Monthly blog round-up: January
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday - sharing the experiences of disabled people involved in sport and exercise at all levels, and those who support disabled people, on their journey to being more active. Today, we take a look back at our blogs throughout January and look forward to February’s stories.
Joseph Lane – GB Para-fighter
At the start of January, Joseph told us how he really enjoyed football and had ambitions of competing for GB, but unfortunately amputee football isn't a Paralympic sport. By chance he came across the confirmed sports for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and saw that Taekwondo was on the list. So, he immediately got in touch with GB Taekwondo and changed his focus.
“I love that Taekwondo is an individual sport and that it is down to you to perform your best on the day. I also like that it is quite fast-paced and the sessions are always high in intensity. Not to mention, the challenge of having to re-teach myself the techniques and self-discipline that is required.”
Lizzie Bennett - Para-vaulter
Lizzie told us how she has made a lot of good friends through being active and explained how they support one another through the nerves and pressure, even when they’re competing against each other.
“When I first started riding and wheelchair racing, I trained alongside other disabled people. This was cool as we quickly became friends and now we have an unspoken understanding between us because of how we view life, training and competitions.”
Shona – becoming active
January saw our first blog from Shona - as part of a regular feature about becoming more active.
“I’ve not taken part in any kind of exercise in about five years due to my declining health, unless you count physiotherapy. Taking part in sport has never particularly appealed to me but over the past year, as I’ve learnt more about the range of disability sports out there, my interest has grown. I’ve considered powerchair football, as well as boccia, but something I knew I could start straight away was swimming.”
The next blog in Shona’s series will be published later this month – keep an eye out for it.
Ellen Stephenson – Para-swimmer
Our last blog of January saw Ellen tell us how being active is playing a supporting role in her daily life as it makes her feel more confident.
“The things I enjoy most about being active is that it keeps me fit and it has given me the opportunity to make lots of new friends. My team mates at DSS-GB are a great example as we give each other lots of support and become really good friends because of our sport.”
That’s it for our January round-up. February will see us continue to publish blogs on experiences of disabled people involved in sport and exercise at all levels, finding out what impact being active has on their lives.
If you're interested in writing a blog about your experiences of sport and exercise, please email news@efds.co.uk or call 0161 228 2868.
