Close Season - The quest continues...(insert your own dramatic music here.)

With the recent 2012 Games showcasing the best in British talent, it’s all too easy to forget that champions were made, not just born: that, at some point, someone, somewhere, gave them the initial skills and encouragement that led them up on to the podium.

For over 30 years the Bolton Bulls Wheelchair Basketball Club has provided such support to generations of athletes, providing a team environment where the priority is not solely centred upon each individual’s sporting ambitions, but instead is focused upon ensuring that each member has the necessary  - and treasured – skills to lead an independent life. Whether it’s learning to transfer yourself between your car and wheelchair or perfecting your free-throw, the Bulls continue to cater to all ages – their current membership spanning over five decades! Currently the team competes in Division 2, and, over the years, a number of the players have gone on to represent Great Britain in international competition.

This does not however; preclude the charity only to involvement from the disabled community. Able bodied individuals who wish to get involved with a unique sporting opportunity for themselves are very much welcomed. One of the current members has even procured a Duke of Edinburgh Award.

However, the club is currently struggling financially and without support will be unable to continue providing the community with its fantastic sporting, social, and life benefits for current and future players. In its current state the club costs approximately £5,000 a year to run in it’s most basic state. We are currently able to bring in around half of this cost from subscriptions paid by the members. However, this leaves us with an overall shortfall of approximately £2,500.00 per year which we have to raise through other means. Further to this we are constantly trying to attract new members/players to ensure the club does not fail. We have had a degree of success within the last year although that in itself provides us with the problems of obtaining extra funding, to supply sports chairs for the development players.

To date, we have run quiz nights, sponsored events, marathons, and raffles and have had some small amount of success with these. However, as you can imagine it is an on-going battle to provide finance. To this end we are continuously looking for partners to get involved with the charity, grants that we are eligible to apply for and  for donations/sponsorship from conscientious businesses and members of the public and we would like to ask for your help.

Would your company be willing to form a partnership with the club? Your sponsorship/donation could make the difference that enables the charity to continue to run and provide disability sports to the local community. In return we would be willing to promote your business via adverts/links to your website on our various social media outlets.

On behalf of The Bolton Bulls Wheelchair Basketball Club, I would like to thank you for the time you have taken to read this post and we would encourage anyone who may be able to assist to contact us.

Kind regards

We have been very bad.................

Bloggers that is. We're a bit rubbish at it, we promise you that we'll blog regularly throughout the season and then we leave you hanging. I'm amazed any of you stick around really. But, if I'm honest. If we HAD blogged throughout the season, it would mainly have consisted of blogs saying

'we had a match today, we lost.............AGAIN!'

It's not been a good season for the Bolton Bulls in terms of results. Playing wise, I think (and this is just my personal opinion of course) we've played well against some very strong teams and Lady Luck has just not been on our side.  Our big forward had to go off and get himself a University place (come back Jack!) and our very own Tom Bartley who was having a cracking season, went and busted his back! Bad form Tom, he's been out of play since before Christmas. Get it fixed and get back on court, we need you!

Training sessions continue to be fun. The addition of some newbies in the training camp have provided some fresh bait for the older, more refined players. Yes I'm talking about the crumblies on court, namely Chairman Steve, Darren (the white whizard) and coach Heggie. I've started training with the team, as has Jen (AKA Mrs Andy). The addition of 2 girls has caused great merriment with all manner of jokes being bandied about. Turns out some members of the team are very easily distracted by the mention of girl parts. Who knew! (it helps us score anyway) ;-).  No idea if we'll be joining the official team come the new season in September. It all depends on whether Coach Heggie deems us fit enough (and I'm talking about pushing ability not how hot we look).

Lots of work going on behind the scenes with Chairman Steve doing his best to get a bikini body in time for the wedding in August. He's even doing pull ups at the gym these days. Admit it, you're impressed. I know I was. Many thanks to the team at Klick Fitness Whitefield and especially our personal trainer (Kyle Rinder) who tortures us both twice a week. We may curse during our sessions but we are benfitting from them and do enjoy them really.  

