That is an inspiration to us all, a physiotherapist that shows us how its done, how to deal with injured shoulders, swimming the channel.
Just read this great article in the East London Advertiser, I hope they don’t mind me taking one of their pics to make the case, that everything is possible with an injured shoulder.
There are obviously two ways to deal with problems, 1 is to succumb to them, 2 is to make the best of a situation.
On the 30 June Madison took part in the 3km open water London Regional champs, swimming the 3km, then went straight on to the Hackney Lido for another 2km charity swim, on 14. July, at the Barking & Dagenham swimming meet, Madison’s shoulder popped during the 400 IM race.
Since then the shoulder has not gotten much better. Went to the GP, who kind of said that the NHS is not good for sporting injuries.
Eventually on 29. August, she got a shoulder scan at the hospital. The doctor said she could not see anything because there is a lot of inflammation. The doctor wants to do an MRI scan. Now we need to get back to the GP and wait for another appointment on the 18. September to get seen again.
In the meantime the inflammation in Madison’s shoulder is raging untreated. She takes part in training and does mostly kicking and leg exercise.
I am just wondering how a young person is supposed to get settled into any sport if it is so hard to get any treatment for sporting injuries?
All we ever read about is that the NHS can’t cope with treatment of degenerative illnesses but what about the fitness problems?
We are constantly told to lead a more healthy and active lifestyle but if we get any injury with this we cannot get the treatment fast.
For teeth braces now for example here in East London there is a 1 year waiting list to get even seen from the date of referral.
GLL funding offers sporting injury treatment but only very few athletes can get it, I did not apply for it this year, as we hardly used it last year when we had it. Otherwise we get offered treatment against payment. So how many of us can actually afford that?
As the medal service for Middlesex County is more than excellent, a representative of Open Water Swimming delivered my silver medal won in July to me yesterday. Â I competed in the 3km distance.
I missed the medal ceremony at the time because I had to rush off for the Sponsored Swim taking place at the Hackney Lido for the purpose of collecting funds for the Hackney Aquatics Charity fund.
Brilliant! To all you parents, if you look for something refreshing, therapeutic and rejuvenating activity that doesn’t cost you any money and is extremely good for you, consider becoming an Open Water Swimming Official.
Rother Valley is near Sheffield but very rural. It’s like so many Open Water locations a lake or part of a managed inland water area in various locations around the country.
Wildlife occupy the wonderful lake, the water is very clear and the atmosphere is tranquil despite the fierce competing and swimmers racing around the 1km course as many times as they need to complete their distance. the birds are not phased in the slightest by the swimmers, I saw a group of ducks swimming through without any fear or stress.
All helpers are the friendliest people you can imagine and the team spirit and camaraderie is excellent. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
Even the journey home is nice, through a wonderfully tranquil area in the middle of England.
You simply feel a totally wonderful new you after a weekend working in the great team with eager young people in the great English countryside.
Looking ahead to the new season 2019 and the challenges this bring. So many new things and routines are going to happen:
Till the end of this season, Madison diverted away from the usual pool competition focus and spent a lot of energy on the 3km open water races. That puts a lot of demand on the body and having all those pool competitions on top of tough long-distance meets puts any athlete to the test.
One reason why Madison’s shoulder gave way with the 400 IM in the Barking & Dagenham summer meet was the participation in a long-distance Open Water meet and we just shelved the rest of this B&D gala. 2 silver medals won this weekend.
It doesn’t matter if an athlete has to pull out of a meet. There are many more to come.
We are now focussing on more intellectual and athletic challenges for next season.
Pool training will soon stop but the summer swim camp is still to come.
School term is nearly complete and with the last week of school term an academic award is still waiting.
The summer holiday will be filled with regular gym sessions, some climbing, canoeing and biking and nature walks. It is very important to relax.
Obviously ultimately the challenge is to get national qualifying times but we don’t want to restrict the variety to just one or two events. The swimmers with the biggest longevity also have the most variety of stroke performance.
Whilst still in the pre-GCSE stage, there is no national training scheme available other than getting a place at a boarding school like Millfield for example. We keep in touch with national swimming by regularly attending the Melanie Marshall swim camps. At age 14 it is progress to keep on getting personal best times and achieving regional qualifying times.
Spriint 