Month: June 2017

Rotary Clubs Support DSF for the Third Year

Disability Sport Fife (DSF) has enjoyed forty years of support from Rotary International. 2017 is the third of three years of support from the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs for emerging performance sports people with a disability.

Rotarians Jim Slater (Dunfermline Carnegie), Derek Thomson (Burntisland), Anne Tait (St Andrews Kilrymont) and Alan Farquharson (West Fife) attended the 2017 DSF Championships and presented Disability Sport Fife President Richard Brickley with a cheque for £990. The Rotarians were representative of the Rotary Clubs in East, West and Central Fife who had contributed to the fund raising project. DSF will award four bursaries to emerging high peformance athletes in Fife to assist them with their training and competition costs.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

2017 Fife Track and Field Championships

The 2017 Disability Sport Fife (DSF) Track and Field Championships supported by the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust were held at Pitreavie Athletics Centre in pleasant rain free conditions. The 230 participant entry was up on previous years with noticeable increases in athlete numbers with a physical or sensory impairment and juniors overall.

Owen Miller from Fife AC was voted the outstanding male athlete of the Championships and presented with the Ben Mills Trophy. Owen was dominant in the middle distance races. Teenager Rosalind Penman from Balwearie HS won the equivalent award for women and was presented with the Lita Allan Memorial Trophy.

The Ian Watson Memorial Trophy for Endeavour was presented to newcomer Dale Lynch from Glenrothes. The Gilbert Trophy for juniors was presented to Mathew Blair from Woodmill HS and the new Derek Frew junior Inspiration Award donated by coach Rachel Edgar was awarded to Cameron Adam from Dunfermline Track and Field.

The Inter Community Support Services Cup was retained by West Fife CSS with 74 points, 19 points ahead of second placed East Fife CSS. Woodmill HS retained the Russell Hogg Memorial Trophy with Balwearie HS placed second and Lochgelly HS third. Balwearie HS won the girls relay and Woodmill HS the boys relay. West Fife CSS dominated the mens and womens relays.

Scottish Athletics officials and DSF volunteers were ably assisted by young sports leaders from Kirkcaldy High School throughout the five hour programme. The track schedule ran exactly to schedule largely due to the efficiency of the officials and long serving DSF volunteer Aileen Penny who was Track Marshall.

Disability Sport Fife (DSF) has enjoyed forty years of support from Rotary International. 2017 is the third of three years of support from the Association of Fife Rotary Clubs for emerging performance sports people with a disability. Rotarians Jim Slater (Dunfermline Carnegie), Derek Thomson (Burntisland), Anne Tait (St Andrews Kilrymont) and Alan Farquharson (West Fife) attended the 2017 DSF Championships and presented medals and trophies to successful participants.

Richard Brickley MBE
President Disability Sport Fife

Scots duo named in British Wheelchair Squads for Europeans

basketballscotland is delighted to announce that Scottish duo Robyn Love and George Bates have been named in this year’s British Wheelchair Basketball Teams for the upcoming European Championships in Tenerife.

Following a successful Rio 2016 Paralympic campaign, Love will be hoping for yet more success this summer as she joins the Senior Women team who recently won the Continental Clash.

Dual-national George Bates’ call-up to the Men’s European Championships side will mark Bates’ senior debut after successfully representing GB and Scotland at U23 level in the past.

Both squads will travel to Tenerife where the European Championships get underway on the 21st June. Robyn Love’s side will face a tough opener against Germany while Bates’ Men’s side will take on Sweden in their opening fixture.

We will be keeping a close eye on all the action and would like to wish Robyn and George the best of luck at this year’s Championships.

2017 National Junior Athletics Championships

The 2017 Scottish Disability Sport Junior Athletic Championship – run once again in partnership with Scottish Athletics – was hosted once more by Grangemouth Stadium. Over 350 athletes from all over Scotland were welcomed from schools and clubs covering the length and breadth of Scotland.

One of Scotland’s leading athletes Sammi Kinghorn  – whose selection for London 2017 World Games, along with fellow Scots Maria Lyle, Stef Reid and Jo Butterfield, was announced during the event – was on hand to lend her experience and expertise to the many youngsters aiming to emulate her achievements. Sammi competed alongside Sean Frame as senior guests at this event and their presence ensured the younger athletes in the wheelchairs all performed considerably faster than they had previously at this event. Luke Deighan (Red Star) secured no less than four Championship Best Performances (CBPs) in the 100m, 200m, 800m and sharing the 400m CBP with Kyle Brotherton (Red Star) – who added the 1500m CBP – to his own collection of achievements.

