That's All Folks! - Team GB London Parade

Yesterday, approximately  800 of Team GB's Paralympic and Olympic Athletes paraded through the streets of London on the back of 21 Lorries. They were greeted by hundreds of thousands of people who have watched them compete over the past 6 weeks.
Passionate patriots waited patiently for hours to catch a glimpse of London2012's home team.
The slogan, "Our Greatest Team" displayed on every truck as it past. With a grand total of 185 medals proudly hung round the athletes necks, they really have been our most successful Team to date!

The Part of the Parade nearest to where our AbilityNet Office is based was near St. Paul's Cathedral.
We turned up rather too late to get a prime spot for viewing the sporting heroes. 
Although there was mass of spectators all desperately tip-toeing to get a better view, 
the crowd was calm, friendly and excited. 

Team GB came 3rd on the medal boards of both sets of games, with Great Britain's Paralympians scooping 120 medals alone. There are more opportunities for medals in the Paralympics, because of the different classifications within each sport, but this also means more competition. 







Here are the total of medals won at London2012:

Olympics:       Gold : 29  Silver: 17   Bronze: 19      Total = 65
Paralympics:  Gold : 34  Silver : 43  Bronze:  43     Total = 120

The parade started at 1:30pm at Mansion House in East London. The route ran parallel with the path of the Thames before veering along the edge of St James’s Park.  It ended up at the Queen Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace. Thousands of people filled the Mall once again.

Photo from Yahoo/EuroSport 

Speeches were made to congratulate everyone who had taken part in making the London 2012 Games what they were, the Athletes, Armed Forces, Police, Volunteers etc.
There was a flypast over Buckingham Palace,which included the golden plane which initially bought over the Olympic flame and a military tribute with streams of colour; red, white and blue,
The roar of the planes could be heard for miles around.

2012 has been a year of celebrating National Pride. Something which isn't always painted in a good light. For many people who were initially cynical about the games, and the whole Olympics experience, most had a complete change of heart once the Games began. 

There is no doubt in my mind that seeing our Athletes compete so spectacularly on the world's stage, will encourage many people to take up sports, if not inspire them to want to get into Team GB's 2016 squad for the Games in Rio.

The Paralympics especially has been a show case for what people can do , as apposed to what they cant.  

We've had a great time putting together this blog during the Games.
We hope you have found it informative and enjoyed it as much as we have making it.

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A Day at the Paralympic Athletics!

On Friday 31st of August, i was privileged enough to go and watch the Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.
This was only Day 2 of the London2012 Games, and already i witnessed many new World Records, Paralympic Records and Personal Bests for the Athletes.

Here is a diary for my day at the Games:

5:30am- Alarm clock- SNOOZE.
5:35am - Get up out of bed and rush to get ready, to catch the Bus at 6:10am.
I met my parents at St Pancras Station and got the Javelin Train to Stratford where the Olympic Stadium is.
We had tickets to see the morning session of Athletics on Day 2 of the Paralympic Games. The Session itself started at 10am, however, we wished to see the Olympic Park before it got too busy.

8:00am We were greeted by friendly and helpful staff as we entered the park. We then had to proceed through "Airport" style security.
The Sun was Bright as we walked towards the Orbit tower, where most importantly for that time in the morning, the Tea is located.

I order a Chamomile Tea and what I think is a White Chocolate Muffin. As we have turned up nice and early there is somewhere to sit and drink our tea underneath the Orbit with the London Skyline in the distance.
Turns out the tea is something weird and herbal and the muffin is, in fact, banoffee.

After Tea we start to investigate the park. The Park is very well organised and has lots oh help points, mobility areas, plenty of toilet facilities (which my small bladdered brother took advantage of) and food of all kinds.
Next we visited the Gift Shop. The Floor is painted like the track with numbered lanes and there is wall to wall merchandise.
My Uncle bought me a London2012 Paralympics Athletics souvenir t-shirt. All the shirts are well made and designed. They were sold out of Extra Small, So i guess i will grow into mine eventually!

After purchasing the souvenirs we headed to the stadium!

The Stadium can seat 80,000! It really is that huge.
As we had turned up before the morning session, we took full advantage of taking tourist photos of the stadium.
The lights that panned around the seats during the opening ceremonies were made by little paddles that are attached to the seats by a coiled cable. Each paddle is fitted with about 9 L.E.Ds. 





