Sport saved me after my accident .. it gave me my confidence
Paralympian long-jumper and runner Stef Reid tells ABI JACKSON about her athletics journey and why she’s on a mission to stop girls from quitting sports
FOR many of us physical activity has been a lifeline in the past year. But for Paralympian long-jumper and runner Stef Reid, the benefits of exercise are loud and clear.
“Sport was the thing that saved me after my accident,” says Stef, 36, who lost her lower right leg and foot aged 15. “It was the catalyst that transformed my life, how I thought about myself and what I thought was possible.
“It gave me my confidence. I want that for every young woman.”
As it is though, many are missing out. The sports gender gap is no secret and, while lots of people have been doing amazing work to change it, there’s still a way to go.
Nearly one in three girls drop out of sport during puberty, according to Always, who surveyed 1,000 girls and 1,000 adults. They also found 50% of women who let go of sports as teens later wished they’d stuck with it.
Stef has teamed up with Always on their mission to keep girls playing, in partnership with UK charity Sported (sported.org.uk), which supports community groups helping kids and young people overcome barriers to reach their potential.
It’s a cause Stef is hugely passionate about. There’s no ‘good age’ to lose a limb, of course, but at
15, Stef – who’s always been very sporty and originally had her heart set on becoming an international rugby star – had a lot to deal with.
“The obvious one was dealing with a life-changing injury that was never going to get better, it was just, ‘You’re going to have to deal with this’, together with my life’s dream, the thing I loved, now not being an option. On top of that, I was 15. When you’re a girl going through puberty, the last thing you want is something that makes you different.
“So there were all these different layers. My confidence was knocked and I just wasn’t sure of myself. It was a tough space to be in.”
Eventually, Stef found her way to athletics
– and international success with it, scooping silver at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics, working her way up to gold at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
The confidence honed in athletics spread to other areas of her life too: she gained a full scholarship to study biochemistry at Queen’s University in Canada (where Stef grew up before moving to the UK), and has weaved modelling and broadcasting into her career.
This didn’t happen overnight of course. “It took time, there is no quick-fix for these things. For years, I would wear trousers and try to hide the fact I was an amputee,” Stef admits. “It wasn’t until I started running again that I no longer hated my artificial leg. Then it was: ‘This thing is awesome, you should stare at it, it’s amazing!”’
Sports provided a safe space for Stef to rediscover herself – but there were barriers to overcome, and she’s a fierce believer in our duty to do this for all girls.
“The fact we’re having so many girls drop out of sports and not experience the benefits is just unacceptable; we have this huge number of girls and women not realising their potential. We can’t have that.”
Stef believes some of the barriers could actually be quite simple to solve. For example, if we want to understand what’s leading teenage girls to drop out of sports “we just ask them,” she says.
“At the end of the day, this is about making sport something that brings joy and confidence and fun.”
“I remember my very first athletics meet. I was taken to it by two retired gentlemen who ran an amazing amputee sports organisation; they came to my house and picked me up... Now I think, what a gift they gave, with their encouragement, and that transformed my life,” Stef reflects. “We need more of that for our young women.”
It wasn’t till I started running again that I no longer hated my artificial leg’ Stef on regaining confidence