Once I’ve seen that the athletes are ready to go into the Paralympic Village, I can sit back, relax and watch the medals come rolling in. The words are Bev Collin’s, pronounced on a humoristic note and showing her dedication to her role as Lead nurse of preparation camp.
In this second part of our interview with Bev Collins, Clinical Nurse Lead at Wellspect UK and Lead nurse with the British Paralympics Association, Bev talks about expectations. To many of the participants, who have been training to become Paralympic athletes after having overcome huge difficulties, the delay of the games in Tokyo last year was yet another setback.
With the hope of combating the virus, expectations are rising again and the athletes are back to training regularly, resting and recovering adequately, doing everything they can to make sure that they’re best prepared.
As lead nurse of preparation camp, Bev tells us how she gets to know the athletes quite well, how many of them will open up and talk about their expectations. “You feel some affiliation with them when they do really, really well – and sometimes not as well as they had expected, which can be very difficult”, she says.
Here she shares her experience on how to get ready for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
What do you pack? What is it going to be like when you arrive in Tokyo?