The other half of the stadium was bathed is sun light whilst the side we were on was in the shade. This was probably more beneficial for a perfect view of the athletics, but was freezing! We were seated fairly close to the Paralympic Torch, which didn't provide as much heat as i would have liked! I was regretting not buying a souvenir blanket! 
The Paralympic Flame has 166  petals, each representing a country competing at the Games.

The Events for that day were:
- Men's Club Throw: F31, F32 and F51 Final
- Women's 5000m - T54 Round 1
- Women's Long Jump - F37/38
- Women's Discus Throw: F35 & F36 Final
- Men's Shot Put- F42 and F44 Final
- Men's 400m - T13 Round 1
- Men's 1500m - T11 Round 1
- Men's 200m T37 Round 1
- Women's 200m T46 Round 1
- Women's 100m T34 Round 1

The roar and excitement of the crowd in the events where Team GB were taking part was breath taking.
Aled Davies won GB's first Medal in Athletics with a Bronze in the F42-44 Shot Put.
Hannah Cockroft was so far ahead of any of the other competitors in the heats of the Women's 100m T34. She then went on to receive gold in the evening session:

All the events were taking place at staggered start times but were all going on at the same time.
With up to 6 sports to see, you could pick which ever you wanted to watch, or dip in and out.
I was a little worried at one point, as the Brazilian Discus Thrower had crossed over the track to talk to her coach, and wasn't paying attention to the 5000m Wheelchair racers that were hurtling toward her. She managed to get out of the way in time! 

The T11 Runners ran with Guides who have to be evenly matched with the athletes. It was really a great to witness a once in a lifetime  experience. I was really surprised at the friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The Stadium was completely full with people cheering on all the athletes.

A great day out at the races :)

Womens Long Jump

Men's T13 400m Race

Blind Football

...The beautiful game...

For the Paralympics it takes the form of two different events.
the 5-A-Side Football -which is played by visually impaired athletes
and the 7-A-Side Football. - which is played by athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, including stroke and traumatic brain injury. 
As there are 5 days to go before the London2012 Paralympic Games start, We'll be looking at 5-a-side Football.

Last year, David Beckham paid a visit to Team GB's Paralympic team's training session.
The video below shows you how he got on:

Photo from blind2010.com

All players must be B1 level of visual impairment (although the goalkeeper may be sighted or have a visual impairment). 

This is why all the outfield players wear eye masks, to ensure that there is fair competition. 

How its played: 

5 a side Football is very similar to the able bodied game.

• There are a few adaptations to the rules to incorporate the 4 blind outfield players.
• The match is split into 2 lots of 25 minute halves.
• There is no offside rule.
• You can substitute the same player sever times through out the game..
• The ball is allowed to be kicked over height.
• Instructions can be given by the manager/goalkeeper/behind the goal to the other players.

In the event of a draw, the match may go to penalties. Penalties are also awarded if a player touches their eyeshade, if the goalkeeper steps outside their area or if a player kicks or pushes an opponent.

Players rely on their hearing to find the ball and their way around the pitch.
The pitch is surrounded by specially designed boards. These reflect the sound and helps the players with spacial awareness.
The ball itself is fitted with a bell inside, so the players know when the ball is nearby.

There is a danger of players colliding with each other, as they both run toward the ball. A simple voice command, "voy", shouted by the player intending to tackle. This not only prepares the players for potential impact, it also is designed to prevent injuries to the athletes. 

Unlike nearly all of the other Paralympic events, there doesn't seem to be a 5-A-Side Women's Football Team. Perhaps there will be a women's team for Rio 2016?
Hopefully many people will be inspired to take up the sport after this years Games.

Team GB

There are 10 players in the 5 a-side squad for Great Britain.
Most well known is Dave Clarke.
Clarke started 2012 having scored 124 goal in 131 appearances for England. 
He is the Captain of the squad and the most experienced player. Before playing Football, Clarke represented Great Britain playing Goalball when he competed at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.

ParalympicsGB had never competed in the 5-a-side Football event until Beijing 2008.

