Oct 03 2023 101 mins 1
John Willis was born without fully formed arms and legs and grew up in a time where there were no opportunities for someone like him to play sport.
In a bid to change this, John set up the charity Power2Inspire with the mission to provide opportunities for everyone to play sport together, regardless of their ability or disability.
To celebrate the charity’s 10 year anniversary John embarked on an 8 day, 108mile paddle down the river Thames, linking up with different paddling communities and partnering with different people along the way.
In this conversation we discuss what life was like for John growing up in a world where he had no disabled role models to inspire him on what could be possible.
Yet John is no stranger to challenging himself. He has completed a triathlon with abled bodies and celebrated not coming last. He once completed 50 1000 metre swims across 100 days whilst touring the UK and speaking in schools. And in the lead up to the Rio Olympics, he tried every single sport that the olympics feature.
To find out more about Power2Inspire please visit: https://www.power2inspire.org.uk/
Mentioned in the Conversation:
Jonnie Peacock: https://www.instagram.com/04jonpea/
Ellie Simmonds: https://www.instagram.com/elliesimmonds/
Tanni Grey-Thompson: http://www.tanni.co.uk/
John's Road to Rio Challenge Film: https://youtu.be/sP8zTmB96jA?si=jQY7ptdHyRZ2O9L2
Accessible Boating Thames: https://accessibleboatingthames.org/
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