Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
David dares to dream
A Canterbury teenager singled out as a possible Paralympic star of the future has described how wheelchair rugby has given him confidence and a sense of freedom.
Canterbury Hellfire player David Barber, 17, has this month started training with the GB talent squad where the future elite players will be coached.
David loved sport but his cerebral palsy limited him to just watching his friends play a lot of the time.
Then the London Paralympics happened in 2012 and the Hellfire team was started. He was inspired by a talk given in his school by coach Steve Brown and took it up at the age of 13.
David said: “I love sport and Steve came into my school and gave a presentation and showed me a clip of what happened in the Paralympics and I thought that was cool.
“Before wheelchair rugby I was shy and wouldn’t be speaking right now. It has brought the confidence out of me. It gave me something to aim for and has helped in other aspects of my life.”
David has encouraged other people who have never played the sport to give it a go and said it’s not as scary as it looks. He said: “I like working as a team and love the big hits. It looks worse than it is and it’s great fun once you get in the chair.
“I would like to thank Steve Brown, Brian Pitchford and my family. They have supported me so far and hopefully through my England career.
David now has the realistic possibility of representing his country at the Tokyo games in 2020 and training with the talent squad is the first step to realising that goal.
It was not something David was expecting but he is grateful at the opportunity this is providing him.
He said: “My club put me forward for a trial and I went up to Birmingham to have the trial and they emailed a week later to say I had got in. I was over the moon and not expecting it.
“I can’t fight for my country but I can play for my country.
“Everyone was congratulating us and proud of us and for the club.
“I have a little bit of nerves because I haven’t done it before. It’s getting to know each other and how we each play.
“The coaches will be putting us into different teams to see what we are capable of. They will hopefully be getting us ready for the Paralympics. That’s my dream.”
One of David’s biggest supporters is his mum, Shareen Stokes, and she has said what a difference wheelchair rugby has made to her son’s life.
He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at eight-months-old and the doctors were not sure what his development would be like from that point onwards.
She said: “When he was diagnosed the doctors said they didn’t know what he would be able to do and now he has got into the GB development squad f o r whe e l cha i r rugby.
“Before wheelchair rugby he didn’t have a self-propelling wheelchair, which meant he could only watch. It has given him freedom.
“I appreciate what the club have done for him and what GB are going to do for him.”
‘I like working as a team and love the big hits... It’s great fun’