Lets Hope we can bring home a medal!
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Sink or Swim

Paralympics – Swimming

I find that Swimming is one of those Sports that you are either really good at it, or really terrible at it.
Unfortunately, for me, I am the latter. I start off with about three good strokes before I descend into a pathetic doggy paddle, and are left to be hooked out by the pool assistant with the giant metal pole.

Photo from Channel 4 - Paralympics

Perhaps this is why I find the Swimming events one of the most fascinating and inspiring sports of the Paralympic Games.

It is one of the biggest in terms of popularity, events and competitors. 

The classifications range from
- S1 to S10 for athletes with physical impairments
- S11 to S13 for visually impaired athletes
- S14 is for athletes with a learning disability, which is new the London2012 Olympics.

London2012 will see 10 whole days of swimming events at the Aquatics Centre.
With such a large volume of different races, it’s no wonder that events will be going on every day, for the duration of the games.

Butterfly, Breaststroke, Backstroke, Freestyle, Medleys, Relays,  50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, Men’s and Women’s…
That’s before we’ve even got to the classifications.

There will be a staggering 148 medal events for this year’s Paralympics. That’s 600 swimmers, desperate to bring home gold for their country!

At the last Olympics in Beijing, Team GB won 41 medals as well as setting several world records! Great Britain came 4^th overall in the Swimming with 11 golds, 12 silvers and 18 bronze medals.

Photo from www.swimming,org

GB have a wide range of different athletes of different abilities, ages and experience.
The last Paralympic Games saw Ellie Simmonds win 2 Gold medals in the S6 category making her the youngest Briton to win an Olympic or Paralympic medal at the age of 13 years old!

Jim 'the swim’ Anderson OBE  has competed at every Paralympic Games since Barcelona 1992, making London his sixth Games and him one of the more experienced members of the British team. 

21 of our fabulous 44 Swimmers will be competing for the first time in the Paralympics.
Many of them will be keeping us up to date with proceedings via twitter!

Some will be using assistive technology such as screen readers, zoom text, voice activated software and other adapted tech.

For more info on swimming at the paralympics, please visit:

http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/swimming/about/

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Wheelchair Rugby

Photo from Channel 4 Paralympics Show

Fast, Full-on, bone shattering excitement.

No wonder it was originally called Murderball.

Wheelchair Rugby has grown in popularity since its invention in Canada during in 1977. Currently played in over 26 countries (and growing!) it’s the only full contact wheelchair sport in the world. Originally, it was created by a group of Quadriplegic athletes who were looking for an alternative to Wheelchair Basketball.

Mark Zupan in documentary "Murderball"

Oddly enough, my first knowledge of the sport was not through watching the Paralympics, but via a reality tattoo documentary series. One of the U.S players, Mark Zupan, was getting inked whilst talking about a recent film about the sport he was in titled 'Murderball'.

The U.S are currently ranked Number 1 in the world. They have won two gold medals and a bronze since the wheelchair rugby was introduced to the Paralympics in 1996 Atlanta as a demonstration sport.



Great Britain are Ranked 5^th but have come in 4^th for the last 2 Paralympic Games. Are we in for a chance of a medal this year? Lets take a look at the team:

Competing this year at London2012 will be Ross Morrison (2.5), Steve Brown (2.0), David Anthony(2.5), Andy Barrow (2.0),  Mike Keer (1.5), Mandip Sehmi (2.5), Jonny Coggan (0.5), Aaron Phipps (3.5), Kylie Grimes (0.5), Bulbul Hussain (1.0) and Myles Pearson (1.0)

Team GB - Source www.gbwr.org.uk

Wheelchair Rugby is a mixed event. Kylie Grimes has only been playing for Team GB since July 2011, and feels perfectly comfortable being the only female athlete in the squad, “It’s Fast, aggressive and highly competitive. Being the only female on the team make this even more exciting.”


How its played:

• Wheelchair Rugby is played by quadriplegic athletes.
• The game is split into 4 lots of 8 minute quarters.
• The object is to carry the ball over the other team’s goal line.
• Classifications of Players are between 0.5 and 3.5 which is based on the Athletes functional ability.
• There are 4 players in each team on the field at one time. There can only be a maximum of 8 points per team, totalling the athletes’ classification numbers.
• Players have to Dribble or Pass ball in less than 10 seconds. A Team cannot remain in opposing teams area for more than 10 seconds without the ball changing hands or without scoring.

