Our Team Win Gold!

Sometimes there really is just not much to add. Our team’s win over the USA yesterday was historic in so many ways – first ever wheelchair rugby Paralympic medal for GB, first for a European nation, and first gold for GB in a team sport in the Games’ sixty-one-year history – every newspaper on today’s newsstands brims with images of the team’s success. As well as the euphoria of winning the gold medal, the final whistle also brought a huge emotional release for everyone who has been ...
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We Came to Win Gold…

… not just any medal. When I wrote of our loss to the USA yesterday I referenced the baseball aphorism ‘’the game isn’t over until the final out” – today the team gave weight to that with a comprehensive win over the reigning world wheelchair rugby champions Japan and in so doing earn their place in tomorrow’s final where we will play the USA for a second bite of the cherry. When today’s final whistle was sounded emotions ran high – not just amongst this closely bonded team and...
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Some Way from the Final ‘Out’

When I lived in Toronto I used to watch the ‘Blue Jays’ and mixing with the baseball fraternity got to hear the aphorism "the game isn't over until the final out", the meaning of which is that even if one team is behind, they always have a chance of winning until the third out of the final inning completes the game. And that is where we find ourselves today. We are still some way from the final ‘out’ and after our loss to an experienced well organised USA team we will now regroup, unders...
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One Game at a Time

Day two of the tournament and I am already bleary eyed! I got myself out of bed to watch the the 3:30 am game between the USA v Canada followed by Japan v Denmark at 6:00 am. USA v Canada games are always a little special, they were the first international wheelchair rugby nations and are synonymous with the iconic Academy Award nominated film documentary ‘Murderball’, which centred on the rivalry between the Canadian and USA teams and did much to bring wheelchair rugby to a wider audience. ...
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GB Win Opening Game

Well day one has produced some interesting games and results which will keep everyone guessing as to which teams will be in the medals! The USA demolition of New Zealand’s Wheelblacks was perhaps not that unexpected but you would have got good odds for a Denmark win over Australia. Denmark has been getting stronger and stronger as we have experienced at the Quad Nations whilst Australia has suffered more than most from lack of team training due to COVID-19 in-country travel restrictions. I sus...
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Let’s Go!

This my final news before tomorrow’s opener. I’m as nervous as hell and haven’t slept that well (not helped by the overnight crying of my new eight-week-old puppy ‘Betty’, a companion for Lily though at the moment not one that Lily seems to want – big stand-offs in our house!). Bett...
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