Sport: 7 a side Football
Home Town: Motherwell
Date Of Birth: 15/01/88
Paralympic Games attended: Beijing 2008, London 2012

London 2012 will be Jonathan’s second Paralympic Games, having led the team out at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games where Great Britain achieved a 9th place finish.

Jonathan first got involved in the sport six years ago at the 2006 CP European Championships in Dublin.  His proudest moment was being selected as Scotland and GB captain.

The most influential person in his life is his brother Nicki Paterson, who is a professional footballer in the United States.  Jonathan’s sporting hero is David Beckham.

Jonathan has SFA coaching badges at youth level 1-3 and also has an HNC and HND in Sports Coaching and Development.

Sport: Swimming
Home Town: Glasgow
Date Of Birth: 29/11/96
Training Base: REN 96
Coach: Andy Jackson

Andrew is Great Britain’s brightest young prospect in the lower classifications, having made his international debut as a 15-year old at the 2011 European Championships in Berlin.  He rose to the challenge in Germany, scooping two medals – bronze in the SM5 200m Individual Medley and silver in his favourite event, the S5 50m Butterfly.

With Paralympic qualification standards sky high for London 2012, Andrew was left with a task on his hands to secure the S5 50m Butterfly time, but after coming close at the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships, he ducked under the time at the second attempt at the British International in Sheffield, lowering the British record in the process.

After winning two medals on his international debut as a 15-year old at last year’s European Championships, Andrew was named Scottish Disability Sport Athlete Of The Year.

 

Sport: Boccia
Home Town: Dundonald, Ayrshire
Date Of Birth: 17/07/91
Coach: Julie Broadhead

Scott made his international debut at the 2009 European Championships in Porto, Portugal, where he finished in 17th place.

Scott won Scottish National titles in 2009, 2010, and 2011 and the Scottish Open Champion in 2008 and 2011 in Individual competition. At the 2011 World Cup in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he achieved 6th place.

Prior to 2012, Scott’s proudest achievement was winning the Cheshire Open, beating three world top 10 sides in the process, including the world no. 2 BC3 team from Portugal and the World Cup silver medallists from Belgium.  This was the first time that a British BC3 team had beaten Portugal, confirming the progress of the British BC3 athletes during a tournament where GB Boccia won a trophy in every single category.

Scott is currently studying psychology and sports studies at Stirling University.

“The Paralympic Games is the pinnacle of disability sport and to be honoured with the privilege and responsibility of representing ParalympicsGB and GB Boccia is an unbelievable feeling!” – Scott McCowan

Sport: Boccia
Home Town: Dundonald, Ayrshire
Date Of Birth: 30/01/64

Gary is a ramp assistant for his son Scott.  He is an integral part of the BC3 team as when on court he has responsibility to position the ramp and balls as directed by Scott in order for a successful shot to be executed.  Gary has no sight of the court as he sits with his back to the court throughout play.

London 2012 was the first occasion that ramp assistants in the Paralympics wereeligible for a medal.

Gary has been very heavily involved in the sport since his two sons started to play and perform. He has been a ramp assistant with Scott at European and World level competitions over the years and still manages to hold down a full time job.

Sport: Wheelchair rugby
Home Town: Glasgow
Date Of Birth: 13/10/82

Mike started competing in wheelchair rugby in 2002, when he began playing for a local club.

A lifelong rugby fan, Mike took to wheelchair rugby because it is a fast and aggressive full-contact sport. He made his debut for the British team at the 2006 Demolition Derby in Alabama, USA.

Mike greatly admires his ex-team-mates Steve Palmer and Jason Roberts, stating that he has learned a great deal from both players.

Mike is classified as a 1.5 player and now plays with the North East Bulls.

Sport: Judo
Home Town: Edinburgh
Date Of Birth: 22/08/85

Sam burst onto the international scene in 2007, competing at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia where he finished 5th.  Sam then went on to win a bronze for ParalympicsGB in Beijing 2008.

