Sports Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Paralympian Sophia Warner of The Superhero Series Is Helping To Change Our World
Five years ago I created the Superhero Series, which is UK’s only disability mass participation sports series. It has a mission to create fun, full-throttle mass-participation sports events where people with disabilities — the ‘Superheroes’ — call the shots and don’t have to worry about cut-off times or equipment restrictions.
As a part of our series about sports stars who are making a social impact, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sophia Warner.
Sophia Warner is a Paralympian, sports series founder, marketing specialist and TV presenter. Having won gold in the World Championships she went on to represent Great Britain in the 2012 Paralympics, running a lifetime best in front of 80,000 people. After retiring from elite sport Sophia founded the Superhero Series, the UK’s only disability mass-participation sports series. The organization creates full-throttle sports events where people with disabilities — the ‘Superheroes’ — call the shots and don’t have to worry about cut-off times or equipment restrictions. Now in its fifth year, the now televised series holds multiple annual events and fittingly has Marvel as its headline sponsor. Sophia’s mission is to break down barriers to disability sport participation and introduce as many people as possible to the life-changing power of sport.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you share with us the backstory that led you to your career path in professional sports?
Paralympic sport is completely different from the mainstream and there was nothing cool about it back in the 80s. Whilst I was studying at university, I was spotted running a 10k in Brighton. Someone approached me and asked if I’d considered competing in disability sports and at that point it had never crossed my mind. I grew up and went to a mainstream school, had never met anybody else with a disability and I competed against my friends. I had a vision of what I thought it would be and it wasn’t something particularly attractive. I was curious though, so I traveled down to Don Valley Stadium to check it out and was absolutely blown away watching the athletes. I also realised that I was actually very good for somebody with cerebral palsy and as a massively competitive person it was an exciting prospect to have some people to beat! Within five years of starting, I got my first GB vest. I was initially invited to the amputee squad — which is hilarious because I clearly have all my limbs — but they were so phenomenal I saw them as amazing ‘bionic people’ and I kind of wanted to be one of them.
My parents had previously kept me away from anything labeled ‘disability’ deliberately, to try and mitigate any social challenges I’d have as it was such a taboo back then. When I told my dad that I wanted to go into disability sport, he didn’t get it at all — there was a sense of disapproval even. However, as soon as the sponsors started coming in and I was achieving he became my biggest fan. I think it was the 2012 London Paralympics that changed the perception from it being a ‘pat on the head’ sympathetic cause, to high-level competition. Up until then, people would ask me how fast I could run 100 meters and then say “wow that’s faster than me”, they didn’t understand that Paralympians are real athletes and I’ve been able to witness that entire journey.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career? What were the lessons or takeaways that you took out of that story?
I think the biggest lesson I learned was to say yes to everything. In the buildup to London, 2012 came so many different opportunities. I did some really fun stuff like making patties with (GB Olympic gold medalist) Duncan Goodhew, which was so funny because I can only use one hand. I was thinking “am I going to have to use my face, what do I do?”. I went to so many different functions, I met with schools for people with special needs all the way through to royalty. I learned that opportunities are there for people who take them and I think you can just get so much out of life if you just say yes.
What would you advise a young person who wants to emulate your success?
I think my advice would be more for parents. Integration is important for children, but it’s also important to find a platform that encourages them to embrace the idea that it’s okay to be different and allows them to be the best version of themselves. My parents fought so hard for me to beat my classmates in our cross country run and it just made me think “give me a break! I have one working leg and I’m already coming sixth”. I think if they had given me that stage earlier, I would have done even better in my career. I won numerous world championships and ultimately placed fourth in the Paralympics, but I had everything in me to have potentially won the Paralympics four years earlier had I been given the opportunity. Maybe there’s a natural element of denial with integration but gone too far it can almost be quite mean — let them be the best they can.
Is there a person that made a profound impact on your life? Can you share a story?
I can say honestly my main inspirations have been those I’ve met through the Superhero Series. Every single story I’ve read and participant I’ve met an event has impacted me in some way. Of course, I had my coaches who gave me a lot, but generally, I’m inspired by anyone who works hard to get to where they want to be. When I became a Paralympic star back in 2010 I always dreaded this question because I felt like I was supposed to have a famous figure lined up, but the truth is the everyday superhero is as inspiring as the famous ones.
I can easily say however the most starstruck I’ve ever been in a moment was when I was in a lift with David Hasselhoff at one of my then sponsor’s events. It was such a silly random occurrence that I was just dumbstruck and staring at him — it’s actually quite embarrassing! I’ve literally been in the room with every single royal family member, the Prime Minister and here I was unable to speak around ‘The Hoff’.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about what it is like being a professional sports player?
I think one myth is that that we sportspeople all have big personalities. When you’re a sprinter you do a lot of things by yourself, you race alone, you work on your cadence alone, it can all be quite introvert. All of a sudden you start to do well and people want to interview you, thinking you’ll be this fun, loud character. With me, they soon realised that I just wanted to talk about my diet and training. Sometimes people lose sight of what you actually do for a living and appreciation of what goes on behind the scenes for an elite athlete can be overlooked. Your whole life is your sport. It’s what you eat, how much you sleep, how much you drink. One myth specifically of being a Paralympic athlete is that there is any difference being a non-disabled athlete. Yes, some of the sports are different and you’re contending with different challenges — but an elite sportsperson is just that regardless of status.
Ok super. Let’s now move to the main part of our discussion. How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting causes you are working on right now?
