{"id":8068,"date":"2021-05-07T07:28:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T07:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=8068"},"modified":"2021-05-07T07:28:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T07:28:38","slug":"the-bailey-matthews-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=8068","title":{"rendered":"The Bailey Matthews story"},"content":{"rendered":"

From his Castle Howard experience to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, it\u2019s been some year for Bailey Matthews. John Hardcastle, talks about the eight-year-old\u2019s multisport journey and the indomitable spirit that\u2019s made Bailey the talk of tri and beyond\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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None of us could\u2019ve expected that Bailey would make such an impact \u2013 but at the same time \u2013 what everybody saw on that Saturday in July at the Castle Howard tri was nothing that his family hadn\u2019t seen before. I think it\u2019s fair to say that we\u2019ve all become desensitised to his indomitable spirit and ability to overcome.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also fair to say that he hasn\u2019t achieved any of this alone; there are many people who have played a huge part in creating the enigma that is Bailey Matthews!<\/p>\n

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Starting with his parents Jono and Julie; they never wrapped him in cotton wool and have always encouraged him to overcome his disability. There were times when he was very small, he had bruises on his face, lumps, cuts and bumps on his head because he was allowed to live a \u2018normal life\u2019. As a result, Julie would worry about what school and medical professionals who came into contact with him might think \u2013 but neither parent has sought to curtail his determination to have a go at anything and everything. They encouraged him to do whatever his older brother did; swimming, indoor climbing, gymnastics \u00ad you name it, he\u2019s done it.<\/p>\n

parkrun participation<\/p>\n

Another group who played a big part in his development as an athlete have been the Clumber Park parkrun team. They embraced Bailey\u2019s participation at the run and made him feel as though he was as good as any other participant \u2013 even before he started doing it \u2018independently\u2019.<\/p>\n

When he first started doing the parkrun, Jono and I would take turns pushing him around in a mobility pushchair (a big baby jogger). It wasn\u2019t long before he said that he wanted to \u2018do it himself\u2019 \u2013 and he did. The walker had tiny, three-inch diameter wheels for ordinary terrain; he walked a bit and did some in the pushchair on the tough parkrun mixed terrain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The very next week, Jono found an engineering company who modified the walker and fitted new chunky, all-terrain wheels. That week he did the run alone under his own steam.\u00a0At the end of the lap \u2013 long after everybody else had finished \u2013 many people stayed behind and formed a tunnel, giving him the Mexican wave, a massive round of applause and the look on his face was priceless. Everybody present had a lump in their throat and a tear in their eye.<\/p>\n

Whenever I walked around the course with him, you couldn\u2019t help but be humbled. The fact that every runner that passed him shouted encouragement gave him a high-five or ruffled his hair \u2013 that sort of attention and camaraderie is something I wished every youngster could experience in sport.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

No easy option<\/p>\n

Bailey was in tears when Jono and I left for the 2014 London Triathlon. I recall Jono telling me on the journey that Bailey said he wanted to do a triathlon and that he had ordered him a wetsuit. Jono also that he would need to get in the water with Bailey and the Castle Howard team were very accommodating. I expected that when it came to it, they\u2019d turn around and say \u2018the rules won\u2019t allow it\u2019 or \u2018our insurers won\u2019t cover us for his participation\u2019 or \u2018health and safety\u2019 \u2013 but, no, Jono entered Bailey for the Castle Howard event and Bailey started his training. It\u2019d have been so easy for them to rely on one of the aforementioned excuses, to take the easy option. Far from it, they were not only amenable; they went out of their way to make it happen.<\/p>\n

Bailey was excited and committed; he went open-water swimming, his dad got him a little indoor spin bike and he continued to do the parkrun. But I still expected that, when it came to it, someone would pull the plug and he wouldn\u2019t be allowed to participate.<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s character and indomitable spirit means he knows he isn\u2019t going to finish in first place and he\u2019s likely to be last \u2013 but he enjoys it anyway. Something I wish I had \u2013 an ability to participate for the love of it! All too often we put barriers up because we\u2019re scared of how we will perform; that we\u2019ll not perform to standards that we are able to meet or exceed. But then you look at Bailey and realise that if he does it, why don\u2019t we do it?<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an inspiration \u2013 and he doesn\u2019t realise it. To him it\u2019s just \u2018a bit of fun\u2019 \u2013 but he is still competitive!<\/p>\n

Of course I\u2019ve seen Bailey complain that he has a blister or a sore hand (from holding his walker) \u2013 but what I\u2019ve never seen is him complain because he isn\u2019t able-bodied. I don\u2019t think Bailey sees himself as disabled or incapable (partly because his mum, dad and others \u2013 the parkrun crew or the Castle Howard team \u2013 have always made it possible for him to do whatever he wants).<\/p>\n

I think Bailey sees his disability the way that able-bodied people see their limitations; he may not be as quick as others \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t do it, it just means he\u2019s limited as to how good he can be. If nobody else, he can compete against himself and do that because he enjoys it. That\u2019s how Bailey sees his Cerebral Palsy.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an incredible little lad, as his dad has said, he\u2019s an author, a singer\/songwriter, computer expert, an entrepreneur and a quasi-lawyer. He\u2019s easily inspired, incredibly enthusiastic about whatever he does, has incredible self-confidence and absolute determination.<\/p>\n

Tri impact<\/p>\n

The attention and the accolades that he\u2019s received are unexpected but thoroughly deserved. I just hope he continues to make this impact on triathlon and the world of sport. I know that he is determined to do all of the Castle Triathlon series next year and the team have been absolutely fabulous with him.<\/p>\n

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One person who has perhaps been overlooked for their part on that day was the compere. If you watch the clip captured by his other uncle; those words really built-up that finish \u2013 and I always find myself coming back to them, \u2018see what happens when we all come together\u2019.<\/p>\n

That really sums it up; it\u2019s taken a lot of people to make that happen: his mum and dad, Redlands School in Worksop, the Movement Centre who have treated Bailey, the parkrun crew who gave him his first taste of organised sport and the Castle Triathlon team who made it possible for him to do a \u2018real\u2019 multi-sport event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019m convinced Bailey will continue to \u2018push it\u2019 each time he\u2019s out there and that he will become increasingly independent \u2013 expect to see him abandoning the walker more often \u2013 or pushing away a helping hand from dad!<\/p>\n

Despite all the attention, Bailey hasn\u2019t changed at all. Im sure he will continue to be a cheerful, confident and cheeky little chap. Bailey doesn\u2019t realise the attention he\u2019s had and the magnitude of these awards and accolades. I remember after Pride of Britain \u2013 I spoke to him on the phone, all he wanted to do was talk about a new computer that one of his fellow Pride of Britain award winners had sent him. I suspect that one day, he will look back on it and find it difficult to believe just how big it all was \u2013 but for now, it\u2019s just another day meeting new people.<\/p>\n

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I feel privileged to be Bailey\u2019s uncle \u2013 he\u2019s an inspiration to me and I just hope that he continues to be as determined, as cheerful, as confident and as able as he is!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From his Castle Howard experience to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, it\u2019s been some year for Bailey Matthews. John Hardcastle, talks about the eight-year-old\u2019s multisport journey and the indomitable spirit that\u2019s made Bailey the talk of tri and beyond\u2026 Advertisement None of us could\u2019ve expected that Bailey would make such an impact…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}