Tresham trail to Paralympics

Tresham College’s Head of Care, Early Years and Access, Sarah Nolan is off to the Paralympics in Tokyo as assistant and coach to the Great Britain Boccia Team.

Sarah works closely with athlete David Smith, who is featured on a Channel 4 video for the Games.

They stopped off at the Kettering campus of Tresham College, part of The Bedford College Group, on Wednesday August 18th for a brief photocall before heading East on August 20th.

Sarah began working with David in 2010 as his on-court assistant helping him towards international successes and has been by his side for numerous medal wins over the years

Said Sarah:

“I have been lucky to be able to combine this commitment with my work at Tresham College, who have been very supportive. I hope that the experiences I have gained from working in such a high level competitive environment cross over into adding value to my contribution to the training of students. Working with Paralympians gives me a totally different perspective on life.”

Reigning Paralympic and world champion David Smith heads up a talented team of nine Boccia athletes. He will be aiming to add to his incredible haul of four medals from across three Games. He jointly holds the title of Britain’s most decorated boccia player, with the now retired Nigel Murray:

“I remember when Boccia was just a hobby and my goals were to go to uni and learn to drive. Now I have a degree in aerospace engineering and today I drove 200 miles to pick up Sarah. Next goal is to win Gold at Tokyo.”

News Flash

David won Gold at Tokyo and was chosen to carry the Great Britain flag at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympics.