Gaining a foot hold and establishing your self in the sports industry can be difficult for anyone with the time and money it takes to train and travel to different tournaments around the world. It can be even more difficult for people who are disabled as they have to overcome more obstacles that put them at more of a disadvantage to those who they are competing against. More provisions need to be put in place to help support disabled sports people and enable them to gain equal opportunities with other sports professionals at the same level.
I spoke to fourteen year old wheelchair motocross champion Thomas Woods to gain an insight on his career so far and what he hopes to achieve in the future. He also gave me some useful information on how the sport can be made fairer for more competitors and how he manages to analyse the different techniques he uses when competing in order to improve for future tournaments.
Thomas has been in a wheelchair since he was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome which is a condition that affects the different connective tissues with in the body. These provide support for skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs and bones. People who suffer from the condition are at higher risk of having dislocations which means they need more support when moving around different areas. Despite living with the condition, Thomas’s career has continued to move forward at great pace as he has been ranked fourth in the world in December and first in the UK to do a full hand plant.
These are great achievements and show what disabled people can do when given the right help and support to follow their dreams. Aside from training in wheelchair sports, Thomas does a lot of work with videography. He has used these skills to film and record himself while he trains to see what things work and what don’t in order to better his sports career. This is something that he has been able to teach and train himself in over time as due to his disability, he became quite socially isolated which gave him the time he needed to perfect his skills in the area and be able to use the right equipment. He is also able to use professional software which is used in the industry which helps to ensure that the videos he produces are at the highest standard possible.
When he first began professionally producing videos, Thomas realised that skills in videography were a useful thing to learn and have and these skills could be adapted to different things in life. This would help to improve his level of ability doing different things and proves what people can achieve when given access to the right equipment, help and support.
Thomas is on the search for any kind of sponsorship that he can find as the sport he competes in is incredibly expensive. Apparently the cost of travelling to and from different events and tournaments this year could add up to around £38, 000 which is very expensive for anyone. Any form of help and support he may be able to get would be extremely useful.
Funding from sponsorship would also allow Thomas to grow and develop in the sport as well as push it as far as possible. There are many tournaments coming up which Thomas will be taking part in as in October it will be the Germany Open followed by the World Championships again in December.
People can keep up to date with the different tournaments in America but apart from that there is little coverage meaning people who are interested from around the world will be missing out. Thomas believes there should be more coverage as he wants to help establish it and improve it’s exposure to attract more potential sponsors. This would help it travel further and improve it’s standing among other similar sports.
Thomas has had quite a few big achievements in his career so far as he has finished in quite high positions in many different tournaments. He would love to see the sport grow and is volunteering his time to help when and where possible. This includes helping out at different events and taking part in different campaigns to help create and nurture more interest.
If you’d like to follow Thomas Woods on his journey through disability sport ans see what tournaments he competes in, you can do so using the following links:
https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Finstagram.com%2Ftomaswcmx%3Figshid%3DNTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&trk=flagship-messaging-web&messageThreadUrn=urn%3Ali%3AmessagingThread%3A2-NWNjNDY0MDctOTk2ZS00N2RlLWI3NmYtMzdlNGE3M2I2ZDkxXzAxMg%3D%3D&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3B1mARh4dTT0u57%2BbD0lCI8g%3D%3D
https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTomasWoodsWCMX&trk=flagship-messaging-web&messageThreadUrn=urn%3Ali%3AmessagingThread%3A2-NWNjNDY0MDctOTk2ZS00N2RlLWI3NmYtMzdlNGE3M2I2ZDkxXzAxMg%3D%3D&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3B1mARh4dTT0u57%2BbD0lCI8g%3D%3D
http://linkedin.com/in/tomas-woods-948443238
