Golden opportunities

Graduating from Chelsea School in 1978 with a BEd in Human Movement and Education, Sandra King’s sights were set on a career in PE teaching. Fast forward to 2011, and Sandra is at the heart of preparations for London 2012. How did she progress from PE teacher to competition manager for boccia at the 2012 Paralympics?

I chose Chelsea School because of its reputation. I loved being involved in sport full-time. We had a lot of lectures – about 24 hours a week, divided equally into practical sport, theory of sport and education theory. At the beginning of every term our muscles got so sore that I remember having to walk downstairs backwards!

I remember our sports kit – cherry red track suits and nylon leotards and tights that got smaller as we got bigger (just two of the idiosyncrasies of the Chelsea uniform). I became the chair of the group rep system, was part of the gym display team, and played in goal for four of the six women’s hockey sides, took drama as my related study and Children with Special Needs as my further study.

I am responsible for running the boccia competition at the 2012 Paralympics. This is an event management role on a large scale, providing the service that the International Federation requests and the International Paralympic Committee approves. Chelsea equipped me for the role in respect of the standards and organisational skills that it instilled in me. I have always been proud of being a Chelsea girl.

I’ve been a PE teacher all my life. I was at Chailey Comprehensive in the early 80s when we were one of the pioneers of inclusive education.

After having my children, I got back into teaching part-time as a girls’ hockey coach at Brighton College and later as the PE teacher at its pre-preparatory school. When I wanted to get back into full-time teaching, my skills weren’t really right for the mainstream market; the national curriculum had been introduced.

I joined the Keeping in Touch with Teaching scheme that was aimed at getting former teachers back into the classroom. I taught at Brighton College and undertook teaching practice at Longhill School on Fridays and that led to a third part-time role at Patcham House (Day Special) School in Brighton where I was tasked with introducing the national curriculum for PE.

My learning curve was almost as steep as that of the students, but within three years the students were achieving national success in a range of sports. Funnily enough, boccia wasn’t one of those sports, despite the fact that when I arrived, the head teacher told me he’d just spent my entire year’s capitation on a set of boccia balls – a game I knew nothing about! I quickly enrolled on a boccia leaders’ course and we played boccia at the school.

My next job was as Head of PE and Sport at Lord Mayor Treloar School and College in Alton, Hampshire; one of the biggest independent special schools in the country, and catering primarily for students with high levels of physical disability. One of the first things I realised was that here was a large pool of prospective Paralympic-pathway boccia players, but that boccia wasn’t being offered either within the curriculum or outside.

As well as boccia, we were at the forefront of introducing many disability sports and within a few years I had also got the exam boards to agree to adaptations that I supplied for GCSE and entry level PE, so that our physically disabled students could access these qualifications.

Our first A* student was Ben Rushgrove, Paralympic silver medallist in the T36 (Paralympic disability classification for ambulant track events) 100m in Beijing, and medal prospect for London 2012. However, it was boccia that captured the imagination of many of the students, and the after-school club that we introduced in the autumn of 1997 rapidly became a burgeoning squad that at one time boasted as many as 25 per cent of all school students competing at the regional championships.

In the first year we got four players through to the national championships, but I think they lost every match! We saw a head-pointer used for the first time, and got one made for Cecilia Turk, who had previously been almost unable to play due to her disability; now Cecilia is part of the GB boccia squad and one of its longest serving players. The second year eight Treloar players qualified for nationals, and one or two started to win games, and in the third year we got 12 through and our first national champion.

As national champion, Treloar student, Amy Bishop, was invited to trial with the England squad, and I felt I needed to up my game if I was going to coach a national squad athlete. I was accepted as a volunteer squad assistant with the England boccia squad. At the same time I was nominated to the International Boccia Committee. I was duly elected during the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, when another relative newcomer to the sport, Nigel Murray, claimed the gold medal in the BC2 (Paralympic disability classification meaning no assistance is permitted) individual event. Nigel is still the mainstay of the GB throwers team, and has recently returned from the world cup in Belfast with an Individual silver and a team bronze to add to his collection.

At first being a volunteer was hard. I went to the training weekends but I had to look for jobs and generally try to be helpful. I became a sports assistant – on court with the athletes – and when the existing coaches stood down I was appointed as England team manager and head coach. We started to bring on a group of new young players. Included in this programme were a young David Smith and Dan Bentley – two of the four-man GB squad who won gold in Beijing.

I never thought about volunteering and although I followed the Children with Special Needs course at college, I wasn’t really aware of the possibility of being a specialist PE teacher exclusively working with disabled pupils. However, I’m so glad to have had that opportunity; it’s meant that I could fulfil my potential and have the chance to be a big fish in the smaller pond of disability sport.

My current role has to be the most challenging because it’s a step away from education and into a huge and multifaceted organisation. When I first arrived I suffered from imposter syndrome (when are they going to realise I’m just a PE teacher?), but I soon realised that I’d been employed for my knowledge and skills in the sport, and of course I believe that I’m both worthy of, and equal to, the job.

One of my life mottoes has been ‘Never let an opportunity pass’. Your life is what you make it – you can choose to have an impact on the lives of others, and you can choose what that impact is.

Paralympic ticket sales opened to great response but there will be a second round soon so if you haven’t already managed to bag tickets to the greatest show on earth then look out for further opportunities as we approach the games. LOCOG is committed to delivering a fantastic Olympic and Paralympic Games and of course I’d love everyone to come and support the boccia athletes!

The boccia competition will be at the ExCeL venue and a £10 day ticket will give you entry to five different Paralympic sports, which is incredible value. In addition, there will be a boccia test event in the basketball arena on the Olympic Park, May 5–7 2012. If you are interested in attending as a spectator please contact alumni@brighton.ac.uk. I’d love to see lots of University of Brighton students and alumni there!