Month: December 2016

09/12/2016

2016 Events Round-Up

2016 has been another exciting year for the SDS Events Calendar. The year was brought to an exciting close with the two National Junior Swimming Championships in November which featured many record-breaking performances from Beth Johnston (Borders), Oliver Carter (Fife), the McCulloch brothers (West), Tammy Neef (Highland), Jack Milne (Dundee) and Rhys Handleigh (Dumfries & Galloway) to name a few.

An Inter-Regional Wheelchair Basketball event was introduced in partnership with Basketball Scotland along with a new National Indoor Bowls Championships – which ensures all formats of bowls are now covered in the competition calendar. The successful continuation of events introduced in 2015 including the ‘Come & Triathlon’ event – run in partnership with Triathlon Scotland – the Bowls Scotland National Championships & Inter-Area Bowls Championships.

The competition opportunities for Boccia has strengthened considerably with a comprehensive calendar of local and regional events in place now which serves to ensure a stronger representation at the national events. SDS are to host a three-day Scottish Open event at Inverclyde in October. This event will feature competitors from all over the world competing in individuals, pairs and teams format and is the first of its kind in Scotland.

Our partnerships with Scottish Athletics and the Scottish Football Association continue to flourish with significant numbers attending the national competitions.

Badaguish was the venue for the second year in a row for the SDS Summer Camp. We will be returning to the all-new Inverclyde Centre for the 2017 edition on 5-7 July.

A very successful Branch Conference was held in Stirling on the same day as the AGM in a new trial format in 2016. This is set to continue in 2017 after a favourable reception from attendees.

2017 will see another new addition to the calendar in the shape of a new Badminton event in partnership with Lothian Disability Badminton Club.

2016 was a great year for the competitions calendar with even more to come in 2017, lots to look forward to! SDS would like to thank all our many sponsors and partners for their support in 2016.

09/12/2016

Deaf-Friendly Family Pool Party

Come and join the fun at Cumbernauld pool with floats, toys and some fun swimming races! You will also have the chance to meet deaf role models.

This is an exciting opportunity for families and deaf swimmers to meet, share, have fun and get information on swimming in your area.

Tryst Sports Centre, Cumbernauld, G67 1EW
Sunday 15 January 2017
2:30pm – 4:00pm
Parents/carers must be in the water with under 8’s and present throughout with 8+
FREE!

All families with deaf children are welcome.

North Lanarkshire Leisure pool admission ratios apply:
under 4 years   – 1 adult per child
4 – 7 years         – 1 adult per 2 children
8 years +          – 1 adult on site

To find out more or to book your family in, please contact:
Eleanor Connelly, Swimming Development Officer
0141 354 7850

http://bit.ly/DFSeventgala
swimming@ndcs.org.uk

08/12/2016

2016 – 8 December

SDS & sportscotland joint young persons Sport Panel meeting

Thursday 8 December 2016

Meeting Minutes

In attendance: Jennifer Livingstone, Colette Martin, Caitlyn Ross, Callum Sloan, Gemma Lumsdaine, Hope Gordon, Lewis McConnell, Michelle Livingston, Rhys McCole, Alex Ball, Chey Carrigan, Liam Luporini

Apologies: Danielle Joyce, Mitchell Graham, Alan Gray, Shelby Watson, Stefan Hoggan, Ross Foley, Daniel Phillips, Nicole Currie

Overview

This meeting consisted of the SDS young persons sport panel and 3 members from sportscotlands young persons sport panel. The joint meeting was initiated by members of sportscotland panel noting an interest in disability sport. As a starting point both panels were sent the learning note from the Equality in Sport in Scotland paper (2015) and asked to read it and consider the following questions:

Thoughts on the paper?
Own experiences in relation to participation in sport/accessibility?
What are the main barriers?
What do you think the biggest difference would be in some areas?
What could you do as a group to improve some of the issues and remove barriers?

Panel updates

All panel members individually introduced themselves, giving a little bit of background on their involvement in sport before an overview was given on both panels main aims, members and key outcomes achieved so far.

