Congratulations and well done to Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club who were winners of the Community Hub, Club or School of the year at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards 2019 in Edinburgh on Thursday 3^rd October.

Dundee Dragons Wheelchair sports club offers participation, development and competitive opportunities for people with a disability who can manoeuvre a manual wheelchair. As well as wheelchair basketball and rugby league, the club also offers thriving badminton, tennis and curling sessions throughout the week. This gives variation and offers opportunities for individuals to participate in a diverse range of sports, learn new skills, meet new people, get healthier/fitter, increase confidence as well as compete in local, national and international events and competitions.

The club has had a very good year reaching the Scottish Development League play-off final in wheelchair basketball.

Two of the club’s male junior players, Ben Leitch and Rhys Colliar represented Scotland at the National School Games picking up silver medals, the team was also managed by a club member. Ben has also been selected for the GB Under 23 Training Squad, a stepping stone onto the Paralympic Squad.

In June 2019, the Dragons provided six players into the Tayside under 18 and under 13 regional squads which saw both teams win all their group games before each won the knockout stage to collect the trophies in each category at the Scottish Basketball RGK Regional Basketball Festival.

In Wheelchair Rugby League the club competed in the Rugby Football League Challenge Cup achieving a place in the final in both the cup and plate competitions, the first Scottish club to do so.

In representative competition the club provided players into the Scotland Under 15, Under 19 and Under 23 playing squads as well as providing 2 coaches and the team manager.

The club provided 5 players to the Scotland Wheelchair Rugby League squad who competed in the Celtic Cup in April and then subsequently in the World Cup in Toulouse.

Jay Anderson has also been selected for the GB Wheelchair Rugby Talent Squad, another athlete making progress towards future Paralympic participation.

One of the club’s senior athletes, Mike Mellon represented Team GB in the Invictus Games in Australia winning a Bronze and two Silver Medals. John Willans travelled to the USA to compete in the Warrior Games in a number of wheelchair sports returning home with a gold medal in Tennis.

In local Awards club members were awarded the Fife Disability sportsperson award and Angus Coach of the Year. Gemma Lumsdaine won the SportScotland Young Coach of the Year capping off some amazing achievements for all involved with the club.

The club supports the local community, working in partnership with Leisure and Culture Dundee, Dundee City Disability Sport and Perth & Kinross Disability Sport, providing taster sessions in local mainstream schools as well as bringing wheelchair sports to ASN schools in both Dundee and Perth, giving opportunities to so many young people to enjoy sport whilst creating a pathway for further participation.

They have also heavily supported the Scottish Disability Sport Parasport festival in Tayside and the NHS fit club where young people with a physical disability experienced sport for the first time.

Anyone in Tayside looking to get involved in wheelchair sports can contact Graeme Doig – Graeme.doig@scottishdisabilitysport.com

The West of Scotland Junior Time Trials were held on Wednesday 2nd October 2019 at Tollcross International Swimming Centre in Glasgow.

25 Schools and Clubs, with just under 150 young swimmers with a Learning, Physical or Sensory Impairment gathered to try to gain a place on the West of Scotland Team competing at the SDS National Championships in November. It was a great event and was great to see some ‘new’ swimmers along with some of the more experienced ones.

A number of great performances were put in from top swimmers including Logan Smith (Clyde Valley Beavers/Motherwell & Wishaw) who has just been named in the Scottish Para Squad and Cerys McCrindle (South Ayrshire Swim Team) who is just back from winning medals at the DS European Championships in Sardina. With the SDS classification system in place there were a number of swimmers across all classifications, and plenty of competition for places in the West of Scotland Team.

The National Championships for swimmers with a Physical and Sensory Impairment will be held at Grangemouth Pool on Wednesday 6th November and for swimmers with a Learning Disability at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Wednesday 20th November.

Thanks go to the West District Officials for their continuing support of this event, and to the staff of Tollcross for their input prior to and during the competition.

