerchair football a go. It surprised me – it was a lot more technical than I thought it would be. The chairs are so sensitive, the slightest movement and you’re flying around the court. I was fully in control but felt like I had no control at all. With a race chair, everything has to be such a big, elaborate movement and you’re not going to do a little push and move very fast. Whereas with this there were no big movements, it was all tiny adjustments that made the biggest difference. Not being a football fan, I didn’t know the rules so they had their work cut out! But I loved it, and it’s definitely a sport that should be at the Paralympics. It’s exciting to play and watch, and they are so talented at what they do. They were a lovely group – very supportive and patient with me – and knew how to challenge me just enough to get me fired up and wanting to compete. At the same time, I think they knew I was a bit scared of the chairs and of crashing! Agilitymagazine | 2
I’m going to stick to racing for now, that’s my sport, but you never know. Once I’ve learnt the rules of football properly you might see me on the court again! The Parasport website is fantastic. It’s something that’s been needed for a long time. With parasports it can be so difficult to find a local club in the sport that you want. Before now there has never been a comprehensive database of those activities. I love that’s an option now because it’s going to encourage more people to realise what sports are out there for them. It’s going to encourage them to go along and give it a try, and if it’s just down the road people are far more likely to get in touch and take that first step. Getting people to ‘give it a go’ is how you find the next generation of Paralympians. I gave racing a go and that was 11 years ago. Hopefully, people have already used Parasport to start their journey and are well on the path to Paralympic success.
Watch this great Parasport video as Hannah Cockroft tries powerchair football
On track, I was delighted with the first part of my season ahead of our World Championships in November. In Switzerland I went quicker than any of the times I managed last year and broke my 400m world record, so I’m heading in the right direction. Plus, I still recognised things that I need to improve on which is great news going forward. There were a lot of new girls on the start line out there – about six new faces. I haven’t seen that in my classification since 2012, so that shows that the sport is still growing and improving. For the first time ever I was the only Brit on the start-line, and I really enjoyed that. I focused on my starts over the winter because they have always been a really weak part of my race. Switzerland proved to me that all that hard work has paid off but I had perhaps ignored the rest of the race too much. Now we’ve got the time to go back and focus on that and hopefully maintain the improvements I’ve made at the start. Everyone has an area they need to work on and it changes. At points in my career I’ve had a good start, middle or end – it’s just working out how to put all three together! w Irwin Mitchell is proud to sponsor Hannah Cockroft’s column in Agility Magazine. www.irwinmitchell.com Agilitymagazine | 3
Columnist
GET OUT GET
ACTIVE!
Activity Alliance Chief Executive Barry Horne describes what people ‘get out’ of being active
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T’S great to see Government and Sport England putting more focus on the least active people, but we need some new and different approaches that work better for those who’ve missed out before. Our research tells us there is a strong appetite for disabled and nondisabled people to be active together - in inclusive settings that work for everybody. That’s why we developed the Get Out Get Active (GOGA) programme. Past approaches have failed to engage the least active, and disabled people are the least active among that group. That’s partly because the offer has traditionally been sports led and catered for people who already have an appetite for sport. Spirit of 2012 (the London 2012 legacy charity) wanted to address this and said ‘what kind of programme would reach the very least active disabled and non-disabled people together?’ We developed proposals that were successful because - drawing from our research and insight - we focused on the things that inactive people have told us they wanted. That revolves around doing things together in a friendly environment and having fun. It’s also being open to how the activity may be adapted to people’s needs. That’s been at the heart of it – trying to create fun, engaging activity. We use the term ‘active recreation’ for this. There’s a range of more than 600 Agilitymagazine | 2
activities across the UK as part of the GOGA programme. The common factor is using Activity Alliance’s 10 Principles in the application to ensure every activity is inclusive. Also, there is a real focus on how we engage people. The biggest part of the investment has gone into raising awareness, engagement and good marketing. We want to ensure we reach people previous messaging hasn’t reached. The ways of getting people involved has been through community champions, peer mentors and people who will accompany others to their first session. You’re not putting the emphasis on the activity, but instead the benefits it brings. You’re thinking differently about how you can get people interested. Our research showed that around seven in ten (70 per cent) of people coming to GOGA were doing virtually no activity. So it’s quite a challenging group - but we’re having plenty of success. 20,000 people across the UK have been involved so far. Approximately four in ten (40 per cent) being disabled people and people with long-term health conditions.
