“THE BEST THING TO DO IS JUST COMMUNICATE”
Natasha lives with a life-threatening condition that puts her in hospital on average once every two weeks. Sweating, some foods, stress - all the things that pretty much come with being an athlete - can trigger an allergic reaction.
Using her experience, Natasha is focused on making gymnastics more inclusive.
“I’M ALLERGIC TO PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING”
Natasha lives with a condition called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS).
MCAS is a rare condition that sends Natasha into shock because of certain triggers. But sometimes she doesn’t even know what the trigger is.
"Similar to someone who has a nut allergy, my body does that with no trigger, or sometimes my body does that from smoke or perfume or stress or exercise"
MCAS also causes Natasha to lose the feeling in her hands and feet when she starts exercising. That means she can’t feel the gymnastics apparatus - the grip of the bar, or her feet on the beam.
That didn’t stop her from winning gold medals in every artistics gymnastics event of the 2022 British Championships.
Credit: Katie Foster/Notts Gymnastics Academy
“MY LIFE PLANS COMPLETELY CHANGED”
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Natasha thinks she was born with MCAS, but it didn’t really develop until she was 18, just when she was getting her university applications in.
“My life plans completely changed, everything I wanted to do, all my university applications postponed… unfortunately I’ve never been able to go back to that"
But she didn’t leave gymnastics behind, something she’s been doing since she was a little girl.
Now she trains at Notts Gymnastics Academy, Nottingham, with British Gymnastics.
“THE LARGER THE BARRIER, THE GREATER THE REWARD”
Natasha’s condition can make training pretty challenging. Last summer she had an episode that required her coach to give her CPR in the gym.
“That was a traumatic experience, but also I was frightened to go back into that corner of the gym. It’s little things like that you wouldn’t take into consideration as a mainstream athlete”
Credit: Natasha Coates
Natasha chatted us through the sort of adaptations she makes to help her train. Things like painting her toenails a bright colour to help her see her feet on the beam, wearing bright gloves using the metal bars.
“It presents a huge barrier to training - I don’t know any other gymnasts with this condition”
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“I’M NOT ASKING FOR MORE, I’M ASKING FOR THE SAME AS EVERYBODY ELSE”
Natasha posts on her Instagram (@natashacoatesgb) about how the gymnastics community can better support disabled athletes.
One of those is about access to facilities as an elite athlete - things like physios and doctors. At the moment Natasha is fully-self funded.
But it’s also about the grassroots level.
Only 18% gymnastics clubs in the UK offer disability classes. Natasha has recently partnered with @classforkidsuk for their campaign encouraging more clubs to change this.
“There’s a lot of adaptations, and sometimes that does come at a cost. But it’s so important for these people to have access to the things that able-bodied athletes do"
“DISABILITY ISN’T A BAD WORD”
Credit: @natashacoatesgb, @hellsbellsandmastcells
Follow Natasha on Instagram (@natashacoatesgb) for more information about MCAS and how to support disabled athletes.
“I know that every training session could be my last… so I don’t take it for granted and enjoy every moment”