We caught up with our Club Wilber Ambassador, and York City Knights player, Will Jubb, on his recent graduation from the University of Hull for his PHD!

Congratulations on your recent graduation and receiving your Doctorate of Philosophy in Fisheries Studies. How long was your course? 

Thank you very much, it took me 4 and a half years to complete my phd.

In easy language, what was the course about?  

So I was looking at a conservation fish species called river lamprey. They are protected in the river Humber so I was looking at whether a historic fishery for them was sustainable, I.e., they can catch them to sell and still leave a lot of the population in the river to continue their lifecycle, and the impacts of all the weirs and barriers throughout the Humber catchment on their spawning migration.

What was your favourite part of the course/ best day? 

I really enjoyed every part of my studies but the fieldwork was always really fun. On one day the fisherman caught over 1 tonne of lamprey and we had to process all of them! It was like lamprey Armageddon there was that many of them, they were absolutely everywhere but they are really tough and we managed to sort through them all and re-release them into the river after putting little tags in them and moving them upstream of the weirs.

Being a student with a visual impairment, did you have any challenges in your education? Can you share an example and explain how you overcame them?

I was brought up to never let my eye hold me back from anything and this was the same here during my phd. I have always treated myself the same as everyone else and I hope that everyone else does the same with me as well. I would obviously just make sure I was extra careful when doing fieldwork or working around dangerous machines on the river banks by wearing protective glasses etc but I have always been able to overcome any challenges throughout my life which I definitely believe is down to my upbringing.

If any of our club Wilber members are currently struggling at school/ college, or dislike going,  what would your advice be?  

I would say that all the hard work that you put in now at school, college or wherever you are is 100% worth it. No one can ever take that piece of paper with your grades on away from you and putting in the effort now sets you up for your future successes. It allows you to enjoy whatever you want to do in life if you work hard now and believe me, it is the best feeling in the world. I wish all the club Wilber children and families all the best with their education and hope that you are able to take enjoyment from the hard work that you put in now which will reap rewards in the years to come.

Thank you for chatting to us Will!

Nigel Limb is a Wilberforce Trust Ambassador. Known as the Blind Bloke Racing, Nigel lost most of his sight in a motorbike racing accident and he rebuilt his life by getting back on his bike with a little help from his friends and in a safe and controlled environment. The crash was on Mablethorpe beach just after Christmas on 2015 and Nigel was airlifted to hospital where he wasn’t expected to live.

“I decided to have this film made because I wanted to have a short, sharp professional account of my life and I want to try and inspire other disabled people to challenge themselves on a regular basis whatever their goals and hopefully live a more fulfilled life.”

Abbie Robinson, our Ambassador who is a member of the GB Paraclimbing Team, shared with us how she was managing during lockdown, and how she was maintaining a routine and keeping up her training.  Her advice on how to get, and to stay motivated is great when applied to current times when things aren’t yet back to normal, but also useful when applied to normal day to day life and finding motivation.

“The world all seems a little surreal at the moment.  For most of us, many aspects of our lives have had to change, whether that be in our work, social life or living situation.  For me, as both a final year University student and a competitive athlete, I’m having to finish my studies and continue training from home with the uncertainty of whether any of our competition season will still go ahead.  We all have different ways of dealing with such uncertainty; so, I thought I’d share some of the steps I’m taking to stay positive, motivated and calm whilst doing my bit and staying at home.

I’m generally an incredibly busy person and I don’t often spend much time in the house – I probably put in more hours at the climbing gym than I do at home!  So, like many others around me, I’m having to compromise, create new routines and adjust to this new normal.  Whilst I won’t pretend this isn’t challenging (especially as someone who is very active and loves routine!), I can also recognise this is an ideal opportunity to reflect, slow down and work on forming some good habits.

Life can be incredibly stressful sometimes; we all move at 100mph and want everything done yesterday.  So, whilst we may not like it at first, this is the perfect opportunity for many of us to take a step back, breath, and practice a little self-care.  My approach to self-care so far has been to spend some more time with my family (whom I’ve rarely seen since starting University four years ago!) and to allow my body some much-needed respite from high-intensity training.  And, most importantly, lots of baking!

