Mark Fosbrook - GB Wheelchair Basketball

Introduction

Hi, my name is Mark Fosbrook but most people know me as Fossy. I am a double below knee amputee with congenital deformities to my hands. Basically I have two fingers on each hand and no feet or ankles. This was a condition I was born with and has an official name of Ectrodactyl. Having this disability has in no way stopped me from achieving my goals. I found sport at a young age and soon realised that I could use it to show that my disability did not affect me. I went through mainstream education and faced numerous challenges but I used sport as my motivator and actually represented my school in Hockey. I also went on to represent Portsmouth. Most noticeably my sporting achievements have been:

1996 Paralympics Atlanta, Volleyball, squad player (7^th)
2006 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships (4^th)
2008 Paralympics Beijing, Wheelchair Rugby, Team Manager
2007 & 2008 British Indoor Rowing Champion (World Record Holder)
Currently play Wheelchair Basketball for Wolverhampton Rhinos (Best team in the Country)

These are only a few of my sporting achievements. I have always worked within the sport and leisure environment. I have managed fitness clubs, run a sports department at a Specialist College and have also been the Performance Manager for the Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Squad. These previous roles have given me a wealth of experience. I am currently the Aiming High: Disability Sport and Physical Activity Officer for Staffordshire, am based within the County Sports Partnership - SASSOT, and develop opportunities for young disabled people through out Staffordshire.

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May's Blog...

Posted: 16 May 2012

Just a short blog from me this month to say that I'm continuing to train hard and am off on paternity leave until 11 June. Will tell you more about how my training is going and news of my baby's arrival next month.

April's Blog...
Posted: 23 April 2012

Well this month has been strange. On a personal note I am counting down the weeks and days until my baby boy is born, it is going so quick but also taking forever. However I have been training hard to help take my mind off of it.

I have had the last GB Internal Performance League Weekend at Lilleshall. This was a good few games and I was pleased with my performance. I know this is too late for London but I am positive that I am moving forward ready for the future. I have also been continuing with my gym training which has consisted of Xtreme Body Assault classes and Bootcamp sessions. These are high intensity interval type sessions so lots of hard work and sweat.

Last week I also attended the National Training Day with Sporting Champions for whom I do motivational speaking and appearances. It was great to catch up with the other Olympic and Paralympic Sporting Champions as we only usually get to catch up at these events and find out what each of us have been up to.

To help me maintain my focus I have been ending this month with a Juice Detox. This has invovled having nothing but healthy, fresh juices. This makes you feel fresh and revitalised and has gone well apart from my juicer breaking mid way through. However after phoning the manufacturer they delivered a replacement the next day.

Hopefully my next blog will be heavily based around the announcement of my baby boy. So keeping the fingers crossed. We are also off to Spain for the Euroleague finals which is like the Champions League of wheelchair basketball, hopefully we will play well and return victorious.

March's Blog
Posted: 28 March 2012

Well this month has been fairly busy. I have been working hard, training hard, competing and making appearances. At work I am busy developing opportunities for disabled children and hopefully supporting potential new talent for the future. This is our Inspire 2 Succeed Programme and is an exciting new initiative. I have been training hard even though my chances of selection are now pretty much gone.

Most of this training has taken place in the gym as our on court High Performance Centres have not been running due to various trips by the main core squad.

This month my club team was hosting the preliminary round of the Euro league 2. This involved 4 other teams from Europe battling it out in a round-robin style competition with the team qualifying for the finals in Spain in April. As a member of the RGK TCAT Rhinos, we played top European teams from Germany, France, Italy and Russia. We had some close games but came out victorious in every game meaning we topped the group and have qualified for the Spanish final.

I was also part of the 2012 Conference held at Stafford University in which they announced Team Staffordshire. Team Staffordshire is made up of athletes, support staff, games makers and torchbearers. This was a great event with a fantastic talk from Jonathan Edwards. I have also attended a school in Northampton and presented 3 inspirational talks to some wonderful children.

I am now fully focused on training and ensuring that as many people get enthused about the games as possible. Even if I am not there competing I want to ensure people make the most of the experience.

February's Blog...
Posted: 23 February 2012

Well this month has been a strange one. I have been training hard but not doing as many on court sessions. This has been due to logistics of getting court time when I'm not training with the rest of the squad. I have however made up for this by doing extra fitness training at my local gym. I have signed up to an early morning Bootcamp class which is Military circuits twice a week at 6.15am and it's outside. I have also being doing 3 other Xtreme Body Assault classes to ensure I am boosting my fitness in this slight lull in on court work. I plan to resolve this soon by adding in a couple of individual court sessions to work on shooting and pushing speed.

The squad travelled to Belfast for a tournament and I was obviously one of the few that didn't attend. This was hard as I felt I could have proved my worth but I am so busy with work that I my mind was kept off of it.

I have also done several interviews and a Sporting Champions appearance. One of the interviews was for Sky Sports News Radio and the Sporting Champions visit was in Warwickshire. Both were great and I hopefully can do many more of them to help enthuse people about London 2012.

January's Blog...

Posted: 20 January 2012

Well this month there has been a real excitment around the Sporting World that we are finally in 2012. I decided to kick off the new year with a 3-day juice detox followed a week later with a 7-day juice detox to really cleanse the body and get focused for the year ahead. The detox was geat and I feel so much better for it. It was funny to hear peoople asking if it was safe. How conditioned has society become to think that fresh fruit and vegetables aren't safe?

