Back in December our sport received the sad news from UK sport that our funding had been cut completely. As a full-time athlete with a goal of medalling at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with my team this was a huge blow and I now must self-fund myself by finding alternative sources of funding. Unfortunately, without sponsorship I will not be able to continue playing the sport I love for club and country and strive to achieve the goals I have for my wheelchair rugby career.

My disability is Cerebral Palsy which I have had since birth Due to a blood clot that my mother had when she was pregnant I was starved of oxygen which caused damage to my brain causing me to have Cerebral Palsy when I was born. My love of sport however started from a young age mainly due to my love of football and Manchester United. I dreamed of being a professional footballer but obviously my disability meant this was always going to be tough so I started to look into other sports to see what I could do and that’s when I found Wheelchair Basketball. I played Wheelchair Basketball for 8 years and was quite successful, going on to represent Yorkshire at regional level. I was then introduced to Wheelchair Rugby by a few Great Britain Scouts who were looking for new players at the time and was asked to attend a training session. Following this I was fast tracked into the GB team and joined the Leicester Tigers Wheelchair Rugby club and achieved my dream of becoming a professional athlete going on to win 2 European Gold medals and represent GB at World and Paralympic level.

My plans, aims aspirations for the future I am currently working hard to get selected for 2018 World Championships. In 2019, I will be hoping to then be selected for the European Championships My ultimate aim is to represent Paralympics GB for a second time at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics games where I hope to medal. I will also be playing a vital role for the Leicester tigers in the league this year.