Paralympian hopes after 12 months
A teenager has surprised her coaches by making the British Paralympic team for two sports she tried for the first time only 12 months ago.
Becca Chin, 16, from Deganwy, will represent team GB in the discus and shot put at the Beijing Games.
The Conwy teenager has already had a busy year preparing for 11 GCSEs.
But once her exams are over, she will spend the rest of the summer in athletics training before heading for China in September.
She said: “I never saw Beijing as my target – I thought it was London 2012.
“I’d go to school, and then come home and either revise or train… so it’s been full on.
“But then, just after winter, I realised how well I was doing I just kept on progressing more and more in each competition.
“And then I qualified for Beijing, which I was really surprised about, but really happy.”
Disability Sport Wales has 70 young athletes in its academy.
The organisation took 23 members to Athens, and already 29 athletes have been selected for Beijing.
Becca will do her summer training at Deeside athletics club in Connah’s Quay.
Her coach, John Parkin, said: “She has developed very quickly. That amount of improvement in any athlete, able-bodied or otherwise, is tremendous, really.
“She’s a good athlete, she listens to everything you tell her, and tries to do everything you tell her, and she’s trained really hard this winter.”
Gerwyn Owen, of Disability Sport Wales, said: “‘It’s a great achievement for Becca to be selected for Team GB for the Paralympic Games in Beijing. At such a young age, only 16, what has made it possible for her to achieve this goal, is her determination, skill and obvious talent in the sport. Also she has benefitted greatly by her coach, John Parkin, who is vastly experienced in Coaching, in fact he also coaches Paralympic mutli-medallist Beverley Jones. Becca is a member of the Disability Sport Wales Academy, which has supported her development over the last year or so, supporting training and competing opportunities, and balancing her sporting career with her educational studies. London 2012 is a target for many of the Academy athletes, but Becca has broken that mould’
Story taken from www.bbc.co.uk
