INSPIRING MUSIC Captions by Pippa Jefferies and Richard Edmunds. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2014 SOMBRE MUSIC At the start, I didn't know if I could paddle in the boat or not. And then once I got in the boat, it was good. But I had to reteach myself how to paddle again. Instead of driving off two legs, you're just driving off one. You have to steer the boat differently. It was the biggest game of Scott Martlew's life. The Shirley Boys' High first 15 were playing the curtain-raiser for the Crusaders in Christchurch's AMI Stadium. At the beginning of the game, a maul collapsed. Scott received a blow to his thigh. He thought nothing of it and tried to run it off. I suffered a blow to my leg during the... during the game. CROWD CHEERS In the final moments, he scored his first try ` a try that would secure victory for his team. The only time I've ever played there, and scoring the try was pretty awesome. After the game, the pain in Scott's thigh suddenly got a lot worse. He was rushed to hospital. For a while, nobody knew what was happening. His thigh had become infected with necrotising faciitis through a 10cm tear in his muscle. This flesh-eating bacteria releases toxins that destroy skin and muscle. If untreated, it is usually fatal. Remember being on the ward, and I can remember my coaches coming up to see me, then it's just sort of a blur from there. CLOCK TICKS LOUDLY OMINOUS MUSIC So, it's not an easy diagnosis when something like this is going on in the leg. Some bacteria got into his blood and just slowly doing their work. POIGNANT MUSIC All of a sudden it got to the point where he was deteriorating quickly. Scott sat up, and he said, 'I can't beat this, Dad.' So, um... and his heart started beating, oh, around 170 beats a minute. And they decided they had to get him into the operating theatre and see what was happening. I knew it was life and death now. That's what we were talking. And I wondered if we were gonna see him alive. The doctors had to amputate Scott's leg to save his life. He was in a coma for almost a month. When he got to look for the first time, that's when he realised ` you know, he was sitting in a chair and looking down. And he was pretty devastated. We decided we had to dedicate all of our time to him to try to get him back right. Scott was in his final year at Shirley Boys' High. He had everything going for him. He was respected on and off the field ` demonstrated by the schoolmates that turned out to support him. ALL CHANT FIERCE HAKA REPORTER: 1000 Shirley High boys sending shivers down your spine. All in support of one of their mates, who only last week was in a coma. His mates braved the cold in honour of him and to fundraise for his rehabilitation. I can picture tears rolling down his face. Just overwhelming. And you can just feel that energy from everyone, and it's all there for Scott. And you just know, with the backing of mates like this, there's every chance he'll succeed. Most of my mates are out there. So, yeah, kind of miss it ` just the physical contact and the game in general. Just when you see all your mates out there playing, you want to get out there and help them, and... yeah. But... can't do that any more. COACH: Get back! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, when I was in the ward, my mates started coming up and seeing me. They, sort of, encouraged me to get back into it ` I'd still be able to do it. My mate gave me his outrigger paddle for the surf canoe when I was still in the hospital bed. And he wrote me a letter and said he wants to see me back in the boat, winning gold medals and stuff. He just wanted to get my dreams going. So I was looking at a paddle every day. It stayed in the room until I left. Just encouraged me to want to get back out and start paddling again. Right through his childhood, Scott had been a winner. He loved competing and was good at almost every sport he tried. All of these are my paddling medals from... goes from high school up to now. These are the secondary school champs waka ama medals we won. And then these are the medals from 2011. That's when I... when I lost my leg. It just made me realise that you've only got one life, and you've just got to do whatever you want to do in the time you've got. Basically I've just got to be careful when I get in the water, cos it's quite slippery. Get on the right-hand side of the boat. Just grab the cockpit; make sure it's balanced. And then sit down slowly. And then swing my leg up. He's sitting in there with one leg. You watch his knee in the boat. He balances with his toe, which is jammed between the rudder. And so he's using that to steer, but also using his leg to balance. Able-bodied people can use their feet for balance. It's quite... quite amazing what he does and how he can actually do it. Because he only has one leg, he starts the blade in the water on his leg side. Everyone else starts on their left side. So normally you generate enough force off that first stroke to really power the second stroke. But with Scott, we really want to maximise that first stroke, cos with the first stroke you can get the boat to jump. Leigh's definitely gone the extra mile to try and progress me as an athlete. Yeah, he does a lot of extra stuff, like gives up his time and that. So, yeah, really thankful for that. Do a sprint 500, and then we'll see how we go. Sweet. Sweet. OK? Just get down there real quick and spin around. That's what makes him quite special. You'll tell him something, he'll internalise it and come back two or three days later and say, 'Hey, you were talking about this. What did you mean about this?' Athletes are really selfish people, and they're totally focused on their own performance ` it's 'me, me, me'. 