It’s been so long since I’ve posted that I simply have too many items for one single update. So, rather than rushing, I’m just going to put pieces out retrospectively in nice, bite-size chunks. This first piece from the first part of June shows that being an athlete isn’t all necessarily about training and playing… This weekend, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the volunteer process for next year’s Paralympic Games when I accompanied my fiancée, Alison to her “Games Maker” interview at the ExCel centre in London. After managing to sneak inside with the candidates, I saw a short film about the construction of the Olympic site. I found the film very entertaining as well as inspirational. It reminded me just how close the Games are and made me wonder what all those amazing venues will be liked when they’re packed with our own fans cheering for GB.

There was also an explanation of why so many volunteers are needed for the Games and how important they are to its success. I know this only too well, having already been at the Athens and Beijing Games. It’s a cliché, but the volunteers really do make the Games. Whether it’s to show you the way to your competition venue, help you move your equipment around or simply to be a happy face at a big event, the volunteers can provide people with some of their most powerful memories from the Games.

Alison won’t find out if she’s been selected to be a “Games Maker” for a while yet, but I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed and as soon as we find out, I’ll let you know.

The following Monday I found myself at Crystal Palace NSC along with several other Olympic and Paralympic athletes to shoot an advert for “Visa Team 2012”. We all arrived at different times of day and worked our way through three separate stages of production (four counting make-up!). Firstly, I had an interview with Alexander Terrell, an Olympic correspondent with “The Sun” newspaper. He’s also one of the people in charge of Team 2012’s new “Facebook Hub”, which I’ll be telling you more about in my posts in the not too distant future.

My next job was to pose for still photographs as part of the promotion of the advert. This was all done in front of a “green screen” so a composition shot of all of us could be put together later. Once the pictures of me “kitted up and ready to roll” were complete, it was time for the acting… My section of the advert was shot in the main sports hall at Crystal Palace. There was plenty of tearing about, a few tricks with the ball and a bit of chair “acrobatics” thrown in for good measure! My lines took a few takes but everything seemed to go fairly smoothly, but I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating so you can judge for yourself by going to… http://youtu.be/D0UsWStdgQQ To round off my week in PR, I travelled to Moss Hall School in Finchley, north London to speak to pupils as part of their disability awareness week. After showing a short video, I gave a talk and answered questions during the school assembly before taking individual classes P.E. lessons in the afternoon. It’s amazing how fast kids can “bum-shuffle” around a school hall when there’s a ball involved! This is the second time I’ve spoken at Moss Hall and I’ve had a great time on both occasions.

Finally, I’ve decided to join the crazy world of “Twitter”, so if you want to see what I get up to on a day-to-day basis you can follow me by going to….

www.twitter.com/@AndyBarrow2012 Next time I’ll be telling you about some of the more “hands on” work we do to promote Wheelchair Rugby and explaining what I get up to when I’ve got a little bit of free time. Thanks for reading!

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here