David Eng: Time to get the Games started

London 2012 has come around faster than expected, but it is time to show the world what we all can do. 29 Aug 2012

These games will helped us to get into the groove and get acclimatized to Europe before the big event.

Going through my Facebook page, I saw a picture that someone posted from London, and had to repost it.

It was a gigantic publicity ,illboard poster with the title saying “Thanks for the warmup (Talking about the Olympics), the Paralympic Games on Channel 4.”

I just loved that picture and I could not resist sharing it on my own Facebook page. So true, the London 2012 Paralympic Games are coming, with the Opening Ceremony being held on 29 August.

And they’re coming faster than expected.

I am so excited about the fact that these London Paralympic Games will be my third competing (in my opinion) in the most electrifying event of the Games, wheelchair basketball.

I really consider my teammates and myself very blessed to be able to experience this extraordinary moment. We are aiming to bring back a third gold medal to our beautiful country, Canada.

After winning back-to-back gold medals at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, we failed slightly to three-peat the gold medal performance in Beijing, instead bringing back silver. Since then, in the past four years, we went through a couple of upsets and lots of changes. These have been obstacles that have been enriching and helped our programme and team to grow and become an even better team.

It has been a very tough last couple of months involving lots of training, travelling, and competitions as the games have been getting closer and closer.

We went to Holland for the final stages of our preparation. We started with a little pre-tournament, playing the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany.

These games will helped us to get into the groove and get acclimatized to Europe before the big event.

We then travelled to Sheffield, England where we spent a few days training in their fabulous new sport facility - the home of England’s new Olympic gold medallist sweetheart Jessica Ennis.

We have been there earlier this year to train so we knew what to expect. It has been a really good place for us to get ready.

Now, we have joined the rest of the world in London’s Paralympic Village and are ready to start these games that we have been waiting for, for so long.

I can already feel the excitement in the air and know that these games will be the best Paralympic Games ever made. I will keep blogging my experience of theses games throughout the games so please come back and read other posts on my website www.davideng.ca. Till then, get ready to be excited and amazed. Don’t be sad that the Olympics are over. You have seen nothing yet. The London Paralympics are coming.