Meet Paralympic athlete, Lucy Shuker

On Friday 19th March, we were joined by Lucy Shuker, Paralympian. Lucy shared her experiences of competing in wheelchair tennis and representing Great Britain at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Lucy's sporting career has spanned 18 years, she has held World No.5 rank in Singles and World No.3 rank in Doubles and over 100 International titles.

At the London 2012 Paralympics, Lucy and her doubles partner, Jordanne Whiley, became the first women to win a medal for Great Britain in wheelchair tennis.

I have faced many challenges in my career, like being told that I couldn’t compete with the best because of my injury, but a strong mindset has helped me overcome all of them. Since my accident, I have managed to carve out my own jour

ney to success that I know I can feel very proud of.

Lucy is currently working towards her 4th Paralympics at the Tokyo 2020 Games taking place this summer.

Lucy chooses her favourite display at the Heritage Centre

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Meet Lucy Shuker - session for schools and children

In this session, we invited schools, home educators and parents to bring their young people along to hear first-hand from Lucy about what it takes to compete at an elite level. This was a fantastic opportunity for children to meet a Paralympian and have the opportunity to ask any burning questions about her life and career. British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation was by Marie Biswell. 

A message from Lucy

A big thank you to you all for wanting to join the session, to listen to my story and ask such great questions. Perhaps one day I can visit your school and meet you all and can bring some of my medals with me. Stay safe, work hard and enjoy yourselves!

Resources

Our Paralympic sport activity pack supports students in finding out more about Paralympic Heritage after the event. Click here for more information.

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Q & A with Lucy Shuker for ages 18+

This Q&A session offered attendees the opportunity to learn more about the life of Lucy Shuker and what it takes to compete at an elite level. It gave a sneak peek into the life of an athlete and her preparations for Tokyo 2020. British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation was by Marie Biswell. 

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Feedback

The Meet the Paralympian programme is a fantastic opportunity to meet an elite athlete and learn more.

I really enjoyed the meeting with Lucy and found the information about her path into wheelchair tennis at such an elite level fascinating. Like many life stories it had that element of happenstance, family support and the strength of character of the individual. Lucy had faced challenges most people would have not been able to deal with at a young age and she more than deserves her success. It was also extremely valuable to hear of the support services and meet two of the people who had worked with her. I found the role of the sport psychologist particularly interesting. It was good to see acknowledged the need to recognise that failure is part of progress and success and is more common than high achievement. I liked that the mental well being and the tools to build resilience were part of the support for the elite athletes and for Paralympians. It was a privilege to meet Lucy and I’d like to thank the trust for giving me that opportunity.

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