Sam is one of two sets of brothers currently competing in visually impaired judo, with his brother Joe also training with the squad and competing in his first Paralympic Games in London.  In 2010, Sam competed at the IBSA World Championships in Antalya, Turkey where he won a silver medal.

In 2011 Sam also won his first VI European title of his career at the IBSA VI European Championships in Crawley, UK, in the under-90kg category.

Sport: Sitting Volleyball
Home Town: Gillingham
Lives: Ashford, Kent
Date of Birth: 19/02/72

In 2009, Claire was spotted at a BPA Talent ID Day and quickly took to sitting volleyball, enjoying the fast, physical and dynamic aspects of the team sport.  She later made her debut for the women’s sitting volleyball team at the 2010 Kent International in a match against China and has now earned over 40 caps for Great Britain.  The team finished 6th in the 2012 WOVD Inter Continental Cup, Cairo, Egypt and 7th in the 2011 ECVD European Championships, Holland.

Outside of her sporting achievements, Claire graduated from Cambridge University in 2006 with a masters degree in criminology.  She now works in financial services as a Head of Corporate Responsibility. She can communicate in British Sign Language and German.  She also enjoys canoeing and spending time in the outdoors.

Claire has a spinal cord injury, with paralysis in her right leg below the knee. She is classified as a D athlete.  Her dominant position on the court is setter.

Sport
7 a side Football

Hometown
Tranent, East Lothian

Date Of Birth
11/08/86

Blair has been playing Football for over 18 years.

He was part of the Scottish team that finished 6th at the 2011 CPISRA World Championships in the Netherlands.  His most memorable moment on the pitch was scoring his first goal for Scotland against Canada.

Blair has a HND in Sports Coaching and Development from Telford College and currently works as a leisure assistant for East Lothian Council.

Sport
Swimming

Hometown
Edinburgh

Date Of Birth
30/04/90

Training Base
Manchester

Coach
Mick Massey

Sean burst on to the scene in time for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing where  – as an 18-year old rookie – he won S8 100m Backstroke bronze.  The following season he won his first British Championships title over MC 100m Backstroke then lifted three bronze medals (S8 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke) at his first European Championships in Reykjavik. In 2010, Sean won British Championships gold in the MC 100m Freestyle before representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, setting the S8 100m Freestyle British record of 1:00.77 to win silver.

Sean added to his medal collection with 34pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay bronze at the 2011 Europeans in Berlin before being selected for his second Paralympic team, having won MC 100m Freestyle gold at the 2012 British Gas Swimming Championships in London.

Sean insists he would be involved in another sport if he wasn’t a Paralympic swimmer – probably motor racing.

Sport
Archery

Hometown
Bo’ness, West Lothian

Date of Birth
17/10/61

Coach
Hazel Elliot / Tim Hazell

Murray has been shooting for over 20 years and trains with the Balbardie Archers.  He joined the GB Archery team in 2007 and represented Great Britain in high profile major events including the European and World Championships in 2009 and 2010. His first international selection was at Stoke Mandeville in 2007.  Murray’s influences in sport have been Scotland’s great Paralympians Jim Buchanan and Sandy Gregory plus Tanni Grey-Thompson from the sport of athletics.

Murray says he loves the buzz and excitement of competing and he describes selection to compete at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as the pinnacle of his sporting career.

Murray has been a member of the British Paralympic Team since 2007 and has represented Great Britain in high profile major events all over the world in his short international career to date.  These have included the European and World Championships in 2009 and 2010.  In 2011 he has won individual and team gold medals at the Stoke Mandeville International Invitation event and individual silver and team gold in the Czech Republic World Ranking event.  Apart from being totally committed to archery Murray is interested in art, music and IT.  Scotland has a history of producing international archers and Murray is one of the most recent in a long line of great sporting ambassadors.

One of Murray’s career highlights is his victory in the men’s Individual Recurve (Standing) at the 2011 Stoke Mandeville International Invitational when he beat the reigning World Champion to win gold.