The British Transplant Games
Coach Steve Jones headed down to Coventry to volunteer at the British Transplant Games which is organised on the behalf of Transplant Sport. The games hold multiple sports in an Olympics-type manner for athletes that have undergone any kind of transplant procedures, with Archery being one of the the first sports held of the 4-day event.
Steve volunteered his archery coaching skills to the more experienced archers in the first session, these were the more seasoned archers that already compete in the sport. Here is where the coaches are more helping-hands as some of the athletes are less mobile and may need helping pulling and collecting arrows. They then had beginners and newer archers participating in the following sessions, where his coaching was more hands-on, before the participants then held a small friendly competition in their respective categories.
The entire event is solely ran by volunteer coaches, judges, field hands and extras from up and down the country, to help make this happen.
They even had a visit from the BBC in the morning where a TV demonstration was given to presenter and medical expert, Dr Ranj Singh. Coach Kath Fitzpatrick of Arrowhawks gave a live lesson to Dr Ranj on the field, prior the the event starting.
Kath Fitzpatrick has helped organise the Archery event for the last 10 years and leads the event, ensuring it’s a success for all involved. Next year the event is being held in Nottingham, if you’d like to volunteer for the event, send Kath an email to Kath@arrowhawks.co.uk
The British Transplant Games aim to demonstrate the benefits of transplantation, encouraging transplant patients to regain fitness, whilst increasing public awareness of the need for more people to join the NHS Organ Donation Register. #BritishTransplantGames#TransplantSport
