Freya from England's Wheelchair Rugby 7s

It’s incredibly inclusive, and just like running rugby, there’s a position for everyone! There’s a huge family feel to playing in the teams and being a part of the clubs.

Just give it a go - it might just change your life!

It's always important to have more females playing sport, especially putting pressure on the boys for spots in the squad! But more importantly, raising the profile of the sport and its inclusive nature; having more females playing will encourage even more. In the future, even have a women's international side which would be incredible for the sport. However, I think it's really positive to have mixed squads.

Home is my favourite place to be, somewhere I can close the door and be in my safe space, with my favourite person and 4-legged best friend. So when the government announced “stay home, stay safe”, I was a big fan!

I’ve not left my house since 15th March and spent the pre-lockdown weekend how I know best, with a Basketball game, Rugby training and a venture to Hull for a Rugby away game.

With all sport now on hold, this will be my first summer without an international tournament in 7 years and I’d be lying if I said it was easy to continue training at home. Part of me has enjoyed the break for the first time in a long time, however there’s a much bigger part of me that is so ready to hear my coach yell “baseline” and be back with my teammates. Sport is so, so much more than just training to keep fit!

As schools closed, the decision was made by the charity I work for to temporarily close too. Like the rest of the country, I’m trying to keep busy, with those niggling DIY jobs I’ve never had time for, soaking in the sunshine in the garden, playing with the dog and learning sign language, awkward zoom quiz nights and just trying to embrace this time as much as possible.

I’ve tried to maintain exercising at home and a neighbour sourced some bricks for me so we could fashion some ‘rollers’. By placing my sports chair on top, I can still get some sort of cardio training. One of my friends released a whole series of home wheelchair workouts, so big shoutout to Ella for adding some strength training into my routine!

An old friend phoned during the first week of lockdown for help with a plan to get shopping and essential items to our community. With some supermarket delivery times being lengthy, he’d teamed up with a local greengrocer and could offer next day delivery of essentials to our community. We are in our 14th week and have reached over 140 homes! It’s kept me busy through lockdown. The feedback we’ve had, from some of the people we are helping has been overwhelming and it definitely helps power through some of those harder days.

Above all, I think I share the same two views as many others during this time - I cannot wait to hug my family again, and want to say a huge thank you to the NHS and keyworkers for keeping us safe!

Sport has a huge impact on your physical and mental wellbeing, and I believe sport should be accessible for all, whether you want to compete at the highest level or just get active with your friends. Without sport I don’t know what I would be doing today, it has enabled me to go to University, secure a dream job, travel the world and compete for my country. Before sport, I was Freya in the wheelchair, when I play sport, I’m just Freya.

I've been with the Rugby 7s squad since 2018, the sponsors of a test match against France were keen to see more females playing the sport, I answered an advert and have managed to secure my spot in the squad ever since. It's an absolute dream to be playing rugby again, I wish 10-year-old me could see my England kit too! My role in the squad is Hooker, so front of the scrum. I need quick reactions for when the ball is placed, and a lot of trust in my teammates playing loose and tight head prop, as ultimately, they're giving me all the forward momentum to give me the best chance possible to secure the ball.

I was recently asked to be a part of a very exciting project by Mark Massey, a photographer who wants to challenge and change perceptions and stereotypes around an being an Essex Girl, and what this means for young girls growing up in Essex in the shadow of dictionary definitions like, “a young working-class woman from the Essex area, typically considered as being unintelligent, materialistic and devoid of taste.”

I was very keen to take part as an Essex girl! I’m incredibly proud to be from here and honoured to be redefining what it means to be an ‘Essex Girl’. I am proud to be from Essex and nothing makes me feel more at home than seeing the “Welcome to Essex sign” on the M25 after being away with work or sport.

I’ve encountered a lot of negative preconceptions when I tell people where I’m from. The stereotypes around being an Essex girl means people assume I’m unintelligent, vain and naïve. Being disabled too, sometimes it just feels like I don’t have a chance and it’s easier to succumb to the stereotypes. I don’t think people realise how much courage it takes to stand out from what everyone else thinks you are or should be. To speak up, challenge and even help change people’s viewpoints on what a female from Essex should be like – because what is an Essex girl?

For every girl who hears the disappointed tone and the pointed looks when they tell people where they’re from and for every girl who hears the follow up “shut-uppp!” when they mention their Essex hometown – we can change this! Even if you feel like you have traits that are similar to the stereotypes people talk about, just remember you are so much more than that too!

Being from Essex doesn’t define us, because Essex itself isn’t defined by looks or the stereotypical traits it gets a name for. It’s a community of females from all walks of like. Empowering each other, working alongside each other and rooting for each other because of where we’re all from, NOT in spite of it. Just like a football fan supporting their local teams in the big leagues, we’re all supporting each other because we want to see people from our hometown do well.