'I need to do this to get to a certain point.' Scott's different than that. He's... He's more about him and he's more about his mates and doing a good job. It's a hard thing to really put your finger on. The Rugby Foundation funded and bought it for me. It's a Nelo. It's, um, a Quatro 4. And, um, yeah, it comes from over in Europe. We're, like, applying for funding at the moment from different places. Basically we're trying to get funding for the next worlds. Basically up against everyone else in NZ, whether they have a disability or not. The whole community has got behind the effort to get Scott in a kayak and competing internationally. When he needed to get to training, the staff in the factory where his dad works raised the money for a car. Got this car given to me by Dad's work. They fundraised for it, got together the money and bought it for me, which was really good. And I appreciate it so much, cos, um, without a car, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Wouldn't be able to get to training or course or anything. But, yeah, it was really good of them. Scott never made it back for his final year of high school, but that hasn't stopped him getting an education. He's now at Christchurch polytech. Before the injury I wanted to just be a builder and start building, but now, since I've lost my leg, I can't do that. So I decided to do quantity surveying instead ` like, to see all the drawings of the buildings and get to measure the quantities; what's actually in the building. I still get to do, like, some site visits and that sort of stuff. Scott has had to get around on crutches for the last two years. But it's causing incredible strain on his wrists and shoulders. He's recently been given a prosthetic leg, but learning to use it isn't easy. This is my artificial leg. It's got an ankle joint, knee joint and a hip joint. Yeah, it's pretty high-tech. Well, it's got a belt that comes around your hip, and then... just joins on there. And then it's got a belt that comes over your shoulder as well to, like... that's how it stays on. So it's pretty snug on your hip. Crutches, it's, like, a lot quicker to get around. So prefer them at the moment. Scott has a twin brother, Michael, and an older brother, Luke. They've always been a sporty family. Pretty much just on the weekends I see my brothers more. But during the week I don't get to see them much ` or anyone, really. I just head out for training and then back home, pretty knackered. He's definitely had a very positive look on it all. Sport's just helped him push that further. They probably did... Like, to start off with they were more protective of me. It was hard, cos he was always around. He was always with me and Luke. Cos we did a lot of sport together. He was, yeah, in a coma for a month. So going in every day, not knowing what... what was gonna happen. The doctors didn't know what to expect, so they said to just take every minute. It was minute by minute, then it was hour by hour, day by day, sort of thing. Took a toll on them, I think. It was so good to have the support of, like, family and friends. The whole community just got up and lifted me up, pretty much. HORN HONKS Just kind of cool to hang out in a nice car and maybe go for a cruise. ALL SPEAK INDISTINCTLY, LAUGH That was Ben Short. That was Ben Short. Yeah, Ben. We look out for each other. We stick up for each other. We're pretty close. Always looking out for him, and he'll look out for us. Maybe fly a kite somewhere. Maybe fly a kite somewhere. Oh, might be busy up there. Only running on six cylinders at the moment. Only running on six cylinders at the moment. ALL CHUCKLE How's it been going? How's it been going? Yeah, not too bad. On top of training and studying, Scott has to find the energy to practise on his prosthetic leg. There's no muscular control, so the motion of the leg is completely down to the momentum of the pelvis. So, you can see that, as you take off with your foot, the leg is actually just driving itself. Yeah. And all you're doing is translating the pelvis, and the leg is doing its work underneath you, based on the momentum of the foot. Yeah. And getting` And you can see why that is really important to initiate that knee-bend. Yep. And it shouldn't buckle on you when you're standing. That's another important thing to know. So you put as much weight on you want on that, and it's not gonna... (CHUCKLES) The limb centre will hate me for doing that, going, 'Oh, the knee.' (CHUCKLES) And when you're sitting down, that little flick that you have to do to get the knee to bend. Yeah. Wee flick of the pelvis, and then you sit. This is, um, probably a hassle to use in the intermediate term, because it's less functional than the crutches have been, and, uh... But, given time, this is gonna offer advantages that using crutches doesn't. So that's the driver to want to learn. Yeah, well, just give my wrists a good break, if I'm off the crutches, using the... using the leg. The prosthetic rubs against Scott's skin, causing him discomfort. But he needs to learn to use a prosthetic to keep his wrists in