Paralympic Champion's talk inspires Sixth Form pupils

On Tuesday night, the Lower Sixth welcomed highly decorated Paracanoeist and Kayaker Emma Wiggs MBE to speak as part of the school’s PSD lectures.

Sixth Form pupil Bea C (G) reflected on the inspiring evening. 

Emma recently returned from the Paris 2024 Paralympics with a Gold and a Silver medal and brought these along for us to see (and even wear in some cases!). It was also fascinating to find out that each of the medals contained a small part of the Eiffel tower in them.   

I had been very lucky to have met Emma over video call prior to her speaking to us and we spoke at length at supper on Tuesday evening before her talk. She’s an incredible person and athlete and I found her talk to the whole year group inspiring, and I definitely got a lot out of it.

Emma spoke to us on the importance of mindset and facing challenges and change, whilst sharing her own experiences and story, how she became disabled and her journey to Paralympic sport. She spoke about how, on her gap year in Australia at the age of 18, she contracted a virus that left her paralysed in her legs and how her life changed afterwards. She has competed in four Olympic games, 3 in paracanoe and 1 (London 2012) as a sitting volleyball player. After the London Games, she switched sports to paracanoeing, with her first European and world titles secured in 2013.

Her emphasis on attitude, quoting rower Ben Hunt-Davis ‘Will it make the boat go faster?’ and how it can affect not just sports such as Canoeing, Kayaking or Rowing, but daily life and the significance of having a good attitude. As a rower, I found her talk particularly fascinating as it gave me new insights, not only on ways I can improve my mindset on the water (as much of what she said about Kayaking and Canoeing was transferable to Rowing), but also in my day-to-day life and my experiences outside of training.

Moreover, she spoke about ‘Above the line’ and ‘Below the line’ thinking and behaviours, talking about how changing the way we engage with life drastically changes the outlook and outcome we have from our choices. One of the most significant things I took away from Emma’s talk was when she spoke about ‘brushing your teeth and choosing your mindset’. This was about how 2 minutes in the morning while you’re brushing your teeth and thinking about how you want a day to go and your mindset for that day, can completely change the trajectory of the day.

She concluded her talk by allowing us to ask her questions. Questions ranged from talking about work-life balance and how she balances being a professional athlete and spending time with her wife and family, to ‘How much do you bench?’ (the answer is a lot!). By allowing us to ask questions, we were able to participate further with Emma’s talk and learn more about her and her career.

Overall, I think the whole year group came away from Emma’s talk with something to think about or something to transfer to our daily lives in one way or another.  As we move from our GCSEs to our A-Levels in the Lower Sixth this year, the contents of Emma’s talk and her inspiring words will definitely be highly beneficial in our studies, our sports, our activities and our daily lives.