BECCA Sellar is an absolutely amazing young woman and it was a privilege to have her on our Let’s Hear It For The Girls show on RockSport Radio last week. By day, Becca is a scientist, having graduated with a 2:1 in biomedical science, and in her spare time she plays football, coaches tennis and does a bit of climbing and cycling.
Small in stature, Becca is strong and confident in nature, and quite rightly so. The one thing I didn’t mention before is that Becca is a below-the-knee amputee following an operation at the age of one, after she was born with a problem affecting her lower leg, fibular hemimelia.
She is the only female currently playing amputee football in the UK and in 2017 she represented Scotland in their debut international match. She coaches both non-disabled tennis players and those with disabilities. For competitions, she has her own “entry level” sports wheelchair. Her new passion is climbing and she placed third in her first competitive climb.
It was interesting to hear about Becca’s time in primary school when, in her last year, she was awarded the girls’ sport award for her year for her extraordinary effort. She moved away from sport during her time at Dalziel High School in Motherwell but still received the Lisa Richardson Award, in recognition of “triumph against adversity”.
Becca took up sport again two years ago in an attempt to ease the pain she suffers on a constant basis and also as a coping mechanism. As you no doubt will have gathered, it’s been a bit of a success story for her and also for the power of sport. The Government’s new fund Changing Lives through Sport and Physical Activity was announced last week and Becca, to me, is definitely a poster girl for that. Her ambition now, apart from being the best athlete and coach that she can be, is to give inspirational talks to young people on the benefits of sport and how, if you put your mind to it, “you can do anything”.
I, for one, wouldn’t bet against the strength and determination of this young woman, as there is no doubt that when she sets her mind on achieving something, she succeeds.
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