Mark tried everything at the Inter Spinal Unit Games
38 year old Mark attended the 2024 Inter Spinal Unit Games at Stoke Mandeville Stadium aiming to try a wide range of new sports and activities....
“This is my first time at the WheelPower National Junior Games and its really good and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been so fun getting to know other people in wheelchairs and doing lots of sports together.”
Peter is 12 years old and from the Derbyshire Peak District where he lives with his family. Peter is a full-time wheelchair user and has a spinal cord injury as a result of cancerous tumour in his chest for which he is still undergoing treatment.
Peter is a very sporty and as well as the more traditional activities like swimming and cycling he is also in to WCMX (Wheelchair Motocross) which involves him pushing over ramps and doing tricks at his local skatepark. This growing sport has seen Peter feature on Blue Peter as well as training with some of the best in the UK, including athlete Lily Rice. “Peter has done quite a few sessions with her now to get some more experience, and another one of his friends Ben has just become the youngest European boy to do a backflip! It’s quite scary watching it as a parent but its good fun and I fancy having a go myself sometimes.”
Having planned to attend the Junior Games previously Peter and Dad had to wait for it to return after the pandemic. With lots of anticipation they couldn’t wait to get started and planned out lots of activity for 3 full days ahead.
“He has had a go at most things so far. The shooting, fencing, table tennis, badminton, boccia, archery, hand cycling! We are working on getting to them all, but I think he has liked the table tennis the most and got a top score on the shooting too.”
Speaking to Peter and Martin it is clear to hear how important sport is to him and how much he enjoys challenging himself to try new things.
“Sport makes me feel very happy and it’s a good way to make me fitter than just staying at home and not doing much. I would definitely recommend these Games because it just a really fun atmosphere to be in and all the activities are really accessible for everyone too. And I will definitely be back next year!”
The WheelPower National Junior Games provided Peter the opportunity to try 15 different wheelchair sports across the Stoke Mandeville site and for a family that finds it difficultly to access disability sport in their area it was fantastic for them to be able to try so much in the same place. Peter’s Dad explains, “Sport makes such a big difference to Peter but we have found it quite hard since he was injured to find places to try things, as we are quite rural where we live, which means a long drive to anywhere that offers disability sports. To come here and try everything in one place is really useful and I’m sure we will be back again when there’s another event on.”
Thank you Peter for sharing your story with WheelPower and we can’t wait to follow your WCMX progress in the future. We all think you are very cool indeed.
If you would like to follow Peter on Instagram and find out more about WCMX please check out his Instagram page
