Helping young people reach their goals.
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My time at the Paralympics
Posted: 26th Sep 2012
Jake Millward is 33 years old and has been supported by Mencap for four years at his own home in Doncaster. We caught up with him to find out about his week at the Paralympics...
On August the 30th, me and my mum set off for the Paralympics. We set off at 2.30pm, got to the station, then on train… I felt excited.
We got to London King’s Cross at 4.30pm, then went to my sister’s by walking to the tube. After we got to my sister’s we had an early night because we had to get up at 6.30am for the Equestrian event at Greenwich on Friday 31st.
We got there by tube. We walked up the paths - it was so amazing, the volunteers were everywhere, they were sensational, welcoming everyone to the games. Before going in, we went through security, which took about an hour the checks were so tight… like in an Airport! We got through, then we went to sit down - we had great seats on the front row.
Then the next morning we got up at 6.30am again for the Aquatic Centre. Again the volunteers were so lovely, getting the crowd cheering and having so much fun when the crowd was walking up the paths for the events. At the Aquatic Centre it was… just amazing. We saw Queen of the pool, Ellie Simmonds, 100 metres freestyle - the crowd went crazy cheering and clapping.
Monday morning we got up at 10.30am for the ExCel Centre, which was great; we had an all day pass, the volunteers were so helpful. We got in the Table Tennis - it was mind blowing - then we came out after the medal ceremony. We saw Will Bailey walking around letting people hold his Silver medal. My mum’s friend and daughter came in the afternoon and we went to see Bochia, it was so amazing and skilled.
The whole experience was an honour to watch and be part of; we have proved to the world that having a disability holds no barriers.
On Tuesday, we went to the Woolwich Military Barracks to see the Shooting and the Archery. The first place we queued up for was the shooting, to see Sam Sneddon. Before the competition started, the Welsh Guards came and performed some moving music - they were a big hit.
Sneddon got a Bronze in the medal ceremony. He was a super shot. After that, we queued up to see the fantastic Archery. The Welsh Guards came on again in the interval before Danielle Brown and Mel Clark came on for the team GB final. Danielle got a Gold and Mel a Silver. It was fantastic to be part of the crowd.
Thursday afternoon at 4.30pm my mum and I met up with my friend, who was working as a volunteer at the Olympics. We had a spare ticket, so he used it to see an event. In the evening, we went to the super Olympic stadium - was so exciting with happiness. We saw Super Hannah the Hurricane Cockcroft compete in the 200 wheelchair sprint, for which she got gold; David the super Weir Wolf in the 800 metres, winning gold; Jonnie the super blade Peacock, who won the 100 metres sprint… the atmosphere was alive with emotions.
The whole experience was an honour to watch and be part of; we have proved to the world that having disability holds no barriers. I think things can change for the good. The people there were wonderful; every street you went on you got a high five and welcome to London.
Everyone was treated as an equal - it was great. It has given me inspiration to join in a sport group and I have already looked into archery and bochia and would like to be able to compete at some point. I am proud to be British!