Impressed aren't you ;-)

Another ever present part of the behind the scenes work is looking for sponsors for the club, especially as the new tax year has commenced.  Sponsorship is an essential part of keeping the basketball team (a registered charity) afloat.  The best bit is for the majority of businesses a donation to a registered charity is tax deductible. Last year we were sponsored by Grimshaws Vauxhall who made a generous donation to the club in return for mentions on our various social media outlets and a sponsor page on the blog. We were also involved with G Casino in Bolton and had several very successful fund raising nights. Can you help this year? Would you like us to link an advert to your business on our blog, mention you on Twitter, connect with you on Facebook? Would you be willing to make a donation or form a mutually agreeable relationship with the club?  Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you are interested in supporting a local charity. As always our contact details can be found to the right of the blog.  

One last thing, we currently have 2 items up for auction on Ebay to raise funds for the club. One being a signed Newcastle United shirt (2011-2012) season donated by Alan Pardew himself, the other being signed memorabilia donated to the team by The Lancashire Hotpots. (Click the highlighted words to take you to the items)

Finally, (thank goodness for that I hear you cry) our last match of the current season is on Sunday 21st April 2013 at Smithills Sports Centre, Smithills Dean Road, Bolton. Bolton Bulls versus Celtic Warriors. Tip off 1.30pm. Please come along and show us your support (based on this seasons scores we could really do with it) and give us a cheer. 

Mrs Bolton Bulls :)

Call To Arms...

To begin, a confession:

Chairman Steve and I had every intention of posting regular match reports this season. As you’ve probably noticed, this hasn’t happened.

That’s not to say we haven’t been busy Bulls. The very opposite, in fact. In the opening 2 months of the season we’ve played almost half of our allotted games (for context, most other teams have played 2 or 3).

Sadly, the season hasn’t been going well at all for us, and there’s no good way to write match reports for 6 defeats; for that reason I’m going to be glossing over those results in this post.

There are a couple of things worth mentioning though, not least the away trip to Newcastle where we only had 5 players total. This intrepid 5 put in a hell of a performance, but sadly the numbers plus the previous days performance would catch up with them and they would fall short of a positive result. If you’ve ever seen the film “300” it was a lot like that. But on a much smaller scale. 

Then there was the small matter of the Bulls going head to head with a Greenback team that included Abdi Jama a member of the 2012 Great Britain Paralympic team.

The final thing isn’t technically basketball related, but it amused me and I’m running out of interesting things to write. 

*Filler Alert*

On the return from a very, very close Derby game that we were unlucky to come away from empty-handed; we made our traditional (it’s happened more than once therefore, it’s tradition), stop off at Little Chef. I ordered the “American Style” breakfast (Bacon, scrambled eggs, beans, waffles and maple syrup, in case you were wondering.) which came to be described by the rest of the team as “jam and beans”; and thus a legend was born. So if you ever see a funny looking bloke in a cafe trying to order jam and beans it’ll be me trying to get an “american style” breakfast...

You might be beginning to wonder what the point of all this rambling is. Well, dear readers, you may remember that in the past we’ve asked you for donations to help keep the club alive; and you all did an amazing job helping us out. Now, if I may, I’m asking for something even more valuable: I’m asking for some of your time. This Saturday we have a home game against West of Scotland. I’d love for everyone reading this to come down and show your support. Be our sixth man, and let’s get that first win of the season together.

Tip - off is 1:30pm and here is where you need to be:

Smithills Sports Centre 

Smithills Dean Road

Bolton

BL1 6JS

Bring the noise.

Michael #8

I Need A Holiday Too

So the summer is over, the autumn has arrived and everyone is wishing they still had the hot lazy days of the holidays. Myself and Chairman Steve are no exception. Actually just lazy days would be good. He's got me at the gym and all-sorts but that's another blog post.

In August we took the mini Bulls and went to stay with Jacqui and Carl of www.ineedaholidaytoo.com in Brittany France.  This is holiday accommodation with a difference. It is specifically designed with the disabled holiday maker in mind. 

Jacqui and Carl Alban saw a need for wheelchair accessible holidays in France and rose valiantly to the challenge. The end result being a converted cotton mill on the pink granite coast of Brittany, on the banks of the River Jaudy, in a small and picturesque town called La Roche Derrien

The apartments not only meet all local regulations and cover the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK. They are spacious and offer everything you could need on a holiday. If you need a care package, they can arrange it at a reasonable cost. If you need specialised equipment they can arrange it and you only have to pay for items they don't stock.

