The Sport and Exercise Scientist Issue 27, Spring 2011 - BASES

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Life storiesSurviving a rocket attackParalympic hopeful Jon-Allan Butterworth tells his remarkable story of the human spirit and the power of sport.Rocket alleyIt’s the morning of 4 August, 2007. For 24 year old Jon-AllanButterworth, a weapons technician with the Royal Air Force, there isnothing unusual about the start of the day. As far as he is concerned,everything appears perfectly normal. To anyone else however it is afar from normal day, unless of course you are accustomed to wakingup each day on Basra Air Station in Iraq.Jon gets into the same transport vehicle that will take him to thesame area on the base with the same fellow technicians he alwaysworks with. Nobody is saying much as they travel the same routeto work, but then again it’s 6.30 in the morning and the vehicles areapproaching a road notorious for rocket attacks, still within the base.Rocket sirens begin to sound but this is still nothing unusual. Theydon’t call it “Rocket Alley” for nothing. Jon climbs out of the vehicle,clambers down an embankment to its lowest point and lies flat onthe dusty ground. Within seconds Jon can hear the eerie whistling ofincoming rockets as they screech overhead and explode 150 metresfrom his position in the dirt. Just when he thinks the attack is over,another whistling sound. But this one is different.The rocket pierces the ground 5 metres from where Jon is lying.Suddenly things are not so normal, even for Jon. He braces himselffor the blast, not realising that the rocket is literally directly underthe hard earth beneath him. In a split second Jon is lost in a thick,choking dust cloud but he feels no pain so he’s just thankful notto be hurt. He gets up to dust himself off but something isn’t right.A shard of shrapnel has ripped through the inside of Jon’s left arm,tearing out the flesh above the elbow and turning the dusty groundto red.Jon is disorientated and confused when he wakes to find himselfin the military base hospital. It takes a few moments for him torealise where he is and that his left arm has been amputated abovethe elbow. Five days later, having been stabilised he is flown back tothe UK where he would spend 10 days at the Selly Oaks hospital inBirmingham before moving to the Defence Medical RehabilitationCentre at Headley Court. For Jon, life was over despite still beingalive. He couldn’t help but think about those things we all take forgranted and that he would no longer be able to do.“Lost soul”The value of sport as a rehabilitation tool for severely injuredservice personnel was first realised following the Second World Warby Prof Sir Ludwig Guttman, a German doctor working at StokeMandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Understandingthe power of sport for ‘healing’ both body and mind, Guttmanstarted to organise sporting events for his patients. What began as arehabilitation exercise for wounded soldiers would eventually evolveinto one of the World’s largest multi-sport events – the ParalympicGames. It would also begin to touch the life of an unsuspecting RAFweapons technician who, like so many before him suffered lifethreateninginjury serving their Nation.Much like the early morning of 4 August 2007, there is nothingpeculiar about Jon’s sporting history, although you could describehim as being highly active. At school, he was the typical sporty kidwho played everything on offer including rugby, football and cricket.“Above average” but not exceptional is how Jon describes himself.Perhaps he is being modest but upon joining the RAF, he also tookup Thai boxing and fencing as well as regular visits to the gym. ForJon, losing an arm was not only going to be a significant challengefor daily activities but also for his active lifestyle. He remembers thefrustration and helplessness of not being able to do what he used to.To make matters worse, he would later be moved to an RAF “deskjob” and all the fun and excitement of his previous lifestyle cameto a shuddering halt. In his own words, he was a “lost soul” stuckbehind a desk.An opportunityJon’s introduction to Paralympic sport came at the end of 2007during his residential period at the Defence Medical RehabilitationCentre at Headley Court in Surrey. By this point Jon’s physicalinjuries were beginning to heal and he was already racking up thehours in the gym with the specialist rehabilitation staff. However themonotony of the same daily routine began to irritate Jon, so whenhe was given the opportunity to attend a Paralympic talent day beingheld by the British Paralympic Association, he jumped at the chance.It was here that I first met Jon and I clearly remember him - notbecause of his missing limb (this was perfectly normal given thenature of my role), but because of his efforts on the exercise bikeunder the scrutiny of British Cycling staff. I can recall their eyeslighting up as Jon cranked up the power. Having not