Time does flies by, it’s been 3 years since my tandem skydive to
raise funds and awareness for Ataxia UK
Apart from playing wheelchair rugby, my biggest achievement
in life has to be when I did a tandem skydive to raise funds and awareness for
Ataxia UK. I would say it’s the biggest because we had to do some fighting to
get it done, so it made it all that more worth it.
The story
Back in 2011 I got
ask if I would like to a skydive to raise funds and awareness for Ataxia UK.
Of course I said yes I was well excited for it, and then we ran into some roadblocks.
See I was going to do the jump as part of a group and we were going to do the
jump from this airfield up north, it was up near Manchester and I live in the
south Bournemouth.
I remember talking to
the skydive guy on the phone and as I am a wheelchair user and lived so far
away problems got in the way, they said they would take me, but I would have to
travel up there and if I didn’t meet all of the conditions then I wouldn’t be
able to jump. So I was not willing to risk going all that way just on a maybe.
I have to say I was pretty upset I was really excited on the possibility of
doing a skydive. My mum said let’s start looking into places that take disabled
people. And that’s what we did Skydive Netheravon: Home of ARMY parachuting (
http://www.netheravon.com). We spoke to
them and they said they would take me, as long as I could get a doctor to sign
off on the medical form, at this time I was taking a long needed break from
seeing my doctors, (I was hiding from them to be honest but do you blame me, I had
been seeing doctors since I was 14)
Netheravon said a GP doctor would be fine. So I
and mum got an appointment set up to see the GP and when we saw him he said
‘how can I help’, we explained and he looked over my notes and saw I was under
a big team of doctors. And was like so is the spinal and heart team all fine
with this and me and we were like yes they said you only live once make the
most of it. Even though we had not even seen another doctors about it so we
blagged it. I got to do a tandem skydive on the 2nd of October 2011
it was a lovely, clear and sunny day that we got to jump on. It's a hard thing
to describe a skydive it’s a rush and amazing it’s just one of those things you
have to experience you have to try for yourself. I loved every minute of it and
I have said ever since if the opportunity comes knocking again I’d be there in
a heartbeat.
Here's a video check it out
On Sunday we had taster session 3 of wheelchair rugby
The Dorset Destroyers keep on growing we had
another 2 new players on Sunday, one was a female that’s right females can play
too.
I’d like to think I’ve improved a little bit from the first
taster session, maybe still not with the speed of the chair but on Sunday I was
really pushing myself with team work and try to find space, using pressure and
even ball work calling and creating passes.
We even had the Bournemouth echo down on Sunday taking
pictures and interviews
Here’s a link
The next free taster session for The Dorset Destroyers is on Sunday,
November 9 from 1pm till 3pm at The Junction Sports and Leisure Centre.
Contact Paul Arnold by calling 07872 664 927 or email paul.arnold@gbwr.org.uk
There was a very Beautiful sight on the court Sunday at wheelchair rugby and that was... all the hi5's going around
Thedorset Destroyers
The Dorset Destroyers Needs Your Help
Please follow the link and give whatever you can, Ever
Little Helps.
We need wheelchair rugby chairs so pretty please help us to keep on rolling.
Click that link, it has all the details you need thank you :-)