I now have my new basketball chair so have been getting used to that and think that it will help me to progress further. I am just having to play around with straps and positioning to tweak it and get it feeling right.

We have also had a selection camp in Crystal Palace which was a real pain to get to but the camp itself seemed ok. I felt I was performing ok, however the head coach felt different and has told me that I am not being invited to the next camp.

This means I now need to prove myself in the remaining Super League games and the GB Internal Performance League and show him that his decision was wrong. This was a bit of a knock back and makes my Paralympic dream look more unlikely however I am going to train hard to try and prove him wrong. Worst case scenario is that I don't make it which will be a huge disappointment, however I will be a fitter, stonger and a better athlete ready to step up post London for future competition.

December's Blog...
Posted: 15 December 2011

Well this month has been fairly intense. We have had one thing after another. We have trained at Lilleshall during the week then gone to play for our clubs at the weekend. We then had a week of training at High performance Centres before making our way to Milton Keynes to play in a series of games as part the Showcase League. I felt I had a fairly good performance there winning 4 out of the 5 games I played. We then had one day off (which I had to work) then we were straight back to another training camp at Lilleshall. This was then finished off with another game at the weekend.

Hopefully from this you will see that we have been training hard and are now looking forward to our well deserved Christmas Break. Although it is classed as a break the only break we get is that we don't have any camps or High Performance Centre sessions. We are still expected to undertake our own training.

Christmas this year will be a tough one for me with Christmas Day marking one year since I found out my daughter Lily was going to be Stillborn. As you can imagine we are not going to be celebrating this year and my wife and I are going to spend it hidden away playing Lego Harry Potter. However apart from Christmas Day I plan to be training hard. This means that I am planning on hitting the gym everyday and having a good spell of CV and weights work under my belt for the New Year.

Well we are finally approaching 2012. In a few weeks time we will be saying the Paralympics are this year. That seems scary but also hugely exciting. I know I need to keep my head down and work hard to try and prove I deserve a spot in the Team.

Hope you all have a Great Christmas.

November's Blog...
Posted: 15 November 2011

Well this month has been as busy as usual. I have been training hard but alongside this I have also been involved in several big days. There was the Sport Makers Launch which saw the launch of a fantastic initiative to encourage people 16+ to volunteer in sport. This is a fabulous initiative because I wouldn't be were I am today if it wasn't for the support of hundreds of volunteers over my entire sporting career.

The Sport Maker Launch also took place on the day the Olympic Torch route was announced. This made the day even more special as Staffordshire was announced as benefitting hugely from this with the torch passing through 10 communities. This is a real opportunity for the community of Staffordshire to get enthused by the the games next year.

I was also invited to attend the first visit of a tour around the Country for Jeremy Hunt MP as he encourages businesses to be involved with the London 2012 hype and also to promote the School Games. My visit involved the later with a visit to the Richard Rose Academy in Carlisle. The day involved spending some time with young sports leaders and answering their questions. I then did some media interviews before listening to Jeremy Hunt give an inspirational talk to encourage schools to sign up to the School Games. He then called me up to the stage and I then answered questions from both Jeremy and the audience.

In terms of my actual sporting participation this month we have seen the start of the RGK Super League. This year this is a four team league which are made up of the top four teams in the Country. This means all the games in this league will be tough. I am playing with the RGK TCAT Rhinos and we have now played two games and have won both. We have also started the British Wheelchair Basketball Showcase League. This league is a GB Performance league in which players turn up for the weekend and are placed in a team by the GB Coaches. This has now started and and will continue every month leading into London. Both of these are just some of the ways in which the BWB are supporting athletes to prepare for London.

October's Blog...

Posted by: Mark Fosbrook on 20 October 2011

Since the last blog the Men's GB squad have been crowned European Champions in Israel. While I was not part of this squad it is a huge boost for the programme in the lead in to our preparation for London 2012.

During October, the squad have meet up at a camp at Lilleshall National Sports Centre to kick start the long hard commitment that we all now face in the hope of being selected. The camp was missing some key individuals due to personal reasons but even so the training was good and we even made use of the 2 mile up hill drive. At present the Coach has his squad of 16 in his mind and we have been told that if we want to move into that 16 we have to now prove ourselves. This can be done in our Super League matches and our own Internal High Performance League. I know that the chance I have of making the team is fairly slim, however I am determined to work hard and show what I am able to do over the coming months and hopefully prove that I'm able to bring something to the team in our quest for gold. I believe that I will try my hardest and if it is good enough then great but if it's not then the team we will have will be fantastic and I will support them and know that I have become a better player because of it.

I am also pleased to report that the shoulder trouble I had been having seems to have recovered and I am now well and truly partaking fully in sessions.

In news off the court I was nominated and shortlisted as a finalist for the Beacon Best Awards 2011 for the Hero Award. This is a huge honour and while I don't see myself as a hero, I have faced the tragic loss of my daughter and continued in my pursuit of excellence and act as a role model.

To find out more visit

www.fossy.co.uk

September's Blog...

Posted by: Mark Fosbrook - 27 Sept 2011

To read about what Fossy's been up to visit the blogs on his website http://www.fossy.co.uk/Fossy/Blog/Blog.html or view his latest YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-C5p_Eyq5M

To find out more visit