the best shape for paddling. Well, what are we gonna start with? Well, what are we gonna start with? I've still got a bit of a sore wrist ` right wrist. On the right one? > On the right one? > Yeah. On the right one? > Yeah. Is the pain from your... > crutches at the moment? Or is it from the paddling? Or is it...? I think it's a bit of both. I get it when I'm paddling. And then, I guess, being on these all the time < will take its toll on them. < will take its toll on them. Yeah. All right. Shall we try and work off one of them today? Yeah. Yeah, we could do. So, let's just go for the weight shift, just for a start. See if you can get as tall as you` as tall as possible. Feet just a wee bit further apart. as tall as possible. Feet just a wee bit further apart. On the... Oh, yep. Yeah. Go shoulder-width, so even wider. You've got broader shoulders than that, Scott. Come on. You're a paddler. All right, up tall. OK. Out of 10, at the moment, in confidence in the leg, what would you rate yourself? Uh, probably,... about a five. A five? Yeah. That's good. And I just want you to give the ball a kick. Yep. Now, uh, heel down on the left leg as well, each step. Oh, yep. OK. Oh, yep. OK. Up tall. And try not to vault on your right foot. Good. That's better. Up tall. Looking ahead. Try looking in the mirror, actually. Try looking in the mirror, actually. Yep. Try and keep that heel down on the... on the right leg. Try and keep that heel down on the... on the right leg. Yep, on the right. Yep. Try it a bit more forcefully, and see whether you can get it bending even more. > Yeah, that's it. Just be confident. You're not gonna hurt the ball. > Yeah, that's it. Just be confident. You're not gonna hurt the ball. > Yep. (CHUCKLES) You can see the difficulty in getting the momentum through your hips, eh? Yep. Yep. And that's part of what we'll have to work on. < Get on to your crutches. Well, hopefully get off them. < Good. That's better. < Go for consistency. < Quite keen to use that metronome, just to get you in the habit of the timing. We'll start with, um, < 'one, two, three, four' gait. If you feel like you're going well with that, we'll see if we can progress to 'one, two, one, two'. And then, if you're feeling super confident, how about we try, uh, coming off one of the crutches? I'll just give you a minute to try and work it out. But think, 'Hand, foot, hand, foot.' Hand, foot. Hand, foot. Yeah, it just gets... Yeah, it just gets... So weight off that toe, so you can initiate the swing. Yep. Perfect. What do you think? What do you think? Yeah, it's all right. Yep. Looking straight ahead. Look at the wall. < Push off that toe. Perfect. < That's better. In the gym we're looking at just his strength work and what his one-rep max is, and then, also, what he can do over 60 seconds at a certain weight. And that will show us how strong he is. If you watch him when he's standing, he kind of leans and favours one side. The goal we have at the moment is straightening his body out. One side you can generate 100% force; on the other side you're lucky to generate 20%. So therefore you've got... we call it a super shoulder, because it does the work of his leg. Scott is the only professional para-canoeist in NZ. On the water we match him up with the other athletes in NZ teams, and we just make sure he's training at a similar level to they are. And we know, by doing time trials and then going to regattas and looking at the times in regattas, we can see if he's closing the gap. And that gives us a good indication of how his training's actually going. But what we're focusing on is just developing his aerobic base. So, normally, the fitter you are, the harder you work. Anyone can be really fast, but it's the people that can hang in there towards the end that will perform really well. That's one of the things we've been working on really hard with Scott ` that and his strength endurance. People don't understand paddling's all from your legs. He's got one leg, so he's working at 50% capacity, but keeping up with able-bodied athletes. The guys he trains with, some of them are ranked, sort of, sixth in the world. You can see him really hurting. Really really hurting. UPLIFTING MUSIC The training's just flying by at the moment. Yeah, just got to really make the most of every session. MOMENTOUS MUSIC As training pressure increases, so does Scott's workload at polytech. Two years into his diploma, he's expected to gain some site experience. We'll build a new hangar ` a hangar through here. It's about 4500m2. He's determined to give his all in every area. Let's have a quick look while we're out there. The contractor's put a variation through. We need to go out and measure it and make sure we're happy with what they're telling us and mark up a drawing on site. Yep. Sounds good. Yep. Sounds good. OK. Come in here, and we'll sign in. Scott won't tell anyone, but all of these movements are physically demanding on him. What we want to do today is count up a typical number in a bay, so we can record that, and get a height, just to check it on the drawings. just to check it on the drawings. Yep. All right. So, all you do is... You can see where the laser's pointing? Yep. Yep. You line that up with what you want to measure against. And just press the red button again. And so you'll find, when you're doing long distances like that, it can be quite hard to get it steady enough to get the dot