After sustaining a Spinal Cord Injury in October 2022, Rosie, a 32 year-old teacher from Southend-On-Sea, was given the opportunity to take part in the 2024 Inter Spinal Unit Games with the team from the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre, Stanmore. Having always been sporty prior to injury, she was keen to take part.

Talking about her spinal cord injury, she explained, “I was playing in a football match and I was tackled badly. I landed hard on my chest and that caused an injury in my spine. It was really wet and the floor was extra slippy so when my opponent slid in, she came in a bit faster than she meant to meaning the fall was faster and harder than it perhaps would have been on a summer’s day. There was nothing my opponent could do; it wasn’t malicious at all.”

Rosie was taken to Queens Hospital, Romford, where she underwent surgery on her spinal cord to remove some of the bone fragments, giving her spinal cord room to heel and recover as much as it could.

“I’ve just got nothing but amazing things to say about the hospital. I was looked after so, so well. The physio team were working with me from day one so by the time I had been there a couple of months, I was at the point where I was using a walking frame and then crutches.”

After her stay at Queens, Rosie was transferred to Stanmore where she continued her rehab with the team at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre over Christmas and New Year before being discharged in early 2023. It was Rosie’s link with Stanmore that brought her to the WheelPower Inter Spinal Unit Games.

“I’m still under Stanmore because they really do look after you for life which is incredible. The opportunity to take part in the games came through the physio team. I was back in for a couple of weeks and they told me about the Inter Spinal Unit Games and I just thought that sounded really, really exciting because I’d always loved sport but I was now at a loss because I couldn’t run, I couldn’t play football and so I felt a bit useless really.”

Of the 20+ sports on offer, Rosie experienced lots of new things and discovered talents for sports she didn’t know she had. Although Rosie ultimately won the Women’s Para Table Tennis competition, Wheelchair Basketball and Para Rowing were the two sports that really captured Rosie’s interest. You couldn’t keep the team from Stanmore away from the Wheelchair Basketball!

“We loved doing the wheelchair basketball with Macca… and playing a sport again where you feel like you’re getting out of breath and working hard… Physio is important but you don’t get that breathless, exhilarated feeling that you get if you have just played a game of football for example.”

Away from the Wheelchair Basketball, Rowing was the other sport that Rosie took an interest in during her time at the Inter Spinal Unit Games. She spent time giving the sport a go whilst speaking to the British Rowing coaches.

Rosie and her teammates from Stanmore performed valiantly throughout the week and were ultimately crowned the 2024 Inter Spinal Unit Games Champions, the first time Stanmore have achieved the feat in the game’s history

Post games, Rosie has continued her sporting journey by taking up Wheelchair Basketball with Stanmore based London Titans and has recently received a grant from Arctic One which will not only allow Rosie to purchase her own sports chair but will also enable her to restart the school Basketball and Badminton clubs she delivered prior to injury.

Away from the Basketball court, Rosie has also recently competed at the British Rowing Indoor Championships where she not only gained her classification to compete competitively but also took home the silver in the 2 km row!

“It was a really good experience, but it has also led to me feeling motivated to do other para sports. I’m looking forward to training and learning new sports which I will stick with it outside of the games.”

We wish Rosie all the best in the future, and we hope her journey back into sport continues. We look forward to seeing what Rosie achieves on the water and in the sports hall.