Both panels agreed the joint group aims would be:

To raise awareness in sport in general
To have more people with disabilities participating in sport
Be a voice for young people in sport

Discussion questions feedback

A photo of the flipchart paper feedback is attached to gain full feedback. From the discussion, the groups were asked to decide on two main areas to work on together moving forward:

Education and Knowledge
School visits

The groups felt going into schools and delivering presentations to teaching staff/pupils would help increase awareness of the opportunities available to participate in sport. This could include promoting the UK DIT course and encouraging teachers/senior pupils to attend. Although SDS already deliver a senior pupils course and a UK DIT to teachers, the panel members would like to go through the course to learn and suggest changes (if any) to make it more appealing to young people. JL to arrange for HL to come to the next meeting in March. JL has sent ML suggested dates and will confirm to all panel members when it is confirmed.

Alex from sportscotland panel is going to ask his school PE teachers at Linlithgow Academy what they do for pupils with a disability. The panels agreed that they would like to design a questionnaire to give to schools. Both panels have to think of example questions to go into the questionnaire and sent to JL and ML by the end of January.

Previous notes outstanding (for SDS panel only)

National Events

Please see the events you have signed up for below. The 2017 events calendar will be circulated early January. Please let JL know if you would like to volunteer at any or help with the organisation of the event

Event

Date

Time

Venue

Name of YPSP member helping

Staff member to contact if cannot attend

Disability Badminton Championships

Saturday 28 January 2017

9.00am – 5.00pm

Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh

Ross Foley

Alan Gray

Mark Gaffney (mark.gaffney@scottishdisabilitysport.com/07966388957

Jen Livingstone

Website articles

The panel members were reminded to submit their website articles when it is their month to do so (table below). Thank you to those who have already submitted articles, they are proving to be big hits on the SDS website and Facebook page

Month	Name
December 2016	Mitchel Graham
January 2017	Ross Foley
February 2017	Stefan Hoggan

Expenses

YPSP members can claim volunteer expenses (JL has send the form to all members) for travel to meetings and for volunteering at events. Members can claim 30p per mile. Please send completed forms to JL as soon after the meeting/event as possible.

Branch Meetings

Panel members agreed to attend branch meetings. Jen and Mark to circulate dates for each branch early 2017

Branch	YPSP member to attend the meetings
Angus	Gemma Lumsdaine
Ayrshire Sportsability	Danielle Joyce
Dumfries & Galloway	Shelby Watson
Fife	Callum Sloan/Stefan Hoggan
Forth Valley	Caitlin Ross/Mitchell Graham
Grampian	Stefan Hoggan (potentially to come to meetings with JL?)
Highland	Hope Gordon
Lothian	Ross Foley/Alan Gray

Roles and responsibilities for the panel

Role	Name
Co Leaders	Stefan Hoggan Hope Gordon Alan Gray
Secretary	Alan Gray
Fundraising	Caitlin Ross Ross Foley
Media	Callum Sloan Shelby Watson Gemma Lumsdaine Lewis McConnell Stefan Hoggan (if needed)
Evaluation	Mitchell Graham
Education and Training	Colette Martin Gemma Lumsdaine

Panel training

Public speaking workshop – Alan Gray to ask a contact he knows to see if he can deliver this

06/12/2016

2016 National Junior Learning Disability Swimming Champs

Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow

There was great representation from the Lothian Team at the National Junior Swimming Championships at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Wednesday 23^rd November. Twenty two young people from 10 schools across Edinburgh and the Lothians participated with fantastic performances from all. A total of 20 medals (seven gold, seven silver and 6 bronze) were won by the Lothian team, an encouraging performance following the successful regional trials earlier this year. The young swimmers were fortunate enough to have their medals presented to them by none other than Jim Anderson OBE, Scotland’s six times Paralympic Champion.

There were stand-out performances from George Forbes (Cedarbank) who won gold medals in both the boys 50m Freestyle Back Class 2 (40.72) and the 50m Freestyle Front Class 1 (33.63), the latter a big winning margin of over four seconds from team mate Chad Stewart (silver; 37.81) of Saltersgate School.