The event was supported by West of Scotland College HND Sports students (Clydebank) and their contribution was invaluable. Thanks also to all the other staff and volunteers who supported the event, and the club coaches and teaching staff for their attendance.

Schools and clubs will be notified of team selections in due course.

Cameron Radigan is a 17 year old Engineering Apprentice from East Ayrshire, who in September won the British Senior Para Recurve Championships which took place in Shropshire, England.

Cameron has been competing in archery for many years and always been dedicated. While attending Louden Academy, he used to go in before school started and practice in the games hall, alongside training numerous evenings a week at his local clubs.

Some history on Cameron which makes his latest title even more inspirational.

When Cameron was 2 years old he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his left calf muscle. With surgery they managed to remove the tumour and leave him still able to walk. However, due to the type of cancer he had, Cameron was given a 10% survival rate as the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment was so intense. Over the years the treatment took its toll on his leg and when he was 13 years old he was solely reliant on a wheelchair. At this time Cameron and his family requested that the NHS amputate his leg so he could have the same freedom of movement he previously enjoyed. The operation eventually took place in June 2018 after 3 years of meetings to convince them that this was in his best interests. Eleven days after the operation Cameron competed for Scotland in the Junior Outdoor Championships in Shropshire. Since then Cameron has participated in numerous mainstream and para events, with below what he has competed in and his results for this year alone:

• April 3rd 2019, Silver Arrow, St Andrews – achieved a new Scottish record in the Albion event
• May 3rd 2019, Classification, Lillieshall clinic – got national Para Athlete classification
• May 11th-12th 2019, Ladies & Gents World Archery 1440, Penicuik – won Gold for U18 recurve
• May 25th-26th 2019, 2019 Open World Archery Championships – achieved a new Scottish record for the double 720
• July 6th-7th 2019, Junior National Outdoor Championships, Shropshire – was Ranked 6th in the UK
• July 27th – 3rd Aug 2019, Youth Festival and the Youth Commonwealth Championships, Shropshire. Won an individual Youth Commonwealth Championship Gold for Cadet recurve Won an International Team Gold for Cadet Recurve
• September 14th-15th 2019, British Disability, British Para Open Mens Recurve Champion 2019

Cameron was also the recipient of an SDS bursary this year at the AGM but unfortunately could not attend due to him competing and winning the above competition. Think we will let him off for this!

Below is a fitting quote from Cameron and gives an insight into the wonderful young man that he is: “It would be very easy for me to take all the support I have been given for granted. Every athlete loves to be congratulated when they are winning. But it has been the messages of support from family, friends, sponsors and strangers that have kept me going through some dark days. When enough people believe you can do the impossible, you start to believe you can do the impossible.”

Cameron still has a few junior and senior indoor events to compete for the remainder of the year and we all wish him good luck in these.

Derek Rae from Kirkcaldy and Fife AC missed the Scottish Disability Sport Annual Awards this year in Stirling because he was competing in Tokyo. In his absence he achieved something rather unique and special. He was voted Scotland’s athlete’s athlete of the year and he was also voted Para athlete of the year. Never before has this been achieved by a Disability Sport Fife member.

Earlier this evening Derek returned to peer mentor volunteering duties at the weekly GOGA in Fife run, jump and throws session supported by Spirit of 2012 at the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre. Peer mentors and volunteers play a hugely important role in the session that is led by DSF lead athletics coach Pamela Robson. The session is inclusive with a strong emphasis on fun.

Session members and volunteers posed with Derek holding the Finlay Calder Trophy (athlete of the year) and Gordon Brown Trophy (athlete’s athlete of the year). Both trophies carry the name of great Scottish rugby international players and on this occasion both won by a unique GB Para marathon runner. The hour Derek spends each week with the athletes he often describes as his favourite hour of the week. Congratulations Derek on your double.

Richard Brickley OBE MBE Chairman DSF (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees