Pembrokeshire athlete qualifies for international CrossFit tournament after MS diagnosis
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
7 days ago
- Scotsman
The deaf Fife teenager on the challenges overcome to compete for Team GB at Deaflympics
The winger is heading to Tokyo later this year for the Deaflympics 2025. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The referee's whistle is something millions of football players across the world instinctively recognise, signalling when to stop and restart play. However, for deaf players of the sport, their peripheral vision has to spot a flag the referee raises, alongside blowing their whistle, all while players have to focus on the game itself. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There are other in-game obstacles. Players cannot listen to shouts from fellow teammates with the ball and have to face multiple hurdles with the sport itself, including limited access to interpreters and specialist coaching. These are all challenges winger and deaf football player Christina Murray, from Kirkcaldy, has taken in her stride - and she will soon embrace playing on the sport's biggest stage. She first found out about about the Deaflympics during a seminar in Glasgow where deaf sporting athletes and coaches told her about Team GB and the international competition. The Deaflympics, first held in Paris in 1924, takes place every four years and is an international multi-sport event for deaf athletes. It is the second oldest international multi-sport event in the world. Ms Murray is the only one in her family who was born profoundly deaf. At the age of two, she had an operation to receive two cochlear implants. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The football fan, who recently turned 17, has been playing the sport for the past ten years and says it has helped her grow in confidence. After being selected during a trial south of the Border, the Auchmuty High School sixth year was told she will be making the trip to Tokyo in November to play for Team GB in the Deaflympics. Christina Murray was recently told she earned a place on the team heading to the Deaflympics. | Supplied 'My journey [playing football] has been good, although there's been a lot of challenges being a deaf player,' she told The Scotsman. 'Like not hearing players shout, the wind causing problems, players not understanding why I wore a helmet to protect my cochlear implants, finding it difficult to hear coaches' instructions. But I got there with the help of my teammates.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ms Murray started her football journey with Raith Rovers Girls FC when she was only seven. Then, when she was 14, Ms Murray had the opportunity to play for McDermid Ladies and moved to them a year later. Recently, she transferred to Glenrothes Strollers Ladies team in April. Murray 'said yes right away' when asked to join Team GB on Tokyo trip Ms Murray was only told that she would be competing for the women's football team at the Deaflympics last month. The trial was in Nottingham where she played a match against Long Eaton United FC Women - a non-deaf team. Make sure you keep up to date with news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. Ms Murray's team won 3-1 and she scored despite feeling nervous. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad She said: 'After the game, the coaches said I played well and asked me to join the team to go to Tokyo. I said yes right away. I felt shocked, happy and excited.' Christina Murray is preparing for the Deaflympics later this year. | Supplied Ms Murray said the Deaflympics were so important as the event allowed 'all of us deaf people to get together and do our sports'. Not only is she the only Scot on the team, but Ms Murray is also one of the youngest players. The youngest set to represent Team GB is 16 overall. In the future, Ms Murray said she would like to be a deaf football coach and hoped to also work with children. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I found being deaf hard when I was younger but realise I still have a talent which is my speed and my football' 'It is difficult being deaf as I miss a lot and I just want to be like everyone else,' she said. 'People find it difficult to understand me and I find it difficult to understand some people. 'I found it hard when younger, but realise I still have a talent, which is my speed and my football. Sports is good and everyone should try. 'I was helped at Disability Sports Fife and [coach] Pamela [Robson] encouraged me all the time. She coached and helped me with my special speed and gave me confidence.' To those who are deaf but want to know more about sports, Christina added: 'Be confident, join local sports clubs or even clubs like Disability Sports Fife and reach for the stars. I love it. I'm happy.