CBPs were tumbling all around with Red Star’s Nathan Fleetwood enhancing his growing reputation with two record breaking performances from the T20 athlete in the 100m and 200m.

Highlands Abbie McNally and Eve Grant were each celebrating their own CBPs for athletes with a physical disability in the 100m, 200m (both Abbie) and the 400m (Eve). Abbie added the Long Jump CBP to her impressive haul with a distance of 3.56m.

It was fantastic to see entries from our partners at Dwarf Sports Association Scotland which saw Finlay and Skye Davidson, Andrew Davies and Merryn Binnie collect a total of 10 medals including an amazing three golds for Skye.

It is imperative that the opportunities for our athletes to follow in the prestigious journeys of elite Scottish athletes before them, such as Sammi, remain plentiful and varied therefore it remains paramount that local, branch and regional competitive calendars are enhanced and supported by schools, clubs and athletes in the area to ensure every athlete has access to more competitive experiences.

Scottish Disability Sport and scottishathletics would like to thank all involved in making the day a success. Particular mention should go to the volunteer officials from scottishathletics and the students from West Lothian College, with whom we continue to have an excellent relationship.

SDS look forward to welcoming our senior athletes to the National Senior Athletics Championships in Grangemouth in September.

Photo © Laurence Bisset

Clackmannanshire Football for All Festival

On Friday 9th June 2017 at Alloa Rugby Club, five teams from Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire came together to compete at the Annual Football for All Festival organised by Clackmannanshire Council Sports Development Department.

On the day a total of 100 children, young people and adults with a physical, learning or sensory disability participated in the football tournament and additional activities such as beat the goalie, football skills, golf putting and racket sports organised by Jackie Perez, Inclusion Officer Clackmannanshire Sports Development, Mitchell Graham, FVDS Youth Work in Sport Trainee and Eva Finlayson, FVDS GOGA Lead Officer.

The 7-a-side disability football section was supported by Graham Harvey, FVDS Branch Coordinator, and Scott Kinross,  Active Stirling Football Development Officer.

The teams played each other in a round robin format for gold, silver and bronze medals.

On behalf of Forth Valley Disability Sport many thanks must go to the Clackmannanshire Sports Development Team and all the coaches and volunteers that worked tirelessly to make sure the event was a success.

If you have a physical, learning or sensory disability and want more information on football or other disability sports on offer in the Forth Valley area please do not hesitate to contact FVDS on info@fvds.org.uk or Tel: 01786 466486

Results as follows:

Section 1
1st  Stirling City All Stars A
2nd Carrongrange Red
3rd Stirling City All Stars B

Section 2
1st Carrongrange Blue
2nd Centre Space

Scotland Cerebral Palsy team withdrawn from 2017 World Championships

SDS is disappointed to announce that the Scottish FA has taken the decision to withdraw the Scottish Cerebral Palsy Football Squad from the 2017 International Federation for Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) World Championships which are due to be held in Argentina this September. In addition, all planned training camps have been cancelled with immediate effect.

The decision has been taken by the Scottish FA following a recent change to the IFCPF player eligibility policy which now allows any player possessing a UK passport to represent any of the UK home nations. The Scottish FA also feels very strongly that this position also threatens Scotland’s position as an independent football nation. SDS and the Scottish FA had jointly communicated their concerns relating to this change in policy, and the implications for Scotland, to the IFCPF on numerous occasions but the decision to move to a passport based policy was taken regardless.

Stewart Regan, Scottish FA Chief Executive said: “It is extremely regrettable that despite our appeals the IFCPF has chosen to enforce this rule change, which we believe would have a detrimental effect on Scotland’s status as an independent football nation.

“We have taken every possible action in an attempt to allow the team to compete but have determined that the new rule leaves us with no option other than to withdraw from all IFCPF competitions, including the World Championships, with immediate effect.”

“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the players who were set to represent their country on the world stage later this year. This is a disappointing outcome to what has been a successful journey for the Scotland CP team, of whom the entire country can be proud.”

SDS has always enjoyed an extremely positive and productive working partnership with the Scottish FA built over many years of joint endeavour and whilst we can appreciate their thinking in this instance, we must think of the players and coaches who will ultimately be the ones who suffer in this situation. As a result, SDS is currently working with the coaches and support staff of the Scottish Cerebral Palsy squad to ensure that a programme of training and support is maintained for the players for the foreseeable future. This is a difficult and frustrating situation for the players and staff but SDS will do whatever it can to support, taking into account limited resources.

