Pegasus Post: October 20, 2022

8 Thursday October 20 2022
Overcoming the hurdles to be a para
champion and teaching badminton
• By Natalie Pham
CARRIE WILSON has
made huge progress since a
catastrophic leg injury looked
set to wreck her badminton
career.
Eight years ago, she had an
“excruciating” pain in her back
while executing an overhead
badminton shot.
“It just went ‘crack, pop’ and I
passed out,” she said.
This left Wilson with a permanent
injury – a prolapsed
L4-5 disc in her spine which also
caused a paralysis in her lower
right leg.
The sudden loss of her leg
caused the 42-year-old to go
through a period of grief, but
it did not stop her from getting
back on court.
She then spent a year after that
to undergo three back surgeries
and another year in a pool learning
to walk again.
‘A lot of time I felt like giving
up. My friends said that
I’m strong but I don’t have
a choice. This is who I am
now.’
– Carrie Wilson
“Once I was able to walk, my
next goal was to get back to the
court,” Wilson said.
Next month, she is among two
New Zealand athletes who are
going to compete in the Badminton
World Federation Para Badminton
World Championships
in Tokyo, Japan.
“It’s quite daunting because
it’s my first world championship.
I also find that being the only
South Island para badminton
player quite challenging because
I can’t train with a squad or
anything,” she said.
While the disability is new for
her, badminton was not.
Her grandmother played it
back in the day, and so did her
mother and two older sisters. But
Wilson was the only one that
took badminton as far as she
had.
Wilson started playing for
Badminton Canterbury when
LOSS: The pain in her leg did not stop Carrie Wilson from getting back on court. She will
compete in the Badminton World Federation Para Badminton World Championships in Tokyo.
she was 12 and later got selected snapping.
in the senior division before the It was so painful that Wilson
injury.
asked doctors to amputate her
“It was the peroneal nerve that leg.
was squashed. They said that it “But they refused because they
might come back over 2 years,” can’t amputate a perfectly good
she said.
leg. There’s nothing wrong with
“I did rehab and really tried. I my leg, it’s just my brain.”
even did mirror work to trick my So Wilson trained herself to
brain. But two years went by and play with left-handed footwork,
no improvement.”
but she would immediately flip
When Wilson first came back as soon as the games began.
back after the injury, she went “My footwork flipped back because
I’ve been playing this sport
through a lot of pain and the
braces on her leg would keep for so many years,” she said.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Wilson (left, back row) won one gold and
two silvers in the 2022 Oceania Championships. Front row:
Travis Moffat, Marinda Jones, Eamon Wood. Back row:
Carrie Wilson, Oliver Linton, Michelle Au (coach).
PHOTO: BADMINTON NZ
After receiving a high-quality
foot drop brace through ACC,
Wilson decided to adapt a new
footwork which requires her
moving the non-injured leg
forward to get out of certain
positions.
However the new technique,
along with the medication
designed to slow the brain down
from sending signals, cause a
delay in her response time.
“I get frustrated on the court
because I know that I could do
take the shots and I know what it
supposed to feel like,” she said.
“When I put my leg behind
me, I don’t see or feel it so I have
to trust that it’s there and it’ll
catch me.”
The condition also affects
her ability to distinguish touch
sensation.
“You could stab my leg with a
knife and I wouldn’t feel a thing,
but if a feather touches it, I would
go through the roof because it’s
painful.”
Wilson also transitioned from
a full-time to relief teacher because
she does not know if she is
going to have a good or bad day.
“A lot of time I felt like giving
up. My friends said that I’m
strong but I don’t have a choice.
This is who I am now.”
Para badminton was not a
thing in New Zealand until she
got back from Mexico in 2019.
“I looked it up and saw it
on the official website. I then
checked if I was qualified and I
did.”
So Wilson started her training
and competed for the first
time as a para badminton player
in Oceania Para Badminton
Championships 2020, where she
snatched the gold medal for SL4
women’s singles.
Two months ago, she managed
to win SL3-SU5 mixed doubles
in the same tournament. Wilson
was also the runner-up in SL4
women’s singles and SL3-SU5
women’s doubles.
SL4, or standing lower, is for
players who have a lower limb
impairment. To participate in a
SL3-SU5 event, the classification
number of two players when
combined must be smaller than
eight.
But competitive tournament
like this also means an almost
sleepless night for Wilson.
“Because I can’t feel my leg and
I don’t know where it is in space,
it doesn’t hurt. But when I stop
playing, that’s when the nerves
start firing.
“It’s just a price that I pay
because badminton is my life.
It’s like my rehab for my mental
health and well-being.”
The athlete is now coaching
para badminton youth and
wheelchair development sessions
at Badminton Canterbury.
“It’s not an easy sport to pick
up when you have disability. So
it’s great seeing them going in
the court and the joy that they
have when they hit the shuttlecock.”
Wilson and para badminton
athlete Thomas Slade have received
more than $1300 through
their Givealittle page, which was
set up with a goal to raise $8000
to support the players and staff
travelling to Japan.
The team is scheduled to leave
on October 29.
• For more information,
visithttps://givealittle.co.nz/
cause/nz-para-badmintonto-world-champs
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