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Christina as a child playing for Raith Rovers Girls FC. | Supplied Ms Murray lives at home with her parents, as well as sisters Morgan, 21, and Natalie, 18. She is the only one who has hearing loss in her family. Her father, Christian, said: 'Along with myself, my wife and girls are so proud of Christina. We have seen the challenges she has met in her life, especially with the social aspect. But to see her thrive on the football field is amazing.' Grandfather Eric is also the 'biggest fan come matchday' of the three girls, who have all played football in their lives. Christina, pictured when she was younger, also joined Disability Sport Fife in their running section. | Supplied Christian said: 'Christina spent years learning football and athletic techniques and to be told that Team GB wanted her to be part of the team was amazing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'All those years of being the parent, encouraging your daughter through the tough times, good times, the journeys every parent makes, [the Team GB selection] just made it all explode like a firework of happiness for her.' Unlike many Olympic athletes, deaf sport in the UK receives no government funding, which means every player must cover the full cost of attending the Deaflympics themselves. This led to Christian creating a fundraiser for Ms Murray's journey to the Deaflympics. 'The support we received as a family was phenomenal,' he said. 'Christina managed to break the £4,000 mark within three weeks. The support from family, friends and people we don't know was just brilliant.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Despite already reaching the goal, Christian is continuing to raise money through fundraisers for other athletes and coaches who have not yet met their £4,000 target. 'Every barrier she breaks down sends a powerful message to future deaf girls' He said: 'On the pitch, Christina can't rely on shouted instructions or hearing the referee's whistle. She adapts, communicates visually and gives her all every single time. 'Every match she plays and every barrier she breaks down sends a powerful message to future deaf girls - that they belong in sport too and they can dream big and proudly represent their country.'
ITV News
08-08-2025
- ITV News
Pembrokeshire athlete qualifies for international CrossFit tournament after MS diagnosis
Hannah Webster is an adaptive athlete and MS advocate who has qualified for the Adaptive CrossFit Games Finals in Las Vegas this September.
BBC News
03-08-2025
- BBC News
Harrogate father with MS takes on York 10k for charity
A quadriplegic man is taking on the York 10k on Sunday in a specially designed running Howell, from Harrogate, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021, three years after he first began to notice will be taking part in the race alongside his friends Sam Fugill and Jane Evans, who will push the chair, his son Jonah and a support group of more than 30 said he was "super excited" ahead of the race, having never done anything like it before. "It's going to be quite an emotional event for me because it's liberating, you spend a lot of time when you're disabled quite isolated," he said."You're on your own, you're in your own space, you get those days which are hard, monotonous and become quite dark on occasion, but I just keep trying to fight, keep positive and doing these kind of things helps keep you motivated. So I'm super excited."Mr Howell's wheelchair has been supplied by runner and fundraiser Stephan Couture, from Warwickshire, who first developed the chair for his daughter Chloe, who has cerebral the father and daughter have raised thousands of pounds for charity, taking part in marathons and runs from Barbados to Couture, who is currently working on his fourth running wheelchair, first heard about Mr Howell's need after running the Berlin Marathon for said: "Will was trying to get some help to do an event. So MS-UK rang me and said, could you help? I said, I can't promise anything, but I'll go and meet Will."So I went up to meet Will and his wife, Helen. I had a wonderful chat, had lunch with them, showed them the chair. And we came up with a plan and we think it'll work."Mr Couture is also running the York 10k alongside Mr Howell and his team. The chairs cost thousands of pounds and are created using frames from Canada, wheels from the US, seats and harnesses from the Midlands and brakes from Howell said Sam and Jane had never run with a wheelchair before, but luckily the York 10k course is flat and paved."They are absolute amateurs," he said. "Stephan came up and my wife got in the chair because I need hoisting, so he pushed my wife about 10m, nearly tipped her out running. So it's going to be quite funny."Sam and Jane are both fell runners. So they're fit people. But when it comes to the chair, there's a bit of an unknown."Mr Couture said the chair was designed to cope with extremes, and has even been up Ben Nevis and across a Norwegian frozen lake at -16 degrees."Chloe and I have done some crazy things," he said. "It's made a huge difference to Will to help him with the York 10k. He's really excited about it." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
