Paralympians tell their stories
Paralympics
Going for Gold
‘If I can dedicate the matches that I play to God, then it really does bring glory to him,’ says Anna Sharkey, a lively blonde twenty-something who is partially sighted with the eye condition retinitis pigmentosa and thrilled to be a member of the Paralympics Team GB, playing goalball.
‘It’s fast and furious – not for the fainthearted!’ she says. And it’s true – the ball can travel at up to 60mph! There’s a lot of frenetic diving which makes the padded sportswear essential.
Anna remembers the day that she and her brother Michael – who has the same eye condition and has also been selected for the Paralympics goalball – went along to try the game. Despite not having any kit or really knowing the rules, they won their first game 9:1 – and they were both hooked! Later they were both headhunted to join the GB junior teams.
How does she feel about competing in the Paralympics? ‘It’s just incredible! A once in a lifetime opportunity! I’m so privileged to be a part of it.’
Anna was part of the 2009 GB women’s goalball team that took gold at the European Championships in Munich. The saucer-sized medal lives on her bedside table.
She works full time as a physiotherapist in a hospital in Southend, Essex. Having grown up in a Christian home, she says her relationship with God became personal in her teens. She recalls going to Spring Harvest and having a life-changing realisation that God cared for her. She belongs to a New Frontiers church.
‘I couldn’t do this without God. God has been a part of my goalballing life ever since I started. Goalball has been a real gift to me. Sometimes when you are growing up you challenge why it is you have a visual impairment, why it is that things are harder for you than they are for other people. Simple day-to-day tasks take a lot more effort. What I think I’ve learned is that God brings good things out of a situation that isn’t ideal.’
What’s goalball?
Goalball is an exclusively Paralympic sport, a team sport in which all players must have a visual impairment. To ensure equality, all athletes wear black-out masks so that no player can see anything at all.
Players compete in teams of three, throwing a ball about the size of a basketball with a bell inside into the opponents’ goal, in two 12-minute halves. The sound of the bell enables players to judge the position and movement of the ball.
‘Inviting God into the game is really important to me.’
Anna Sharkey tells us more…
Does Anna pray before matches?
‘Yes, before every match. Inviting God to be a part of that experience is really important to me.’
Anna feels the Paralympics does a lot to improve people’s positive perception of disabled people and doesn’t want it to merge with the Olympics.
‘It’s important that the Paralympics maintains its integrity, that it’s a celebration of athletes at the top of their game. This is just as impressive as an Olympic sport, just in a slightly different framework. It’s just as competitive and means just as much to the athletes who have trained really hard.
‘I want to glorify God’
Michael Sharkey, brother to Anna who’s featured on our front page, has been selected for the men’s goalball team for the Paralympics. Like her, he’s a Christian who wants to use his sport to glorify God. He doesn’t always find it easy to play competitive sport and keep his eyes on Jesus.
‘When I’m away a lot, I miss out on church and it becomes something that I have to be self-disciplined about. I try to remember that I’m not doing things in my own strength, but in God’s. I want to use everything I do to glorify God as much as possible. Some people can sing beautifully; some can write beautiful poetry. I can throw a goalball very hard.’
Michael expects to be totally blind by the time he’s 40. But he’s positive about his future.
‘If I had sight, then I wouldn’t be going to the Paralympics. If I had sight then I wouldn’t have met my wife. Having a visual impairment can also be an encouragement to other people – though some might take this as condescending. I think my impairment helps other people to get a perspective on their own troubles sometimes.’
‘Disability does not mean inability’
So says Anne Wafula Strike, Paralympic wheelchair racer.
Anne was born in Kenya into a family of eight. Life was very tough – even tougher when she caught polio. Despite all the disadvantages she encountered, she did well in school and went on to university, qualifying as a teacher. She came to the UK in 2000 and married her fiancé, whom she’d met while he was working with VSO in Kenya. Their son Tim, was born in 2001 and, in an effort to lose weight, Anne began training in her wheelchair at the local running club. Her potential was spotted by a coach, who helped her to get her first racing chair. Anne became the first ever wheelchair racer from East Africa to compete in the 2004 Paralympics.
More than Conquerors
More Than Conquerors is an easy to read companion to the Paralympics, and features testimonies from some of the athletes.
This book is available in braille, giant print and audio CD free from Torch Trust. Standard print copies are available from More Than Gold web shop.