Inspired Vol 3 (2013)

Page 57

Born in 1992, Matt Stuzman is an American athlete who participated as an archer in the 2012 U.S. Paralympics archery team. Despite the fact he has no arms, everything that he should be able to do with his hands are done with his feet. He participates in archery by using his feet only to hold the bow. Currently, Stutzman holds the world’s record for the longest and most accurate shot in archery. He shoots the arrow with his teeth and holds the bow with his feet. Matt Stutzman has achieved a tremendous and outstanding example of Paralympic values. His disability of playing archery without arms does not stand as a barrier to achieve as one of the world’s best champions. I think that Matt Stutzman is a hero to the world of the Olympics 2012. He portrays a sense of determination to achieve even though there may be a barrier. He has strived to become one of the most successful archers in the world. He is inspiring because he does not give up. Archery is a hard sport, which is more to do with the top half of your body. He has used another method to overcome his pressure of having no arms and still aiming to participate in archery. He shows confidence, will-power, strength and courage in himself, which makes me feel really inspired. What I would like to live up to, which is inspired from Matt Stutzman, is his determination to achieve to the best of his ability and overcome the harsh obstacles to reach that single goal, just as if you were to aim the arrow into the centre of the board. I would like to find ways to overcome barriers that stop me from reaching my targets and I would like to be as determined as Matt Stutzman. I think he has achieved so much stress because of the motive of having no arms. It has pushed him so that he can become strongminded about his goal. His unfortunate disability did not stop him from doing something that he liked and he also wanted to prove to the world that even an archer without arms can be the best player.

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Simon Norris The Gordon Schools

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to carry on that counts.” Winston Churchill Born in Sheffield on the 28th January 1986, Jessica Ennis has become a successful athlete known throughout the country. In the 2012 London Olympics, she was poster girl for team GB, earning a great reputation. During those Olympics, she definitely lived up to the high expectations place upon her, winning gold in the Heptathlon. It wasn’t always this easy for her though; only 5 years ago, in 2008, her dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete seemed to be over; during a Heptathlon competition in Gotzis, Austria, she felt a stabbing pain in her right foot. Scans revealed a stress fracture in her foot. This forced her to miss out the Olympics that she’d been so looking forward to, along with the rest of the 2008 season.

Matt Stuzman Paralympic Archer

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