I had the pleasure today of visiting Auchmuty High School in Glenrothes along with Boccia UK Performance Coach and Scottish Disability Sport Board member Claire Morrison. Our mission was to lay out a boccia court for Auchmuty HS pupils and I am delighted to report that we achieved our objective within 35 minutes.

Principal teacher of PE Ally Jack and his staff team are fully behind the project. Auchmuty HS pupil Tyler McLelland is a member of the Scottish Boccia squad of fourteen and is keen to train and develop his considerable playing skills and where better than within school hours or after school. The Physical Education team and support assistant clearly articulated today that they are behind Tyler and the court is clear evidence. Tyler is already coordinating a lunch time boccia session for his peers and we were informed today that it is thriving. Tyler is coached by his mum Emma.

Well done Auchmuty HS staff for responding so positively to a request from DSF for a boccia court in one of the school’s magnificent gym spaces. Congratulations to Tyler on securing a place in the Scottish Disability Sport national squad. Having this perfect training space will hopefully inspire other pupils to enjoy the game of boccia and help Tyler achieve his dream of climbing the BC4 ranking list. Boccia is a Paralympic sport for participants who use power or manual wheelchairs.

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

192 athletes have registered for the third leg of the 2019/2020 East Series cross country scheduled for the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy on Thursday 7th February. Inspired by GOGA and supported by Spirit of 2012 there will once again be a Walk in the Park and 11 races covering distances from 500m to 3k. This is the largest entry to date and there is a strong male and female entry.

The event is organised by Disability Sport Fife and Fife Athletic Club on behalf of Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Athletics. The organisers are indebted to Kirkcaldy Rugby Club and Kirkcaldy HS Sports Leaders for support. Nine Fife schools have pupil representatives and as always Fife AC has an entry of top athletes.

The cross country season concludes with the final East Series race in Edinburgh, followed by the Scottish Championships in Glasgow and finally the Fife Championships at the Beveridge Park. This Thursday athletes will be running for points towards the overall Series championship in each individual year group.

May the sun shine brightly on our enthusiastic young athletes and the conditions under foot be all that we would hope for.

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