As an athlete for the GB Paraclimbing Team, I train most days and at a relatively high intensity; for those who’ve tried their hand at climbing, you’ll know it’s difficult to do that at a low intensity!  As I’m currently nursing a knee injury and some other little aches and pains, the current circumstances have provided me with a little forced rest and an opportunity to take a much-needed breather.  I’m hoping to use this time instead to reflect on what has and hasn’t worked for me over the last 6 months as I stepped up my training massively.  I think this opportunity to rest and reflect is really important for those who have stressful/busy jobs or, like me, try and get a thousand and one things done in a day.

That being said, I’m a big believer in staying active for the sake of your mental and physical well-being; even some light exercise is a great means of relieving stress or anxiety and increasing self-esteem and confidence.  For me, this takes the form of a daily walk and some daily yoga with the addition of some strength-based home workouts a few times a week in order to maintain strength for climbing.  I may not have a home climbing wall to train on, but I’ve got some weights, a pull-up bar and some other bits of gym equipment to keep me ticking away nicely and I’m certainly learning how to get creative with what I have lying around the house!  For finger strength, most climbers train using a fingerboard (we hang off slots of varying sizes, sometimes adding or taking away weight), which I also have set up at home and this is allowing me to maintain the strength in my fingers and forearms while I don’t have access to a climbing wall.

I’m lucky to live by the beach and can get out for a solid hours walk whilst maintaining good social distancing; I would recommend everyone, where possible, tries to get out each day (even if it’s just for 10 minutes!) to blow the cobwebs away and cure that cabin fever.  I also find yoga really relaxing; it encourages us to shift our focus onto our body and breathing, so it’s difficult to think about anything else!  Even 5-10 minutes a day can leave you feeling refreshed and much calmer.  There are some great free resources on YouTube that progress from beginner to total pro (I’m certainly not the latter!) and you really don’t need to be an expert to feel the benefit.  Just make sure you start off easy, it’s very easy to get put off by these things if you try something far too challenging to begin with.  So, I would encourage people to give it a go, but don’t put too many expectations on yourself!

Perhaps the most challenging part of the current circumstances for me is my change in routine; I’m not super regimented but we’re all creatures of habit, right?!  Typically, I wake up at the same time each day, eat similar meals at similar times and I train at the same times each week.  So, for me, a great way to relieve some stress and allow me to think more clearly when I’m training or studying is to create some simple routines at home.  This has included waking up at my usual time (mostly!), heading out for my walk at similar times each morning and planning our weekly menu with my family (this is particularly important as we are now only going to the supermarket once a week).  I also try and write down a few simple goals for the day or week; some of these are productivity related whilst others are more centered around my mental well-being that remind me to take care of myself and look at the big picture.  I try not to put too much pressure on myself to complete them all but ticking the odd one-off can be really motivating.  These loose routines have allowed me to maintain some form of structure, which is helping me stay motivated, maintain some normality and, most of all, keep track of what day it is!

It seems home workouts have become the new ‘in-thing’ and everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon, finding new and creative ways to replicate their training or gym session from home.  For the most part, I think it’s great to see so many people getting creative and managing to stay active from home.  It’s easy to come up with excuses or talk yourself out of staying active during tough times; so, I think this time will prove to many people, myself included, that they’re capable of more than they think when times are tough and resources are limited!  Whilst I see many people are setting themselves inspirational fitness goals, I personally don’t want to give myself too many expectations as it’s simply not the way I work best.  Sure, I’d like to get better at handstands and that’s certainly a little goal I have to keep me ticking away while I’m at home.  However, I’m certainly not putting too much pressure on myself to make any major gains while I’m out of my routine and in a challenging situation as I simply find that too pressurising.

