Ben who will be competing in the PRI Men’s Single Sculls, has been on a journey since an accident in 2016 and describes the feeling of getting in the boat and rowing off, and seeing his wheelchair disappear giving him a sense of freedom.
This will be your second Paralympic Games, following your debut at Tokyo, how does it compare emotions-wise?
“It’s definitely a different feeling going into this game compared to Tokyo. Obviously, we had a global pandemic. It was a bit muted going into Tokyo, but also as an athlete, I feel completely different. I think I was on this whirlwind of a ride going into Tokyo. I got selected in 2019 and qualified to row, then I got selected to go to the games. It was all very quick, whereas now I’ve worked towards something, and I’ve been at the forefront for three years. So, I think it’s a very different mental state going into the game, and I’m just really excited to get out there”
You have been named by the Paris Paralympics as one of the top ten athletes to watch. Do you feel that adds pressure for you to perform to a higher standard than you’ve set yourself?
“You know, I’ve worked so hard for this moment, no one will be adding any more pressure onto it than I will be adding myself. I am my harshest critic and my biggest driver. That’s where I get my motivation from, so it’s great to think that people see me as the top ten one to watch. It’s a compliment rather than pressure. That’s what you got to take it as. Whatever will be will be.”
Does knowing what to expect this time from the games, the Paralympic Village, and other things, help with nerves?
“The Olympians have just returned and speaking to them, they were saying it was a completely different experience compared to Tokyo. So, I’m looking forward to that, cause it probably be like my first games again because of all the circus. The media, friends, and family.”
Can you tell me about your journey into Rowing?
“I had my accident in 2016, which rendered me with a spinal injury, and I ended up at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. British Rowing used to have an outreach programme with the hospital and that’s where my entry to the sport began. They found me and I kind of enjoyed it and then I came down to here in this beautiful venue, Caversham, and got on the water and just watched my wheelchair disappear.
That was the thing I needed to make me want to stay. Was the ability to watch my wheelchair disappear, getting away and just switching off. I know I’m strapped in, and I have floats on my boat to help with my disability.
Whereas when I tried wheelchair Basketball or Wheelchair Rugby I was always in a wheelchair and at the time when I was newly injured, I wasn’t quite ready for that. Rowing was my ability to let loose for a couple of hours a day. That was eight years ago now.”
Could you explain to me your classification please and the adaptions you require?
“My Classification is a PR 1, which is the most disabled category in our sport, so you have a variance of disabilities. You have people with spinal cord injuries. You have people with MND that are at the very high end of the scale and we have single-leg amputees – that are through the hip. So, the technical definition is that you have no movement about the hip. So, if you can walk through your hip, then you can’t classify as a PR1. You also need to have limited or no trunk control, so I fit in it because I have limited or no trunk control because of my spinal injury.
What that means is we have a fixed seat. We don’t have a sliding seat like you see in the Olympic Games. We also have floats to help with our balance because if you have no core control, you don’t have a very good sitting balance. So that could be a disaster. So we had two floats.”
I’ve read that you have been doing some work with local BBC Radio, how did that come about?
“As an athlete when you’re tired, you’ve just come off the race and you’re getting thrust with these questions from the media, sometimes you can just think ‘Oh, come on’, but actually it’s somebody’s livelihood and they’ve worked hard in the background and you need to remember that they’ve worked hard, just as you’ve worked hard to get to that point. So, it’s been a really good learning curve for me to be on your side of the camera and or in that case radio.
If you could make one thing accessible, what would it be?
“I have a saying that accessibility isn’t infrastructure. It’s a mindset, and I find that the biggest challenge when you go and try and do something or want to change something is the receiving person’s opinion.
They always have an opinion that I can’t do something before they allow me to. That’s probably the one thing I’d like to change in terms of accessibility.
There’s no point having the infrastructure, if people’s mindsets are not in the right place to start with.
My first Rowing Club, Swansea City, they have no changing rooms, they have no clubhouse. They have no ramp to the water. So, the people there made it happen and without them is I wouldn’t be going to a Paralympic Games.
Another is hotels. There’s no standard definition of what an accessible room needs to be. You have your ADA compliance, and you have your regulations in the UK of where light switches need to be and all that kind of stuff, pull cords but you can book one accessible room in the same hotel chain, and it be a bath with no bath board with pull cord next to the bed that you can’t get into. Or you could book another accessible room with the same hotel chain, and it’d be the perfect room that you need. But there’s no definition on that. And I think that’s something that needs to change.”
QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
Three things you can’t live without.
“Coffee, I make my own. My Family and music.”
Favourite book/Film
“A knight’s tale and Time and time again by Ben Alton”.
Something you enjoy doing in your spare time.
“Coffee both drinking and making it. You could say that it is both work and a passion.”
Another Athlete you are looking forward to watching compete?
“Laura Stedman in the triathlon and Oliver Lamb Watson in the fencing.”
Do you think you can win?
“There’s one of five athletes that can win. I’ve put myself in a good position and I’ve just got to go out there and do what I do.”
by Victoria Scholes, ADJ CFJ Alumni & Diploma Student
https://www.legallypowered.co.uk