Grassroots Games 2016: Rowing
The Paralympics is under way in Brazil, and the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) is focusing on the sports that you will see, hear or read about over the next two weeks.
With 22 different sporting events on show in Rio 2016, EFDS takes a look at grassroots participation back here in Britain.
Today it’s Rowing, with Sue Barnett telling us about adapting the sport to suit her requirements and wanting to be a grassroots Paralympian.
I hope to row once or twice a week, if I’m lucky.
I wish I could get out on the water more, or spend more time on land training sessions using the weights room or the rowing machines. However I am always reliant in at least one other person being around to be my 'eyes' in some way.
I am visually impaired – we desperately need more like me in the sport.
I always have a joke in that rowing should be the ideal sport for people with sight problems as everyone goes backward anyway! But VI rowers are fairly new on the scene, so it's worth looking at different clubs and what they offer.
I have helped devise a way blind or visually impaired people can row using radios and headsets.
I’m directed by another boat as my 'guide'. As there are no other para rowers near me, this method allowed me to compete in mainstream rowing regattas and eventually to win and gain my first novice sculling points.
And just this past weekend I saw another junior VI rower use my method, so it's great to see others now adopting it.
What makes me keep taking to the water?
Sport and fitness is important to disabled people - just as important as to the general population. The difference for disabled people is that it is often a fight to get involved.
But of course disabled people have exactly the same right to take part in sport as everyone else. I have exactly the same right to further my rowing 'career' and make my plans for what I want to do next.
The Paralympians over in Rio have been dreaming and training to get to the Paralympics.
Down at the grassroots level, I want to be able to carry on dreaming and flourishing. I want to be like a Paralympian in my mind. My challenge now is to get to the national rowing competitions, to carry on using mg radio method and for this to become widely accepted.
