Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

I love sport. I’m well aware of the irony in that; the girl that can’t play sport adores it. I suppose it could even be deemed tragic had this love of all things competitive been in place before the onset of M.E. Strangely though, it wasn’t. Pre-M.E. I hated physical exercise as much as the next scrawny, unfit 12 year-old. I might have watched a bit of Wimbledon but that was pretty much it when it came to following sport. However since my enforced stint of time pretty much super-glued to the sofa, I’ve become the true definition of an armchair fan. You name it, I’ll watch it – rugby, tennis, football, snooker, bowls, ice skating, motorsport, darts, anything bar horse racing.

I was prompted into thinking about this again having watched all 6 and a half hours of Sport Relief on Friday night (please believe me when I say that I didn’t intend to watch the whole thing, it just sort of happened, as these things are wont to do! For the record my favourite moments were Ray Stubbs and James Toseland as The Blues Brothers and the boxing match between Lemar and Ben Shepherd). Watching so much sport-related fun had two contrasting effects on me. Firstly I was delighted to see sport making a difference, not only to the lives of those being helped by the money raised, but also to the general public who has got off their butts to do something great as a community. Unfortunately my all too familiar second feeling was that of frustration at my inability to do anything similar and at the lack of enthusiasm that I had for sport before I became ill. I know that I was only young but I feel as though I wasted those years.

Despite these frustrations sport still gives me a heck of a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited in my life than when watching England win the Rugby World Cup in 2003! Watching Kelly Holmes and the men’s 4x100m relay team win their gold medals at the Athens Olympics was absolutely thrilling. Sport gets me even when Brits aren’t involved. I remember vividly the 2001 Wimbledon final between Pat Rafter and Goran Ivanisevic. What a match!

My sporting motto? If you can’t join 'em, watch 'em!

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