Dave Phillips returned to archery in 2013 after a 30-year break and is one-step away from being selected to represent Team GB at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
The impact of multiple sclerosis on his body meant he took early retirement from his job as a steelworker.
“My wife was the one who said why ‘don’t you go back to archery? You used to enjoy doing that’. Little did she know it would then take me in a whole new direction.”
That chat with his wife Angie encouraged him to rejoin Llantaranam Archery Club who now train on the playing fields at Rougemont School.
Since then he has shot to the top of his sport with highlights including winning gold at the European Para Archery Championships in 2014 and being selected by the BBC in 2015 as ‘One To Watch’.
Now if he maintains his form at a final shoot in June he will be heading to Rio in the summer.
He lives in the house in Southville he was born in after buying it from his parents when it was too big for them.
He has two sons aged 22 and 28. In 2014 Dave and Angie started foster caring for Torfaen Council and are looking after two teenage girls.
Pippa Britton, Chair of Disability Sport Wales & former Paralympic Archer said: ‘Following his removal from the World Class programme we engaged Dave on our Academy programme to reinvigorate his training and passion for the sport. With the support of Sport Wales practitioners at the Welsh Institute of Sport we put together a focused training and competition programme, with the ultimate goal of securing his place at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.”
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