I find volunteering with the club a real joy and watching the players develop and blossom is a real privilege. The sport really does change lives and not only mine. I have seen players come out of their shells due to having a group of mates to socialise with at training. I watch as they gain confidence in their abilities, so that they can make their own voice heard. Taking the squad to compete with other clubs and see the motivation and drive for success is inspirational.

The benefits to mental well-being from the social side of the club and being in the Saracens family are clear every single week. It also provides the stimulus, to get out of the house and come to training, to be more independent. To realise that “I will get more out of this if I lose weight, get fitter, stronger and increase my stamina” and join a gym or take up other sports and exercise. It is such a delight to see the players turning up, enjoying themselves and getting so many benefits from participating. For those affected by a disability it is very easy to become socially isolated and demotivated; that has very adverse effects on health and well-being. Wheelchair Rugby provides a positive change. Repetitive rehab exercises are rarely stimulating, but pushing a rugby chair as far, as hard and as fast as you can is fun. You want to do better, practice, and by the way all your other skills and functions get boosted.

I retired from teaching karate after over 2 decades so that I would have more time for Wheelchair Rugby as I find it so stimulating. I am not eligible to play the game, but I have gained so much from enabling others to do so. Whether that is as the club mechanic, changing wheels, repairing punctures, mending chairs or picking players up when they have crashed to the floor. As a coach, sharing the knowledge I had from LWRC and then building on it, working out the skills and tactics we needed to win, then how to get that into our sessions. The complexities of a sport described as Chess with angry Daleks and using the balance of player skills, experience and functionality is a constant learning challenge. Learning to run about blowing a whistle to referee matches in training and tournaments, or how to safely stack wheelchairs in giant Jenga game in a van or our storage container (aka The Bat Cave) is also a challenge. It is much safer now, than when we started with our chairs stacked three high in a cupboard in the corner of the gym.