7 replies to this topic

[fenty]

I went to the Inter Spinal unit games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital this past week.

A team of 4 went from Musgrave Park hospital in Belfast with my main focus being on the archery.

This was the first time I had experienced airports and flying since the accident and with a little help from Paul (nurse), Claire (physio) and Carmel (OT) as well as some of the staff of easyjet everything went smoothly on the travelling front.

We left belfast at lunchtime on monday and got to the dorms on monday evening in time for tea and some 'light' refreshments in the bar.

Tuesday was a try-out day for sports such as quad rugby (not eligible as a para but the tryout was fun fast and furious), table tennis, handbikes, shot putt, discus, javelin, shooting, powerlifting, lawn bowls and basketball. Followed by some 'light' refreshments in the bar.

Wednesday was the start of the competitions, I lost my first round bowls match (fair enough, I'm crap at it, but went into the second archery session and scored a 343/360. The organiser was tight lipped about the other scores so had to wait till the presentation on thursday evening to find out the results. And of course, this was followed by yet more 'light ' refreshment in the... oh you know the score by now!!!!

I also competed in the shooting (72/100) and swimming on thursday (getting into the pool without panicing was the main triumph, beating someone was a bonus). Biggest cheers of the whole week went to the tetra's who came in 3rd and 4th in the tetra backstroke. The effort they put in was inspirational and they deserved medals for the bravery and persistence alone.

The gala dinner and presentation was well attended with a nice dinner and free wine and beer. The first presentation was for the archery and I was overjoyed to win it with my 343. Second scored a 334, third was 324.
The sponsors stuck £1000 behind the bar so the soup flowed freely all night. A carry out kept the night going to 5.30 (with a bit of singing thrown in), then up for home on friday.

All in all it was a brilliant week, just getting to experience travelling, staying somewhere new, meeting loads of people with simialr stories, comparing notes on day to day issues and getting to feel like a competitor again.
I also can't thank the three staff from musgrave enough, Paul, Claire and Carmel.
I'll post a couple of pics when I get them.

[Dancingdolphin]

glad you enjoyed it all...i was lucky enough to go from dublin in 04...congrats on winning the archery

[silone74]

Hi i did this when in rehab it was great i tried nearly everything competed in archery,shooting and bowls also lost at bowls LOL it was the first time i had done archery and really enjoyed it i think our hospital team came 5th out of 12 other hospitals ,we had great time i was going to swim but had only been in a pool once since my accident and my head just sank under water so was not upto competing,it was from there that i decided to get a handbike after trying one out round the athletics track,the whole time spent there was great and to be honest i didnt want to leave even if the nurses got a posh room to stay in and we stayed in the dorms LOL,

Great times


Silone74

[fenty]

silone74, on Apr 27 2008, 02:18 PM, said:

Hi i did this when in rehab it was great i tried nearly everything competed in archery,shooting and bowls also lost at bowls LOL it was the first time i had done archery and really enjoyed it i think our hospital team came 5th out of 12 other hospitals ,we had great time i was going to swim but had only been in a pool once since my accident and my head just sank under water so was not upto competing,it was from there that i decided to get a handbike after trying one out round the athletics track,the whole time spent there was great and to be honest i didnt want to leave even if the nurses got a posh room to stay in and we stayed in the dorms LOL,

Great times


Silone74

Good point on the dorms, there wasn't much sleep to be had, especially for me who had the bed nearest the door. Having said that, our nurse let us use his ensuite for showering in the morning. The night before we went home I got to bed about 5.30 in the morning (after a booze up in one of the dorm rooms and an impromtu sign song ) A brilliant week all in.

[fenty]

Got some photos of the week away uploaded to my facebook page. here's a public link

http://www.facebook....mp;id=709381688

[Dancingdolphin]

Great pics thanks for sharing ....brought back some memories!!

By the way, who won this year?

[fenty]

Dancingdolphin, on May 13 2008, 12:14 AM, said:

Great pics thanks for sharing ....brought back some memories!!

By the way, who won this year?

Salisbury won this year

[silone74]

Just seen ya photo's great stuff brought back memories for me 2,and ya right about not getting sleep lol slept on the coach trip back though.



Silone74