If you have read these news pages for a while you may have been following the journey of 67 year old Milford on Sea para-athlete Simon Heaps, and this week is the anniversary of him losing his second leg.
Rather than focus on the negative changes in his life, he has concentrated on his passion of playing table tennis and become a highly-ranked international para-athlete.
Radio Solent will be interviewing Simon in the Life Stories segment on the Rebecca Parker show in the near future. (This was due to be on Sunday 8th January, but has been delayed.)
He is also doing a TV shoot and interview with Lewis Coombes from BBC South on 12th January. This will be broadcast at a not yet known later date.
Having recently lost funding from two charities, Simon is looking for corporate or personal support to fund his 2023 season. If you would like to get involved his contact details are at the foot of this page. Simon has currently raised £11,720 of his £20,000 target. To find out more, or to donate, please click here.
About Simon Heaps
Simon was born in 1955 and lives in Milford on Sea. In 2019 he lost his lower right leg due to long-term Type 1 Diabetes that he has had since 13 years of age. In 2022 his left leg was also amputated.
Always an accomplished table tennis player, he has now focussed his life on becoming a successful international para-athlete.
Simon has gone on become a key player in the Great Britain Para Table Tennis Team (Class 5). He started 2022 as the Great Britain No 3 and was World Ranked 46 in his Class.
March 2022: Playing in the German Bundesliga season he helped his Hamburg Club to remain top of the table along with achieving a 100% playing record, just 8 weeks after becoming a bilateral amputee.
March 2022: Playing at an International Para Tournaments in Egypt he beat the Great Britain No.2 player, only to lose out in the quarter finals to a highly ranked Egyptian para-athlete.
April 2022: Simon maintained his unbeaten season, winning 28 out of 28 matches in the German Bundesliga. He also beat a Tokyo Bronze Medallist in front of the TV cameras as Hamburg sealed the German Bundesliga Championship Trophy.
At this point Simon had not won a Medal in any International Para Tournaments in his brief para-career. How this was about to change.
May 2022: Saw Simon get to the quarter finals in the Singles at the Jordan Para Open and win the Bronze Medal in the Mens Doubles.
June 2022: He won Silver in Singles and Gold in Mixed Doubles at the Mexican Para Open in Cancun. At the following Para Wheelchair Championship in Rimini, Italy he won a Gold Medal and was crowned European Veterans (over 40’s) Champion. On his return to the UK, he went straight from Stansted to Heathrow in order to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he won Silver in the Singles.
July 2022: In a tournament in Thailand, Simon had match point against the World Ranked No 10 but was unable to convert the opportunity into a win. This was to be the only tournament since Jordan and to the end of the season where he failed to win a Medal.
September 2022: Simon won the Bronze Medal in Greece, losing a very close match with the World Ranked No 8. Back at a Great Britain tournament he progressed until losing to the World Ranked No 4 in the semi final.
October 2022: He played in Sao Paulo, Brazil where he gained another Bronze Medal in Singles and a Bronze in the Mens Doubles. The last tournament of the season saw him compete in the Copa Costa Rica Para Open in San Jose, California where he won another Silver in Singles and won Gold in the Mens Doubles.
A fantastic run since May winning 3 Golds, 3 Silvers and 4 Bronzes.
All of Simon's appearances for Great Britain are on a self funding basis including buying his Great Britain kit. Participating in international competitions throughout 2022 cost approaching £20,000.
Currently Simon does not have a corporate sponsor and has to rely solely on his own fundraising that includes charitable donations, raffles and draws, small sponsorship agreements and donations.
The 2023 season recommences in February and he has just about enough funds to compete in the first couple of events on the Para circuit, namely Egypt and Spain.
2023 could be massive year, if he has the funds to compete. The European Para Table Tennis Championships are being held in Sheffield in September and the IWAS (International Wheelchair Amputee Sports Federation) World Games are being held in Thailand in December.
As the current 12th highest ranked player in Europe, he is hopeful of being selected by Great Britain in Sheffield and would look to be one of the favourites to be crowned World Champion at the IWAS World Games in Thailand. None of this may be possible without additional funding.
If you can help to support Simon in any way, please contact him below.
To find out more, or to donate, please click here.
07710 354640
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