Disability Sport Wales
Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru

The Long Road to Beijing by Caroline Matthews

I’ve just got home from a flag raising ceremony in Torfaen where, with the Mayor of Torfaen I raised the flag to celebrate the moment when London became the official Olympic host ceremony. It coincided with the closing of the Beijing Olympics and also means that the Beijing Paralympics are now just around the corner! I was delighted and surprised when I got asked to raise the flag, it was a proud moment.

The Beijing Olympics were incredible – the venues looked amazing and I really cant wait to get out there and into competition now. I’m sure the Beijing Paralympics will be similarly fantastic and it looks like the BBC will be giving it more television coverage than ever before – so you can look out for Wheelchair Basketball on television.

I really don’t know where this year has gone. It feels like only 5 minutes ago that I was awaiting selection and at that stage I still had the comfort of knowing that there were several months of really hard work and training ahead.

I fly out to Hong Kong on Friday 29th August 2008 where we are training for 4 days before flying to Beijing and moving into the Athletes Village which will be our home for the next two and a half weeks.

When competition begins the whole of Team GB will have the chance to put everything learnt and trained for to the test. It will be a life changing experience for everyone involved and I will have the chance to bash wheelchairs with the best basketball players in the world.

I know I’m as ready as I could possibly be. I’ve done everything in my power to be in the best condition and at the best skill level I could be.

I’m getting excited just thinking about it and will certainly give my all each and every time I play.

The prospect of putting on my Great Britain number 15 vest and getting strapped into my chair and pushing out onto the court to represent my country at the biggest tournament in the world, in front of thousands of spectators feels completely amazing.

Somewhere in that crowd will be our gang of groupies, all the faithful parents, partners and friends of the squad who stubbornly cheer us on through even the toughest games. Their support means everything to us.

No-one is under any misapprehension that we are going to have some very tough games in Beijing. With Australia, Germany and the USA in our pool (3 of the top 4 teams in the world) we will have had a very thorough and physical battering before we even reach the cross-over stage of the competition.

I relish the challenge and genuinely look forward to these big games!

Anyone involved in sport will know that anything can happen on the day. Every team can have a good or bad day and we will go into every game aiming to win.

The GB women are currently outside the top 8 in the world, so any improvement on that ranking will be a wonderful achievement. I think everyone on the team has got their eyes on finishing in the top 6 – this will be an enormous achievement and given the opportunity, I know we are good enough to do it.

I must go and pack before I fly out on Friday….now, where did I put my mosquito repellent?????

Wish us luck!

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