Main Bedroom

2nd Bedroom

Main Living area

Main Living area

We went in the last week of the school holidays, just as the weather in the UK became horrific and we took the sunshine with us.

Not only are all the apartments fully accessible, the garden is too. Built on a slope down toward the river and fully fenced off, the garden boasts a swing set for the small people, tables and chairs in a couple of areas with very scenic views and is home to approximately a dozen chickens, 2 dogs, 2 cats, a parrot and Dennis.  Mini Bull would have been happy to stay in the garden all week playing with the menagerie that live with Jacqui and Carl. He even learnt to drive the lawnmower (I see chores in his future).

Dennis

Big Red

Being typical tourists, we visited the beaches of Ploumanach and Treguier. Beautiful sandy beaches with access to kayaking/canoeing/surfing.  It certainly kept the mini Bulls busy pushing each other in the water investigating the little rock pools dotted about the coastline. We were even able to drag Chairman Steve onto the sand!

Les Sept-Iles

He hasn't been on a beach in years!

There was a boat trip to the 7 Islands, watching the porpoises trailing after the boat and being astounded by the vast number of birds nesting on the cliffs. We didn't see any Puffins though (apparently they were out of season, I think they saw Chairman Steve coming and did a runner).

We visited the La Radome and got all knowledgeable about all things communication based.  Had a barbecue whilst watching the Paralympic opening ceremony and finally took the mini Bulls treeclimbing at Vivons Perches. They got to be harnessed up and traverse through the trees on zip wires, climb through obstacles, negotiate tricky netting and generally had a blast. I had slightly less fun as I had to manoeuvre Chairman Steve around the forest floor. It is classed as a wheelchair accessible day out and it certainly is, if you have a sense of humour. Be prepared to climb over tree roots, negotiate stumps and traverse 45 degree angled paths on one wheel. It was a good day!

Extreme chair pushing.

All in all, it was a brilliant holiday and we can't wait to go back. If you're looking for a holiday as a couple, a family or even on your own and you have access issues (even if you don't, they don't discriminate against the able bodied). We can thoroughly recommend you visit Jacqui and Carl in Brittany.  Check out their website and have a look at www.ineedaholidaytoo.com

It was the relaxation I needed before getting back into the chaos that is basketball season. (See what I did there) ;-)

Here It Comes Again...

We’ve had a summer stuffed to bursting with sporting goodness: Euro 2012, the Olympics, and the just-opened-as-I-write-this Paralympics. It doesn’t end there dear readers, oh no. The new wheelchair basketball season is nearly upon us, so it was time for the Bolton Bulls to warm up their bullocks (*snigger*) in a friendly game at the Lancaster Bulldogs. (Fun Fact: This friendly fixture last year was my very first appearance in a Bolton Bulls jersey.)

After much grumbling on Twitter about being up ridiculously early on a Sunday (by me), while our beloved chairman was taking a hard earned holiday (I’m not jealous. Not. At. All.), off to Lancaster we went.

The game itself was a typical pre-season affair, scrappy and low scoring; with more focus on match fitness and execution of plays than overall performance.

For the Bull’s the first half was all about running plays with the strongest possible starting five, getting them prepared and match ready for the opening game of the season. Second half allowed for some rotation of the squad and for more inexperienced players (in this particular instance, this means me) got to add some more court time to my basketball CV. I came ever closer to breaking my Bolton Bulls scoring duck, but alas, physics conspired against me. I also experienced my first ever attempts at free throws in a competitive game; and let me tell you, that basket seems just that bit further away when you’re sat on the free-throw line and suddenly it matters.

The final score was Lancaster Bulldogs 20, Bolton Bulls 27. Much credit must go to the Bulldogs for making us work hard for the result. Thanks to them for hosting the game, and best of luck to them in the coming season. 

Bolton Bulls will be working hard in training ready for our first league game, but if you’re inspired by the Paralympics and fancy trying out wheelchair basketball, we train at Smithills Sports Centre on Thursdays, 8:30pm - 10:30pm; or should you wish to come and spectate our opening game is on the 16th September, again at Smithills Sports Centre, tip off 1:30pm. 