seen much talentthat day, there was suddenly a buzz of excitement. For Jon however,the news that he might possess the raw physical ability to become apotential Paralympic athlete was far from inspiring. But why shouldit have been? The physical scars may have healed but Jon was stillbattling his “demons” and undergoing the difficult transition periodfrom traumatic injury to returning to an active life. Paralympic sport,which he still knew nothing about, was simply not a priority for him.It would be some time before he was ready.In March 2008, the Ministry of Defence established a programmeknown as “Battle Back”. Despite Guttman’s efforts, the use of sportin the rehabilitation of wounded service personnel seemed tohave been forgotten, but modern British Forces were once moreengaged in combat with inevitable consequences. The primary aimof Battle Back was therefore to improve and formalise the use of‘adventurous training’ and sport in the aftercare of wounded servicepersonnel in order to aid their return to an active life.Battling backFortunately for Jon, the establishment of the Battle Back programmemeant that he would once again be invited to a talent assessmentevent with British Cycling at the start of 2009. By this time Jon had8 The Sport and Exercise Scientist n Issue 27 n Spring 2011 n www.bases.org.uk
“For Jon, life was over despitestill being alive. He couldn’t helpbut think about those things weall take for granted and that hewould no longer be able to do.”adjusted to life with a disability, been inspired bythe 17 gold medals won by British cyclists at the2008 Paralympic Games and completed a 350mile charity bike ride in France. This time he wasready, producing a peak power of over 1,700 Wattswhich resulted in an invite to join the BritishParacycling Talent Team. Paralympic sport suddenlymeant something to Jon and with the supportand backing of Battle Back, he also made the bolddecision to relocate to Manchester and becomea full-time athlete. Initially this was a shock to thesystem, even for someone accustomed to life withthe RAF. It was also a frustrating time for Jon andhis coaches because his raw power on a static bikespoke for itself but reproducing this where it reallymatters on the track was a whole new challenge,particularly without an arm to provide stability andnot to mention the challenge of negotiating tightbends at high speed. A broken collar bone doesn’texactly boost one’s confidence either!Twelve months and another broken collarbone later, things are beginning to click for Jon. Athis first senior international event in May 2010, Joncame away with two silvers. In September 2010at the British National Tack Championships, Jonwon two National titles, obliterating the WorldRecord for the flying 200m time trial (11.105s)Above: Jon in action at the UCIDisability Cycling Grand Prix ofWales 2010Copyright Kelkelwords: Nik DiaperNik Diaper works for the English Institute ofSport as a Talent Identification Scientist. He is aBASES accredited sport and exercise scientist.The Sport and Exercise Scientist n Issue 27 n Spring 2011 n www.bases.org.ukin the process. Unfortunately for Jon the flying200m is not a Paralympic event, but it is surelyonly a matter of time before he finds the seventenths of a second he needs for the 1Km timetrial World Record, which is a Paralympic event.Unsurprisingly, Jon’s ultimate target is the London2012 Paralympic Games and though he is nostranger to challenge, he is fully aware that hisgreatest challenge is perhaps yet to come. Beingpart of a squad that is littered with multiple World,Olympic and Paralympic champions as well astraining alongside the likes of Sir Chris Hoy andVictoria Pendleton probably won’t do his chancesany harm either! And at the time of writing, Jon hasjust graduated from the British Cycling Talent Teamto the Paralympic Academy Programme.Jon’s life changed on the morning of 4 August2007, but perhaps not in the way you, Jon or Iwould initially have thought. Yes, he would giveanything to have slept through his alarm thatmorning, but he can look back now and realise thatin an extraordinarily bizarre way, he has been giventhe opportunity to once more serve his Country.Some might call it fate but perhaps we shouldwait until 2012 to use that word. Either way, theremarkable power of the human spirit and thesheer magic of sport are plain for all to see.9
Page 2: The University of Essex Presents:BA
Page 11 and 12: Postgraduate Opportunities at the U
Page 13 and 14: Meet our expertsDr Ken van Someren
Page 15 and 16: MSc in Applied Sport ScienceThe MSc
Page 17 and 18: CommentBy Dr Joanne Thatcher,Aberys
Page 20 and 21: BooksACSM’s Exercise is MedicineJ
Page 22 and 23: Case studySports science support fo
Page 24 and 25: Supervised experienced diaryThe sup
Page 26 and 27: Diary datesMarch 201118 BASES Works
Page 28: Exciting new productsfrom CranleaTe

The Sport and Exercise Scientist Issue 27, Spring 2011 - BASES

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