There was another double gold medal haul for swimmer Keira McLeod of Woodlands School. Keira won gold medals in both the girls’ 50m Freestyle Back Class 3 (51.38) and the 50m Adapted Breast stroke (58.02). These performances were backed up by a further 15 medals across the Lothian Team, a remarkable achievement. Three Lothian athletes were also involved in record breaking races, as Christian Buchanan (Spark of Genius; 34.43) came 4^th in the boys class 1 50m butterfly behind Tayside’s Jack Milne, in a new national record of 29.89s. Similarly in the girls 50m Freestyle Back Class 1, Sarah Bleakley (Ross HS) and Shannon Crosbie (Braidburn) finished 3^rd and 4^th respectively behind Highland’s Tammy Neef who blazed to gold in a new national record 35.07s.

Performances were excellent right across the board and we hope to see another strong Lothian Team at the event next year. For the full list of results from the championships click here.

Lothian Disability Sport would like to thank all the coaches, volunteers and parents who came along to help and support the Lothian team. Furthermore we wish to once again congratulate all the athletes who competed and who put in the hard work and commitment to allow them to qualify for such a great event. Following the success of the GB swimmers in Rio 2016 we hope this event will serve as an excellent stepping stone to the next generation of young swimmers.

For more information on swimming clubs and events in Edinburgh and the Lothians, contact Andrew Raeburn on 0131 475 2364 or admin@lothiandisabilitysport.co.uk.

02/12/2016

West of Scotland Schools Cross Country

Bellahouston Park was once again the venue for the West of Scotland School’s Cross Country Event.

Thursday 1^st December saw the second event of the series and on a beautiful day in Glasgow, 244 Primary and Secondary pupils competing in spectacular conditions. On this occasion, the course was reversed, which provided the runners with some different challenges.

Organised in partnership with scottishathletics and Glasgow Active Schools, the races on offer were 1km, 2km and 3km.

Some great performances from both boys and girls were on display and this leads nicely into the 3^rd event, which will take place on Thursday 19^th January at Bellahouston Park. Once the series is completed, winners and runners up in each category will be awarded with series medals.

Through the ‘Inspiring Sport’ Project, run in partnership with the Celtic FC Foundation, the West of Scotland Schools events organised by a small group of teachers, are of paramount importance to the young people in the 13 Local Authorities. Not only do these competitions provide a pathway in a variety of sports, but they ensure that young people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities access physical activity and sport and all the health and social benefits that sport brings.

Thanks to Shona Malcolm OBE, scottishathletics, volunteer officials and the pupils from Abercorn School in Glasgow who marshalled the course brilliantly.

02/12/2016

National Tennis Tournaments

The National Tournament for players with a Visual Impairment, organised by the Tennis Foundation, was held on 15^th & 16^th October at the National Tennis Centre.

Three players who train with Glasgow Disability Tennis competed – Sam Howie, Laura Grant & Andrea Logan.

Results:

Sam competed in the B2 singles winning 2 of his 3 matches and he won the consolation event. In the doubles he won 1 of 2 matches.
Laura competed in the B1 singles (mixed) winning 1 of her 3 matches.
Andrea competed in the B3 singles winning 2 of her 4 matches and 2 of 3 matches in the doubles.

This was a great opportunity for the players and a good start to their competition careers. We look forward to following the results in 2017 for the West Visually Impaired Tennis players.

The National Tournament for players with a Learning Disability was held on 28^th, 29^th & 30^th October at Wrexham Tennis Centre.

Six players who train with Glasgow Disability Tennis competed in this event.

Results:

Ronan Cacace – Singles Div 1 – 4^th; Doubles Div 1 – 4^th
Alastair Ramsey – Singles Div 5 – silver; Doubles Div 3 – silver; Mixed Doubles Div 1 – silver
Gregor Boyd – Singles Div 6 – silver; Doubles Div 3 – silver
Jack Dickson – Singles Div 9 – silver; Doubles Div 5 – gold; Mixed Doubles Div 2 – gold
Matthew Copley – Singles Div 10 – silver; Doubles Div 5 – gold
Lucy Porteous – Singles Div 2 – gold; MxD Doubles Div 2 – gold

Once again, the strength of the Tennis programme in Glasgow is showing at National level and GDT are delighted with the progress of the programmes and the players involved. All have shown development over the past year and is testament to the coaching received through Glasgow Disability Tennis.

The AGM for Glasgow Disability Tennis is on Sunday 4^th December at 6pm at the David Lloyd Centre in Renfrewshire. All welcome.