Two years after a life-changing injury, a teenager wins a medal at a national wheelchair competition.
Ellis Cottas, 19, from West Malling, took up wheelchair racing last summer after suffering a spinal cord injury in September 2020 and spending several months in hospital.
“I was in the hospital for a very long time. It was really hard. I was bedridden for the first few weeks and months. rice field.
A swimmer from the age of nine until her injury, Ellis was out of the sport for a long time before recovering in hospital.
“While I was in the hospital, I wanted to get back into sports. It’s really helpful in terms of showing that my body can still do something.
“You may have different abilities, but you can still do something, so I really wanted to get back to that.
“But I knew I could go back to swimming, so what I wanted to do was a very difficult decision, but I think I compared myself a lot to what I was before.
“It was really nice to have a fresh start. I went, tough.
“I was sitting there watching everyone working so hard. They all looked so exhausted. I thought that’s what I wanted to do. Like swimming. Be really dedicated.”
Weir Archer Academy is a wheelchair athletics coaching and training academy run by David Weir (CBE) and Jenny Archer (MBE).
David Weir is a British Paralympic wheelchair athlete who has won six Paralympic gold medals and eight times the London Marathon.
Head Coach Jenny Archer coached David Weir seven times in the London Marathon, Josh Cassidy once, and coached Paralympic athletes to a total of seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals, among many others. is leaving
As soon as Ellis took up the sport last July, she said, “I fell in love with it right away.”
And now, in her first competitive season, she has won a bronze medal at the National School Athletic Meet.
The School Games National Finals is a four-day event featuring 10 sports including track and field, modern pentathlon, triathlon and wheelchair basketball.
This year, 1,000 school-age athletes competed at Loughborough University from September 1st to September 4th.
Previous Olympic and Paralympic medal-winning School Games National Finals competitors include Adam Peaty, Dina Asher-Smith, Hannah Cockroft and Max Whitlock.
Ellis placed third in the women’s wheelchair 100m race on Saturday, September 3rd.
Medalist said:
“But it’s my first season so it’s really crazy that it’s gone by so quickly.”
Alongside the competition, the School Games National Finals has a strong focus on educational value and preparing athletes for the next step in their careers.
Athletes lived in Loughborough University accommodation during the event. Ellis described it as “like a mini version of a real international match”.
Athletes were also able to attend lectures given by Olympic athletes, bringing together disabled and disabled athletes.
she said:
The women’s wheelchair race medal ceremony was hosted by Paralympian and world record holder Hannah Cockcroft and her partner and fellow Paralympian Nathan Maguire.
Ellis says:
She will next compete in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games in Portugal at the end of November, hoping to do road racing and longer distances in the future.
Ellis gave the following advice to others in his position:
“I didn’t know anything about wheelchair racing. I found it online.
“And I want people to know that it will get better. You’ll recover better. Life will return to normal. It’s the new normal, but it won’t stay that bad.”
Comments
Post a Comment