Balancing act for wheelchair sport international

The 16-year-old, from Halifax, achieved seven As, two Bs and a C in his GCSE exams this year.

Mark, who has cerebral palsy, has also enjoyed sporting success having played his way into the Great Britain under-22s wheelchair basketball team.

He made his debut for the young Great Britain side last year at the age of 15 and he is now setting his sights on making the full national team in time for the 2016 paralympics in Brazil.

The Bradford Grammar pupil also plans to stay in education at the school’s sixth form before going onto university.

Mark earned A grades in German, Spanish, English language, biology, chemistry, physics and maths. He is now planning to study Spanish, biology and ICT at A-level.

He said: “The results were probably a bit better than I expected. There was a lot of excitement at the school but I felt quite laid back.”

The grammar school’s timetable gives pupils a free afternoon on Wednesdays and Mark has used this to help catch up with his studies after trips away playing basketball for both his club and country. He made his debut in the UK super league this year and is one of the youngest players to make the grade for the Sheffield Steelers.

This summer he will be representing Scotland in the Celtic Cup, Sheffield Steelers in Canadian and Belgian tournaments, taking part in the UK school games in Leeds and keeping up with his training.

He said: “I travel to Sheffield once a week and then to the Great Britain training camp at Stoke Mandeville, in Buckinghamshire. I have probably been away four or five times this year.

“It is difficult balancing this with school but you have to learn to adapt. We get an afternoon off once a week and I use this to cram as much work in as I can.”

Mark has played wheelchair basketball since he was in primary school having found out about the sport through a demonstration at North Bridge Leisure Centre in Halifax.

He said: “I never would have imagined when I went along to this that it would lead to me playing for Great Britain in places like Milan.

“I watched a demonstration from somebody who was a double amputee and got into it from there. The person who did the demonstration is now my teammate at Sheffield Steelers.

“It took me a while to develop. I have cerebral palsy and as I got older and heavier I have needed the wheelchair full-time. I had never played sport before so my arms were quite weak to start with. I played for a team in Halifax for a while before deciding I wanted to move onto something bigger.”

Now he is setting his sights on becoming a full international. “2012 is too soon but I want to be there in 2016 when the paralympics take place in Rio de Janeiro.”