As well as spreading the word of Wheelchair Rugby with marketing via the national press or through websites, GBWR frequently heads out into the community to promote the sport by meeting people face to face. A key way to do this is by demonstrating the game or running “have a go” sessions at various disability sport events. One such event is the annual “Wheelchair Sports Spectacular”, held at UWIC in south Wales.

The “W.S.S.” is organized by Disability Sport Wales in partnership with Sport Cardiff. The two day event gives over 500 participants with disabilities the opportunity to try out around twenty different wheelchair sports. The event then aims to provide these participants with the right contacts so that they can go away, find a local club and start playing the sport of their choice.

This year I was pleased to be part of GBWR’s presence at the W.S.S. alongside fellow GB players, Aaron Phipps (3.5), Mandip Sehmi (2.5) and local boy, David Antony (2.5). Several members of the Cardiff Pirates wheelchair rugby team also helped encourage young people of all ages to jump in a chair and give rugby a go. The 2011 event was the biggest and most successful yet. Even “Mandeville”, the 2012 Paralympic mascot was there to enjoy the atmosphere. You can see pictures and a full write up by going to… http://www.disability-sport-wales.org/14984.html …After a couple of weeks filled with PR commitments, it was very much back to normal with a regular training week leading into GBWR’s AGM at Twickenham and a GB training Camp at our Norfolk base. Camp was really all about running line-ups for our forthcoming European Prep Tournament in France and you’ll find out all about that in my next blog entry. For the last half of this post, I’m going to tell you a little bit about how I spend my downtime!

Both Alison and I love all kinds of music especially live performances. Over the last couple of years we’ve seem some great acts at venues of all sizes, indoors or out. This spring has been no exception and we kicked things off in style by heading to Victoria Park in east London with a few other members of the GB squad to see DJ/Producer, “Deadmau5”. Victoria Park is a great place to see live music and Deadmau5 didn’t disappoint either. An amazing light show backed up his epic sound as darkness fell over the crowd just a stone’s throw from the Olympic site in Stratford.

If beats aren’t your thing, this next act may well be. We were lucky enough to get tickets for a very intimate gig at “Scala” in Kings Cross. Only 800 people managed to get through the door to watch The Killers run through all their greatest hits ahead of their performance at “Hard Rock Calling” in Hyde Park the following night. To see such a huge band in this kind of setting was amazing. Front man, Brandon Flowers set the room alight and looked like he loved every second of the concert. Drummer, Ronnie Vanucci deserves a mention too for breaking every single stick he had!

That night will stay long in the memory and the clip below should show you why. This is “Glamourous Indie Rock & Roll” from the Scala gig… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWmqYDgFnbU ...Festivals are part of summer in the UK but I rarely have time to go or wind up competing on the same weekend, so this year a new approach was needed. After noticing a couple of concerts close together on a free weekend, we did our research and booked some tickets. With one more addition we completed our three-night line-up and our own “tailor made” festival was born.

First up on the Friday was “Take That” at Wembley. The guys put on a fantastic show and the performance was a real spectacle with the twenty metre high robot, “Om” as its centrepiece. But for me, Robbie Williams absolutely stole the show with his cameo in the middle. The guy is simply a born showman. Once we’d finally managed to get out of the car park at Wembley, we hotfooted it up the M1 to our hotel in Bedford to get ready for day two.

The next night we swapped pop for rock and headed to the Milton Keynes Bowl to see the “Foo Fighters” supported by “Biffy Clyro”. Scottish rockers Biffy were brilliant and left the crowd pumped for Dave Grohl and company to tear up the stage with a stunning set lasting well over two hours. The Foos churned out old and new hits, mixing their heaviest numbers with great acoustic interludes. Guest appearances from Alice Cooper and “Queen’s” Roger Taylor followed by a cover of “Tie Your Mother Down” and a stunning rendition of the bands own “Everlong” made this one of the finest rock concerts I’ve ever been to. It was certainly going to be a hard act to follow.

The final part of our weekender saw us move towards blues and soul as journeyed to Paddock Wood in Kent for the final day of the “Hop Farm” festival where “Prince” was headlining. For all his peculiarities Prince is an immensely talented musician and a superb guitarist. His performance was extremely polished and he came across as a real gentleman. He did three encores, one of which included a cover of “Come Together” by the Beatles as well as countless other great songs. But undoubtedly, the highlight of the night was his performance of “Purple Rain” which was hugely moving and romantic. It was the perfect gig to close out our weekend and I suspect we’ll have to go a long way to find an actual festival to better it!

Check again soon when I’ll be back to blogging about Wheelchair Rugby, bringing you news on the culmination of our domestic season as the “Coloplast Super Series” reaches its conclusion. I’ll also be letting you know how GB got on at that European Prep tournament in France…

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here