Disability Sports News - with PembrokeshireSport.co.uk

Alastair’s always ready to give sport a go

Alastair Armstrong hails from Goodwick and at 13 years of age has overcome serious heart problems and open heart surgery on a couple of occasions to be involved in a whole range of sporting activities which he undertakes with an enthusiasm that is quite infectious, to say the least.
“I’ve only got half a heart,”
is how Alastair explains his disability to his pals but he is anything but half-hearted in his approach to life in general now that advanced surgery has utilised his lungs to help overcome the fact that he was born with only two of his four heart chambers and could only go out in a buggy until he was six years old.
He is the son of Bernie Armstrong, the well-known Goodwick United manager, and his wife Karen, who have both had to make a conscious effort not to wrap him in cotton wool – and their total support has ensured that he has experienced a heap of sporting activities that at one stage would have seemed impossible.

Football is his

favourite sport

Ask Alastair about his favourite sport and the immediate answer would be football because he plays for Goodwick United Juniors and is an avid Chelsea fan. He started out kicking a ball in the garden with dad Bernie, and always went with mum Karen and older sister Kate to watch dad when he was playing at Phoenix Park.
Alastair started playing on the right side of midfield for Goodwick’s under11s and has continued into the under 13 team which reached the semi-final of the cup for their age group before losing 2-0 to Kilgetty at Clarbeston Road, and came fifth in the league table. He played in every match and loves to wear the No 10 shirt as Bernie did when he was a player.
Like dad he also supports Chelsea and has been to Stamford Bridge on a couple of occasions to see them beat both Middlesborough and Sunderland – and was thrilled to watch the Carling Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff when they beat Liverpool and his favourite player, John Terry, scored one of the goals. Not content with that little lot, he also likes going to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea to cheer the Swans on for home matches.

Canny cricketer and quad bike rider

Alastair plays cricket in the summer months for Fishguard and Goodwick under 13s with Russell Jones as the coach. He started last season and played a few games and is eager to start again now as someone who has taken a few wickets and enjoys batting and fielding. He recently played for the club’s second string when they were short on a Saturday afternoon and fielded well before blocking a few balls at the end to help secure a draw.
He has also tried his hand at golf with Kate at Newport Golf Club but has put that sport on the back burner for now since he doesn’t have enough time during the week because Alastair is also an adept quad biker and has his own mean machine which he uses on land provided by a family friend called Alan Phillips. Crash helmet, goggles, gloves, boots, protective clothing – Alastair’s got the lot and loves the feeling of speed as he is not afraid to test himself on difficult terrain.

Alastair loves fishing and water sports

Alastair has also followed Bernie into a love of fishing and he enjoys trying to catch mackerel off the breakwater in Goodwick when conditions are right. He has three rods, kit aplenty and goes out in his uncle Robert’s boat in the Haven, where his best fish caught so far is a 3.5lb bass which he presented to mum Karen with some pride because he says she and Bernie are brilliant parents – and when the mackerel are swarming the Armstrong’s have caught upwards of 200 in a session. Alastair shows his entrepreneurial skills at times like this because he readily admits that he enjoys topping and tailing them, expertly gutting them and selling them to delighted neighbours!
Fishing off the beach at night is another matter because he has to watch he doesn’t get too cold but he chuckles as he says how he solves that problem:
“I try and catch a fish, eat all the food and have a warm drink – then I go in the back of the car and sleep until dad is ready to come home!”
His affinity with the water is obvious because he also enjoys swimming, although he prefers going to the Fishguard Leisure Centre’s new pool than in the water, but he really enjoys a bit of surfing at local beaches. He was recently at Freshwater West beach and was delighted to see the Harry Potter set there.

Table tennis player –

and a rugby ref

Back indoors, Alastair plays table tennis at Fishguard Leisure centre where he is sometimes coached by Clive Kinsella and Bill Carne – and is improving all the time. He can beat most of the other youngsters who attend the regular Monday evening sessions but that doesn’t worry him at all because he is just delighted to be taking part.
Perhaps what sums up Alastair’s smashing attitude to life in general, and sport in particular, is the fact that he isn’t allowed to play rugby in school, but puts it this way,
“I’m not allowed to play in case I get injured but I don’t want to sit around so I help my teacher (Mr Emyr Hughes) to referee the games so I get involved in that way.”

Shining example

There is no doubt that talking to Alastair Armstrong is a shot in the arm because he is a shining example of the fact that sport can still be enjoyed with a disability to overcome. He never moans about what he can’t do but is enthusiastic about all he can do – and it is a pleasure and a humbling experience to meet a youngster who makes use of all he’s got and makes you forget he even has a disability. He might say he has only got half a heart but he is as big-hearted a youngster as they come in our county!