Judo Athlete Chris Summerhayes
Location: Stapleton, Somerset. West of Yeovil
Chris: “Shanghai is one of the biggest things ever, up there with the Olympics and Paralympics. It’s a really big thing.”
Chris is 19 years old. He has been practising judo for 6 years and was recently awarded his black belt. He started out with the Kodach special needs judo club and started taking part in Special Olympics in 2005. He competes in around 4 international competitions a year and has been to Europe and Scandinavia. At the last SOGB national summer games he won a gold medal.
Chris says: “The thing about judo is meeting different people in competitions. It’s basically one big family, everybody is so supportive of each other, especially now we’re going to Shanghai. It’s one of the biggest things ever, up there with the Olympics and Paralympics. It’s a really big thing. I’m really happy to be chosen, to be representing Britain.”
Chris has upped his level of training in the run-up to the world games. He trains on twice a week at his own club, but after the Thursday session goes straight to a different club for a further 2 hours of training. He’s also doing regular sessions at a local gym to improve his fitness, muscle strength and stamina.
Chris wants to be at the top of his sport. To achieve this he says: “You need patience, stamina, strength. The technique comes with time and practice. You have to be committed, put the time in. And the ability to laugh at yourself helps because sometimes you do big mistakes. If you can’t laugh at yourself you just get stressed and things fall apart.”
Chris is captain of his judo club and has won a number of awards, not just for his own judo performance but also his contribution to the sport.
In the South Gloucestershire Sports Forum Sports Awards 2005, he was runner up in the 'Young Disability Sportsperson of the Year’. He has twice won the ‘Disability Volunteer Award.’ In 2004 he won the 'Disability Sportsperson of the Year’ for the Bristol ‘Year of Sport Awards’. At an international competition in Holland, also in 2004, he was very proud to earn the 'Spirit of Judo Award’ a sort of man-of-the match accolade.
Chris has also recently started training to be a Special Olympics athlete leader. So far this has involved an intensive weekend of learning how to put together speeches and presentations to potential sponsors, working on committees and debating issues on athletes’ behalf at board level.
He says: “I want to be out there saying to people who don’t know about Special Olympics look what it’s done for me. It’s made it possible for me to progress so much in my sport and my life.”
Giving a speech to a large audience was he says a lot like facing an opponent in a judo competition: “The same feeling I get when I go on a judo mat before a fight, butterflies, a bit nervous. But as soon as you walk up there you concentrate, your mind focuses. And when you’ve done it you feel great!”
TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ATHLETES OR COACHES, PLEASE CONTACT THE SOGB NATIONAL OFFICE.
TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk