News from the Paralympics
My name is Ellen , I am 13yrs old and was born with my
left arm missing from my elbow.
Well you are probably saying SO WHAT.!!! Well you are
right , so what . It has made no difference to me in life so far and I don't see
it as a difficulty in later life.
I have always been able to do whatever I wished in life
like football with my local club,Hip Hop dancing which I love and also
swimming.
Now let me tell you a little about my swimming.
4 years when i was 9 my Dad received a call from a lady
call Geraldine Conway who asked if i was interested in ever swimming for my
Country as a paralympic swimmer. Well i had never even heard of the Paralympics
.
So I entered a few competitions in Ireland in able-bodied
swimming and I found I was good. ( Not blowing my own trumpet )
Next I travelled to Sheffield with the junior Irish
paralympic team to compete .
After that I took swimming very serious and was competing
at any competition I could go to including able-bodied.
December 06 in USA i was 12 when I got paralympic
qualifying times in my breast stroke which put me in a chance for Beijing. At
this stage I was on the senior panel and in Apr 07 I got qualifying times in my
butterfly and 200 m.
I turned 13 in Apr 08 and in July 08 I was selected to
represent Ireland in Beijing in the Paralympics.I was as shocked as my family as
we were all hoping and aiming at London in 2012.
The trip and the whole experience of the Paralympics were
unreal. I still can't believe it was me out there.
When I arrived back in Dublin airport I could not believe
the amount of people there to cheer us on. My head teacher had arranged a bus to
bring some school mates and herself out to the airport to greet me.
And now that I am back to school the training is still as
tough as ever but I love it.
I would like to encourage any kid like me with a
disability to get into sport and find out which sport you like and stick to it
and if you would to contact your paralympic council for all the information you
need to help you with you're sport. In Ireland it is pcireland.ie . My Dad Eddie will
be at the Christmas Party in the Red Cow Hotel so if any of you Irish want to
talk to him please do so as i will be ( GUESS WHERE ? ) at a
swimming Gala in Carlow .
