How to enjoy an Active Summer of Fun playing disability sport

A new participation campaign created by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) and National Disability Sport Organisations (NDSOs) is encouraging more disabled people to find out and play out over summer.

Active Summer Fun (#ActiveSummerFun on social media) - is an exciting new campaign that aims to support more disabled people to find ways to be active during the warmer months.

In this blog, former British disability gymnast champion, Stacie Ridley, discusses the change from competing to coaching, her busy summer schedule and the challenge to make her sport more accessible.

Exercise can sometimes feel great, and at other times it hurts and it makes me want to cry! But I do have that competitive instinct of thinking it’s only ever hurting a little bit and I’ll keep on going.

I was a national disability gymnast for over six years and the British champion four times.

Now, my weekly activity consists of coaching the next generation of disabled trampolinists. I retired from competing in 2014 because I required foot surgery, and that was going to significantly impact my gymnastics.

I train less now than I used to of course, but I haven’t really noticed it. When I was training and competing as a gymnast I was also working full-time, so I was only ever able to train a maximum of four hours a week. I used to also do conditioning at home, which I still do a bit of now if I have time, though work is getting ever busier.

These days I coach three hours on a Saturday and train myself two hours a week. In my own training, I start with a basic warm-up before moving on to core conditioning and strengthening exercises. I then use the apparatus a bit and, at the end, it’s flexibility training.

I tend to exercise to extremes and try to get as much out of workout as possible. But you have to have the knowledge of yourself and your own body.

I have a metal spine, so I have to be very, very careful about when I can keep exercising and when I need to stop. And if I have to stop then to be honest I won’t stop completely, I’ll instead move onto an area of my body that isn’t hurting as much.

I had a spinal fusion to correct scoliosis when I was 16, and was told I would never be able to do gymnastics again. But I was, and it was simply down to my own determination. And I also started coaching for a local club, and working with the girls I began to realise I could still do handstands and cartwheels. I started then to research disability gymnastics and was soon training myself for my first competition.

I have just had some more surgery, so I am currently recovering from that. But all this summer I’ll be working on my core conditioning at home, and I am preparing for a British veterans’ trampolining competition in November- even if I'm still in my late twenties!

Gymnastics is one of those sports where people believe it’s for elite athletes only. It’s a misconception that we’re trying to break at the moment.

Many forms of gymnastics can be accessed and enjoyed by everyone, a wide variety of people with different impairments. I coach a young girl in a wheelchair, and not everyone would expect a wheelchair user to be able to participate in gymnastics or trampolining. Together, we have broken boundaries.

She does a lot of seat-based gymnastics and, because she has autism, we’ve worked on her communication as well. In three sessions she has improved no end.

Take a look at gymnastics; think about getting involved. On the British Gymnastics website there is a Club Finder section, and you can specify if you are disabled. And from the results you’ll be able to see whether there are clubs which are inclusive and are based in your local area.

You also can read blogs from disability sport participants of football and golf.

This blog first appeared on the EFDS website.

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