Chapter Six - SPORTS
2007/2008
SWIMMING BATHS
From a very early
age Charles loved the swimming pool, and showed no fear of water. I did get him
goggles and arm bands but he kept taking the arms bands off as they irritated
him and he said it stopped him from reaching the bottom of the pool. He got
frustrated with me and the school because we couldn’t teach him how to swim in
an afternoon.
Once the school
had taken him for a couple of terms I took him for private swimming lessons
with a man who specialised in teaching special needs children to swim. The classes were
smaller, calmer and they had more individual time for Charles. He preferred to
be beneath the water than on top, which was worrying for me but the tutor was
very good with Charles and he made fantastic headway. He managed to swim front
crawl, overarm and back stroke, all while he had conversations with himself in
the water. He swallowed half the baths, but it never deterred him. He achieved
many badges and certificates from the Rainbow swimming award scheme. He
completed 5m to 600m swims and achieved a Grade 3 in all his water skills.
Charles found it
strange when other children were frightened of water. This is a typical
conversation Charles had at the baths with his classroom assistant.
‘Miss, I told
Kelly there was a shark in the water!’
‘Yes I know, and
it wasn’t funny.
‘Why?’ giggled
Charles.
‘Because Kelly
believed you and now she’s refusing to get into the water!’
FOOTBALL
Football was
played a lot at Charles’s primary school and he always wanted to join in with
the other boys, but because he didn’t understand the game properly they got
frustrated with him. So when I was looking round for other clubs that did
football I was told about a place called Kids. It was a company that runs a
football club for special needs children. We thought it would help Charles with
his socializing, team playing and to actually help him understand the game at a
slower pace so he could get more involved at school.
They met up every
Wednesday night at Stockland Green School to play and train, and then some
Sundays at Aston Villa football training ground to play against other teams.
His dad took him
for these games as I didn’t understand football either. After a couple of weeks
of him attending I rang his dad while the game was in play to see if there was
any improvement in his abilities.
‘Not at the
moment. Our team seems to be wandering around aimlessly on the pitch. It looks
as though some of the kids have just taken a walk in the park and stumbled upon
a football match!’
‘What’s Charles
doing?’ I asked, tittering.
‘Oh, he’s been
kicking the ball alright, just in the wrong direction, so they’ve decided to
put him in goal but he seems more interested in the netting now than the game.
The ball would have to go inside the posts just to reach him!’
ARCHERY
The archery club
was closer to home at our local Sutton Coldfield Ruby club. I used to take him there
every Sunday and stay with him for the full two hours. I was impressed with the
training they had and Charles was as ever eager to get started. His aim was
spot on and he managed to hit the board as he should. He certainly had the
strength in his arms. We only had one scary moment there, it was just after the
first lot of training. He pulled back the arrow and then for some reason turned
to speak to me. Everyone ducked in unison.
I always stood behind him after that and thankfully he didn’t do it
again. He went for a several months and enjoyed it, but as kids always do, he
got bored and wanted to try something different.
FISHING
I used to take him
fishing for juniors at Kingsbury Water Park every Wednesday. Charles was hoping
to catch a bucket of fish in his first afternoon and was disappointed that he
didn’t. He didn’t like the waiting game or quietness, so he kept himself happy
by playing with the maggots. He was fascinated with them. He did manage to sit
for a whole hour out of the two, though, on more than one occasion.
KARATI 2013
Charles attended
Shukokai Kobudokai (a non-contact sport), and achieved a Grade of 9th
Kya in recognition of his dedication to training. He went for over a couple of
years. It helped with his exercise, self-discipline and self-esteem, but
Charles didn’t like the competing as they did a lot of competitions and fought
with other clubs. It got too much for him and as he got taller they had to team
him up with adults instead of children as he was getting close to being six
foot tall. Also, the class was becoming too big for him and he got so easily
distracted by all the noise. There was a lot of waiting around by the
side-lines for his turn and it would be at times like these he would become
bored, loud and try to entertain everyone. He soon got fed up and wanted to
stop going, so we did.
TOBOGGING 2013
Charles’s birthday
is in December, so to celebrate it, it’s mostly an indoor event and because
it’s so close to Christmas it’s hard to find something every year that excites
him.
On his 14th
birthday I wanted to do something a little different. I had thought of Drayton
Manor theme park with his dad and brother, but I didn’t realise that all the
rides are closed down in the winter and the fastest thing at that time of year
was Thomas the Tank Engine. Charles didn’t look too impressed with that idea,
so we decided on the Snow Dome. I mean, how hard can tobogganing be?
After just half an
hour of training Charles started dragging his toboggan up the escalator and I
positioned myself on the balcony to watch. His dad and brother came down first,
which I found strange at the time and anxious about. I couldn’t see Charles at
this point and the time seemed to be ticking away. I found out after that he
was at a standstill with fear at the top of the slope. When he did finally take
a leap of faith he completely forgot how to use the brakes, but by then he was
on his way down and out of control. He was pushing down on the brakes instead
of up to slow himself down, and as he came hurtling to the bottom of the slope
at top speed he bowled over two other people.
Once sorted, he
was brave enough to go back up the escalator with his brother. But he seemed
upset and he had forgotten even more. He tripped up his own toboggan and
instead of letting go of the moving hand rail to free himself he clung on for
dear life which was making it worse for all the people behind him. I could see
his brother shouting at him to let go. If he had they could have got the
toboggan out of the way, but I could see that Charles couldn’t think straight.
He was eventually lying down on the escalator with his hand still gripping the
rail. Finally, when he did pluck up the courage to let the rail go, he took out
five people with his sleigh. They all went down like skittles in a bowling
alley. There was complete carnage.
I was so glad I
was out of ear shot. I really did feel for him though and started to question
my choice. I only wanted him to have a
different experience!
He looked so fraught
when he got to me. ‘Sorry, mom,’ he said.’ That didn’t go very well, did it?’
James and his dad
couldn’t get out of the place fast enough and I didn’t see any point in
upsetting Charles any more than he had been, so I just said, ‘Don’t worry,
love, just think of today as an adventure.’
The look I got
from the other two said it all. Don’t think we’ll be doing that again, not for
a while anyway.
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