I've never really 'got' football. It doesn't grab me like it does others. I don't 'get' it. And that's fine. Of course for me, it makes the manly thing of picking up a newspaper and immediately flipping it over and checking out the back page a bit of an ordeal and inevitably a two handed affair as the flip then requires further page turning searching in vain for I don't know what. So I go for the double flip, with tacit acknowledgment of a footballing headline should I need a reference for any significant chatter of the day.
Then return to the front page. In fact all ball sports have passed me by in life, although I did have a brief affair with basketball at college..a height thing! So as I climbed the stairs to
Hampden Park yesterday, I looked up and could only acknowledge that I probably should know something about this place and why those around me were getting excited. I was attending a conference for SPEEAD, Sporting Prosthetics for Elite and Everyday Athletes with a Disability. As the manufacturer of the definitive sporting prosthesis, we were there to exhibit.
The day was all about Sport, why it's good for rehabilitation, its role in motivation and how all people, including those with disability are part of the government health initiatives to get people active. It was a day of one-liners for me. Archie Graham, Glasgow City Councillor and Board Member for the 2014 Commonwealth Games explained his city's ethos for promoting sport and bringing it to Glasgow. Significant infrastructure investment in the past - 'we fixed our roof while the sun was shining'. And then Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius. He was the keynote speaker and had a blinder 'it's not the guy who comes last in his sport who is the loser, the loser is the guy who wasn't in the game'. Oscar, not yet 25, tells a good tale of being the best you can, no matter what life throws at you.
This is Jessica. A colleague of mine from Sweden who was also presenting yesterday. She is holding one of Oscars 'blades'. It's not that she's small, or Oscars feet are huge, it's a camera thing, but this is one of the very same prosthetics you'll see him with on TV. The
IAAF have sanctioned him to use only this model to help displel the myth that he gets an avantage by having no legs! His improvement is down to him, not new legs. (this is my work, I could explain at length and in tedious but compelling detail). Jessica is competing in Ironman Mexico in a couple of weeks. Herself, a triathlete of some merit, she is now into the fast emerging para-tri movement and inclusive events such as those I've competed in at San Diego.
Trust me, you learn about yourself, about others and about the heart of competitive sport when you're in a race running up a steep hill, closing in on a wheelchair athlete or a guy with one leg, struggling with the climb. Do you overtake, what should you say? You pass, feeling apologetic. Then on the next downhill, they pass you're like you're standing still...laughing. OK, like that is it...game on. Sport, like life isn't always fair. But whatever you've got...run with it.
My nieces brought round cake the other day. My contribution to their consumption was significant. Good work girls. Cake...the route to mans heart.
