The game has an exciting future

I am currently hearing much talk about the legacy of the games and by that I guess people are thinking about what are we left to build on after the games. I actually prefer the term the BPA use which is 'momentum' in other words how do we build on the momentum and interest created by the games. For us, like many sports I am sure, this is critical. We are getting many enquiries from people who are keen to become involved in our sport. Some are interested in playing, others want to learn to coach or to become officials and others just want to volunteer to help in any way they can. It is really important that we respond immediately to this interest even if at this stage we just acknowled...
Read more...

Competing with the best to be the best

In the end the Basketball Arena's 10,000 capacity could not cope with the numbers who turned up to see GB and the best of the other teams play. Wheelchair Rugby was the ticket everyone was trying to get hold of. I was told that one of the most asked questions at the information booths on the park was 'where can we get a ticket to watch wheelchair rugby'. There were massive queues for the opening game against the USA and this set the scene for a level of interest never seen in this country. Items on national news and headline pages in the national and international newspapers is not something we are used to. It is clear that there is a market for our sport and we must now build on the mom...
Read more...

Congratulations to Japan

We are all having to lick our wounds and face up to the fact that we have lost to Japan at a critical point in the tournament and will not qualify for the semi-finals. We congratulate Japan and wish them well for the next stage of the competition. They played very well against us and in the second quarter of the game created a gap that became impossible to close. This is the essence of elite sport and we will now do our very best in our remaining matches in order to maintain our 5th place world ranking. Now is not the time to review our performance during this paralympic cycle but this is something we will be undertaking in the coming weeks so that we can learn from the experience and...
Read more...

An extraordinary day for wheelchair rugby

Today was an extraordinary day for wheelchair rugby in general and for GB in particular. I woke to find virtually every newspaper filled with pictures and comment on the GB v USA game and all of it hugely positive and saying what a fantastic and exciting game it is. Who would have thought that The Guardian would have a front page dominated by a picture of Dave Anthony and Aaron Phipps? Or that the Times would carry 3 full pages on the game? and then there was the fantastic picture of Aaron Phipps in the Telegraph. Any sport would be thrilled to have this sort of coverage and it confirms that we have a very marketable product. The day continued with everyone talking about rugby and with e...
Read more...

Now for France

Buoyed on by a full stadium of 10,000 spectators and the area outside the stadium resembling the Wimbledon hill when Andy Murray is playing, GB gave a good performance against the USA ranked the best in the world. Leading 13-11 after the first quarter, the USA slowly ground us down, restricting our space and making it difficult to unleash the likes of Aaron Phipps and Dave Anthony. By half time the USA were 10 points up and the game finished with a 56-44 victory for the USA. Despite the result this was an encouraging performance by our young team and we will go into the France game knowing more about what we have to do to win and also much better prepared for the overwhelming noise and t...
Read more...

Bring it on

I don't think anyone imagined or perhaps could have imagined the atmosphere that is around these games; from the very opening it has been just incredible. Last night I was in the stadium watching the athletics and there was such a buzz around the place right up until the end and that amazing win by David Weir in the 5000m. With all of this going on it is hard to keep the reins on our athletes, they are just raring to go. I can honestly say that I have never seen them more ready. There is a great atmosphere in the camp and a determination to go out there and do the business so watch out for us we are straining at the leash to go! You will not have missed that everyone is talking about rug...
Read more...