Your support of my 2016 Paralympics Funding Campaign will help me continue to pursue my aim of representing Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio and winning my SECOND Paralympic medal.

Goal:

The support kindly given by yourselves will be spent on funding my training, competitions, travel & accommodation, Coaching, Physiotherapy and equipment costs, all of which I currently have to self-fund. I am looking to raise £6,500 of the £12,000 it will cost me for this year. Being paralysed and a wheelchair user I require assistance with almost everything I do, this means I also have to fund a second person to support me which doubles my costs.

My story:

My athletic career started in April 2003 after I suffered from a prolapsed disc that left me paralysed from the chest down and in a wheelchair.

When I was able bodied I enjoyed sport and played a lot of football, went swimming and worked out at the gym, so while undertaking my rehabilitation in the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital I continued my passion for sports.  During the 2004 Inter-spinal Competition held between Great Britain’s spinal units, I was introduced to athletics, particularly to the field disciplines (Shot Put, Discus and Javelin).

My principal field discipline is the Shot Put although I still do Discus.  In order to participate in these events I use a customised frame to sit on and have been classified within one of the eight field categories.  Classification is done by an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classifier and was dependent on my muscle ability.  Classification is required to ensure that I throw against athletes with similar muscle abilities to ensure fair competition.

I have been being selected to represent Great Britain as a member of the disabled team a number of times since 2006, competing in various counties including Holland, Taipei, Belgium, New Zealand and France. I feel great pride in becoming a Paralympic athlete at London 2012 where I won the Bronze medal for my category.

Having a young family I am grateful for their help, understanding and encouragement in both my training and competitions. Unfortunately for the last couple of years things have not go to plan due to equipment issues, IPC Governing Body rule changes effecting equipment specifications and throwing rules and a long period of illness I have not qualified for funding from the Great Britain Governing body.

However I am back fit, healthy and looking forward to seeing the results of the hard work I and my support team (Coach, Physio, Gym trainer, masseuse, PA and family) are putting into my winter training of which I am currently over half way through.

After this solid period of training I am aiming to achieve the required qualifying distances to be selected for the Great Britain team which will enable me to build on my success as a Paralympian by representing my country in my second Paralympic games in Rio and achieving another medal in my category.

The 2016 Rio Paralympic Games is the first occasion where field athletes compete only against other athletes from their own classification.  Previous competitions have involved “combined class” competition where athletes compete against other athletes in other classification using a points score system to rank performances. This stands me in extremely good stead for achieving my ultimate goal of bringing home a Paralympic medal.

As with all sports training is critical and continues throughout the year and my coach and I are already making plans for next year. A vital part of my training is the yearly warm weather camp in Portugal at the end of winter training period. This camp is the transitial period from hard training in the gym to the competition field, when all the hard work undertaken during the winter comes together in a warm, outdoor, competition simulated environment where the warmth enables my muscles to work to their optimum level without the risk of injury. Preparation for this camp is begun and without support I will struggle to get the funds to attend.

As well as the many domestic and international throwing competitions that we have planned to participate at the IPC Grand Prix Series held in number of European countries. The majority of these competitions I will have to fund myself.

Closing Message:

Please don’t feel you have to stick to the pledge ‘reward’ amounts, donate what you can no matter how small (or big) as everything will count.

Having your support would mean a huge amount to me, allowing me to achieve much more in the coming season without the financial worry. Sports men and women, be they disabled or able bodied can’t achieve what they do alone, it’s the support they receive from so many others that helps them stay focus, perform and achieve subsequently inspiring and motivate others.