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Learning about para-sports at Marden

In October, Bobby Akers, who lives with Cerebral Palsy, came to visit Marden and share his sporting memories with members of the club, both playing and watching sports both in this country and abroad as a person with a disability.

By Sue Eltringham (left), Shaun Edwards (Centre) with support from Bobby Akers (Right)

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Playing football and wheelchair rugby

Bobby joined our usual weekly session in Marden to raise awareness of para-sports and he began by detailing his younger days of playing sport such as football and wheelchair rugby.

In his footballing days, Bobby played for the Charlton Athletic disabled team, which he reflected on with great pride as he is a supporter of the Club!

Bobby then went onto detail his involvement with playing wheelchair rugby and how tough the game is – where he has often picked up injuries along the way. For those who didn’t know what wheelchair rugby was in the audience, Bobby was able to share the rules of wheelchair rugby and how the tackling system works by using the ‘tags’.

As a keen sportsman, Bobby has also been involved in boxing and darts and he has recently joined the Boccia Club at Sidcup Leisure and has high hopes of playing in the 2028 Paralympics in LA. If he gets in Marden Sporting Memories are all going on tour to support him!

Following sports

Bobby is still a keen supporter of The Addicks and often goes to watch the team play at The Valley with his cousin, Shaun Edwards, who is a member of the Marden Sporting Memories Club. 

Bobby went on to detail some of the challenges he faces attending football matches, referencing the preparation need for travel on public transport such as such as pre-booking ‘Travel assist’ and ramps at train stations – and that was without the potential issues such as broken lifts at stations!

He also mentioned other challenges when making his own way to matches, including other people parking in his pre-booked disabled parking bay and cars parking on pavements near to the ground - so that the only way Bobby can get past the cars is to have to go into the road in his wheelchair. 

Bobby also mentioned he enjoys watching most sports and his trip last year to France to watch the Rugby World Cup. Bobby also shared his experiences of travelling to Dubai to watch the Formula One racing and being sold an accessible ticket for the racing, but when he arrived his seat was sitting on a wall! Bobby reflected that he could never second guess what the access is going to be like at sporting venues until you get there and that some stadiums are better than others. 

Joining in with the games at Marden

Bobby demonstrated his skills with a game of boccia with the Marden group after his time sharing his stories, and as always there was lots of laughter as Bobby dominated the game of Boccia. 

The group were all totally inspired by Bobby and the challenges that he faces to just participate or even to be a sports spectator and everyone at the Marden Club shared their gratitude to Bobby for visiting.