I’m from sunny Saafend-on-Sea where we aren’t post, don’t say our Ts, never owned a pair of white stilettos and have most certainly not danced around a handbag (not that there’s anything wrong with any of this)– but I am a proud Essex Girl!

Winning the Essex Sports Personality of the Year award in 2019 was honestly one of the highlights of my career so far. I’m incredibly proud to hold the title, especially as a disabled athlete to be the overall winner.

In 2013 I first won Essex Disabled Sports Personality of the Year award after making my debut with the U18, U25 and senior GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball squads. It was an absolute whirlwind and I was up against some very tough competition. It was the first time I’d won a big award and it was just the motivation I needed to power me through the next few years of my career.

In 2018 I won Disabled Sports Personality again after a successful first season with the England Rugby 7s team and winning bronze with the GB Women’s Para Ice Hockey squad at the World cup. Unfortunately, the awards night came at a very difficult time for our family as my Grandmother had passed away the day before, and the funeral was the day after, so the actual awards night was bang in the middle. Throughout my career, my highest achievements have come alongside some of my biggest adversities, I think that’s what helps me keep pushing and stay motivated. It helps highlight; when you feel like quitting, remember why you started.

In 2019, after one of the hardest 12 months of my life so far, I was lifted once again by the Active Essex Sports awards, this time being nominated for overall Sports Personality of the Year, after a successful season with the England 7s lads, bringing Bronze home from the U25 basketball world championships in Thailand and my work off court with Panathlon Challenge. The awards were down to a public vote and the support and response I received was overwhelming. I was so nervous on the night and it was the last award announced. I was up against two incredible athletes and was completely speechless when they announced my name. To know your local community is behind you is a powerful feeling!

The awards this year are celebrating Essex Activity Heroes; individuals or organisations that have helped inspire and keep people active during these difficult times. The real MVPs, at a time where physical activity and community have been so pertinent to our mental wellbeing!

For me, the awards this year are also special because I get to help announce them! To come from a position of being overwhelmed when I was nominated, to being asked to announce, it’s quite surreal to be on the other side. I’m grateful to be in a position to boost others like these awards once (and continue to) boosted me.

The festive season is my favourite time of year, great food, time with the family and finding the perfect present to light up someone’s eyes!

Like most of 2020 this year will be different, but thinking back, I don’t think I’ve had two Christmases the same in a long time. One year we had a basketball training camp that ran over most of the festive period, or I’d often work at the Taxi rank, as Christmas day and the lead up to it is the busiest time of the year. My mum is a midwife and works over Christmas, so we celebrate all together a few days before to exchange gifts and spend time together, but with too many households, gathering this year wont be the same.

Thinking back on Christmas as a child and how magical it can be, reminds me of one of my all time favourite presents. One year my grandparents got me my first ever proper bike! As the youngest to 2 brothers and a sister, it was huge for me to have a grown up bike like they’ve had. I remember them wheeling it in from the hallway and what was so perfect about it, was the fact it was blue (having tried for many years with bright pink things and girly dresses) It was a proper bike, in my favourite colour and I honestly rode that bike everyday until I was physically unable to ride a bike anymore. So when I think of Christmas and giving gifts, I try to remember how 9 year old Freya felt that day, with every gift I give.

I'm always far more excited to give gifts than to receive, seeing their face when they open it, but keeping what's inside a secret until they've opened it feels like hardest thing in the world! I love getting gifts that people don’t know they need or tickets as something to look forward to in the new year and of course the silly annual presents that just become tradition! I don’t know how it started, but every year I get my sister-in-law carpet shaker and my Nan will always make sure we have silly or traditional presents, and gets t-towels and sponges and tiny things that remind her of us when she saw them, those are the presents we’ll treasure the most. One year I got my niece her first basketball hoop, or the hip flask I got engraved for my step-dad the year of mum's wedding in Greece (his present this year is the one I’m most excited about). The best has to be mum’s present last Christmas, Mamma Mia the party at the O2, the treat for my mum, that I didn't know we both needed, perfect company, great music and of course the obligatory sing-a-long in the car home!

It’s great to be able to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah, on the first day of Hanukkah I put up the Menorah and light the first candle, visit and place a stone down for my grandparents, (In the Jewish religion you don’t give flowers at the graveside you place a stone. I pick one up from the places I’ve travelled to, there’s stones from Israel, Texas, Spain, Vienna, Czech republic, all over!) as there’s been no sport this year and we’ve not been able to travel too far, I’ve got one from a beach in Norfolk.

Although this year will be strange, and in some cases virtual, we can still be with our loved ones, decorate the house, give that perfect gift and eat a ton of great food. I’ll still leave the Christmas shopping until the absolute last minute, fill the dog’s stocking (like he has any idea whats going on) my partner will make a cracking roast, and BBC will show Cars! There’s still plenty we can do that make you feel close to your family and traditions, those little things, that get you all giddy and festive this time of year.