where you want it. If you press it up against a bit of timber or something hard, you... you might find it steadies it a bit. or something hard, you... you might find it steadies it a bit. Yep. As I say, we'll get this off the drawings. That's not an issue. As I say, we'll get this off the drawings. That's not an issue. Yep. Sweet as. Pretty busy full-time. Some days I get away at 5.30 and then get home at 7.30. So, yeah, it's pretty full on. The NZ canoe sprint nationals are looming. Scott and his coach refine every area of his performance. He's starting to be a lot more responsible for his decision-making and a lot more responsible for his boat speed. And he's basically at the stage now where he's leaving no rock unturned to get a gold medal in Rio. So, looking at that, your bottom hand's good. Cos you start with the blade in the water. But what's happening is that top hand's too low. So your angle of attack... Bottom hand's good. See that? Bottom hand's good. See that? Yeah, yeah. But see the top hand's low? See the angle of the blade? The angle of attack? You can actually lift it up higher before you go. You need to start from higher up. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have known what to do. As I get more experience, I sort of know what to do in certain situations now. You see it? You see it? Yeah, yeah. Got the wobbles, eh? So your hands are like that. You need to have that top hand back by your ear. The nationals, at the Blue Lakes in Rotorua, is the major canoe sprint event in NZ. But, as Scott is the only para-canoeist in NZ, he has to race against able-bodied athletes ` many in the national team. When I switch into race mode, I just visualise what I'm gonna do in the race; how the race is gonna go. Yeah, well, the start, sort of, can make or break your race. So you want to get out as quickly as possible. Scott's ultimate goal is to qualify for the Paralympics. Kayaking is one of the two new sports premiering in Rio in 2016. It's pretty insane, like, to think that you train for four years, all for a 40-second race. Pretty rough conditions out there. The wind's up quite a bit. Makes it difficult to start. It's a tailwind. If you lose your balance, you can't transfer the power to the blade properly. Could mean you lose the race. It's really critical, cos it is his first race of the NZ summer. He's had an illness and a sore shoulder. So he's got all over that, and he's back to where he was at worlds` at this regatta, time-wise. So` So things are looking pretty good. Definitely is a little bit of added pressure, like, having everyone watching you. Try not to let that get to me, and just, sort of, do my own thing. SPECTATORS SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT Progression is` is huge. What he's doing now on the water is faster than what he was doing last year. And what he was doing last year was faster than the year before. He gets really pissed off when he gets beaten, and so, next time, he comes out and improves and improves. Just have to make sure, when you hit that 15- to 20-stroke mark, that you're at maximum length, power and rating. that you're at maximum length, power and rating. Yep. And then you've got to go again. If you don't, you'll end up dropping short and beating yourself. The times that he puts out now, as a para-canoeist, is comparative to able-bodied athletes. So he's amazing. A few guys in the NZ team. It's good to be around them and competing against the best in the country. Just want to get out there and beat people. My PB is 40 seconds. Pretty much today I just want to see if I can beat that. SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC You see, now, there's a lot more steely determination in the eyes. He knows the expectation. It's almost like he's gone up another level. He's a freak of nature. I don't know how to explain it ` the stuff that he does on the water; what makes him special. He's more accurate with his intensity. He's making wiser decisions around who he's paddling next to. Cos some guys can take off really quick, and if he gets a wash, it makes him more unstable, cos he's only got one leg, which puts him under pressure to perform. So he's making wiser decisions on the water, which will put him in a better position to perform on the water. DRAMATIC MUSIC Scott beats his personal best by half a second. His time of 39.45 puts him up with the best in the world. How are you feeling, Scott? Feeling warm? Yep. Yep. Do a few little builds and a few little short sprints. High Performance Sport NZ now see him as a serious contender for the Rio Paralympics. This year hopefully it will be a lot easier to get that money, funding and support. They'll be budgeting him for the world champs and all that sort of stuff as well. The average Kiwi probably wouldn't understand the fact that, you know, he's basically pulling himself inside out for one race in August to get on the podium. So, that old competitive Scotty again. The other option would be to do just a couple of stages on the VO2, which would be easy. But, again, your` your call. My ultimate goal is to win gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016. It's gonna take a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication to get there. PERCUSSIVE MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC Captions by Pippa Jefferies and Richard Edmunds. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2014