I love competing. The work, the discipline, the rewards, the health, the energy and the friendship.
A great place to start this would be to go WAY back and try to question & establish those drivers that set me & no doubt countless others up on that path.
I’ve toiled with the notion of the impact of my disability over a number of years with my training.
More to the point, yes something does drive me but from where?
Well, there are aspects that have come into play over the years and a fusion of feelings and focus that have presented this path I’m on…BUT it tracks back to 3 people – A doctor, their assessment of life ahead with cerebral palsy and the discussions about what lay ahead for me with my Mum & Dad & what challenges my parents would face bringing me up after being told:
“He’ll walk with a limp, won’t run & won’t play sports…”
Adapting from something from birth is different from a change mid way through my life, I adapted around my environment – The challenge was for, prior to any possible previous expectation, my parents. It was they who instilled the equal platforms, the lookout for opportunities, the ones that steered the attitude of the inevitably frustrated youngster who may have thought of giving up when growing up.
It would have been easier and understandable to wrap me in wool, to accept that things may prove too difficult. And yeah, I walk with a limp, but providing the platforms for me to play rugby my own way & finding a way to eventually swim did the trick.
Looking back, it set the tone to keep going. Not unnecessarily attempting things without purpose, but to take a different, non traditional view of how things work and I will be forever thankful. It’s that mentality that I stay with me forever.
Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad
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