Covid: Wheelchair rugby club has only one player left

Ospreys Youth Wheelchair rugby club is down to just one player with a disability since resuming training after a two-year hiatus due to Covid.

The junior team has restarted training sessions with able-bodied players filling in to help make up the numbers.

Tal, 14, who has cerebral palsy, is the only junior player who would qualify to play in official tournaments.

He said: "I think that a lot of people were scared about coming back because of Covid."

Tal joined the team, based in Llandarcy, Neath Port Talbot, three years ago and said the sport had given him a huge confidence boost.

• Parents with learning disabilities 'set up to fail'

• How Murderball changed the view of disabled sport

When playing sports in school, he said he often felt "very patronised".

"Everyone thinks you're so fragile", he explains ."It's a completely different atmosphere here."

There are now concerns the junior team will not be able to continue unless they get new players.

The club is struggling for members after resuming for the first time since Covid

Tal's father Jonathon thinks it would have a "big impact" on his son's mental health if the club folded.

"That ability to be himself and not be handled with kid gloves I think he'd really miss," he said.

Dale Williams, the head coach of the club's youth section, said the side had nine players when he started in the role seven years ago.

"We can still train with the able-bodied children", he explained, "but when it comes to playing tournaments we won't be able to because we've got no children with us".

Kyron Bishop says the club helped him to become who he is today

Kyron Bishop, 20, started in Ospreys Youth when he was 13 and now plays for the senior team, which still has enough members to play official competitions.

"Osprey youth were a lovely team for me... they helped me to get to where I am today," he said.

Mr Bishop, who has cerebral palsy, said his life was very limited before he found wheelchair rugby.

"It was quite hard to make friends because I was different," he said.

"I was in my own space all the time, playing Xbox, watching telly and putting on lots of weight."

Kyron, who also plays for the Team GB junior talent squad, said the sport had given him a passion and a focus in life.

"I really want to get to the Paralympics for wheelchair rugby. That's been my all-time goal."

During lockdown, Kyron was able to continue his training alone with the support of his family, but said not seeing his "brothers" in the team had a big impact on him.

"It was a very hard, tough time for me."

Kyron's mum Rachael is the club secretary and said Covid had a huge impact on the sport.

"For disabled people, when you're away from something for so long , it's very difficult to get back into it," she explained.

She said other clubs had been hit as well - with tournaments before the pandemic getting 10 or 12 youth teams compared to four or five in a recent one.

"I think that the future of sport for youth is quite sad because we don't have that player base coming through," she said.

Lauren Parsons helps as a coach

Lauren Parsons started playing for the Ospreys youth when it started eight years ago, but now helps as a coach.

Lauren, who has a neurological condition which affects her mobility, thinks the pandemic has been particularly hard on disabled people.

"It's hit the club hard... it has made all of us worry about whether it would reopen again," she said.

Now that training sessions are back on, she hopes the word will spread and believes "people will come back through those doors and people will come and give it a go".

• You can catch up on Wales Live on BBC iPlayer

• PEOPLE THOUGHT OF AS BITS OF AN ALGORITHM: Life and death in the warehouse

• LOVE LETTER TO WRESTLING: The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be