Clare Strange Excited For London 2012

With London 2012 just around the corner Clare Strange is preparing to compete in her fourth consecutive Paralympic Games playing wheelchair basketball.

I caught up with her to talk about the Workplace Games campaign that she is supporting as well as how excited she is at the prospect of a home Games.

- You are backing The Workplace Games campaign so could you tell me a little bit about it?

I guess it is about promoting fun and activity at work - I have worked as manager consultant for a number of years and that balance in the workplace is something that is very important and something I definitely promote.

So it’s good to hear of organisations using the opportunity of 2012, which is what it is, to promote healthy and wellbeing - which ultimately results in a healthy workforce and a productive workforce.

- So how and why did you get involved with the campaign?

I have done some bits and pieces with Adecco over the last few years and it’s something that they have contacted me about recently.

I liked the idea and it promotes the right sort of things that I connect with anyway; being healthy, having that balance in life and things that promote well being generally and that is something that I am quite excited about. 

- And a lot of people won’t get a lot of chance to d a lot of physical exercise because of the demands of work and daily life so for anyone who struggles fitting in that exercise what advice would you give?

The one thing that I always remember is on those days when I really don’t want to go and do that training session because I am tired and I think ’if I just go home and sit on the sofa I will be much better off’ but I always feel good for doing exercise.

So when I get like that I remind myself that when I go and do it on my way home I am going to feel fantastic because you naturally produce hormones that make you feel better for it. So, for me, the there’s a great lesson in that if I have to persuade myself sometime to remember than then everyone will feel like that. 

But if you can think ‘I will feel good for it and I will want to do more because of it’ remembering that always makes me want to go and do that session - and it normally makes it a better session.

- The Paralympic Games are now less than a year away so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

I can’t wait for a home games! What is so exciting about it is we are an up and coming squad, only five of the players from Beijing are left in the squad so it will be a first Games for many of the girls.

I remember competing in Sydney and having some friends on the Australian team and subsequently talking to them when the bid for London was going in and they were saying ‘if you get it it will be this and it will be that.

I think that there are so many befits to it especially playing in front of a home crowd, we have had some of our best performances in front of home crowds. So I am really excited especially for my family and friends who won’t have to go half way around the world to see me; as long as I can get tickets!

- You have hinted that the squad is quite young so what kind of shape is the team in with only a few months to go and what needs to be done between now and the Games themselves?

We have had a good year this year we have really stepped up and beat some good teams. We have just been to the European Championships and we didn’t quite get the results that we had hoped for there but I think that a lot of learning will come out of that.

But I think that the mix of the squad and getting everyone up to speed will have benefited from that tournament, it is a big competition that people need to learn from.

But overall I would say that the squad is flying onwards and upwards - fitness is fantastic - the squad has this mix of young talent coming through that is very exciting to be on a squad with.
There are some young players who haven’t been playing very long but are showing real improvement and then there are experienced players in the team who have been there before - so that mix between the players is just an exciting environment to be in; I feel really motivated by it and they are a great crowd to be around.
 
- And what do you think are the chances of the squad in London?

The thing with wheelchair basketball the top eight teams in the world, or at least the top seven; as we sit in there, are so close and so competitive that it’s whoever turns up on the day - which actually makes it pretty exciting.

We are currently ranked sixth in the world and we could medal in London but we have to do game by game and focus on delivering what we control which is going out and playing our game - if we can do that in London and hold our belief together as a squad then you could well be seeing us on the podium.

But who knows because that is the nature of sport - but do have the best chance ever for the British women’s team of coming home with a medal.

We are hoping that we can go out there and deliver that and we are doing everything possible as a squad to work on the physical side of our game as the psychological side of the game to be able to deliver that in less than twelve months time. 

- This will be your fourth Olympics so how do you think that past experience will help you personally prepare for London?

It gives me the experience of being at a Games and all three of those were very different so I am not expecting London to be like anyone of them - in some ways that is a good thing because I haven’t just been to one and I am not going to expect it to be like Beijing it is going to be very different.

