Aled Davies: Road to London

Our latest blog comes from Aled Davies, an international discus thrower and shot putter for GB. Currently the world record holder for shot and European discus record holder, the 21 year old, from Bridgend has his sights firmly set on London.

I remember watching the Olympics in 2004 with my family, I turned and said to them "one day that will be me on the podium receiving a medal" I set my sights on Olympic glory at a young age.

If selected for London, this will be Aleds' first Paralympic Games

This is my 6th year in my athletics career and I have never looked back. My transition into a full time elite athlete began in 2010 when I was selected for the Junior World Championships and brought home 2 gold’s and broke 2 junior World Records. I then went on to defend those titles in 2011 when I broke both the Junior World Records again and achieved silver in the IPC World Championships in New Zealand, I knew then, that targeting a medal in the London 2012 Paralympic Games wasn't just a dream.

After an amazing winter 2011-2012 I have already began the road to making my dreams a reality by breaking the Senior World Record in the Shot-Putt as well as breaking the European Record in the Discus only 13cm of the senior World Record. I am currently ranked number 1 in the world for both my disciplines and eagerly awaiting team selection on the 10th of July, crossing my fingers that I will be one of the lucky ones on the team roster! 



Emotions are running so high, it's hard to put into words what London would mean to me having fought through so much sweat and tears to be where I’m am today. The London Paralympic Games will hopefully be my first games and for it to be a home games is a once in a life time opportunity. 

I have big aspirations for London and I know what I am capable of achieving, I think it will be a big step in my career, if I, Aled Davies, a Welsh Paralympic performer, can be recognised as an elite performer capable of breaking down barriers and changing people’s opinions of Paralympic sport forever, at the end of the day, is about our abilities, not our disabilities.

Follow Aled and his journey to London on Twitter: @AledDavies2012

Simon Jones: The Role of a Development Officer

Simon Jones is the Disability Sport Wales Development Officer for the Vale of Glamorgan. Having intially got in to disability sport through volunteering, he shares his route in to sports development and his ambition to make sport and clubs inclusive.

It was my last year in university, when I volunteered with a powerchair football club, this sparked off my interest in disability sport.

 After finishing university I got in contact with the Disability Sport Wales Development Officer in Cardiff and started volunteering from there. I remember walking in and seeing this lady with bright orange hair, luckily this didn’t put me off and I helped out with numerous disability sport clubs for the next two years.

Rhoose Bowls Club

Whilst volunteering for Disability Sport Wales and Sport Cardiff I gained lots of qualifications and valuable experience, in my spare time I helped with a few clubs to gain experience in lots of different areas of disabled sport. This also gave me the opportunity to go to Malmo in Sweden with the Cardiff Celts wheelchair basketball team and Dortmand in Germany for the European Disabled Badminton Championships.

Through volunteering I had enough experience to be successful in gaining a job as a Development Officer with Disability Sport Wales (this is a hard task) in Merthyr Tydfil. Three years on I then moved on to become the DO for the Vale of Glamorgan.

I am now sat at my desk in Barry reflecting on my weekly duties and role as a DSW Development Officer (there are quite a few). My first point of call is making sure I work with my colleagues in the Vale of Glamorgan Sport and Play Development department, I am lucky as all of my colleagues are very positive about inclusion in sport and have all provided opportunities for disabled people to play sport, plus they all enjoy a Carvery for lunch too.

St Andrews Major Golf Club

I find that it’s so much easier to include everyone in sport if the person running the programme has an open mind and is very positive about providing sport for everyone no matter what their ability. I’ve noticed that if the person running the session is enthusiastic and makes an effort to include everyone in their session, people will come back to the club, not because of the amazing facilities but because of the coach.

Although there is a need for segregated sport sessions I have seen the massive benefits of inclusive sessions, non disabled and disabled people gain so much from being in the same environment and the summer Sport and Play programme in the Vale highlighted this enormously. I remember refereeing an energetic dodgeball match with over 20 children taking part, five or six disabled children mixed in with no issues at all. This highlighted the importance of inclusion to me, as the children really got to engage with each other and make friends whilst also encouraging each other to launch the dodgeballs into the opposition.

Hopefully more and more clubs can offer inclusive opportunities and I will be happy to work with them to provide these and for them to see that the benefits are massive.

If you are interested in volunteering in  sports development in the Vale of Glamorgan, contact Simon Jones. sljones@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk.

Road to London

Our latest blog comes from ParalympicsGB Table Tennis player Sara Head. London 2012 will be her first games after narrowly missing out on Beijing in 2008. Sara shares her story from her disappointment before Beijing through to her selection for London.

Sara Head and her team partner.

After failing to make Beijing in 2008, I was sitting in Chicago airport on New Year’s Eve, at the last competition of the year, knowing that I had failed to qualify by a narrow margin. The run up to Beijing had seen me placed as possible wild card, as well as first reserve. I had the same training schedule as the selected squad,  as you can imagine it was one of the hardest years of my life, I did everything the selected squad had done for Beijing except get on the plane. My team partner and I, watching the snow falling, wondering if we would fly home that night made a pact that we were together going to work so hard for the next four years to qualify for London 2012 and it started from now.

2009 was a pivotal year for me, qualification for the World Championships 2010 was a must, this was a big stepping stone that was need for my qualification for London 2012. It was a successful year, ending in qualification and selection for the World Championships, which kept me on track for my London 2012 journey. 2010 was my most successful year yet, winning the team event bronze at the World Championships, bringing home the only medal for Great Britain.

Going in to 2011, selection year for London brought back all the nerves and feelings of what happened to me prior to Beijing. This was a hurdle I had to clear. A very successful year brought me even closer to London, after becoming World number 5, to achieve qualification with the highlight becoming team champions. I can honestly say I give it all I had; it was now in the hands of the selection committee and ParalympicsGB.



Sara training on the day of her
 London 2012 selection.

It was a nervous wait over the New Year but nowhere as nervous as 2007, this time I had achieved something I never had in 2007. My dream was still alive. During a training camp in Sheffield we had a team launch and we were told our selection had been confirmed. I was ecstatic beyond words and the best thing; my team partner had also qualified. We had achieved our pact, with no time to celebrate we were back training.

With the games edging closer, it is getting more exciting, seeing the momentum build. I cant wait! My family are coming to watch me compete for the first time, what more can I ask for?

I have incredible support from Disability Sport Wales, Team GB, Jim Munkley in particular who always believed in me, aswell as the staff at Sport Wales that fix me and send back off and the overwhelming support  I get in Sport Wales National Centre.

Follow Sara on Twitter: @saraheadtt