“The biggest barrier was myself” – Rachel Leck, finding confidence and GAPS
Rachel Leck is an athlete who is determined to succeed at everything she puts her mind to. As a younger athlete competing at the highest level of Para Athletics she has overcome confidence issues and found belief in her abilities.
Having attended a GAPS camp in 2024, Rachel found a renewed confidence and a drive to keep pushing for her goals.
Born in Jersey, nine and a half weeks premature, concerns around Rachel's development only emerged when her physical activity was compared to her younger brother.
“My mum realised at about the age of three when I was starting to walk that I wasn’t quite walking the same as my younger brother. She spoke to doctors about her concerns and they confirmed I had cerebral palsy.
“I had to wear leg braces to bed every night from as long as I could remember up to the age of 14.”
However, despite the diagnosis Rachel was an active youngster who embraced sport, participating in endurance running and playing tennis. Rachel continued to play a variety of sports throughout her university years including attending the gym and working with a personal trainer.
“I played U18 county level tennis and then was on my university team in 2014 before becoming ladies captain in my final year in 2017.
“After graduating I continued to go to the gym at home before reading a local advert in the paper looking for Olympic Weightlifters in 2018.
“That started a five-year Para Powerlifting journey before gradually transitioning to throwing events during COVID 2019.”
After five years of Para Powerlifting and classification challenges, Rachel made the shift towards Para discus throw where she was recommended by her CGA to attend Commonwealth Sport’s GAPS camp in 2024 to receive coaching on ambulatory throws to support her ambition to perform at the highest level in this discipline.
At the camp, and for the first time in her sporting career, Rachel felt the value of being part of a wider team and community. GAPS specifically encourages the athletes to speak out and share their stories. Often these shared experiences and their impacts, regardless of location and culture, can really resonate, providing newfound strength and unity around ambitions and personal drive to success.
“I learnt from this camp that they (the other athletes) are still the same as me, we all share the same passion for sport. We all deserve the same opportunity and anyone with a disability can do anything they want to do.”
The camp also provided Rachel with the opportunity to embark on some self-reflection, addressing how she approaches competition, how to be confident about her performance and what she can do to limit the impact of her self-doubt.
“The biggest barrier is myself. That’s what I learned at camp. I’ve just got to unpack everything a bit mentally so I don’t put too much pressure on performing well and just enjoy it.
“That’s the whole point of GAPS, it wasn’t about results. It was just connecting everybody together. And then actually you do better with everyone else around you egging you on.”
It was a single moment at the GAPS camp that stood out as a real turning point for Rachel. Given the chance to open up and share feelings of self-doubt to those who could empathise with her experiences, provided her with a renewed confidence to believe in her ability.
“I had a breakdown in front of another athlete and he was just there talking and making everything seem normal when it wasn’t. We’ve stayed in touch since, and I visited them last year, so that was very impactful.”.
Since then, Rachel has continued to balance her sporting aspirations with her career as an accountant, looking forward with confidence to LA 2028 following successful interviews and related training sessions.
Following a meeting with UK Futures, a Paralympic futures programme run by British Athletics, there is a genuine excitement that Rachel could medal at LA 2028 which is an exciting goal to focus on.
One of Rachel’s other goals coming out of the GAPS camp is to be a role model for young people looking to get involved in Athletics, particularly in Jersey and at national competition level. Working with younger athletes, Rachel has already begun to inspire the next generation.
“One of the younger athletes, in year 8 had to do a project for school about who inspires you. She came running up to me saying ‘I picked you, I picked you!’ which made me realise the impact I’ve had that you don’t always see.”
GAPS is a multi-stakeholder partnership programme developed for emerging athletes and coaches access to additional skills, knowledge and resources with the aim of advancing coaches education, removing barriers to participation, and supporting the development of inclusive sports pathways that promote positive social change in sport and local communities.
Watch Rachel's Journey Here...
As the charitable arm of Commonwealth Sport, since launching in 2020, Commonwealth Sport Foundation (CSF) has helped to equip aspiring and established athletes with the tools to build inclusive, equitable and sustainable futures by breaking down barriers in and beyond sport through programmes such as GAPS. Find out more about the CSF here