Let’s go Bulls!

Michael #8

I confess: sometimes I play solitaire.

That’s bad enough, but I’ll admit something else.  When I have a choice of moving, say, either of the black eights onto a red nine, I follow the rule I was taught when I was younger.  Move the face-up card with the most face-down cards beneath it unless you need to make room for a King, in which case do the opposite.   In writing this, I’m faced with a similar choice.  Do I give you the long or short version? 

So are you sitting comfortably?  Then I’ll begin…

I was born two months prematurely weighing little more than a bag sugar.  I died not once, not twice, but three times in the first week, this left me with spastic-diplegia a form of cerebral palsy which affects ambulatory abilities: to whit the slight limp; the cack handedness and general clumsiness.

What is less obvious are the facts that I couldn’t stand until the age of three; walk until the age of five and that practically everything I do now has been the product of not inconsiderable intensive physiotherapy and me constantly challenging and pushing myself.  Then there’s the twenty or so major operations….

In telling you this I’m not bemoaning my lot or looking for tea and sympathy.  Firstly, I drink strong black coffee and it is merely the way things are and have been.

But the physiotherapy, operations and frustrations?  No.  Not one iota.  It’s made me well… me.

At the age of three I started school at Birtenshaw – where I am now a trustee, spent two years in the last year of Primary school because I’d been accelerated through the years.  The reports I’ve kept say that I’m ‘someone who wants to be liked’ and ‘could do better for himself if only he wasn’t so easily distracted’.

Where was I?  Oh, yes Primary School.  Where on my last parents evening it was discovered that I had been forging my parents signature on my reading report card for nearly a year, and quite successfully too.  In my defence, should it be needed, I was reading far more complicated and complex books.

So to secondary school - George Tomlinson School or, as we know it now, Kearsley Academy and a spell in the… ahem… ‘delicate unit’ which was later renamed ‘special needs’ during my tenure.  As a mainstream school and being visibly different - spending most of the time in a wheelchair - things were not easy.  I felt the need to prove myself to my peers time and time again, but come exam time a singular lack of interest in academic application meant that I left with only four GCSEs, and chastened.

Four years at college, studying computing and computer science, followed.  As did a degree in Business Information Systems, which I left to join the Civil Service.   Over the next eleven and a half years I worked on the government’s planning, housing, transport and neighbourhood renewal programmes.  Meeting and briefing ministers; Lords and Ladies of the realm and once spent a day with the Secret Service, but always representing the interests of North West (and Bolton) to those in Whitehall; for the last five years I managed a multi-million capital programme across the region.

All of which is in the past-tense, because I left the civil service in March 2011.  While the decision to reform the civil service was a political one the decision to leave it was personal.  I had worked with community and voluntary organisations in everything I’ve done so far and I wanted that to continue.

Which finally brings me to the Bolton Bulls well… almost.

Music, I love it all. Or can love it. I love swing, jazz, blues, rock and roll, country, gospel, zydeco, Tin Pan Alley, roots, bluegrass, hillbilly, soul and mo’town.  Less keen on rap, hip-hop, house, R and B. Don’t hate them, just don’t like them quite as much.  This isn’t a Hornby-esq Man List in which I show off my knowledgeable, insightful eclecticism. I know a great deal less about popular music than almost all of my contemporaries. The point is that I do want you to understand how much I love, or can love music, and radio.

Which brings me to Bolton FM and Bolton Bulls.  I stumbled across Bolton FM while looking for someone to speak to at Bolton Council about some work I was doing.   I thought it was something incredibly interesting, exciting and fun to be involved in.  I was among the very first volunteers when we were broadcasting on the internet - early 2008 seems right but I have slept since.

Believe it or not I was tricked into being a presenter.  I didn’t want to present; I couldn’t.  I wanted to write; or produce. I was assured that ‘yes I could be a producer’ but what if ‘the presenter doesn’t turn up?’  I’d have to step in. I forget whether I was told I had a voice or face for radio but I know I enjoyed it then. I still do

And that’s how I met Mr Chairman after hearing about how the Bulls needed funds to carry on competing.  A radio interview was soon booked and since then I’ve been hooked.  I met Mrs Chairman at the quiz nights and then came the challenge…

Do I want to become a Bolton Bull? 

