Andy from England's Wheelchair Rugby 7s

Having previously played the rugby union running game for 12 years (at club, county and midlands level), wheelchair rugby allowed me to carry on my love for the game. I play Rugby League for the Hereford Harriers and was then 'selected' to be part of England's squad. It was more of an honour to play for them than a choice to be honest!

It reflects my belief of the importance of 'setting yourself goals'. From focusing on something, being the domestic part of wheelchair rugby, achieving those goals, you can be rewarded by something as big as the England squad. In other words, it results in the general state your mind should be in....the more you put into something, the more you will get out.

The first week of lockdown was strange. Suddenly my daily routine of work (I was furloughed), keeping fit, the gym and rugby training had stopped. My first thought was to make a new routine, keeping busy is important, both physically and mentally. Weekdays were for reaching set goals and weekends were for relaxing.

Every weekday, weather permitting, I would get in my wheelchair and go for a push around the area. I worked out a 3mile route; 1 mile to the park, 1 mile around the park and 1 mile back home. The first day took me 2hrs. So, my goals were automatically set - improve on that time. A few days I failed beating the previous day’s target, due to wind, rain or punctures. I now do this keep-fit course in 1hr 39mins. I also have some fitness resistance cables, so I spend time stretching my upper body and keeping as supple as possible. 

I am paraplegic and a permanent wheelchair user but refuse to be refined to a wheelchair. I have 2 leg callipers and some parallel bars to try and learn somehow to walk again. My first goal was to put one foot in front of the other, whilst gripping onto the parallel bars. If I could manage that, the idea would be to try and walk with a Zimmer frame, then crutches and who knows? I've been trying to achieve this goal for the last 7 years, with smiles and tears but most importantly a very stubborn mind! I attempt this goal a couple of times week too. 

My goal for lockdown was to come out the other side safe and well, whilst having achieved something positive. Well, I haven’t let myself down. I am fitter than I was, I have improved my walking and balance between the bars, I can manage a few steps with my Zimmer frame, and I can balance holding my crutches. My thought process is I don't care if it takes me 1, 10 or 15 years to achieve this, I have nothing to lose!

I’m proud to have achieved many things over the last eight years.

I have been solo scuba diving in Egypt, been on safari in Africa and been 'sit skiing' in the French alps.

I won a year's scholarship for a disabled drivers rally team, racing a hand controlled rally car up and down the country including the circuits of Donnington and Silverstone, competing against able bodied rally drivers in normal rally prepared cars, finishing 23rd out of 48 competitors by the end of the season.

I formed a team and built myself an off-road wheelchair to participate in the Tough Mudder events (for the able-bodied athletes in us). It’s a 10-mile cross country assault course with 12 obstacles and 12ft walls to climb over. I won a Sunshine Radio FM 'Pride Award' for 'Sporting Achievement of the Year' from this and have successfully completed 2 more Tough Mudder's since, raising more than £7,500 for my disabled wheelchair rugby team, the Hereford Harriers.

My cup is always half full which I think is the best attitude to have! Since being in a wheelchair permanently, I’ve refused to let it get the better of me. Tell me I can’t and I’ll bet you I can!

The escapades I have conquered are examples of me taking life by the scruff of the neck, proving to myself and other disabled people, that having a disability is not the end of the world, it's the start of a new one.

I am quite an active wheelchair user and outside of work in my spare time I like to go to the gym and keep fit, which makes my life in a chair a lot easier and allows me to be fully independent. Even as far as to say I can transfer myself and my chair into my car completely on my own and drive off in less than 60 seconds (not that I’m competitive or anything).

During lockdown, and part of keeping fit, I've been taking my day chair out for a 3 or 4 mile push around my village a few times a week. Someone in my area regularly saw me, and had a handcycle they no longer used, and asked me if I wanted it.

So I have now taken up a new hobby, which has turned out to be such good fun and great for keeping fit and active, especially with the wheelchair rugby season put on hold for obvious reasons.

There are many things I thought I would miss becoming a paraplegic, but in reality, you just find different ways to achieve different activities and accomplishments.

I sometimes go out on my own, or I go out with my friends on cycle rides. After all it's no different to an able-bodied person going out a cycle ride (and much more fun I must add).

It has 21 gears so no problem for going up hills. It also has a wireless speedometer (I have reached 50mph), which tells me how many calories I have burnt, the distance I’m travelling, a stopwatch and the time, all whilst not letting go of the hand grips.

My new goal is to complete a half marathon, and then a full marathon. Ideally when the coronavirus is under control and everyone can run and ride together.

Taking on challenges that myself, a full-time wheelchair user, aren't ‘supposed’ to complete is right up my street.

So I formed a team of friends to take on the infamous Tough Mudder Challenge. A 10-mile cross country obstacle course with the majority covered in thick mud. It's called the 'Tough' Mudder for able bodied athletes. For me to take on the challenge in a wheelchair was a no-brainer.

First thing was to build a suitable transport. So I got hold of a broken rugby wheelchair, took it to work, stripped it down and myself and a few work colleagues began to create a suitable, indestructible off road wheelchair to suit the terrain that the infamous Tough Mudder and it's obstacles would throw at us.

Our main objective was to try and make it as safe as possible, so we added an extra wheel on the front and the back, so it was virtually impossible for me to fall out of the front or tip over backwards. We also made a tow hitch on the front and a push frame on the backrest so the rest of my team could help me conquer the course.

