Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru

Caroline Matthews The Long Road to Beijing - Part 8

A lot has changed since I last wrote…but one thing has remained the same – this year continues to fly past.

The tournament in Cardiff was amazing. It was so nice to have so many of my friends and family coming to watch the GB women play. We had some very close games with the Netherlands team and some very valuable games with the Germans. Germany are looking more and more likely to medal at Beijing. Our matches with the Dutch are always very competitive and although they beat us our second match against them showed us exactly what we can do. GB stormed away to a massive lead (of nearly 20 points) in the first half but the Netherlands women never gave up and clawed their way back into the match – eventually taking the lead.

That last match on the Sunday morning was personally very satisfying. Although we didn’t get the win we all wanted so badly, I scored somewhere in the region of 30 points and I really felt the benefit of all the hard training I have been doing with Joe Hewitt (my strength and conditioning coach). I continue to feel noticeably stronger and quicker in my chair and my improved core stability is helping my shooting enormously.

A couple of weeks ago (mid-June) we got all our GB kit – it was handed out to us over a training weekend in Nottingham – where once again we were drug tested. We didn’t have a chance to try the kit on there and then, so I was very excited when I got the box home on the Sunday night….i tried the first T shirt on and it was too small….ok, try the next one on….that was also too small – its ok, don’t panic, try the next thing on….AAAAaraaarghhhh – nothing fitted me! I was so disappointed and stressed!

I had to wait until the next weekend to change nearly everything in the box – and, now it all fits, I really love it. The kit is gorgeous. Adidas, who provide all the Paralympic sporting kit, have really done the British team proud – both in terms of quality and quantity – it felt like Christmas! And to know that it says “Great Britain” and that I’ve earned the right to wear that kit just makes it all the more special.

Now I’ve just got to label it all…because when over two hundred athletes are in the athletes village in Beijing it would be very easy to get your kit muddled up with someone elses!

That weekend (towards the end of June) was the British Paralympic Association’s Team GB celebration weekend. All of the athletes going to the Beijing Paralympics got together at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena to celebrate qualification.

On the Saturday night, the whole of Team GB had a meal together – and it turned out to be a very touching and emotional evening. To start with I was quite nervous as I had to go up on the stage to receive the BPA’s gifts for the GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team.

This was a great honour and I loved doing it. We all received a set of silver chop- sticks in a presentation box, specially engraved with “Beijing 2008 Paralympic British Team”. They are a wonderful momento and I will treasure them.

Chris Hollins, from BBC Breakfast, was our host for the evening and we watched representatives from each of the paralympic teams go up on the cat walk modelling their Paralympic kit.

Terry Bywater and Louise Sugden did a brilliant job for the men’s and women’s GB Wheelchair Basketball teams. And then the speeches began and they really brought a lump to my throat. Our formal and casual parade suits were provided by Lee Cooper and we listened to speeches from both the CEO of Lee Cooper and the designer of our suits, they were both incredibly stirring speeches. When you have got such important people standing on the stage telling you how proud they are of you – it really brings home what I have achieved just to get this far.

The designer talked through how and why the formal suit has been designed in the way it has– and it made me look at that jacket in a whole new way. Detailed thought has gone into every last aspect of its design and it is a garment I am sure I will continue to wear long after the Beijing Paralympics have been and gone – THANK YOU Lee Cooper.

We had a few brief days at home after the Birmingham weekend before we flew out to Canada for the Spitfire Tournament. The Canadian, German, Brazilian and Mexican women’s wheelchair basketball teams were at that tournament – so it was another good opportunity to test where we currently stand in the world rankings and what we still need to work on.

We competed extremely well with the Germans – coming within approximately 10 points each time. We won one and lost one against the Mexicans and beat Brazil. The major success for us, however, was that we beat the Canadian B team. The mood in the GB camp was extremely positive – we all grew closer as a group and everyone was very supportive of each other. The GB women are definitely gaining momentum and confidence just at the right time. Now we are home again we know what we still need to work on…after all, there is still a month until the Opening Ceremony!

I am looking forward to watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008. I remember watching the opening ceremony to the Athens 2004 Olympics and it was so exciting. To look at that stadium and huge crowd on TV and think that in little over a month I will be there is incredible – it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I’ll never forget the opening ceremony in Athens.

So, I am now into my last month of preparations. We fly out to Hong Kong on 29 August 2008 and we are training there for a few days before flying down to Beijing in time for the start of the Paralympics on 6 September 2008.

Between now and then, as well as training hard, I am working with Disability Sport Wales to deliver a programme of junior wheelchair basketball taster sessions across south east and south west Wales. It is an excellent opportunity to give something back to this wonderful sport which has given me so much.

More details about this summer programme can be found on the FDSW website, click this link and scroll to the bottom of the page:

www.disability-sport-wales.org/coaching.html

I would love to meet some of my readers at one of these events so if you fancy a go at the best game in the world, sign up now!

See you in the gym!

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