Like I said earlier, I think the key to maintaining motivation and making progress is to start off easy, easier than you want to. Jumping in at the deep end can often lead to reduced motivation, risk of injury and a higher chance you’ll give up after the first two weeks (there’s a reason the gyms start clearing out by mid-January!).  So, in a nutshell, I think keeping active and setting some simple goals is a great way to stay positive throughout these circumstances; but, a sure way to success is to take it steady and keep it consistent!”

Follow Abbie on:
Instagram @abbie.paraclimbing
Facebook @Abbie.Paraclimbing

Music has always been a huge part of my life, there is not a day that goes by when I don’t listen to music. I’m always listening to the radio or blasting my favourite tunes. Lockdown hasn’t been any different, I’m pretty much having music on all day. There’s no doubt about it, music is one of the things that is helping me get through lockdown.

Whilst working from home, doing a bit of exercise or in need of motivation, music is one of the things getting me through these strange times, there’s always a playlist, album or song that fits my mood or something that I fancy putting on and having a good sing-along to.

I’ve had the radio on every day, as well as playing great tunes, it has also made me chuckle from time to time.

I’ve also been making the most of my Spotify subscription, this is something that I usually get my money’s worth out of anyway, but even more so during lockdown.

One of the things that I regularly use my Amazon Echo for is listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks, it has a great sound so is perfect for that sort of thing. I can tell Alexa to play any radio station or playlist and she’ll do it straight away.

What’s on my self-isolation soundtrack?

There are quite a few songs that I’ve been loving during lockdown and I thought I’d give you a bit of a glimpse into my self-isolation soundtrack.

The 30-day song challenge has been dominating social media and is keeping people entertained during lockdown and self-isolation.

The challenge invites people to share a song that comes to mind from specific prompts such as a song with a colour in the title, a song that you like with a number in the title, a song from the year you were born and so-on.

Both me and my friends are huge music lovers, so we decided to take part in the challenge (virtually of course), it has entertained us during lockdown.

We decided to create a playlist with each of the songs from the challenge, so this has been part of my lockdown soundtrack. It has rekindled my love for some of the tunes that I used to love when I was younger.

I think we’ve all needed a bit of motivation during self-isolation/lockdown. There are many songs that have helped me learn to love my disability over the years and these songs will always have a special place in my heart. These songs also give me motivation whenever I need it most.

I created a motivational songs playlist which I stick on whenever I need a bit of a pick me up. This playlist always brings back my determination.

Music is one of the things that inspires me the most, so the following songs have certainly been on my self-isolation soundtrack over the last few weeks. Here are just a few:

• Jessie J – Who You Are
• Shawn Mendes – In My Blood
• Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful
• Ed Sheeran – Save Myself
• JLS – Hold Me Down
• Ariana Grande – Breathin’
• Jessie J – Easy On Me
• Shawn Mendes – Never Be Alone
• The Script – Hall of Fame

There are also a few songs in the charts that I’m also loving at the moment:

• The Weekend – Blinding Lights
• Niall Horan – No Judgements
• Tame Impala – Lost In Yesterday
• Joel Corry – Lonely
• Lauv – Modern Loneliness
• Anne-Marie – Her

Sometimes, songs perfectly describe a current situation or sum up exactly how you’re feeling. There are a couple of songs that I think are a poignant reminder of these uncertain times. The first one is Run Through Walls by The Script, the lyrics in this song made me think of how we’re unable to see our loved ones at the moment but how we need to still be there for each other.

The second one is the Live Lounge Allstars – Times Like These. Radio 1 is famous for its live lounge where some of our favourite artists perform live, but as that can’t happen at the moment, artists from across the world have got together and done a cover of Times Like These by the Foo Fighters in order to raise money for Comic Relief and Children In Need, the money raised by this song goes towards helping people affected by the global pandemic.

It is a really special song that has helped to mark a strange, uncertain time that is affecting everyone.

That is just a bit of a glimpse into my self-isolation soundtrack.

Music is truly powerful, and it can help people in so many ways.

If you need something to listen to whilst in self-isolation, then why not make a playlist of your own or get together with your friends and family to make one?

What songs would be on your self-isolation soundtrack?