Once we had the chair sorted, we could start training for the event. Our team would meet up in the local forest, twice a week rain or shine. We put ourselves and the chair to the test, going up and down concrete steps, steep slopes and over jumps. I was in the gym building up my top half strength and my stamina levels, to last the course and complete every obstacle, which included climbing over 12ft vertical walls, plunging into 2 metre deep man-made icy, muddy pools of water and crawling 25 metres through dangling electric shocks. We completed the course in 5hrs 3mins.

My goal and focus was already set after that....to complete it again the year after in less than 5hrs of course.

A year later.....mission accomplished!

‘Motivation is making the impossible possible!’

The festive period reminds me of the wintery experience I had sit-skiing.

Skiing was something I had never attempted before, but always wanted to. So waiting until I was paraplegic before trying it was probably not the ideal time to jump on a plane and head to the French Alps, but since becoming aware that wheelchair users can ski the slopes, the temptation was too much for me to resist.

It would tick a lot of boxes on how I like to prove things can be done, just by thinking outside the box, and going out of your comfort zone.

Knowing I would be spending a week in my day chair surrounded by snow, I wanted to give myself a fighting chance, so before I left for the airport, I changed my road tyres for some knobbly off-road tyres. My front casters would make life impossible in snow, so my 'free wheel', which attaches to the front of my chair and lifts the small front wheels off the floor, and replaces them with one single large wheel, was a must.

I threw some ski outfits and some woolly hats in my ski bag and before I knew it, I was at the resort getting measured up for the correct 'sit-ski' to use on the slopes. I had booked daily lessons, being trained by fully qualified sit-ski instructors for disabled enthusiasts.

The first couple of days were spent trying to get the hang of balancing using specially shortened ski poles and slowly gliding down the nursery slopes. The sight of all the other skiers disappearing on the overhead ski lifts into the clouds, knowing I would soon be joining them, gave me a grin from ear to ear.

I met other sit-skiers who had different disabilities in the resort, so it was nice to spend time with them and share some tips, as we all had the same goal...having a disability does not stop you having fun.

The anticipation of making it onto the ski lifts and seeing the resort getting smaller and smaller behind me as we headed into and beyond the clouds, was very exciting and did not disappoint. The views were breath-taking, the skiing was stunning, and the idea of going into a pub for a snack and a beer 1000's of feet up was almost as hard to believe as the fact that I could enjoy all of this whilst being a full time wheelchair user.

The 'comfort zone' won't be offended if you leave it behind every now and again!

Here we are in a brand new year, but unfortunately with the same old pandemic problems. Looking forward, ignore the half empty glass giving us negative vibes, and focus on the glass half full telling us we are going to beat this virus and get back to some kind of normality. I'm sure many of us made New Year resolutions, possibly the majority of them, with last year in mind, involve keeping fit, stay safe and taking care of ourselves.

So as we are in another lockdown, it is important to keep our minds occupied, stay healthy and keep fit. There are different wheelchair fitness classes on line available to download, to give ideas or join in live classes - 'Circuits with Ella' for example.

It's not easy to exercise outdoors as it was in lockdowns 1 & 2, as the weather conditions seem to be against us at this time of year. So if you can venture outside each or every other day for an hour or two, it will keep you focused and help you not to go crazy. However, there are so many different indoor exercises you can do in a wheelchair, depending if it's for specific parts of the body for different sports, or simply for keeping fit and active. I have a spinal cord injury, and as a result my core strength is limited, so I concentrate on different exercises to give me the most mobility and suppleness as possible.

For example, upper body strength and top half flexibility is really beneficial for playing wheelchair rugby. Training at home in lockdown, I have some resistance bands and cables to help me stretch and keep fit indoors. I have different sets of exercises written down for different days. For example, Monday I will concentrate on my shoulders and back. Wednesday will be for my chest and arms, and Friday will be for strengthening my core, general stretching and working on what mobility I have. Everybody with a disability is different, so it's important to find the right program that suits you so you don't overdo it.

Whilst sat in my wheelchair, I use a 15kg kettle bell or dumbbell, but you can use any weight substitute you can find at home, whether it be a can of baked beans or an unplugged iron. Hold the weight in both hands out in front of you, so you're sat up with a straight back, arms out stretched, then slowly but controlled, lower yourself forward bending at the waist, until your chest nearly touches you knees, with your arms still stretched forwards. Pause for a couple of seconds then raise yourself back up till your sat up straight again. Repeat this 25 times, have a 30 second break then do another set of 25. You can then set yourself a target of 100, or increase the weight each time. You should only ever do what is right for your own ability.

The next exercise is to sit up straight again with your arms out in front of you holding the weight, and rotate your body from the waist, 90° to the left and back to the front, then 90° to the right and back to the front. Repeat this 30, 40 or 100 times, again depending on your personal ability.

Just these 2 methods alone, for strengthening your core, is replicating the sort of movement you will be using during a game of rugby. The side to side method replicates you catching and passing the ball left or right, which in turn involves leaning forwards and backwards from your waist.

I like to always set myself challenges, if we set ourselves targets it will keep us motivated and give us a sense of satisfaction every time we smash a goal.

I work in the week, so on the weekend I will go out on my handcycle to get some fresh air, burn some calories and therefore keep as fit as I can, especially whilst our wheelchair rugby is still postponed. I set myself a goal of 20 miles (all within a 5 mile radius of my house, to follow government guidelines), but I pushed the boundary and completed 26 miles. I recorded my time, so my next goal was automatically set....to follow the same route and beat my previous time!

Stay fit and keep active!