andy barrow

I’m happy to say that the pace of life has been slightly more relaxed since I returned from Canada. All that remained of GB’s domestic season was the National Championships at Stoke Mandeville. London players revert back to their league teams for this tournament so bragging rights were on the line between last year's winners, “Crusaders,” and this year's league winners and form team, “Storm”.

We arrived in Montreal a day after Hamilton and Button’s one-two in the F1, looking to pick up where they’d left off. Brutal heat courtside and a punishing schedule really ramped up the pressure on GB in their final warm up tournament before Worlds.

I had no idea what to expect as I travelled by Coach to the Hilton Hotel at London Bridge. All we had been told was that we were required to remain atcCamp over the weekend for a filming assignment. Working with the media isn’t uncommon for us as athletes and any publicity we can get is welcomed as it can only throw more light on our sport and us. The thing is, the press normally come to us and it’s all fairly standard stuff. They ask questions, we give answers, nobody is particularly controversial etc…

Summer finally seems to have arrived and Thursday 20th was my first chance to enjoy a day in the sun when I was invited to attend the Lloyds Rugby 7’s Tournament with “Chaucer” who are one of my sponsors. Chaucer were just one of forty teams competing (all subsidiaries of the Lloyd’s Group) at Richmond Rugby Club in West London.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff, GBWR rolled our their new “Powerplay” scheme for the second time. The concept is simple; take players of all ability levels from across the UK, divide them up into teams and play Rugby!

After the disappointment of missing the Bernd Best, I arrived in Rheinsberg with only one thing on my mind, winning the Europa Cup with London! This is Europe’s premier club tournament and London would be going for a record fifth title.

Usually I’d begin my entry by telling you what I’ve been up to since I last posted or by reporting on my games at the weekend. London’s latest trip into Europe was to the “Bernd Best” tournament in Cologne and on Thursday morning the team left bright and early… Without me!!!

Andy Barrow is a member of Great Britain's national team. Here, he blogs about his first tournament after a six weeks of training. Andy is allowing us to reprint his posts from the London 2012 site, which you can visit here: http://www.team-2012.com/athletes/andybarrow/blogs/49.aspx

GB's Andy Barrow looks back on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and looks ahead to London 2012.

GB's Andy Barrow discusses his training leading up to the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships.