Leicester to Odense

I have had a great day today watching the Invictus wheelchair rugby trials in Leicester. Mike Spence and Jinx have done an excellent job in a very short time to teach the game to a really committed group of service personnel. Today was the second day of the trials for the GB Invictus squad and looking at the talent around I am pleased I have no part to play in selection- it will be difficult!  The squad  looks very professional in their Help4Heroes kit and the new Roma chairs also purchased by that great charity Help4Heroes  - the team certainly have  the best equipment to do the job. With just 43 days to go before the Invictus rugby tournament there is not a great deal of time left for ...
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Great Teams & Learning to Win

I guess many of us were glued to the screen last night and watched Germany become the World Champions. Germany were arguably the most consistent team in the tournament and few will forget their annihilation of Brazil in the semi-finals. The exciting thing for Germany, and the equally worrying fact for the rest of us,  is that they still have a very young team and have the potential to dominate the world game over the coming years! They also seem to want to play for one another -  I read a comment today made by centre back Mats Hummels who said, 'You can only be world champions when you act as a team'. It got me thinking about how much progress our own young team has made under the coaching...
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GB Announce World Championship Team

With just 5 weeks to go before the team leave for Denmark, GBWR has just announced the team for the 2014 World Championships in Odense; congratulations to: Jim Roberts; Ayaz Bhuta, Mandip Sehmi, Jamie Stead, Alan Ash, Chris Ryan, Gavin Walker, Mike Kerr, Coral Batey, Bulbul Hussain, Jonathan Coggan and Muhammad Fakrul Islam. With Myles Pearson, Kylie Grimes and Paul McDerby in reserve, this exciting team with its mix of experience and youth will want to build on the encouraging performances seen in the Canada Cup. Yesterday the team was joined at its Leicester Camp by the Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, Minister of State for Disabled People who met the athletes and staff and enjoyed joining in a ...
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Home from the Canada Cup

The GB squad arrive home on Tuesday after competing in the Canada Cup in Vancouver. This is a great competition which brings together many of the top teams in the world. Although this year world No 1 USA did not take part, it was good to see the nations ranked 2, 3 and 4 - Australia, Canada and Japan all there for us to play. For the majority of our squad, this was the first time they had been exposed to this level of competition and they showed that they are more than ready to pitch themselves against the best. The stand out performance was their game against Paralympic Silver medallists Canada which they lost by one point in the dying seconds of the match. The team will be gutted by losing...
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Membership Fees Frozen at 2013/14 Rates!

The GB squad have been hard at it in their final camp ahead of the Canada Cup in Vancouver next week. This will be the first big test for the new squad as they get to play some of the top teams in the world including Australia, Canada and Japan. The team is looking fit and it is good to see Manni and Chris back and fully recovered from their injuries. Good luck to them for their final big tournament ahead of the World Championships in August. Meanwhile the first Talent camp took place at Lillishall last week where athletes were introduced to the elite pathway and got to understand about the commitment and expectations that are fundamental to the elite player journey. Individuals participa...
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Mike Spence to be GB Invictus Coach

Mike Spence is to be the Head Coach to the GB Wheelchair Rugby team for the Invictus Games. Mike started playing himself in 1990 and went on to represent GB between 1993 and the Paralympic games in Sydney in 2000. Throughout his career he played for Pirates from where he retired from playing in 2012 but where he still coaches. Mike has also been coaching some of the GB development programmes including Rugby Wheels and the Military programmes at Headley Court and the Personnel Recovery Centres. His fellow club mate Paul Jenkins will be his assistant coach and he will also be supported by GB Head Coach Paul Shaw and the performance team. Tickets for Invictus went on sale last week and Friday 1...
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