Sport Parkinson’s Summer Try Athlon

My Review 10/10

The Sport Parkinson’s Summer Try Athlon Event is about “Trying” and “Having ago” regardless if you can or cannot do the activities well it doesn’t matter because the Fun is in the trying

24th July 2021 has been a date I’ve been looking forward to for months and it finally arrived on Saturday! We got to Worcester Friday afternoon and after checking in at our hotel we decided to go to the beefeater for a nice cold drink as it was so hot! It wasn’t long before Claire (one of the main organisers of the event) spotted us, she came across and we chatted away for almost an hour before Claire was due to be interviewed by BBC radio Worcester about the event.

Later that evening we met up with many many more friends from the Parkinson’s community, some I knew from my previous role as an Admin at Parkinson’s Road (support group) but there were also many knew faces I didn’t know which I enjoyed meeting too. It was a wonderful evening , although a little chaotic when it was time for 40 of us to sit down, we all had a lovely meal and it was a very enjoyable night.

The Event

As we drove in I must say the Sixways Stadium was impressive, The weather was a lot cooler which was probably a good thing especially for the footballers! We arrived at 10am but the actual activities didn’t open until 11am so we had plenty of time to see what was what! My role as a representative of Radio Parkies was to try as many activities and report back to DJ Claire so at 11am I went to try and find something to do! Well I kind of struggled to find these activities at first but a lady holding two table tennis bats asked us if we would like to have ago, she kindly directed us where we needed to be. We were greeted by two very friendly chaps from the Ping Pong Table Tennis and I started off by playing against a robot!! Well this was hilarious at first because the balls were heading towards me so fast I didn’t even get chance to lift up my bat, but, the gentleman changed the settings to a much slower pace and it wasn’t long before I was managing to return hit the balls into the net! I love table tennis and I plan to continue playing this at home.

Golf

In the same room as the table tennis I saw there was a golf section so I preceded to this area. My golfing previous to diagnoses was pretty terrible so I wasn’t holding out much hope even hitting the ball!! However, to my surprise I did manage to hit it, badly, yes, but nevertheless it went in the net a couple of times. Loved having ago but not sure Golf is my thing.

Football

I thought I was playing in the walking football with Radio Parkies but DJ Johnny found me and asked if I would play in the actual football tournament, of course I said yes, and, wow! I thought I was pretty fit but blimey after 15 minutes I was exhausted. As We lost that game, I thought that was it, so I apologise to the rest of the team for missing the last game, I just didn’t realise we were playing anymore! The one game I played was great fun though! I need to practice my football skills for next year. Well done to the Radio Parkies Team and all Teams that took part.

Apologies

I apologise to the People that I said I was reporting back on Radio Parkies but due to technical difficulties this wasn’t possible but I had great fun trying, so thank you so much. Also, I’m sorry I missed the presentation, I had gone through all my meds and I needed to take more so I went back to our hotel, I arrived back at 5.20 but unfortunately I had missed the presentations as they were earlier due to tournaments finishing sooner .

Summary

I enjoyed the day immensely. It was amazing watching everyone trying, especially when so many people took part in the warm ups, the day was full of positivity, Fun and smiles. There was amazing information off all sorts for people with Parkinson’s everywhere and I have signed up to receive information from a few of them. So the fact this was the first (of many I hope) my opinion of the day was “it was an absolute success”, my only slight personal preference would be some signs to the activities which I think may have been helpful.

A Big Thank you

I would like to take this opportunity to thank D J Claire, Garren Williams, Charlie Appleyard and all the organisations that made this event happen, it truly was an inspiring and an incredible event for everyone .. Well Done to everyone that took part! You are all amazing.