Monthly blog round-up: June
Activity Alliance features a blog post every Friday – sharing the experiences of disabled people involved in sport and exercise at all levels, and those who support disabled people, on their journey to being more active. Today, we take a look back at our blogs throughout June and look forward to July’s stories.
Kate Farley - boxer
Our first blog in June saw us hear from CP boxer, Kate Farley, she told us how being active has and continues to be instrumental throughout her life.
"Being active has and continues to be instrumental throughout my life. I thrive on the empowering feel-good factor boxing has on me and I love the endless benefits the sport has given me."
Shona - becoming more active
The beginning of June also saw our fifth blog post from disability, beauty and lifestyle blogger, Shona Louise. In her latest blog post she tells us how she didn’t realise how much swimming helped her, until she faced having to take a break from it.
"I think a break from swimming will only make me more determined to try and complete my original goal , which was going swimming once a week. I’ve had a busy few months and swimming has fallen down my list in terms of what gets my time first. A break away from it always makes me realise how much of a difference it makes to my life. I feel happy and strong when I swim."
Read Shona's fifth blog post here.
Elliot Christian Brown - cricketer
We also heard from Elliot. He explained to us how valuable the support from his family has been in helping him become the active individual he is today.
"Although I have had to work hard, without my family there is no way I could have got where I am today without their help, support and positive attitude."
June saw us celebrate the beautiful game of football, sharing player experiences through our version of Football Focus. Our first blog came from amputee Jason Swift.
"I love playing football and being active, it gives me a break from thinking and fully feeling the constant and extensive nerve pain I was left with after my accident."
Read Jason's football experience here.
Our second Football Focus blog came from deaf footballer Thomas Rhodes.
"When I play football, I don’t think about win or lose, I am too busy enjoying it with and without the ball! Working as a team, communicating with each other and getting involved in the beautiful game. That’s what football means to me."
Abbie was our third Football Focus blog contributor. She explains to us how her teammates makes her the player she is.
"It’s important to me to have my friends and family supporting me because without them I wouldn’t be able to do it. My teammates are also very important, as they make me the player I am and want to be."
Read Abbie's Football Focus blog here.
Our fourth Football Focus blog came from amputee footballer, Lee Smith.
"Being active is really important for my rehabilitation. I try to keep fit as it helps me to embrace my new life as an amputee."
Our penultimate blog came from CP footballer Martin Sinclair. He tells us how football provides him a way to bond with family and friends.
"Football provides me a way to bond with my family and friends. I also love how inspiring the sport is. I feel it gives people a lot of hope in feeling they can achieve anything they want, if they’re willing to come out of their comfort zone."
Read Martin's Football Focus blog here.
Our Football Focus blog series ended with hearing about Owen Bainbridge's experience.
"I have a lot of passion for football and I generally get excited before playing any game. There’s lots of aspects I love about the game but what I most enjoy is being a part of a team and fighting to win a game."
Steve - Father's Day story
June also saw us celebrate the hard work of our nation's dads. Our Father's Day story came from runner, Steve.
"Before long, we were all doing parkrun as a family."
Read Steve's Father's Day story here.
Kieran Rollings - lawn bowls player
Towards the end of June we heard from Kieran Rollings. He tells us the best feeling about taking part in lawn bowls is that it gives him a sense of achievement and pride, especially when he is competing for his country.
"The thing I enjoy most about playing bowls is the competitiveness of the game. Every time I win it gives me a sense of achievement, and if I lose it gives me a challenge to perform better and reach the goals I want to achieve."
Abbie Breakwell - wheelchair tennis player
Our last blog in June came from Abbie who tells us how taking part in sport reinforces she can achieve great things.
"I have always loved different sports but it’s taken me some time to find one I am comfortable with. As my health condition worsened I feared my days of sport would come to an end - I was wrong. I’m really happy to now be competing in three different sports and love taking part in all of them!"
Read more on Abbie's story here.
That's all for our June round-up. July will see us hear from Shona and how she is getting on with her swimming journey, as well as plenty more blogs from active disabled people.
If you're interested in writing a blog about your experiences of sport and exercise, please email news@activityalliance.org.uk or call 0161 228 2868.
