McCOWAN Jamie

Classification
BC3 (worldboccia.com, 02 Aug 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (fittleworth.net, 31 Aug 2012)

Impairment Details
He was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy [DMD]. (fittleworth.net, 31 Aug 2012)

General
SIBLING RIVALRY
His brother Scott has also represented Great Britain in boccia and the brothers have competed together in pairs. However, they enjoy going up against each other in singles competition. "I don't think there is a better feeling than playing Scott. There is always the bragging rights on the drive back home for whoever wins. That even goes for weekly training - there is a battle to be champion every time. The British championships is probably the one where we play each other the most. We always want to win, no matter what. Even Monopoly is competitive with us going head-to-head." (bbc.co.uk, 10 Aug 2018; heraldscotland.com, 03 Sep 2016)

IMPAIRMENT
He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy [DMD] after his brother Scott was diagnosed with the condition. He says seeing his brother overcome challenges associated with the impairment helped him to do the same. "Scott was diagnosed first and with him being older than me, I was basically seeing beforehand what lay ahead. But in other ways I had an easier run at it because Scott steamrolled his way through all the different challenges, so when I hit them we already knew how to deal with them. There isn't a day where I've felt I'm not normal or I'm disabled. When it was time for me to use a wheelchair I thought, 'Okay, I'll just sit in this now'. I simply see myself as sitting down now. None of us know how long we have. It is not so much about the duration, but rather what you do in that time." (heraldscotland.com, 03 Sep 2016)