It came I was looking to be more open to opportunities, to challenge the comfort zone and so I said “Yes.”

I had my first training session last night.  Fantastic.  Fabulous.  Physical.

This morning I ache in place I never knew I had, but I be back next week…

Come out and play.......

More fundraising fun was had this weekend with Bolton Bulls as we headed to Bolton Marketplace to put on a demonstration and shake our collection bucket.

Cover shot!

Mrs Chairman had managed to loan a couple of hoops from the kind folks at Decathlon. We have to salute them, they didn't hesitate to spring into action when the call was made and went above and beyond the call of duty by offering to wheel 2 basketball hoops through the centre of Bolton to the display area. Not only that, they came and picked them up again afterwards! We can't recommend Decathlon Bolton enough for their customer service, we'll definitely be using them again. Now about that sponsorship guys?? ;-)

Back to the hoops.  They weren’t regulation height, in the hopes that this would reduce the possibility of us breaking any of the many, many windows. A theory that Chairman Steve promptly disproved by putting his first shot way too high and almost destroyed a juice bar (I’m exaggerating, but never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn, I say). I would later top that by crashing through a barrier whilst trying to demonstrate dribbling skills that, it turns out, I don’t have. One of the basketballs made a bid for freedom and nearly ended up riding the escalator.

So, when we weren’t trying to wreck the place, what did we do?

Well, many youngsters got to try their hand at wheelchair basketball, and learn a few skills along the way. Many of them took to passing drills really well (much better than yours truly, who still gets regularly pie-faced by the ball); including more complex drills like “caterpillar”: A drill that requires not only accurate passing but quick movement of the chair, not easy to do when you’re new; and “pepper-pot”: A drill I’m almost certain is designed to scare the life out of newbies. When done at full pace, it’s terrifying.

Caterpillar drill.

It was great to see the kids enjoying themselves, especially as it’s a sport that they probably wouldn't have got the chance to try out. Many of them came back for second and third goes! One young man exclaimed: “You make this look easy.” It’s certainly the one thing that people are surprised by most, how much skill and concentration goes into simple things like dribbling the ball and being in control of the chair at all times. Once you’re in a sports chair and moving at pace, suddenly something as simple as catching the ball becomes quite a task. 

Teaching the mad skills

Talking tactics...or is that tictacs?

That’s the purpose of demos, to give an insight into the sport, and hopefully create a few new fans and maybe even new players. The other purpose of course was to raise funds for the coming season; and I’m very pleased to say that the shoppers of Bolton were incredibly generous and donated a total of £216.36.  

We also got in the Bolton News again, the paper sent down a roving reporter and a photographer to get some info about the day. That can be read here and we got on the radio! Bolton FM sent their crew down to do some Vox Pops and interviewed Chairman Steve. We were only slightly stunned that the poor chap thought he was being wound up about wheelchair basketball being a real sport. He knows better now!

Thanks go to the staff at Bolton Marketplace. Firstly for getting in touch and offering us the spot in the first place. But, also because they were extremely helpful on the day arranging the demo area and directing folks our way.  Finally thanks to the vital support members of the team who took time out of their Saturday to come and shake buckets, rattle cans and hand out leaflets. Couldn't have done it without you.

I hope that everyone who joined in enjoyed themselves and that those who stopped by to watch were entertained. I certainly hope we can do it again soon.

Michael #8

And the Winner is............

As regular readers will already be aware, Bolton Bulls have been working with a cluster of primary schools from the Little Lever and Kearsley area of Bolton; we have been their chosen charity for their M.I.L.E. awards work. More details on that can be found in the previous blog about this, here.

Monday night was the culmination of all that hard work, as they hosted their 4th annual M.I.L.E. awards presentation evening at Kearsley Academy. Myself, Steve and Sacha went along to represent Bolton Bulls. (reserved V.I.P. seats and everything. It was very exciting.)

