Gary hopes people can learn from his story

ON Sunday, Rochdale Hornets’ Sporting Foundation hosted inspirational speaker Gary Endacott for a lunch prior to the club’s Champion-ship fixture with Batley Bulldogs.

Gary is the son of legendary coach Frank Endacott and he was born with Cerebral Palsy, however in spite of that he has run four marathons, won world tennis titles and climbed Kilimanjaro.

The afternoon was a success with a full room enjoying his story, before they took in the rugby league on show.

Gary also watched on as Hornets battled hard before coming up short in a 24-14 defeat, which he enjoyed more than a Super League game the day earlier.

“I was at Warrington against Catalans on Saturday and I actually enjoyed the game here more, the atmosphere has been great,” he commented.

“It’s always good to get down to different clubs, the talk is always part of it but it’s nice meeting nice people.”

Gary is a true inspiration and his story is incredible, but what stood out was his humbleness as he aims to challenge the stigma attached to disabilities.

“At the end of the day a lot of people have the wrong impression about what people with disabilities can do, but more importantly you learn a lot through adversity,” he continued.

“If I can tell people in a potentially better position than myself about my story and they can learn something, it means I haven’t gone through all of this for nothing.

“It doesn’t matter how many things you’ve done, if you’re not a decent person and you’re not doing it for the right reasons no one is going to listen to you. I’m very quick at figuring out who is genuine and who isn’t.”