The thing to always remember is we are going to a basketball tournament so the court is the same size, the ring is the same height, it’s the same ball and we are going out to play by the same rules so it’s basketball that we are going to play. 

I think that is something that you have to remember and get into some of the newer players because there are a lot of distractions at a big competition like that and it is something that you get use to having been to them previously.

But at the end of the day you are there to play basketball and it doesn’t matter if it’s the Paralympics or at Stoke Mandeville; where I will be playing this weekend in front of two men and a dog.

There is also something about the excitement about it having been part of it before - in fact my excitement before Beijing was more than the excitement before Sydney; I was so hyped for it and I think that you just use than energy to be in the best shape and be the best prepared you possibly can.

- You were in a riding accident when you were 18 after less than a year you were in the GB squad playing for you country so how and why did you get into the sport so quickly?

Sport is a key part of rehabilitation for people with spinal injuries - if you back track the history of the Paralympics Games at Stoke Mandeville sixty odd years ago they were using sport to rehab spinal injuries during the Second World War; and that is where the Paralympic Games stared.

In 1948 when we last held Olympic Games alongside the opening ceremony in London there was an event happening at Stoke Mandeville for spinal injured people to take part in sport competitively, and the birth of the Paralympic Games; which it’s parallel games to the Olympics because it ran parallel to the games in 1948.

So that ethos sat within my rehab and for someone who had been sporty anyway, I had rode horses at a competitive level and played hockey at a representative level, it was just a great environment to be in and I just went ’yes please’. 

The local basketball sent someone along to run some sessions with some of the patients who were in at the time and I just clicked with it - it was fun, it was competitive, it was team and I had always played team sports.

I was absolutely useless at it and for someone who had been very competitive and very successful in their sporting life that didn’t actually bother me because I had found something that clicked with my motivation.

I liked team, I liked the social aspect of it and I also liked the physicality of it and I think that that was a lesson that I learnt… that if you can connect with something and find something that gets you energised do you like the social bit? Do you like the personal challenge? Or is it something different? There is probably something out there for you - and wheelchair basketball slotted beautifully into the gap that the sports that I had played before had filled.   

Then it was opportunities I was given chances to train and go to development days and then I was invited along to the GB camp - and I just thought ‘what on earth am I doing here?’

I got invited back - I couldn’t play the sport, was useless at it and didn’t know the rules but trained hard and thought ‘well I wonder if?’ Having dreamt of being an Olympic hockey player at sixteen suddenly I was back in that position at nineteen, having had this massive change in my life, and I was going ‘what if I could play for my country?’

And I found myself being selected to go to the world championships that October (laughs) wondering what on earth had happened to me in the last year.

- The tickets for the Paralympic Games went on sale last month and more than a third of sessions have been oversubscribed you must be delighted by the response?

Delighted but not surprised actually because this country really does embrace the Paralympic Games. I was away at the time and I was seeing people putting up on Face book ‘this is over subscribed’ ‘they have already sold this many tickets’ ‘there has been this much application’.

What people thought in Sydney was it was a culture that just loved sports and I think that is what we have in this country and a heritage if promoting disability sport and really promoting it and we have now seen a fantastic response to a great sporting event.
 
- What do you hope that London 2012 Games with do for paralympic sport in this country?

I think it will just raise the profile of the sport even further, I think that people are still surprised when they see Paralympics sport and that it is competitive and exciting to watch and a sport; you don’t have to walk up to the people playing it tap them on the shoulder and go ‘ah bless’.

I think that less and less people feel that way about this sport and if the legacy can be to change the mind set in this country even further, as well as a change in mind set worldwide; which is definitely one of the goals of the Paralympic Games it’s an important think to do.

- And what did you think of Oscar Pistorius at the World Championships this summer?

I respect him hugely for what he has done because he has done it in the right way - he has fought his battles but he has never stepped away from the Paralympics and he still sees that as a core part of his heritage and who he is.

I think that the whole argument about if he gains from his legs and he shouldn’t be able to run in the Olympics because he has got two half legs - he is just fantastic for the whole debate and the whole attitude to disability.

