I have been to sporting events all my life. Wembley, Italian and Spanish football grounds, premier league grounds, twickenham, American football an baseball grounds etc.
Today was special...... very special.
I went to watch Team GB paralympians play 7 a side. There are a few things that struck me about them as elite sportsmen and things that struck me about the games in general.
I'm going to waffle a bit cos I'm still buzzing.
These lads are athletes. There is no doubt about that. They epitomize everything I think sportsmen representing our nation should be. The passion was there in abundance. The drive, the determination, the skill, the obvious hours and hours and hours of training, the dedication to their sport, the competiveness - I swear to god its been a long time since I saw that in a sportsperson. They make the England football team look like twats. They wanted it today. More than anything. Nothing else mattered - this was their games, their match, their fight and their battle. It was inspiring to watch. Massively impressive .
There was a range of varrying degrees of disability - most if not all the lads had Cerebral Palsy. Some had hand / arm problems, some had both legs affected, some just had a foot problem but let me tell you..... They all played like fucking hero's.
The skill level was breathtaking!!! They'd be competitive in an able bodied league!!! Speed, control, aggression, sense of space, timing of passes, everything was superb.
I've never felt emotional watching a game of football. I kept thinking about what Big Show wrote on my FB page after I posted a picture of Ewan next to a gold letter box. I almost cried there and then,
We were welcomed by the games makers, what a job they did. We must remember they did this for free. Yep I know they got an amazing lifelong experience from volunteering but they were top notch.
I could write about the electric tension and the static atmosphere in the Riverbank stadium all day. It genuinely made my hair stand on end ( I'm standing by for the piss taking)
So, in short I have a few thank you's. None of them ( bar one) will see this but I just feel like saying it.
Thank you to :
All the athletes - every single one of them. From every country that took part. You made the games so so magical. hero's and such dedicated and talented athletes. 4 years of work, 4 years!!!! Some even longer. I salute you all. I couldnt do it. I have a new found respect for you all and all I did was watch a football match
To all he staff, again - all of you, from the team managers, to the physio's, to the Dr's , The psychologists.... Every single one of you. without you we, the simple fans wouldn't have seen what we saw. I know this for a fact - this isn't a well paid job. It takes up a HUGE amount of personal time, it requires a massive amount of sacrifice - time away from friends and family, funding and paying for elements of it themselves. The traveling abroard to training camps on their days off. It's a massive commitment. This is not understood and should be. So to EVERY staff member of EVERY team - from me - thank you.
The Gamesmakers - wow - brilliant and again people may not appreciate that without you there would be no games. You all can and deserve to be very proud of yourselves.
I'm waffling!!! I'm staggered by what I saw today and maybe more so what I felt. There was this palpable sense of "something" in the air. It was, I believe, a sense of winning desire, competitiveness and determination. wow. It was simply immense
I shall and can say this with absolute confidence and assurity. Come 2016 in Rio I shall be there. The is no doubt about that.
Inspiring - truly inspiring - now - what can I do job wise for these athletes. LOL - I can clean their rooms I suppose.