That’s well above the population average, so we’re really getting through to both disabled and non-disabled people. The GOGA approach focuses on the benefits and outcomes. That’s mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing and feeling better connected to your local community. It’s about challenging perceptions of disability for both disabled and non-disabled people. We can show that it’s working in terms of those aims and is making people feel better about themselves, better about their community while improving their health! GOGA is a £4.5million programme over three years of delivery across the UK. It’s due to end in December 2019, and though we set out to engage 16,500 people, by the end it could be closer to 25,000. We’re looking forward to what happens next with GOGA. We really hope that our community-centred approach, delivering activity that includes everyone – becomes common practice in the future. A new exciting campaign from Activity Alliance is calling time on negative perceptions about disability, inclusion and sport, and asks – Who Says? Find out more in our next issue.w Find out more about the Get Out Get Active (GOGA) programme with this fantastic video…
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Disability
SNOWSP How snowsport can change perceptions and transform lives Agilitymagazine | 32
Click here to watch DSUK’s fantastic video on adaptive skiing with Colin and Emily
PORT UK Agilitymagazine | 33
“I’ve definitely come back stronger and more focused on my goal in the future, which is getting a gold medal for Great Britain in Tokyo.”
Click here to watch DSUK’s inspirational video on adaptive skiing with Graeme, Cheryl and Thomas
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EBRUARY saw Disability Snowsport UK unveil two fantastic new videos showcasing how the snowsport lifestyle can transform people’s lives. The first of the videos focuses on adaptive skiing with participants Colin and Emily. Both excellent skiers, they have cerebral palsy and other diagnoses which make some people believe that skiing isn’t possible for them. This great new video proves otherwise. Supported by their instructor, they turn the sit-ski by tilting their head. This movement shifts the weight and turns the ski, whilst their guide keeps them upright. DSUK’s second video, again produced in collaboration with Holmlands, looks at adaptive skiing with Graeme, Cheryl and Thomas - all independent skiers who use very different adaptations. Cheryl was born with a visual impairment and benefits
from a guide. Graeme uses a Monoski after being involved in a road traffic accident, and Thomas is a stand-up skier who benefits from tailored lessons that allow for his autism and epilepsy. CEO Mark Kelvin explained how DSUK’s work across the country helps many others by bringing freedom and independence to their lives. He told Agility: “We offer adaptive lessons all year round – people come for an initial assessment or a lesson and work with one of our specialist instructors. They then work towards a specific outcome – they have very different outcomes and different barriers to achieving that. We’ll work with anybody with any disability towards whichever outcome that may be. “For some people it’s about rehabilitation following an injury, so building up their muscular-skeletal strength and coordination. For others it’s about being the best skier they can be. “We use the skilled staff and specialist knowledge that
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we have to get them up to a standard where they can then ski without us and won’t get caught in an expensive lesson trap.”
because they know it’s safe and maintained, and we will work with the volunteers to support them and help them progress with their adaptive qualifications.”
