Active Summer Fun: 'The thing I most enjoy about bowls is its inclusivity'
A new participation campaign created by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and National Disability Sport Organisations (NDSOs) is encouraging more disabled people to find out and play out over summer. Active Summer Fun -#ActiveSummerFun on social media - is an exciting new campaign that aims to support more disabled people to find ways to be active during the warmer months.
This summer we will be hearing from various disabled people or those who deliver activities that include disabled people. We hear how they are expecting the next few months to be very busy!
Today, Paul Brown talks to us. He is a competitive bowls player, and discusses losing his leg in 1999 but finding it no barrier to continuing to excel at the sport.
Paul's Active Summer Fun:
I play lawn bowls and do so all year round, outdoors during the summer. I’m currently playing or training three or four times a week, and sometimes more depending on how I fare during competitions.
I bowl from a standing position but use a wheelchair to get to and from each end of the green. We do cover a great distance in a 21 end game of bowls!
It’s a manual wheelchair so I push myself on the green, from one end to the other. Bowls keeps you active in that it challenges you mentally and also provides a bit of physical activity, though it’s never too demanding. But as a part of my bowling I do a lot of training on a bike in a gym, which keeps my fitness up.
The summer can be particularly busy for me, because the summer game is condensed into four months. I had a period this summer when I was bowling every day and playing some evenings for three hours. It can get quite involved.
I am an above knee amputee on my right leg. I was diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and I had my knee removed. The cancer returned in 2005, which resulted in me losing my right leg. I have a prosthetic now, and I also have a heart condition as well as issues regarding my leg fitting.
Bowls at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
I do need my wheelchair, because it means I can compete in the sport for a lot longer than what I could manage if I had to walk.
A game of bowls tends to last three hours and during the summer I play three games a week, so that’s nine hours a week of competitive bowls, on top of which is another three a week of strenuous physical exercise, such as swimming, cycling or weights.
The thing I most enjoy about bowls is its inclusivity. I’m a disabled athlete who can play alongside non-disabled people, and I’ll not be at a hindrance or a disadvantage. I really like that.
I often compete with non-disabled players in matches, and I quite often win. It’s a game which relies mainly on skill.
I’m 36 and have nearly been playing for 10 years now as a disabled bowler, but because of the nature of the sport I’ve still got 30 or 40 years left in me.
Not only do sport and physical exercise improve your health, they can also give you life skills, get you out and aid your socialising. You meet fantastic people, all of whom are achieving through sport. It’ll assist and improve your life, just as it has done mine.
Find out more about Active Summer Fun. Find out and play out this summer. LimbPower supports amputees and people with limb impairments to find the right sport and leisure activity for their needs and ability.
