Forces Sport BFBS

‘I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life’ is how Luke Pollard described the crowds at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. They spurred him and Dave Ellis to win para triathlete gold in the summer as England celebrated an incredible home games. On the RAF’s elite athlete scheme, Luke has enjoyed plenty of success with Dave since they paired up together in 2019, but last year they suffered heartbreak at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo when the chain on their bike broke and they couldn’t finish the race. The Commonwealth Games gold has gone some way to making up for that but the pair, England and GB’s best, are determined to come back even stronger for Paris 2024. Luke talks to Forces Sport about the highs and the lows, the challenges and the triumphs, and the addictive nature of elite sport.  

How do professional rugby contracts work for serving military personnel? That's the question Forces Sport put to Chris Fowke, the Chief Operations Officer and Secretary of Army Rugby Union. The likes of Semesa Rokoduguni, who played at Bath Rugby for ten years and went on to represent England, paved the way for a growing number of men and women signing up to the big clubs, but it's generally done on an individual basis. Chris explains the development of the process and how it benefits the player, the armed forces, and the club they've signed for.

The Simpson Cup celebrated its tenth anniversary this year with a win for Team GB on US soil. A Ryder cup style tournament for injured, wounded and sick military veterans from the US and Great Britain, its creator John Simpson was a guest on Forces Sport in October last year. The competition continues to thrive and there were eleven new players involved this year at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.
 

Amelia Faulker is 18 years old and is already established as a pistol shooter for Great Britain. She started competing at only 13 years old and after leaving school she needed to make a decision about her future and how she could pursue her chosen sport whilst also making a life for herself…so she chose the Army. But basic training has been intense and, mixed with two years of a global pandemic, she feels her shooting has suffered. But come January she’ll be full time with the Troops for Target programme and aims to be back to her best for the Paris Olympics in 2024
 

Ali Booker started out in the police force, but her whole life interest in dietetics and nutrition soon bought about a change in career. After studying at university and qualifying as a dietitian she was looking for a way to combine all her passions when the opportunity came up to work, as an Army reserve, with the Defence Nutrition Advisory Service. She now works closely with MOD police and is also a PhD student researching shift work nutrition. In addition, she is an Army powerlifter and has been added to the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS). She wears many hats and she's passionate about all of them and this week, she talks to Forces Sport about how she fits it all in, how she wants to be actively involved in improving the way fitness and nutrition is implemented across the armed forces and, unbelievably, about a couple of new challenges on the horizon for this multi skilled individual. 

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have come to a close, and without doubt, every home nations athlete has credited the crowd support as being a large part of their success. That also rings true for the forces competitors representing their countries this summer, including medal winners Luke Pollard and Dave Ellis in para triathlon for England, and Scotland’s para powerlifter Micky Yule.