11/06/2026
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Today, we want to give a HUGE shoutout to the incredible Hamish, and his coach Callum.
If you've been following us for some time then you'll know that we've previously been super proud to have been able to celebrate Callum's journey as thisabilitycoach at the Active Suffolk Awards. If you're not already following Callum's work then we highly recommend doing so - just search for 'thisabilitycoach' on Instagram! 😁
However, today we wanted to celebrate Hamish - one of Callum's incredible clients. And because nobody knows the journey to get to this monumental moment of feeling confident and able to stand for his sister's graduation than himself and Callum, here is their journey to get there, in their words.
"Hamish came to me with one thing on his mind: confidence. He didn't want his disability to define him. He'd heard enough of what he supposedly couldn't do, and he was done with it. He wanted to prove people wrong, but honestly, more than that, he wanted to prove it to himself. That he could do anything he set his mind to.
When I first met him, he couldn't stand up by himself.
That's not a starting point most people think about when they picture a fitness journey. We weren't talking about PBs or programmes. We were starting from scratch, relearning how to trust his body. Months of it. Walking. Standing. The stuff that gets taken for granted. Slow, unglamorous, necessary work.
It wasn't linear either. I want to be honest about that. There were really hard moments between us, failed attempts, setbacks that felt significant, days where the goal felt genuinely out of reach. But Hamish never used any of it as an excuse. He just came back. Every time. He worked harder.
That's not something you can give to someone as a coach. That's just who he is.
My approach with Hamish was always to empower him, never to remind him of his diagnosis. I never wanted him to walk into a session and feel like a patient. Every session was fun, different, engaging, challenging. We kept finding that boundary where success lives, that edge where it's hard enough to matter but achievable enough to build belief. We pushed it, together, every single time. With cerebral palsy it's never straightforward. You're not just training muscle, you're working with neurological patterns, finding what the body will allow on any given day, and celebrating the wins that don't always look like wins from the outside. But we found them. Every week we found them.
All of it, every rep, every session, every setback we climbed back from, was pointing toward one thing. We were working as hard as we could to get him ready to create a photo with his family for life. To stand at his sister's graduation.
When the day came and he stood tall with a smile on his face. He did it!
It is the greatest honour of this job, watching someone decide they're capable of something, then going and doing it. I feel so lucky to be in a position where I get to help people build memories like this. For Hamish and for everyone who loves him."
Now, if that's not a gorgeous piece of inspiration for a Tuesday then we don't know what is. Huge thank you to Hamish and Callum for allowing us to share in the joy of this incredible achievement (and congratulations to Hamish's sister too!) 🎉
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