Show your support for local Paralympian Aaron at live Channel 4 broadcast

Dr Bruce-Low and Aaron Phipps.

Staff, students, family and friends will get a chance to cheer on Southampton’s Paralympic wheelchair rugby ace, Aaron Phipps, during a live broadcast for Channel 4 at Solent University’s sports science department, on Friday 7 September.
 
A crew from Channel 4 is coming into the University’s Centre for Health, Exercise and Sport Science, where Aaron has trained, as part of a live feature to cheer on the British Paralympic team. The University is hoping to gather a crowd of supporters to come along to the filming to show their support for Aaron. 

Aaron – who started wheelchair racing in 2007 before switching to rugby in 2009 – has represented Great Britain at three major competitions. 

“Wheelchair rugby is fast-paced; it's the only full-contact wheelchair sport,” said Aaron. 

“The Paralympics are the highest level an athlete can compete at and it will be amazing to represent my country. 

“Our coach, Tom O'Connor, has been very inspirational and Solent University’s sports science team, headed by Dr Stewart Bruce-Low has helped me a lot." 

Wheelchair rugby – originally known as murderball because of its aggressive, full-contact nature – is played on an indoor court and involves teams of up 12, with four players per side on court at any one time. 

Since making its Paralympic debut in Sydney in 2000 the game has gone from strength to strength, and tickets for the sport at London 2012 sold out in record time. 

Filming starts at 7.40am with live slots at 8.15am and 8.45am, and supporters are asked to come to the venue at least 15 minutes before filming starts.

Here's your chance to show your support and cheer Aaron on, so please let the Press Office know in advance if you'd like to come along by emailing press.office@solent.ac.uk.  Flags and noise welcome!

Paralympic Insight

Aaron in action versus Australia.

Aaron Phipps from the GB Wheelchair Rugby squad provides an insight into his world in an interview with Huck (surf, skate and snowboarding) magazine as he prepares for September 2012 alongside colleagues and students from the Applied Sport Science course from Southampton Solent University. Follow the link below to read the article in full and find out more! http://www.huckmagazine.com/features/murderball/

2012 Paralympic opportunity for Applied Sport Science student

Phil Zealey (pictured far left), one of our third year Applied Sport Science students is pictured here applying the knowledge learnt on his course to the real world experiences that we expect our students to undertake. 

This was pictured in early October after GB Wheelchair Rugby won the silver medal at the European championships in Switzerland. His role was to act as one of 4 students from Solent on either our BSc Applied Sport Science or BSc Sport Coaching courses who delivered the performance analysis for the squad. This role will take Phil to the Paralympics in London in 2012. Phil has shown extensive dedication in both his studies and his practical work which has afforded him this opportunity. Keep checking the blog for details of Phil's progress as he and squad prepare for 2012! Go GB!

Gold Medal comes back to Southampton Solent University

Following on from the latest blog titled "Wheelchair Basketball at the 7th Annual Paralympic World Cup", James Fisher, Technician Instructor and Associate Lecturer from the Health Exercise and Sport Science Department at Southampton Solent has been away at the Paralympic World Cup (PWC) last week in Manchester. James is an assistant coach to the GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team.

Gold medal Celebrations

The PWC is a major multi-sport Paralympic event where over 300 athletes from all over the world compete. This year Great Britain Women (ranked 6^th) faced Germany (2^nd), Canada (3^rd) and Japan (7^th).  This is a key tournament in their preparation for 2012 and presented some great challenges to overcome some of the best teams in the world.

Their first game was against Canada where they held on to take a close win 47-43. James commented “It was a much needed victory to send a message that we can compete at this level and build confidence for the coming games”.

Next they faced Germany reigning Paralympic and World Silver Medallists. They led through the majority of the game and once again held on to a close win 58-53. Once again GB’s defence proved too much for the usually strong German offence.

Their 3^rd game saw a loss of form and a tough loss to Japan 43-42. After leading throughout the majority of the game a scoring drought towards the end allowed Japan back in to it, and allowed them to steal a victory. However, enough had been done to earn a place in the Gold Medal game the following day.

The final saw Germany face GB, and whilst a loss to this team would have been no great shame with 6 places between them in the rankings, confidence was high having already beaten them earlier in the week. GB took control early on and never looked back; leading by as many as 17 points in the 3^rd quarter and finishing 63-52 for the victory and the Gold Medal.

James commented that "This sends a ripple around the world that GB Women are a strong contender for medals at up coming tournaments. Our youngsters performed excellently and with the Under 25 World Championships in Canada in July 2011 we are setting our sights on another gold medal. We have strong momentum going in to the European Championships in Israel in September 2011 and then of course London 2012. It was a great tournament with a fantastic result. The girls are in excellent condition and their work ethic is fantastic, we have amazing camaraderie; we know we can perform like this and really this victory is no surprise!" You can catch the highlights of the final game here.

Wheelchair Basketball at the 7th Annual Paralympic World Cup.

The coming week sees the 7^th Annual Paralympic World Cup take place in Manchester, UK, where athletes compete on the World’s stage in further preparation for 2012.  The event will host over 300 athletes from across the globe and in 2010 saw 14,650 spectators descend upon Manchester. The event hosts several sports including Athletics, Swimming, and notably for Southampton Solent University, Wheelchair Basketball.

James Fisher (Technician Instructor and Associate Lecturer on the Health, Exercise and Sport Science portfolio) has been an Assistant Coach with the Great Britain Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team since their return from Beijing, 2008.

Recently the Women’s team have improved their ranking to 6^th in the world but face some tough competition from Germany, Canada, and Japan. James commented "Every UK tournament is a great opportunity to play in front of a home crowd and further prepare for playing in London (2012). The team continues to make excellent progress and we have some rookies playing in the PWC this year to continue trying new things and looking at different combinations. This will be a great tournament; both Germany and Canada (ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively) will provide the tough challenge needed to continue to improve".

The team have a busy schedule through 2011 including the Under 25 Women's World Championships in Canada (July) and the European Championships in Israel (September) as well as smaller tournaments. Watch this space for progress.

You can follow the Paralympic World Cup on Channel 4! Take a look the the advert below.

                       

Preparation for London 2012 continues.

This past weekend saw James Fisher (Associate Lecturer and Technician Instructor at Southampton Solent University), part of the Health, Exercise and Sport Science portfolio travel up to Nottingham for another weekend of coaching with GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team. 

James has been an assistant coach with the squad since early 2009, and helped them to a 3^rd place at the 2009 European Championships as well as a 6^th place at the 2010 World Championships, improving 2 places in their world rankings since the Paralympics in Beijing 2008. 2011 sees the team travel to Canada for the first Women's Under 25 World Championships, and later to Israel for the 2011 European Championships.

 2010 Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, UK.

James commented “This weekend we had 21 athletes, ranging from 15 up to 36 years preparing girls for competition both this year and next. British Wheelchair Basketball is pushing for the highest ranking ever achieved by the women’s team at the Europeans this year in Israel, as well as at London 2012. Of course, we are also very focused on the under-25 World Championships in Canada. Last year 6 of our 12-player squad at the World Championships were under 25, so we have high hopes for that competition”.

The next camp is in April 2011, watch this space for regular updates and tournament results.