September 3, 2015, by Hannah Webber
My First England Call Up – Muninder Singh Hayer Blog
When I got my first international call up for the Cerebral Palsy World Games 2015, I was speechless. The feeling was just magical. I had dreamt of this day from when I got involved in sport at the age of eight.
I was competing in the F31 club throw event at the Harvey Hadden Sports Village on Friday 14th August. I wasn’t even expecting to come away with a medal yet alone gold. When they announced that I’d broken the world record (subject to ratification), I seriously thought I was dreaming.
The first time I competed for my school I knew from that moment sport wasn’t just something I enjoyed but was something that I was naturally good at. At that age it was just a dream to represent my country. Now that I have experienced competing on an international stage for England I am hungry for more!
Muninder getting read to throw at a rainy Harvey Hadden Sports Village
I was part of a very successful England team competing at these World Games. I knew that if I didn’t achieve a goal that I set in my mind before entering the throwing circle, not only I would be letting myself down but also my team. Taking into consideration my anxieties, the wet weather, and only having just two weeks to get used to my new throwing frame I rose to the occasion, exploded and threw a world record shot. At that point I did not know I that I’d smashed the world record I just was happy I had thrown a good distance. About an hour later they announced that I’d broken the world record, at that point I just looked to my coach and said “What’s just happened?” I just couldn’t believe it. Within seconds all of my team came running at me to congratulate me. We had loads of world-class results within our team including athletics and swimming. We ended up with an amazing 85 gold medals, 52 silver medals and 19 bronze. Well done to every single one of you!
The whole experience has to be one of the best weeks of my life; I was part of a tremendous team with world-class athletes, management, team physios, coaches, volunteers and the team at CP Sport.
I would just like to say a massive thank you to my coach Graham Felton for all his help over the past 18 months and having all the faith in me. If you want to get to a world-class level in field athletics, then he is the coach to have!
Also, thank you to the University of Nottingham for their support through the scholarship program and also to my family and friends!
The Road to Rio has begun!
You can follow my progress by checking out the following links:
Twitter: @sikh4lfe
Instagram: @sikh4lfe
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mshf31
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