The evening itself was a celebration to highlight and reward the very talented children from the various schools within the cluster. Trophies were handed out and we were treated to various forms of entertainment from songs and gymnastics, to street dance and musical theatre; and pretty much everything in between. It was an excellent show; imagine the Oscars meets Britain’s Got Talent. But better. 

A very nervous Chairman Steve presented the award for Best Teamwork and promptly forgot to hand the winning team their trophy. (Presumably in an attempt to re-purpose it to the rather bare Bolton Bulls trophy cabinet.)

He had just enough time to get over that, before being presented with the cheques from all the fund-raising which the schools have been doing for us.

Well, this is the bit I’m going to struggle with because frankly, I’m lost for words (Not really ideal for a blog post). It’s fair to say that the schools of Little Lever and Kearsley did absolutely amazing work and they raised, for Bolton Bulls, £1,750 through Ebay auctions, and a further  £1450 through events in the schools. I doubt you need me to tell you that’s £3,200  (All figures are approximate, and correct at time of writing)

Wow.

On behalf of everyone involved with Bolton Bulls, we thank all the pupils and staff that worked so hard and raised all that money. And I too, personally thank you. Thank you for understanding why Bolton Bulls is important. If I could hug you all, I would. In fact, if you were involved with the M.I.L.E. awards and you want a hug, come see me. :)

Everyone involved with the M.I.L.E. awards should be incredibly proud of themselves, and each other. It has been a pleasure to be involved with.

There’s even more fund-raising news....

We have received some very generous donations from a couple of Rotary clubs in the Bolton area. Myself and Steve attended a lovely lunch at Horwich Rotary where we did our presentation; (we’re getting good at that, you know. There was talk of us going into after-dinner speaking. ;)) and they presented us with two cheques: one from the club for £600 and a personal donation from the club president of £100. 

From L to R: Horwich Rotary club president Peter Green, Chairman Steve and myself

We were also presented with a cheque from Westhoughton Rotary club for £1000, which was collected by Bull’s players Graeme and Dave.

Thank you to both Rotary clubs for their generous donations and fantastic hospitality.

As you can see, there’s no such thing as off-season for Bolton Bulls. The hard work MUST continue both on and off court into the new season and beyond to make sure we are never in the situation that we found ourselves in just four short months ago. Once more, a HUGE thank you to everyone involved with fund-raising. Be in no doubt, you have saved this club. Speaking personally that means a whole hell of a lot. Thank you.

We’re back to training Thursday night (5th July) 8:30pm till 10:30pm at Smithills Sports Centre. If you fancy trying your hand at wheelchair basketball, now would be a good time, before we get into the season proper. So come down and compliment me on my excellent blog writing skills, as they’re considerably better than my basketball ones. Sessions are open to everyone, even if you play for another team. 

Michael #8

Bulls go back to school.

So it’s that time again, were Chairman Steve turns over the power of the Bulls-cave to the “Robin” of the operation. Yes, it’s me, Michael. (You know me by now, right?)

Bolton Bulls has been chosen by a cluster of local primary schools for their M.I.L.E. award project this year.

The M.I.L.E. award, (Making Independent Learning Exciting) is a project undertaken every summer term by a cluster of ten schools with the objective to raise money for a charity, relating to a chosen theme. This year’s theme is the Olympics and Paralympics, so that’s where Bolton Bulls come in. 

In return for all their hard work, we go into the schools and wax lyrical about both Bolton Bulls and wheelchair basketball in general; explaining more about the sport and why it’s important to keep clubs such as ours running and the importance of funds. (Speaking of which, here’s the Just Giving Page)

So after Andy, and the duo of Coach Jim and Jack had presented assemblies at various schools earlier in the week, it came the turn of Chairman Steve and myself to do our best to be a positive influence on the younglings of Bolton.

We were extremely nervous, and anyone that knows me personally knows that putting me in charge of impressionable young minds is not a good idea; so at least for the first presentation, I decided to keep my mouth shut. Instead taking charge of the technical parts (a.k.a. pressing play on the videos) and being the ‘stooge’ in the practical demos. Essentially, I was the “Teller” to Chairman Steve’s “Penn”. (I do hope at least some of you understand that reference.)

