Jack Linden and Ken Maloney have enjoyed spending the last decade with the Gravesend Dynamite Wheelchair Rugby League club

The Gravesend Dynamite Wheelchair Rugby League club is ten years old this month and has already helped players achieve their dreams.

Jack Linden, from Gravesend, was one of the first players to join and he believes founder Jason Owen deserves a medal for the time and effort he’s put in.

More: “I didn’t expect it to make such a difference.”

“Gravesend gave me a new lease of life,” said the 27-year-old, who is on the verge of an international call-up.

“I love playing the sport, when I don’t play I am a nightmare, I just want to play! That is the joy that Jason has given me from starting up a club.

“If anyone deserves a medal it is him, the amount of time he has committed to it, the amount of people who have been inspired by getting involved, the man just deserves a medal.”

Linden walks with a severe limp. Doctors said he might never walk again after having a large part of one of his hips removed following cancer treatment at the age of 11.

Six months in a wheelchair as a kid meant he had an advantage when he got a chance encounter to play the sport while at college. Watching on was Mr Owen, who had just started a club in Gravesend.

The club had just four chairs, eight people and one ball during their very first session, a decade ago.

Linden took up the offer and played.

He recalled: “Jason asked me to play for a new team. I have Asperger’s and I had to think about it but I went and I never turned back. He put a lot of faith in me.

“The Gravesend team has given me focus, after my cancer I wasn’t allowed to play sport, I was told I wouldn’t walk again. I am walking around but it is a stress relief for me.

“Jason has done so much for so many people who have come to Gravesend, given people another lease of life, some