An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 12 | tHE REPoRt & PhotoS by PARALyMPICS IRELAND When I woke up from the coma I found it very hard to find a bright side – but it didn't stop me looking CQMS Seán Baldwin S eán baldwin is a talented shooter who competed for Ireland at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and has won a slot for his country in shooting for the Rio Paralympic Games 2016. his performance in the 50m Rifle Prone at London was one of his best, where he scored a new personal best. Since London he has continued to compete in European and World cham- pionships, and kicked off 2016 by taking part in the IPC Shooting World Cup which was held in the United Arab Emirates. On 4th July 2016, the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O'Donovan T.D., announced the Irish Paralympic Team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games that will take place from Septem- ber 7th to 18th. The team of 44 athletes will compete across nine different sports at the games in Rio. For thousands of sports lovers around the world, Seán Baldwin is truly living the dream. Not only is he passion- ate about his sport and dedicates hours of his days, weeks and months to it, but he also has had the honour of representing his country at numerous Para-Shooting World Cups and indeed, at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Now, with his hopes firmly set on rep- resenting Ireland at Rio 2016, the Kildare man talks to us about a life focused on targets – in more ways than one. For him, it's not just about shooting, it's not just about medals and it's not just about hard work and training. For him it's something more - it's 'More than sport'. Here's his story. "I am in the military now almost 31 years," the 48-year-old reflected. "Shooting is part of military skills and for a long time, I saw shooting as my job and not necessarily a sport. Soon after that, when I was about 34, I met my friend (and now coach) Ray Kane. He was giving a demonstration on Olympic Target Rifle Shooting and I fell in love with how technical it was and how precise everything has to be in order to shoot a perfect score. "Then, Liam Crawford introduced me to Paralympics Ireland in 2011, approximately eight years after the day that changed everything for me – November 27th 2003, the day I became an above-the-knee amputee. I lost my leg while I was serv- ing with the Irish Defence Forces and when I got to hospital after the accident, I remember being told lots of bad news – the first of this be- ing they told me I only had a few hours to live! I'm still here though! "After I woke up from an induced coma, I then realised how bad my injuries were - the most obvious of these was that l had lost my right leg from above the knee. When I realized what had happened to me, I found it very hard to find a bright side but that didn't stop me from looking. However, this was the day I remember lying in my bed and setting new goals for myself. These goals were: To be able to sit up in bed by myself. To be able to get into, and use, a wheelchair; To get out of a wheelchair and use crutches to get about – which took about six months to accomplish; To walk – which took another two months; To get back to work, and to get into sports. "It took me two years to be strong enough to take up shooting," he continued. "Now, I have lots more goals. I set goals and reset them all the time and that's why 'More Than " "

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