Short Video explaining the rules: VIDEO LINK FOR WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Find out more about our team on the Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Site: www.gbwr.org.uk

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A Whole New Ball Game: Boccia

When looking down the list of Paralympic sports, Boccia caught my eye.
I must admit, I had never heard of Boccia before the start of this Olympic Blog.
The sport itself was introduced to the Paralympics in 1984, so compared to some of the other 3000+ year old sports, its fairly new.

On first glance, I can only really compare it to be similar to Bowls. The aim of the sport is to propel balls so they finish as close as possible to a special white target ball called a ‘jack’. They can do this by rolling the ball directly at the jack or by trying to knock the other player’s balls out the way.

There are six leather balls per player. Balls are coloured either red or blue and the jack is white. Boccia is a game of immense skill, judgement and concentration, and can be won or lost on the smallest of measurements. The winning athletes will have to maintain their levels of peak performance over a number of days and sessions.
Boccia is a mixed gender sport, and is played by wheelchair athletes with cerebral palsy and related locomotor conditions. Players compete as Individuals , in pairs or as a team.

At the last Paralympics in Beijing 2008, Team GB made up of Nigel Murray, Dan Bentley, David Smith and Zoe Robinson won Gold in the BC1/BC2 Classification.
Nigel Murray then went on to win silver in the Individual BC2 event.

photo from london2012.com/paralympics

Players are required to be in a seated position within a throwing box at one end of the playing court. The classification system ensures an even playing field for athletes to compete against others with similar disabilities.

There are 4 Classifications for Boccia:

BC1 – athletes may have an assistant to perform actions such as handing them the Boccia balls.

BC2 – athletes require no assistance on court.

BC3 – athletes deliver each ball by using a ramp and have a sports assistant who they instruct to position the ramp for each delivery.

BC4 – athletes often use an underhand pendulum swing to release the ball.

For more info please visit :  http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/boccia/about/

As there are many different degrees of cerebral palsy and other locomotor conditions, Assistive technology available varies depending on each individual needs.
Things such as Click Switches, Adapted keyboards and Eye tracking tech such as Tobii can be life changing.

If you want to know more information about how and what assistive technology can help people with cerebral palsy drop us a line:

AbilityNet Advice and Information Services: 0800 269 545
or drop us an email:  enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk 

  
Video from London2012 Paralympics explaining the sport: 

Video of Team GB’s wining in Beijing 2008
 
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Athlete Profile:
Jon-Allan Butterworth

There are many inspirational athletes making their Paralympic debut at London 2012.   

Out of the many newcomers, 26 year old Cyclist, Jon-Allan Butterworth, from Sutton Coldfield (West Midlands) is one to watch.
At the last Paralympics in Beijing, Great Britain was at the top of the leader board for Cycling, with a total of 17 Gold medals and 3 Silvers.  Inspired and motivated by this, Jon applied to join the team himself, and was accepted in January 2009.

Photo from https://www.facebook.com/jbutterworth86

Jon has already achieved 2 World Records in the last year:

• 11/02/12- 1km Time Trial – 1:07.212s – Los Angeles
• 29/09/11- 200m FSTT – 10.897s – Manchester

And has already 6 Gold Medals under his belt, hopefully he’ll be adding to his collection in a few weeks’ time.



Five years ago (2007), whilst serving in the RAF in Iraq, Jon was involved in a rocket attack on Basra Air Station. His left arm was badly injured and doctors had to amputate.

Jon will be competing in the C5 Classification.

Jon’s bike has been specially adapted for him to compete. This short video from Channel 4’s Paralympic promo shows a close up of some of the adaptations to the bike:

The adaptations include both the gears and front and back brakes made operational from one side of the bike.
For extra stability, Jon’s prosthetic arm fits into a socket on his handlebars. Other than this, the bike is very much the same as other racing bikes.

Keep up to date with Jon-Allan’s Olympic Journey:
Twitter: @J_Butterworth86
Blog: http://j-butterworth.weebly.com/index.html
Site: http://www.j-butterworth.com

Small adaptations can make the world of difference to people in extra ordinary circumstances.
We see how assistive technology helps people with disabilities on a daily basis, and understand the importance and significance that these small changes can do for people.
It can mean all the difference in achieving their true potential.

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