Five years ago I created the Superhero Series, which is UK’s only disability mass participation sports series. It has a mission to create fun, full-throttle mass-participation sports events where people with disabilities — the ‘Superheroes’ — call the shots and don’t have to worry about cut-off times or equipment restrictions. It’s grown exponentially in the past few years and now we expect around 3000 entries for each event, which just keeps growing. Not everyone who has a disability wants to be a Paralympian. I wanted to create a sporting event where people with all kinds of disabilities feel part of a strong community and crucially, where they can feel confident, they’ll be part of the majority rather than the minority. Our cause is to make mass participation sport accessible to everybody.
What methods are you using to most effectively share your cause with the world?
Even though we’re in our fifth year I still consider the Superhero Series to be very much in its infancy. Our growth has largely been through word of mouth and very organic. When someone takes part in this affirming experience, they tell other people who get involved and I can say our return visitors are more or less 100%. It also opens a pathway where people who maybe have a family member with a disability can take part with them together and our participants share their stories and successes with us via social media, which has created a genuine community of supporting one another. We’ve also been very fortunate to have a number of celebrity ambassadors get involved as team captains and as the Superhero Series gains more attention our events have been televised on national UK television on Channel 4.
Can you share with us the story behind why you chose to take up this particular cause?
My biggest life experiences have been a sportsperson with a disability, a marketer for brands and a Commercial Director for the likes of British Athletics. This life experience led me to be frustrated by the fact that there’s no mass participation for people with disabilities at the grassroots level and that there’s no platform other than the Paralympics. Ultimately, I realised I could either complain about it or be the person to do something about it. There are so many people with disabilities who take part in sport every year and they don’t have anywhere to compete. This coupled with my own firsthand experiences taking part in mainstream mass participation events which can’t be fully accessible i.e. where I’ve of not being able to get my wetsuit off quickly or being overtaken by people dressed as bananas on a marathon — made me realise it doesn’t have to be this hard. If anything, it could be really fun and that’s what the Superhero Series is all about.
Can you share with us a story about a person who was impacted by your cause?
Absolutely everybody who takes part is impacted and I think it’s always quite interesting to see that it’s not just the person who takes part, but it’s their whole network and community. Sometimes it will be as simple as our sponsors like Disney and Marvel, whose colleagues take part that are impacted by feeling closer to the cause and that they’re purposeful with their involvement. I can think of multiple families whose lives have been turned upside down looking after a child and participating has given them some sort of focus and purpose, helping them get through a difficult period. There are of course the associated charities who benefit. We put through around 7000 people a year through our events now and those people, might not have the opportunity otherwise and that’s hugely rewarding.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- I think I wish that I knew how cold UK really was! When you’ve got to get up early and go to the track for training it is not easy. Some of the training days were so cold!
- I wish I had truly known how hard the journey ahead was going to be. I don’t think it would have changed anything but as I kept progressing it never stopped surprising me just how difficult it was and level of sacrifice needed. Things like missing out on weddings, being a bridesmaid organising hen-do’s (Bachelorette party for American readers) and never touching a drop of alcohol, monitoring your food. The thought that goes into every single process of your life for years is quite overwhelming. Having London 2012 as an end-goal really helped though as a focus point.
- I wish someone had told me that having two very young children and taking them to the Paralympics at the same time was a really stupid idea. I’m so used to being a person who ‘copes’ with things I assumed it would be alright and it was incredibly difficult. I had a three-year-old and a four-year-old and I would alternate taking one of them away with me warm-weather training. They would often be playing in sandpit space with a bucket and spade while I was on the track.
- I wish I had a one-liner ready for when I came fourth at the Paralympics. I ran a lifetime personal best, knowing I might come in fourth and I still had to contend with interviewers starting conversations with “Oh fourth place, the worst place to come!” on live television. I wish I had a smart quip, because I was actually quite elated with my performance which was to be celebrated.
- I wish there was a better understanding in the public about Paralympic sports classifications. I think that made my journey quite difficult because people didn’t understand what you were competing for. When you’re out there classified as a ‘T-35 Athlete’ they don’t really understand what you are and having professional conversations around that was difficult.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to take the Superhero Series to a different level and build something powerful for the community. Similar to how I think Pride is an amazing platform for the LGBTQA+ community where they can be themselves and feel powerful within society and still have a space for themselves. I would like the Superhero Series to not just be a sporting event, but a movement in itself. There’s a lot of people classified as disabled and yet we don’t form a very strong community where we stand up for one another in quite the same way. I believe people are stronger as a community. I think Pride and Black Lives Matter are good examples of being purposeful if the disabled community mobilised in the same way and they would be a force for positive change to be reckoned with.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you explain how that was relevant in your life?
One of my favorites is that ‘if you want a job doing, give it to a busy person. Maybe that’s my way of phrasing that I’m a control freak who likes taking care of all elements of my projects, but it’s essentially saying ‘if you want something done, you have to just do it. Five years ago I was complaining about the lack of mass participation sports events to take part in — then I decided to level the playing field and create one myself.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Politics, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
There are lots of amazing people in the world but actually, it would probably be my grandparents. They passed when I was really young and I wish that I had known them.
How can our readers follow you online?
For more information on the Superhero Series, you can visit our website www.superheroseries.co.uk. We’re also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you’re in the UK you can watch coverage of our summer event on August 21st Channel 4 and look out for our Winter challenge ‘Winter Wonderwheels’.
Thank you so much for your insights!
Sports Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Paralympian Sophia Warner of The Superhero Series Is… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.