It’s Your Choice

Do you find a day when you are particularly inspired? For me that was on 12th December 2018 when I attended the Dorset Young Leadership Academy at Bryanston School. Calm down I don’t want you thinking this is a wind up with me being classed as a young leader, it was for my students. Here I had the privilege to attend this academy with some the exceptional young leaders from my school. Any sporting events involving my students inspire me constantly and there have been countless occasions where my students have provided awe inspiring performances that make me want to copy them time and time again. Powerful stuff I hear you say.

There were many fantastic guest speakers at this leadership academy but using students to open the event was a master stroke. To start with two Year 10 girls introduced the proceedings and these girls spoke much more confidentially and eloquently than I could ever have imagined at their age. It took me years to have the confidence to speak in front of others and still cringe now at some of my university presentations. One such presentation I was walking from side to side speaking to my peers about leadership, I seem to recall embarrassingly. I always had myself as a visionary in terms of being ahead of my time where I was cramming my daily steps allowance into a ten-minute slot during December 2001. Unfortunately my Nokia 3210 wasn’t able to keep up with the speedy step count as it was frozen on ‘Snake’. My tutor mentioned the quality of the presentation but his disbelief at my talking whilst walking method. I still think what a weirdo now! Some of you reading this probably agree and still think the same. Regardless these students started off with professional aptitude beyond their years and I instantly knew this was going to be a fantastic day (even before I had the honey roast gammon at lunch).

It was the key note speaker that really grabbed my attention and feel his story will resonate with me forever. A gentleman appeared in a wheelchair and propelled himself to the front of the stage with an abundance of charisma, confidence and character. I want to stress that this is not a feel sorry for the guy in the wheelchair story that will want to get you out exercising but one that must truly inspire you to do anything you surely want to. His name was Aaron Phipps, a Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby player from London 2012 Paralympics. He bellowed out that his saying of ‘it’s your choice’ is not at all exciting but it’s his saying nonetheless. Furthermore, he mentioned that he is very good at saying, ‘Yeah alright’ to things that seemed impossible and I instantly was hooked. He didn’t even need to persuade me by asking the crowd who wanted to see some Americans getting smashed up in a wheelchair rugby match. He did this tongue and cheek as he acknowledged the super powers of this particular team and their superiority to his side. Regardless, I may look or act stupid but I would never be so stupid to agree to this statement; my sister in law is indeed an American and I quite like my visits to San Francisco. Aaron was proud to show his last ditch try saving tackle that made his opponent do a 180 out of their wheelchair. All three angles made me realise I am in the safer sports of standing in goal and running on my own occasionally.

Aaron explained that he had not always been in a wheelchair and shared his story where he went from being an able bodied fifteen year old to someone that was in a coma for two weeks after contracting meningitis C and meningococcal septicaemia (blood poisoning). He dramatically explained the journey from the ambulance, the frantic speed of the drivers and the fast thinking of the paramedics. He further explained at how he awoke in a mood because he had so many people around him and that he was a stroppy teenager. He had humour, presence and empathy of the audience where he reassured them that his illness was not contagious and that this was a very rare illness. He emotionally explained the moment he was told his legs and most of his fingers were going to be amputated. He did not dwell on this and soon sharing tales from his sporting archives.

The story that captured my imagination to start off was his first account after his illness, where he entered the Totton 10km race. Here he announced amusingly that he was in his manual chair that was not made for this type of event. He even quipped that he was beaten by old fogeys and he finished in last place. This story captured the imagination of the public and he soon was sponsored to get proper race chairs to help him raise money for various charities. His first London Marathon was halted half way as his chair started to break but he was never going to stop and finished in determined fashion at about two and a half hours. He then took almost three quarter of an hour off this time in his next race a year later. He commented that he was fourth placed British male extremely fast but belittled his performance in reflecting he was in twenty sixth position over all. Any of us would take any of those positions in completing any marathon, let alone the London Marathon. This guy had determination.

He moved onto his journey as a wheelchair rugby international and that he constantly enjoyed the challenge of smashing into people. Later in the day I was at a seminar and his focus was his subsequent assault on Kilimanjaro with the goal to become the first disabled British person to climb the highest mountain in Africa without any assistance at all. Each day trekking was taking hours and hours and he emotionally explained how he was crying throughout the journey. His off road wheelchair could not take the strain and in order to not give up Aaron climbed for about four days using his hands and knees. He gave strict orders to the doctor that his mission could only be aborted if his knees became so damaged that he could not use his prosthetic legs anymore. There were continuous tears from him and his medical staff but he was not to be thwarted. He made it and showed the footage of him reaching the peak. What an unbelievable achievement. What an unbelievable man. What an unbelievable journey this fantastic human being has been on. Not at one time did I stop to think about his disability but only his utter determined approach to getting the job done. To achieving his goals. To saying ‘yeah alright’ to things that seemed impossible and actually seeing these goals through to the end.

His saying of ‘it’s your choice’ could be used in so many ways and Aaron used the choice of the goals that you want to set for yourself and how you achieve them as the main motivation. Quite simply this piece is going to rob Aaron’s saying of ‘it’s your choice’. However, his stern tones are vastly more powerful than my squeaky excitable voice with a twang of Dorset in it. I will try, what choice of goals are you going to set for yourself? Are you going to go for those constant runs, walks or any other form of exercise at regular intervals throughout the coming days, weeks or months? Are you going to set goals that are achievable? Are you going to continue when the going gets tough? Are you going to say ‘Yeah Alright’ to new experiences that are going to test and challenge you for the better?

I look forward to hearing about your very own success stories.

Remember it’s your choice!

Also remember if you’re not one step ahead you’re one step behind.