Retired Paralympian Mark Fosbrook has already played wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball and volleyball at elite international level.
And it looks like pickleball might be the next sport on the list.
He took up pickleball in an effort to improve his health after suffering serious illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially trying it with his family – and now by himself.
“I loved it and just became addicted and obsessed with it,” he tells Pickleball 52. “Whenever I go to pickleball, I forget all the worries, and I’ve just got that time to myself.”
Naturally, as a competitive person, he was always interested in pushing himself to improve his game, and had discussions with Pickleball England about developing adaptive pickleball for players with different types of impairment to be able to take part.
“I really believe that this sport is potentially one of the most inclusive and accessible sports that’s out there,” he says, adding that as a new governing body looking to grow and being driven by an inclusive ethos, Pickleball England has an opportunity to drive that undeveloped disability space and build a long-term plan to lead globally.
Mark signed up immediately for the Para Standing category in the 2025 English OPEN – as well as in the men’s doubles 3.0 35+ draw, where he partnered Daryl Bass.
He was hampered by a leg injury a couple of months before the tournament began, meaning he could not wear his prosthetics until two weeks out, but as he puts it: “As long as I can get some of my touch back, my fitness, my strength wouldn’t be there, but my competitive stubbornness would drag me through in one way or another!”
He picked up a silver medal in the para standing category at the English OPEN, missing out on gold by a points difference of six, and he hopes to keep on playing against and alongside non-disabled athletes, challenging their perceptions of what a disabled athlete can do. He was born with a condition called ectrodactylly, and has two fingers on each hand and no feet or ankles.
“Even playing at the OPEN, there were people that were unsure of how I could move because of my amputations, and then they’re trying to lob me, I’m running, I’m getting the ball, or they’ve dinked it over, and I’ve run forward and got it.
“One guy even said, ‘I was trying to look for your weakness and where I could play the ball, but you were getting everything back.’
“I think the joy of being a double amputee is it makes me balanced! There’s no one area that [it’s] harder to get to.”
The next tournament on his wish-list is likely to be somewhere in Telford – easily accessible from his home in Shropshire. He’d also like to find a coach and a consistent partner to compete in the doubles categories.
At the OPEN, he was in the para standing category with four Ukrainians who all played together regularly and did not speak English, which meant communication problems for him on court; in the men’s doubles, he met his partner shortly before their first match: “Looking back, if we’d have had time and we’d have played together, I think possibly three of the four games we could have definitely won.
“Getting a consistent partner, you then build that chemistry and that understanding, and it makes a hell of a difference.”
I am so glad we had just enough players for the para event at this year’s English OPEN. I hope that this event grows in size and that eventually, there are enough players for the event to be included in the English Nationals too. Well done Mark on entering multiple events Mark!