FAMILY BEHIND AN ATHLETE

We hear from Mike Thomas on his journey supporting his son Jacob, who has been selected to represent ParalympicsGB in Boccia. Mike will be his on-court ramp assistant throughout London 2012, he shares his story with us.

“It all started eight years ago when Jacob was not able to play football with his piers on the school playground, he came home one day really excited saying that he had started playing Boccia, from that day forward there was no looking back.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would ever play in the Paralympic Games one day. It’s been a fantastic journey and we have met and made so many friends along the way. Boccia is Jacob's life and brings him so much enjoyment and gives him something to focus on.

 Jacob has always loved all kinds of sport, but Boccia allows him to compete at a very high level. It has taken a tremendous amount of hard work for Jacob to get where he is today, from travelling the eighty miles to Cardiff every Saturday for many years to train with his friends at the Welsh academy through DSW, to training up to sixteen hours a week at our local leisure centre at Haverfordwest and recently travelling further afield to train with the Great Britain squad.

I can't put into words what it means to me to see Jacob compete the way he does. He is so focused and committed to being an athlete, when he is on court his process and tactical ability amazes me, he makes me so proud.

Jacob is so happy that he has been selected for the GB Squad to compete at London Paralympic Games and he is totally committed to performing well and wants to bring that Gold back home.

It’s going to be a fantastic experience for the both of us.”

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