Outlining the benefits of skiing to disabled people, Mark continued: “There’s a real thrill and a rush with that wind against your face and that fear of falling. “That can start to awaken something in people and help to unlock a new sense of self belief. It’s beyond a sport or physical activity benefit – it’s more the emotional and mental wellbeing that comes with that. “A big part of snowsport is Apres ski, so bringing in that social network is a key factor, and something we do through our holidays and trips abroad. Whatever happens on the mountain is great but everything that happens off the mountain is equally important. “If people get to a point where they can ski quite confidently and competently with DSUK we’ve then got a brilliant network of volunteers across the country who run local recreation groups. They use our equipment
DSUK have a range of other aims and aspirations to focus on going forward. “We’re working on increasing the variety and accessibility of snowsport,” said Mark. “That includes opening new locations across the UK for that immediate access and creating more local groups for more regular recreational skiing. “We’re also increasing the variety of trips abroad that we offer, and we’re looking at access to snowboarding. There’s adaptive kit becoming available for snowboarders or aspiring snowboarders, so we have a commitment within our three-year strategy to be able to deliver snowboarding wherever we deliver skiing. That’s another great area of opportunity for us to explore.” Find out more about DSUK’s initiatives at www. disabilitysnowsport.org.ukw
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© Zsuzsanna Vekassy
Emma Columnist
Wiggs Paracanoe champ Emma discusses ‘when injury strikes’
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S any athlete will tell you, injuries are part of ‘the job’ - the relentless training regime and constant strive for more is punishing on your body and your mind. However, I’ve been lucky that in my career so far I’ve not suffered any serious injury. Yes, I’ve had niggles and little injuries that disrupt training for a few weeks but nothing major. Until last August that is, when a moment of complacency led to an accident in the gym which would change not just my life but my sporting future. That fall in the gym left me with a displaced bone and ruptured ligaments in my wrist that required surgery. I was just a few weeks out from the World Championships, it was devastating. I had been having my best year yet, winning four gold medals paddling two different boats in pursuit of challenging for double gold in Tokyo. We’d made more gym gains than we could have imagined and got faster times on the water than we had thought possible, but all our progress was gone in a moment. Despite the pain and damage, the medical team managed to patch me up to at least line up at the world champs and our amazing year of training allowed us to still perform to some degree and bag a couple of medals. But I knew the injury was big and our future uncertain. Agilitymagazine | 2
I’ve been fortunate that since I started in paracanoe in 2013, I’ve been able to access the best coaches, the best facilities and worked harder than I thought I was capable of. All of which has led to huge success every year, PBs in the gym, new world leading times and world championship gold medals. As I sat waiting for surgery with a career threatening injury, I realised my success had become my identity, I was Emma Wiggs, paracanoe Paralympic and world champion… and I was terrified that this was all that defined me and without it who would I be? This winter has been a journey the like of which I could never have imagined. I’ve had to search for my identity - if I’m not the canoeist or athlete I was, then who am I? I’ve battled with feeling more disabled than ever as I was left with one working limb, I’ve watched team-mates smashing PB after PB while I sit in the corner lifting ‘baby weights’ and I’ve had to approach the racing season without the confidence of knowing I have worked hard, so like every other year I will be stronger and faster than ever.
We redesigned my year and looked at mini blocks where success would be measured on completing all that I could, regaining movement in my wrist and aiming for ‘season’s bests’ in everything I did. It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t where I wanted to be but our reality had changed and it was now about the long game and ensuring we used this tricky year to be even stronger and faster next year as Tokyo approaches. I’ve come away from this winter knowing injuries will strike all athletes at some point and that’s the life we are lucky enough to pursue. The difference is how you deal with it, how you reframe your goals and move forwards - that will define how successful you will be. But more importantly than all of that I realise now that I’m Emma Wiggs, who is resilient, determined, kind, proud and hardworking, oh and I happen to be also be not too shabby in a canoe. #Onwards w
Emma Wiggs’ Agility column is supported by Fuel for Sport – ready-to-eat food products aimed at active sports people who want a convenient way to eat a nutritionally balanced meal. For more information head to: www.fuelforsport.co.uk Agilitymagazine | 3
Supporting our female stars Let’s fund our female athletes on the path to Paralympic success - by Anita Choudhrie, founder of Path to Success
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PORT is often ahead of the rest of society in the way it breaks down barriers, encourages acceptance and brings people together. The London 2012 Paralympic Games was one of those moments, bringing disability into the mainstream and changing attitudes of people across the UK. But while London 2012 was a watershed moment, the work it began is far from finished. It is with this in mind that my charity, Path to Success, launched our Path to Tokyo 2020 campaign on International Women’s Day in 2018. Women’s sport is still heavily underfunded compared to men’s sport, and this problem is even more pronounced in disability sport. Path to Tokyo 2020 supports 12 women across four major disability sports: para badminton, para powerlifting, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball.
