Paralympic gold medallist highlights volunteers' work

Paralympic gold medallist Aaron Phipps has highlighted the importance of volunteers to parasport and said he would not have reached the pinnacle of wheelchair rugby without them.

The 41-year-old, from Totton, won a gold medal as part of the ParalympicsGB team in the delayed Tokyo games in 2021, and competed at London 2012 and Paris 2024.

He was a guest editor on BBC Radio Solent's Breakfast show with Katie Martin on Friday and used his time to highlight the many people who give their time freely.

Phipps had both legs from the knee down and most of his fingers amputated after contracting meningitis aged 15 and became the first disabled British person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 2016.

"As Paralympians, we're lucky," he said.

"We get the recognition and seen in the media for everything we do. But what a lot of people probably don't understand is that, behind the scenes, a lot of people who support me do that as volunteers.

"They all give up so much time. I am so humbled by what they do.

"People see elite sport like it's a hugely professional thing with lots of money behind it but that's not always the case. Lots of people who have helped me have done that in an voluntary role and I wouldn't have got to the games if it was not for them."

Sports coach Jon Cooper has worked with Phipps for about eight years, usually coaching him three or four times a week.

"By now I know him fairly well but at the start it was definitely a baptism of fire," the high performance coach and sports lecturer at Southampton Solent University said.

"If you love sport, get involved, volunteer, be a helping hand. Disability or no disability, it's sport and people are there because they want to take part, they want to compete and they want to be physically active.

"Personally, as a coach, that's something I want to get behind. The more time you can find to share, that's great."

Ricky Goddard, who coaches the Solent Sharks Wheelchair Rugby Club, was the youngest table official at a Paralympic games when he officiated at London 2012 aged 16.

"Our sport is run by volunteers. There are very few who actually get paid to do it," he said.

"The vast majority of the clubs in the country – and there are lots of them – are run completely by volunteers.

"If you like tinkering, come down. We have lots of wheelchairs that need tinkering with because they get smashed about and we need to fix them."

Pete Hull, a member of Solent Sharks, who like Phipps has been appointed MBE and is a Paralympian, said: "People do it for the love of it. They get a lot from it and just to see people benefitting from it is good."

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