Tuesday 28 October 2014

LOST FOR WORDS? THERE IS NO "I" IN TEAM.

You have run out of motivational material for your pre-match talk? Huddles, 110%, they beat you last time so…, why not take a leaf out of Stuart Lancaster’s personal book of inspiration and tell your players about Henry Fraser, a 22 year old who is a tetraplegic.
Henry was in the Saracens academy at 17 years old, but a tragic dive into the sea whilst on, met with a sandbank and a broken spinal cord. When he finally made enough progress in hospital to get into a wheelchair, he saw himself for the first time in a mirror; a boy, he couldn’t breathe without help, four stone lighter, he decided at that time that life could not get any worse, only better and his optimism has led him to a decent amount of recovery. Henry doesn’t feel sorry for himself, he says he has no need to be angry and “apart from not being able to move on my own, nothing much has changed!”
Once independent, blazing his own trail and self-driven, he now realises the importance of "the team" and he has come to appreciate the bonding and need for others’ support. Henry is now able to work with the Saracens club, in communications, and his spirits have been raised even higher by the news this week of Geoffrey Raisman’s  UK Stem Cell Foundation-www.ukscf.org Maybe there is more progress ahead for him and others.

Henry now gives inspirational talks to sporting groups and his phrases are lining rugby dressing rooms over the country. www.henryfraser.org will lead you to his Trust.

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