It went remarkably well, and the “training montage” of the Bulls (sadly, no Rocky music) even drew some “oohs” and “aahs” from the children at St. Theresa’s. Some of them stayed behind after the presentation to have a closer look at (and a little go in) a sports chair. 

After making some tweaks based on feedback received from the teachers and Sacha, (a.k.a. Mrs. Bulls, who was our entourage for the day) we headed for our second assembly at Ladywood school.

I personally was feeling a lot more confident at this point, having gotten one under my belt and it not being nearly as terrifying as I expected. This, it turned out, would be a schoolboy error.   Before we even got started our video clips refused to work, which left us with some large holes to fill. A Plan B was quickly formulated just in time to prevent Chairman Steve and myself metaphorically birthing a litter of very nervous kittens.

Thankfully, the videos sprang to life just before we started and the presentation went without a hitch. I even managed to talk my way through a video clip featuring the Great Britain wheelchair basketball team, and add a little to Chairman Steve’s “What wheelchair basketball can do for you?” section. 

Now comes the bit that I tweeted about on my personal twitter account (in other words, some of you will already have heard this bit); we opened the floor to questions and after a nervous pause, that felt way longer than it actually was, a hand went up at the back of the room. A little girl walked to the front and asked in a meek little voice: “Can I play wheelchair basketball?” Dear readers, if I achieve nothing else in wheelchair basketball, it will all be worth it, for that moment.

By the time we reached the third school, (Masefield) we were getting the hang of this presentation malarky, and we fielded the most questions of the day, which I hope we gave insightful answers too.

All in all it was a very long day; but speaking from a personal point of view, a very rewarding one. Certainly, Chairman Steve can add; “Gave Michael the confidence to talk to several hundred school children” to his “What can wheelchair basketball do for you?” section.

On behalf of Bolton Bulls I’d like to thank all the schools involved in the MILE award for their hard work and fund-raising efforts.

If you’d like to help, check out the Ebay page, there’s lots of one-of-a-kind signed items to be had.

Once again, thanks for reading.

Michael #8

And so the end is near..........

We've reached the end of the season and The Bolton Bulls are about to take their summer break.  Our last training session is this Thursday 31st May at Smithills Sports Centre Bolton. Come along and join us, it's an open session from 8.30pm until 10.30pm.  We'll then be having a break for June before returning in July with open sessions alternate Thursdays and back for the pre season training every week from August. 

Don't think that lets you off the hook listening to us ramble though. We have lots of other activities planned for June that I'll be wittering on about. Starting with the next quiz night to be held at G Casino in Bolton on Tuesday 12th June. Come along and join us. It's free to register and there will be prizes on the night. It's a cheap night out with a team of up to 6 people for just £5! You can't say fairer than that surely. Are you Bolton's biggest brain? Do you know more than the crew of Bolton FM? Can you beat the Bulls at basketball and sport knowledge?  How are you at dingbats and 'say what you see' rounds. You'll get the chance to find out if you come along.  

The Bolton Bulls are moving into the edumacational arena in June visiting local schools in Kearsley and Little Lever to speak to the children about disability sports and to raise awareness of their local wheelchair basketball team. Sports week is coming up and with the Paralympics nearly upon us we've been invited to Mount St Josephs school to put on a small demonstration of the game and to let them see just how fun it can be. 

Chairman Steve is even putting on a suit! He's going to meet the members of the Rotary Club at Horwich and Westhoughton on 2 dates in June. He's going to wax lyrical about us, life and the sport. I hope they have matchsticks for their eyes, when he gets going he really gets going!

Moving into July we're in Bolton Market Place on Saturday 14th to give a demonstration of the match and interact with the public (yes, they do let us out in public!). Come and meet the team from 12pm until 3pm, have a go in a chair and see if you have the skills to be a wheelchair basketball player. 

So you see it's not all get on court, chuck a ball around and hope it lands in the basket. We have a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes as the fundraising continues in earnest to prepare for next season. 

I'll remind you all of things nearer the time no doubt but don't forget to come and join us at our open sessions on alternate Thursdays in July and meet the team. For a small donation of just £2.50 we'll even let you get in a chair and pitch your skills against them ;-). 

Until next time, I'm off to bed. I've just done a night shift. Can you tell?