Scotland has a proud history of involvement in Cerebral Palsy Football and has played a significant role in the growth of the sport. Scotland hosted the first Cerebral Palsy international match in Edinburgh in 1978, the first Regional Championship in Glasgow in 1985, the European Championships in Glasgow in 2010, and competed in the inaugural under-19 World Championships in Nottingham 2015. The Scotland Cerebral Palsy National Team has regularly competed in IFCPF organised competitions and are currently ranked 9th in the world.

Fife Athlete Secures New Racing Wheelchair

Susanne McGrath joined Disability Sport Fife (DSF) less than two years ago with the sole intention of completing a marathon before she reached a certain big birthday. Susanne achieved that goal comfortably and more and she is now an established member of the ever increasing Fife wheelchair racing squad that is coached by Pamela Robson at the Pitreavie Athletics Centre. Susanne’s 2017 goal is to complete the Edinburgh and Dublin Marathons and a few 10K and half marathons in between. To date Susanne has raced in a second hand DSF racing wheelchair.

Thanks to the generosity of the Russell Hogg Trust, local fund raiser Neil Smart and her own fund raising efforts she now has a brand new Bromakin racing wheelchair. The new chair was delivered two days before the 2017 Fife Track and Field Championships at Pitreavie and to say she burned it up would not be an over estimation. Susanne settled in to the new chair immediately with support from coach Pamela and took time during the Fife Championships to offer her personal thanks to Neil Smart and friends. Julie Hogg from the Russell Hogg Trust could not make the photocall but came along later to the meet. Susanne’s next race will be the 10K at the Glenrothes Road Running Festival.

DSF is indebted to the many individuals it can call upon to support very committed inspirational Fife athletes like Susanne.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

SDS Board Presentation – June 2017

The panel were invited to send representatives to present at the SDS management board meeting on 12 June 2017. Lewis McConnell, Colette Martin and Hope Gordon gave an overview of the work of the panel and their plans for the future, and answered questions from the board on topics such as the challenges they face as a widely-spread national group, what they see the impact of the panel as being, how to identify and support the next generation of panel members and how the board, staff and panel can best support each other.

A copy of the presentation can be viewed here:

Disability Sport Regional Manager – Grampian

Salary Scale : £25,000 – £28,000 subject to experience

SDS, in partnership with sportscotland, is seeking to appoint a Disability Sport Regional Manager in Grampian to lead the implementation, coordination and monitoring of an integrated Disability Sport Development Plan across the region for athletes and players with a physical, sensory or learning disability.

The post holder will work in partnership with all relevant stakeholders in disability sport to deliver coherent sports specific pathways. The post will be responsible for further developing existing sports structures and ensuring a seamless pathway from participation to performance.

The successful candidate will be required to demonstrate proven experience of developing, implementing and evaluating sports development plans and programmes as well as knowledge of sports development pathways and talent identification and development. This post is initially offered on a three year fixed term basis with expectation of extension with an office base in Aberdeen.

For a full job description, candidate specification and application form, see below OR, contact Caroline Lyon, Administrator, Scottish Disability Sport, Caledonia House South Gyle, Edinburgh, EH12 9DQ, Tel: 0131 317 1130, E-mail: admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

SDS Regional Manager Grampian Advert 2017

SDS Regional Manager Grampian Job Description

2017 SDS Regional Manager Grampian Application Form 2017

SDS Recruitment Equality Monitoring Form

Online application form

Online Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

Closing date: 12 noon on Friday 23rd June 2017.
Interviews: Friday 14th July 2017.

First Fife Tennis Festival Receives the Thumbs Up

Disability Sport Fife (DSF) got together with Dunfermline Tennis Club to organise a two hour tennis Festival at the club facilities on Monday 12th June. The Festival brought to an end the second year of the very popular DSF Tennis Academy initiative supported by Alan Russell Head Coach of Dunfermline Tennis Club and Gary Whitton from Kirkcaldy Lawn Tennis Club. Tennis Scotland assisted DSF with the setting up of the 2016 Academy programme.

Balwearie HS and Woodmill HS pupils with additional support needs received six sessions of coaching on school premises leading up to the Festival. School support staff and volunteers were active throughout the Festival. Coaches Alan, Gary and Alex chopped and changed the activities throughout the morning and involved the enthusiastic teenagers in non stop physical activity.

The Festival was part of the Get Out Get Active (GOGA in Fife) initiative that plans to encourage inactive people to be active and others to be more active more often. The third tier of the DSF/DunfermlineTC summer tennis initiative is to encourage as many of the 24 new teenage tennis converts to sign up for Dunfermline TC and Kirkcaldy TC inclusive summer tennis programmes.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife