Images courtesy of Team England and Bowls England
Sport creates emotions few other pastimes can rival and Team England’s Michelle White knows the true ‘transformative powers’ of her discipline – para lawn bowls.
To be clear, White is someone who has fought throughout her life.
As a child she was diagnosed with spina bifida - which impacts the spine - and told she it was unlikely she would be able to walk by the age of 16.
Over three decades later she is still walking, recently made her Commonwealth Games debut and, she adds with a smile, is “still being told to slow down!”
But six years ago she was in a “bad” place and there was a brief – but significant – period where she lost belief and her way after a marriage breakup.
“Going through a divorce, having to sell the house, my daughter had a few life-threatening illnesses and I was going through ill-health as well,” she recalls. “It was a really difficult time.”
Para Lawn Bowls gave her a new focus, renewed dreams and provided “literally a lifeline.”
“Bowls was something I could go and do for two and a half hours and be with people who didn’t know my situation and wouldn’t ask about it,” she tells the Women’s Sports Alliance (WSA). “It was good for my mindset to just get away and forget all.”
MY PARENTS FOUGHT FOR ME TO ATTEND A ‘NORMAL’ SCHOOL
Image from Team England
White enjoyed sport from an early age and “gave it everything” whenever an opportunity presented itself.
She laughs when recalling how an “attempt” at long jump saw her “just make the sand pit” but her “bum came down on the concrete.
“I’ve never been the type of person to think I’m disabled, I can’t do that,” she states. “I just wanted to do what everyone else was able to do.
“My parents were amazing, they fought to make sure I went to a normal school, some said I couldn’t (go) because I was disabled, but they argued there was nothing wrong with my brain, it’s just that my legs didn’t work properly.
“There were certain sports I couldn’t do, like hockey because getting hit in the legs, but there were sports some girls and boys couldn’t beat me at.
“I was very good at badminton, very good at gymnastics, and things like that so my disability has never held me back, just occasionally it slows me down.”
FROM THE COUCH TO THE COMMONWEALTHS
Image from Bowls England
As a youngster she and her parents used to play ten-pin bowling recreationally and it was White who suggested her mother and father should take-up lawn bowls as a hobby.
They loved it and were soon encouraging their daughter to join them to take her mind off the struggles she was enduring.
“They had lessons, bought the bowls, clothing and they said why don’t you give it a go,” White recalls.
“I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to do anything, but they wanted me to get out of the house. I went one evening and pretty much was hooked straight away.”
White made impressive progress and after earlier this summer made her Commonwealth Games debut for Team England in the Para Lawn Bowls team at Birmingham 2022.
SUFFERING – AND OVERCOMING – NERVE DAMAGE AHEAD OF THE GAMES
She very nearly missed the opportunity to compete though after suffering a serious injury at home while nursing her daughter who had undergone knee surgery.
“She couldn’t manage the stairs, so I was taking breakfast, lunch and dinner up to her,” recalls White. “While she was the shower I thought I’d take her breakfast and a glass down and I lost my footing four steps from the bottom.
“I threw the bowl and the glass to see if I could grab the handrail to break my fall, but unfortunately I missed the handrails and ended up landing on the bowl.
“It cut my elbow clean open to the bone and severed my ulnar nerve which controls your two small fingers so I literally lost half the feeling in my hand.
“I had to have tendons removed, nerves resituated and my elbow sown up, so I ended up having surgery on my wrist.”
White was warned she might not recover in time for the Commonwealth Games, but she had a useful skill to turn to – she is near ambidextrous and was able to swap her playing hand.
‘A STUBBORN SPORTSWOMAN = SUCCESSFUL SPORTSWOMAN’
Months of painstaking dedication to physiotherapy ensured she developed the strength in her weaker wrist to hold her supportive stick and that, combined with her “stubbornness” enabled her to compete in Birmingham.
There together with 74-year-old playing partner – and fellow Games debutant – Gill Platt they finished fourth, agonisingly missing out on bronze.
There was still incredible pride though in the achievement.
“It’s been quite a journey with my own personal issues, struggling with imposter syndrome at times and doubting myself,” admits White.
“We all (as a family) have been through such a tough time and I think for them (her two children) to see me have a life after everything that went wrong gives us all belief.
“Now I’m starting to think I’ve have earned this and I’m going to give this (sport) everything I’ve got – like I have done all of my life – commit completely.”