When the IOC said he couldn’t run because he got an advantage from running on false legs it just said a huge amount about the attitude towards disability - and we mustn’t forget that in the Olympic Games in 2008 there were two athletes who competed who had disabilities; Natalia Partyka in table tennis and Natalie de Toit also swam at the Olympics and the Paralympics.

So Oscar Pistorius has done a fantastic job because he is so high profile and he really has fought the cause but you mustn’t forget that there are people who have already gone there and done it, which is fantastic.

- And for anyone who wants to get into a paralympic sport what advice would you give them?

Just give it a go! People are often scared because sometimes it can be difficult to accept that you have a disability or think that you don’t want to spend time around people who have a disability or just to go and have a go at something that might be a challenge but often sports clubs are so welcoming to new people.

There are opportunities for every level of competition, you don’t have to be a paralympian to come and do disability sport, there are opportunities at every level from juniors to adults wanting to give it a go for the first time.

So if you fancy something go and give it a go - even if it is just recreational it’s great to bring something like that into your life.  I think often people with disabilities getting involved with sport can impact their independence in a positive way, which they might not have realised prior to doing it.

- Finally what's next for you?

We are just getting back into training, I have had a couple of weeks off, today was the first day back training. The club season is about to start so I have some hard winter training to look forward to (laughs). Our competitive international season will star in March/April of next year and we have got a big build up to London in August - we have a lot of trips and tournaments to get up match fit and ship shape for London 2012.

For more infomation on the Workplace Games go their Facebook page www.facebook.com/workplacegames

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

I caught up with her to talk about the Workplace Games campaign that she is supporting as well as how excited she is at the prospect of a home Games.

- You are backing The Workplace Games campaign so could you tell me a little bit about it?

I guess it is about promoting fun and activity at work - I have worked as manager consultant for a number of years and that balance in the workplace is something that is very important and something I definitely promote.

So it’s good to hear of organisations using the opportunity of 2012, which is what it is, to promote healthy and wellbeing - which ultimately results in a healthy workforce and a productive workforce.

- So how and why did you get involved with the campaign?

I have done some bits and pieces with Adecco over the last few years and it’s something that they have contacted me about recently.

I liked the idea and it promotes the right sort of things that I connect with anyway; being healthy, having that balance in life and things that promote well being generally and that is something that I am quite excited about. 

- And a lot of people won’t get a lot of chance to d a lot of physical exercise because of the demands of work and daily life so for anyone who struggles fitting in that exercise what advice would you give?

The one thing that I always remember is on those days when I really don’t want to go and do that training session because I am tired and I think ’if I just go home and sit on the sofa I will be much better off’ but I always feel good for doing exercise.

So when I get like that I remind myself that when I go and do it on my way home I am going to feel fantastic because you naturally produce hormones that make you feel better for it. So, for me, the there’s a great lesson in that if I have to persuade myself sometime to remember than then everyone will feel like that. 

But if you can think ‘I will feel good for it and I will want to do more because of it’ remembering that always makes me want to go and do that session - and it normally makes it a better session.

- The Paralympic Games are now less than a year away so how excited are you at the prospect of a home games?

I can’t wait for a home games! What is so exciting about it is we are an up and coming squad, only five of the players from Beijing are left in the squad so it will be a first Games for many of the girls.

I remember competing in Sydney and having some friends on the Australian team and subsequently talking to them when the bid for London was going in and they were saying ‘if you get it it will be this and it will be that.

I think that there are so many befits to it especially playing in front of a home crowd, we have had some of our best performances in front of home crowds. So I am really excited especially for my family and friends who won’t have to go half way around the world to see me; as long as I can get tickets!

- You have hinted that the squad is quite young so what kind of shape is the team in with only a few months to go and what needs to be done between now and the Games themselves?

We have had a good year this year we have really stepped up and beat some good teams. We have just been to the European Championships and we didn’t quite get the results that we had hoped for there but I think that a lot of learning will come out of that.

But I think that the mix of the squad and getting everyone up to speed will have benefited from that tournament, it is a big competition that people need to learn from.

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