Hoops and dreams as teacher swaps classroom for glory at Paralympics
A PRIMARY school teacher from Leicestershire is set to represent Team GB at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Lucy Robinson is the youngest member of the senior women’s wheelchair basketball team, and says she never expected to be selected, despite her background of sporting success.
The 22-year-old began playing wheelchair basketball in her early teens, but her first sporting ambition was to play football.
From a young age, Lucy, from Mountsorrel, was a promising footballer with dreams of making it big, but a life-altering accident changed everything.
While rollerskating, Lucy fell and broke her hip, leaving her with a long-term hip condition, avascular necrosis. Although she was only 12 at the time, she remembered knowing something wasn’t quite right.
“It was quite scary because I was an accident-prone kid, I had broken my wrist a couple of times before and I thought it would just be the same this time,” she told the Mercury. “But I couldn’t get up.”
Lucy had to have an external fixator for several months while she recovered and was told she would no longer be able to play football.
However, nothing would stop the young and determined Lucy from getting back into sports.
She tried archery, but missed the team element of football, so moved on to wheelchair basketball.
After attending a “come and try” event organised by the Leicester Cobras club, her heart was set on the game.
“It was kind of incredible to be in a sports hall surrounded by people with disabilities of all ages and abilities,” she said.
“Having a limp slowed me down but watching how fast people could go in a wheelchair was amazing. “We were all equal there.” Lucy spent the session talking to people about the game, becoming more interested in playing.
“I met one man who had both of his legs blown off and lost an eye while he was serving in Afghanistan – he was really inspirational,” she said.
Lucy began training with the team and became part of The Cobras’ Women’s League team.
She continued to develop through the British Wheelchair Basketball (BWB) pathway, being one of the first athletes to join its Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellent in 2015.
A year later, she was invited to attend the GB Futures Programme before being called up to the GB Women’s junior programme.
In 2018, Lucy finished as a jointtop scorer in the U24 European Championships final where Team GB won gold.
The team claimed bronze at the U25 World Championships in Thailand the following year.
Alongside training, Lucy has also juggled a teaching degree at Sheffield Hallam University.
She completed her degree in primary education last year, achieving a first class Honours and has even had time to squeeze in some work as a supply teacher in between her sporting commitments. After taking part in her first overseas training camp in January 2020, Lucy will now be making her Paralympics debut.
“I had to have a Zoom call to find out whether I had made it,” she said. “I’d already written my ‘thank you for this opportunity’ speech.”
Before the call in May, she had told her friends and family to assume she would not be selected – so when the call came, she was “shocked”.
“I just couldn’t believe it - I thought ‘oh my gosh, this is really happening’,” she said.
Lucy will set off for Tokyo with the rest of the Women’s Senior Team on August 19.
“I really think I have proved myself and it’s an honour to be on the team. My family and friends have been so supportive, too – they’re mega excited,” she said.
Lucy’s family have all bought Team GB shirts with her player number ahead of the Paralympics which begin on August 24.
She said: “It took me years to get to this point but for me, this is just the start of my journey.”