All the athletes we support are wonderfully talented, but they fall outside of central funding, forcing them to self-fund or rely on sponsorship. A desire to empower women is very much at the heart of what we do, and I find it astonishing that athletes with so much talent could be winning a gold medal in front of the entire world one day, and then be scrabbling around to pay their tournament entry fees within a few weeks. All our athletes have incredible stories. Louise Sugden is a two-time Paralympian with the Team GB wheelchair basketball team, competing in Beijing and London. She has now changed codes to para powerlifting and is the reigning European champion. To have achieved that within a year is astonishing. At just 18, Olivia Broome has just lifted 97kg in the short stature classification for the first time and is well on course for a medal in her first Paralympic appearance. Mary Wilson is one of the most remarkable Agilitymagazine | 38
women I have ever met. She served all over the world with the military, survived an attack on her life by the Taliban and after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis she was the only female captain in the inaugural Invictus Games. Jordanne Whiley was earlier this month targeting a first Wimbledon title since her doubles win in 2017, a match she won while 11 weeks pregnant. Lucy Shuker has won Paralympic bronze twice in her career and, despite having the most severe disability on Tour, she consistently reaches the latter stages of the major Opens. And then there are young Abbie Breakwell and Ruby Bishop, names to remember as stars of tomorrow. If the support we offer helps these athletes achieve their dream of competing in the Paralympics, then it will have been worthwhile. Path to Success’s charity’s fundraising Gala will take place on October 3, 2019. To find out more please visit: www.pathtosuccess.org.uk w
Grassroots News... Princess Anne opens RDA centre
World record joy!
THE Princess Royal has officially opened the first National Training Centre for Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) in Warwickshire. Her Royal Highness Princess Anne is President of the RDA and a patron of the centre which will bring together, train and inspire the charity’s volunteers and coaches from almost 500 RDA centres across the UK. The opening event, sponsored by Childs Farm, coincided with the 50th anniversary of the charity, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities through horse riding and carriage driving. The RDA’s new home is based at the Lowlands Equestrian Centre in Shrewley, and the charity is aiming to deliver an important service across Warwickshire. The centre already provides horse riding opportunities to 100 disabled children
RAFIK SOLAIMAN and Thomas Talbot are celebrating new world records following the recent Cerebral Palsy Sport Athletics Series in York. They achieved the Senior RR3 Male 200m and Under-16 Male RR2 1,500m records, respectively. At the event, Rafik, 19, from City of Sheffield and Dearn AC and coached by Phil Fleetwood, broke the previous record of 38.15 seconds held by Gavin Drysdale, setting a new best time of 35.99 seconds. Thomas, 15, from Lincoln Wellington AC and coached by Lee Troop, established a new world record of 7.15.35 minutes, becoming the first RR2 Under-16 to set this mark. It was the third event in the Cerebral Palsy Sports Athletics Series this season and incorporated a full programme with many races on the track, both in ambulant and RaceRunning events.
and adults in the county – a number it hopes to double in the coming months – while Lowlands also offers group and private riding lessons to the public, while proving a popular venue to hire. Princess Anne said: “RDA has built a world-class reputation on the strength of its expertise, coaching and horsemanship. These are strengths that must remain at the heart of everything we do.”
Goalball stalwart awarded British Empire Medal Speaking about the British Empire Medal, she said: “It is a real privilege to receive this award. I feel honoured that I get to spend each day with so many inspiring people of all ages across the country. “For many years now, we have been making fantastic progress increasing the amount of opportunities there are to play goalball, introducing it to more blind or partially sighted people than I could have ever imagined 15 years ago.
KATHRYN FIELDING has been awarded a British Empire Medal for her outstanding service to goalball and sports for blind and partially sighted people. She has spent over 15 years creating goalball opportunities for visually impaired people all over the country, helping to reduce isolation in this community by harnessing the power of team sport. Kathryn has also been responsible for raising tens of thousands of pounds for Goalball UK.
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