There’s no stopping this wheelchair

Property lawyer Philip Hall is getting to grips with becoming a wheelchair warrior after being paralysed in a horseriding accident. Philip, who runs his own conveyancing business based in Poundbury, is learning a specially adapted form of the Korean martial art Hapkido at classes in Dorchester Prison. And when he’s not busy grappling with instructor Rick Lee’s fighting syllabus, Philip is making waves as a race-winning mariner with the charity Chesil Sailability.

Philip said: “I wanted to learn a self-defence form that really works and master Rick at the club has done a great job of adapting the syllabus for people in wheelchairs. “There’s another wheelchair user at the club who was once mugged at knifepoint and we work together.

“From what I understand master Rick looked at the syllabus (of Hapkido), got himself a wheelchair and, with experienced colleagues, set about trying to match techniques to how they can be delivered from a wheelchair.”

Philip lost the use of his legs in a riding accident in 1992, after his horse –who was “feeling a bit feisty” – bucked him off and he broke his back. Philip spent six months in the spinal unit and in rehab at Odstock Hospital (now Salisbury District).

“I’m quite lucky in that it was my back, and not my neck, that was broken,” reflects Phil. “The accident left me paraplegic, not quadriplegic. I’ve always said you can mope about things that have gone wrong in life, blame the world and be miserable, or you can accept what’s happened and deal with it.”

Fortunately, Philip has not had to put his martial arts training to use in real-life – although it has got him into one slightly sticky situation.

He explained: “I got locked in Dorchester Prison grounds once because the groundskeeper there didn’t realise I was a wheelchair user and needed extra time to get into my vehicle and go, so he just locked the gate and left. I had to honk my horn and flash my lights to get him to come back before he disappeared.”

Philip is now a blue belt, brown tab – three grades off black belt – and has been studying Hapkido for the last five years.

Master Rick Lee, who has written a book called The Way of the Wheelchair Warrior, said: “The wheelchair syllabus we use for Hapkido was designed by myself and one of my long-term Third