Ep 027 - From Amputee to Mindset Athlete and Paralympian with James Roberts.

Today on The Best Version Of You show we are joined by Paralympian sensation James Roberts. James was born with a congenital disability called femoral dysplasia and a floating hip of the left leg as well as scoliosis of the spine. He grew up on a NATO base in S.H.A.P.E (Casteau), Belgium but now resides back in Prestatyn, North Wales. Currently he is an online training and nutrition coach by trade, but before he took up his passion for coaching he was an elite Paralympic athlete for just over a decade and has represented Great Britain at countless World Championships and 2 Paralympics Games (Beijing 2008 and London 2012) to just name a few. He started out his sporting career in swimming and was part of British Swimming's Potential Squad from 2003-05. During that time he held the SB8 200m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke national records. After great success in the GB swimming programme he moved on to rowing in 2006. The transition happened fairly quickly as he made his first senior international competition that summer at the 2006 World Championships in Dorney Lake, Great Britain and made the final finishing 6th. 2007 World Championships Semi-Finalist, 2008 Paralympic Finalist (5th) and 2009 World Championships Finalist (5th). If rowing wasn't enough he made another transition of sport, this time to sitting volleyball. From 2010 until 2012, he amassed 56 caps for Great Britain. His first international was a surprise selection to compete at the 2010 World Championships in Edmund, Oklahoma, USA. James was lucky enough that his time with the squad, to have competed for Great Britain at his only European Championships in his repertoire as well as a Continental and Intercontinental Cup.  Finally, his career calumniated at the London 2012 Paralympics were the GB sitting volleyball squad lost in the quarter-final to eventual silver medallist Iran. Today, James helps people all over the world with similar disabilities by coaching them online. He knows what it takes to build a strong character and a solid mindset to be the best version of himself. Something he spends his time doing to coach other people to do the same. I'm sure you'll agree, athletes and people like James, really are what makes Britain GREAT! ** If you enjoyed today's show please don't forget to leave it a 5* review on iTunes. It really does help the show reach so many more people the more positive reviews it gets, thank you! **