Annabelle Lamb: From the dry slopes of Norwich to gold in North Italy
Most people don’t think of mountains when they talk about Norfolk, but Annabelle Lambe has proved that you don’t need jagged peaks and high altitude to be on top of the world.
The 26-year-old from Norwich won gold for Great Britain at the Special Olympics’ Winter World Games in Turin, Italy, back in March. She beat athletes from across Europe and North America to finish first in her advanced giant slalom division.
At the end of the games, Annabelle returned to Norfolk with two medals – a gold and a bronze – and was greeted with a hero’s welcome and press coverage from the BBC and snowsports newsletter In The Snow.
Annabelle is a coach at Norfolk Ski Club and, in addition to her own skiing ability, is looking to improve her coaching to help those with similar needs in adaptive ski lessons – at the same club which helped her kickstart her own journey following an eye-opening holiday.
“I was on a family holiday when I found skiing,” Annabelle told spautism.com. “It was one sport I enjoyed doing because I felt free to go and be able to do it without any extra support.
“In my past, whenever I did things, I needed help and support, but this allowed me to be my independent self.
“It was something new, I really enjoyed it, and was good at it. I came back from the holiday to the club I’m at now, and that is when I started competing in the racing side.
“I also made friends; I have friends all over the country right now, so it has been a really unique experience.”
It was through the connections she made at the club that she stumbled across the Special Olympics, which supports more than five million people engaging in sports across the world.
“I was just skiing in my own time, and somebody I was working with mentioned the Special Olympics to my mum and the possibility of competing in that side of it, rather than the mainstream competitive competitions.
“So that’s when I started doing a bit more training and different races around the country.
“The Special Olympics is like a community. Everyone is welcomed no matter who you are; you can be someone who is really quiet and not talkative, and someone will come over and sit and talk to you. Everyone is chatty, and everyone supports one another.
“Before we go down for a first race, we stand up there with the girls in our order, and they usually say, ‘Good luck out there, girls! Do your best, just enjoy the day.’
“It is all different ages, too. Some people are under the age of 16, and some people are aged between 30 and 40. Just through skiing, I met one of my friends who lives in Surrey, who is just a year younger than me.
“We met five years ago at a nationals competition in Switzerland, and we clicked instantly. I wouldn’t have met her if it weren’t for the Special Olympics.”
After all that she has experienced in the sport, Annabelle sees coaching as a way of giving back.
“We have an adaptive session at my club for those who have physical and intellectual needs, and I used to ski with them, and I thought it would be nice to give back to the club and teach them.
“One of the instructors heard that I wanted to coach, so they took me in and helped me teach people, and then that’s when I got onto my Level One qualification. I had lots of help at the club; they were supporting me with structured lesson plans.
“The adaptive sessions are more one-to-one. Some are verbal, some are non-verbal, you can have people with autism who don’t like being touched or need more explaining around what to do; it’s finding out about the person and working to their needs.
“After you’ve done the first few lessons for people, you get into the habit of helping them every week.
“At first, I was super nervous because people are coming in and they are paying to learn how to ski and I’m the one teaching them, but after that I did get used to it and now I really enjoy it.
“It has shown me that I can do things. I can achieve quite amazing things with the right support, and it has shown that people enjoy the things that I teach.”
Her coaching achievements mark a full-circle journey for Annabelle who, since starting the sport as a 17-year-old, has made plenty of positive impressions on those around her – not just with her talent, but her warm personality.
“When I started, I was not a confident person, and I wasn’t speaking to many people. Now when I speak to people who come to the club, they tell me about how things have changed – how I have slowly started opening up, and that I’m a great person to be around.
“I’ve been around the Special Olympics since I was 18 or 19, and ever since then,
people have become more familiar with my name because I have been around so many places doing these competitions.
“It was surreal to win gold. I was really surprised with it, but also really proud because I was pushing myself hard.
“I was amazed by everyone’s ability to ski, so it was really nice to get down
to the bottom and see, not just my parents taking photos with a phone, but pretty much everyone with cameras, phones and microphones.
“I’ve had people at my club say that I’m an inspiration.”
