What a joy it’s been to have the wheelchair rugby community together for a week in Leicester! The King Power Wheelchair Rugby Quad Nations tournament has been such a huge success on so many levels that everyone involved should feel immensely proud. The professional manner in which the event was staged is a huge credit to Martyn Salt and his team of ‘Smashers’ and presenters led by Ian Mollard. The technical delivery of the event was first class – thank you to the officials and to Richard Allcroft for managing this. The quality of the play itself could not have been higher with the biggest margin of defeat being just 4 points and with each team winning and losing at least one pool game.
The tournament was always going to present a tough challenge for GB but that was the point of it, and the coaching team will have gained a huge amount of knowledge from playing three of the world’s top ranked teams. Although GB came in 4th place, we achieved a win against the USA in the opening game and we never allowed any team to run away from us. There is work to do though and it’s clear that we need to reduce our error rate, play with greater intensity, and we must find a more effective way of dealing with teams that run high/low lines. Another plus from the tournament was the confirmation that Stuart Robinson is in the game as a 3.5. This along with the return of Aaron Phipps gives the coaches an opportunity to look at some new lines. All in all a good performance from our team so well done to the athletes and to the coaches who are working very hard at finding a way to break into the world’s top three. And thank you to Japan, USA and Australia for taking part.
GB v USA
There was so much more about the tournament than just the competition. An event like this gives an opportunity to bring the wider wheelchair rugby community together and to extend it. I was bowled over by the support we had from everyone we worked with in Leicester. The staff at the Ramada Encore, the tournament hotel, could not have been more helpful and the same was true of the Leicester Arena which hosted the competition. Roma Sport again provided incredible technical support and expertise. We had the most amazing support from Jon and Kevin at Fraser Urquhart Media, who achieved excellent coverage and much more for us. Stuart Hollis the magnificent photographer at Osborne Hollis in Leicester took some stunning images of the event, many of which can be seen on our website and others we will use during the coming weeks. Our live streaming through the BBC was outstanding and at one point we held the number two spot on the BBC Sports website – even nudging ahead of the Six Nations coverage. BBC Radio Leicester followed us throughout the week giving us a huge amount of airtime and the lunchtime presenter Ady Dayman became a huge fan.
The four Captains in Leicester
I think a highlight for me though (other than our win against the USA) was just the real sense of community there is amongst all those involved in the sport. It was a pleasure to listen to the four Captains speaking on BBC Radio. In all cases they did not just focus on their desire to win but also on the wider reasons they play the game and what it has to offer to others who are disabled and to those who are not. It was humbling listening to Ryley Batt, well known as the top player in the world, as he spoke about his work helping disabled youngsters in Australia. He made Kyran Bishop’s day by having his photo taken with him. Kyran was so proud to be alongside one of his sporting heroes. Kyran’s mum said, ‘its so important for disabled kids to have role models to look up to and to aspire to which only happened when Kyran started wheelchair rugby’. We can all feel good about that and it says a lot about the value of our youth programme.
Taylor with GB’s Aaron Phipps
And what about Taylor Lewsley who carried the ball on for the semi-final match? It was a real pleasure to look after his mum Terri and Taylor himself; he was such a robust, fun little man. To see him sat with Aaron Phipps whose disability was also the result of meningitis was really something. I feel a huge sense of pride when I see our athletes reach out to others in this way and to me that sense of supporting others is one of the reasons our sport is so special and allows us to bring to life our mission to build wheelchair rugby communities. And I know she will forgive me if I mention Linda Beesley who is at the other end of the age spectrum but who is an incredible supporter of the game. Linda was there throughout and commented on twitter ‘it was a brilliant weekend and certainly felt like family – everyone was so friendly to see this granny on her own’. How good it is to hear that!
It’s actually been an incredible couple of weeks with such a lot happening that it’s been hard to keep up! But for the snow the Super Series would have been coming to a close but the weather meant we had to postpone Division 2’s final weekend and we are waiting for the clubs involved to agree the best time to reschedule. This weekend will bring Division 3 to a close and Leicester Tigers have already claimed the Division 1 title, so a massive congratulations to them as we see the trophy move out of London for the first time that I can remember. Stuart McLindon has been doing his usual amazing work with the youth programme. We did a lot of activation around the Quad Nations with a taster day which included a Q & A with Nick Cummins and Ryan Cowling involving the schools Maplewell, Grypon and Birchwood Vale. We also loaned chairs to Leicester Tigers who worked with Judgemeadow, Limehurst, Robert Smyth and Sketchley. Jim Roberts and Ryan Cowling held a Q & A with two schools on the Friday after the USA game and two of the Japanese athletes went into two local schools and were a huge hit! Other schools involved were Friars Academy, Northampton and Hebdon Green, Cheshire. All of this activity helped encourage over 750 young people to attend the opening game of the tournament which provided a fantastic atmosphere to start the event.
Young people supporting Japan on the opening day
All of the above could not have happened without our sponsors and partners. A big thank you to them especially King Power and the TS Shipman Trust who were the main sponsors of the Quad Nations. Also to the Lord Taverner’s who are now our partner in delivering the youth programme. More broadly we would have no GB team without those who are behind us in the insurance industry, and LMAX Exchange and Roma Sport – not forgetting the many, many supporters who have helped through Just Giving. Then there is that horse!… Rothman runs again for us this weekend… what a star!
Finally we say some goodbyes. Kirsty moved on at the weekend to her new role as Director of Sport at Stonewall and she will be very much missed. Kirsty has been key in growing and developing the sport over the last 5 years and I know we will all miss her. I’m really proud of what she has achieved at GBWR and also proud that this has been recognised with her move to such an important role. Fortunately Julie Bunnage has returned and will pick up the job of National Development Director in the immediate term. Julie is hugely experienced, knows us well and has a huge passion for the sport. We also say goodbye to Lucy Jones who leaves us after 8 months after helping us put in place our fundraising function. We wish her well and I know we will see her around as she too has become a huge fan.
That’s all for now. It doesn’t get any less busy over the next few weeks as we bring the Super Series to a close, get ready for the National Championships, get the GB team prepared for the Asia Para Games in Japan in May, and a little less exciting for me – prepare for the end of year audit, AGM and Sport England reporting period!
David Pond
