Month: April 2022

The Daily Mile™ celebrates its 10th Birthday with huge global event as 800 Scottish children join in celebrations

  • The Daily Mile, supported by INEOS, is today celebrating its 10th Birthday with a huge global event, bringing together 335,000 children across the globe.
  • At an in-person event today in Dundee, Scotland, over 800 children participated in The Daily Mile together.
  • While at the same time, a global virtual event took place with 1,340 partner schools – 335,000 children across Europe, U.S., Africa, India taking part in The Daily Mile.
  • The Daily Mile is a transformative initiative where children run, jog, wheel or walk for fifteen minutes every day, improving the health, happiness and wellbeing of millions of children.
  • Elaine Wyllie, Founder of The Daily Mile, says: “We want to get as many children around the world doing The Daily Mile as possible, so the fact that we’ve been able to do this mass global event with thousands of schools to celebrate our 10th Birthday is a real testament to the enthusiasm behind the initiative and the positive benefits that The Daily Mile has on children’s physical, mental and social health.”

The Daily Mile, supported by INEOS, today celebrated its 10th Birthday with a huge global event that was designed to get as many children and primary schools as possible around the world moving on the same day.

In Dundee over 800 children took part in what was the largest ever mass Daily Mile, in the grounds of a transformed Baxter Park that included a stage, music and guest speakers. The children came from local primary and SEN schools across Dundee.

Guests at Baxter Park included The Daily Mile founder Elaine Wyllie MBE, Public Health Minister Maree Todd, Team Scotland and GB Hockey Player Charlotte Watson, Scotland and GB Team middle distance runner Kane Elliott, GB Paralympian Wheelchair Curler Aileen Nelson as well as other Daily Mile ambassadors.

At the same time, 335,000 children around the world took part in a virtual event – across 1,340 schools in 21 countries from Scotland to New Zealand. Marking the world’s largest Daily Mile event.

The Daily Mile, supported by INEOS, is a transformative initiative where children run, jog wheel or walk for fifteen minutes every day in school, in which time, most people will average a mile or more. The initiative has enjoyed phenomenal success since it was started by then Headteacher Elaine Wyllie just ten years ago at a single primary school in Stirling, Scotland. Today over 3 million children across 14,000 schools in 87 countries globally are now running The Daily Mile.

The initiative believes there is more to be done if we are to provide the opportunity of good health and well-being to all children, wherever they are in the world and its aim for the next ten years is to significantly increase the number of children that are able to enjoy The Daily Mile.

Elaine Wyllie MBE, Founder of The Daily Mile says: “We are so excited to celebrate 10 amazing years of The Daily Mile – what an incredible journey it has been so far, starting from just a simple idea at my school in Scotland to now an essential part of the day in thousands of schools around the world.

“Multiple scientific studies continue to show The Daily Mile improves children’s physical, mental and social health as well as their engagement at school – and today’s event has been a fantastic way to celebrate all we have achieved, thanks to the incredible children, teachers, schools and partners we have worked with other the years who champion our ideals and support our ambition to see every child enjoy the benefits of The Daily Mile.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Founder & CEO of INEOS, comments: “INEOS has supported the Daily Mile for years because it’s a free, simple and effective way to improve children’s physical and mental wellbeing. It has been a natural fit for us to work with an initiative that is so passionate about helping more children enjoy exercise more often, and we look forward to its success as it continues to transform more lives around the world.”

Public Health Minister, Maree Todd, said: “I am passionate about the many physical, mental and social benefits the Daily Mile brings and am delighted that this initiative, born in Scotland, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Dundee.

“As school children from across the world come together to take part in the Daily Mile celebrations I look forward to seeing the impact of this simple and free initiative. I give my thanks to all the school teachers and those involved in providing their communities with the opportunity and support for children to be active each day.

“I am committed to Scotland becoming a Daily Mile Nation and myself really enjoy taking part. Over and above the health benefits it also gives me the opportunity to connect with nature, explore my local environment and meet new people along the way. “I would encourage everyone across the world to join in and take part in the Daily Mile to experience these fantastic benefits.”

Mel Woods: Getting involved in disability sport

Mel Woods writes for SDS about how a welcoming, inclusive environment allowed her to thrive in athletics after acquiring her disability in 2018.

Initially after I acquired my disability in 2018 I was driven to get back in to sport and find something I enjoyed again. I got in touch with Scottish Disability Sport to find out all the options that were available to me. From there I got involved in athletics and tennis. I started by going down to Red Star Athletics Club (Glasgow) and meeting the coaches and athletes within the group. Seeing the range of athletes, their abilities and what they had achieved motivated me to get involved.

I managed to borrow equipment to get started, which was very fortunate as getting access to a chair can often be the hardest part. It can be hard to try something new and know whether you will enjoy it if the equipment is not available, highlighting how important this really is. I was going along to club sessions weekly and then when I got my own chair a few months later, I committed to training twice a day in sight of getting better (I was supported by a couple of different charities to get equipment).

I was lucky to join Red Star and have the support and experience of coaches (Ian Mirfin) who knew the pathway. This ultimately allowed me to know what was required of me in each stage of progressing through the rankings. It was also so important to have athletes within the club to ask questions to – knowing what they had achieved and understanding how they did so. I would recommend to anyone to be put in contact with athletes that have experience in the sport to get a better understanding of competing and equipment. Unlike mainstream/able bodied sports, there is less information out there so having people to speak to is so important. Equipment is a massive part of the sport and finding out what would suit your needs best is a hard task.

I started entering races in my first year of the sport (2019) to get experience and mostly for enjoyment. I was informed about the classification process, getting that organised as soon as I could. After my first year of competing I got on to the British Athletics development academy, offering further contacts and support. I continued finding out more about racing, having people to ask questions to and ultimately point me in the right direction.

I didn’t get much opportunity to compete in 2020, but a few races proved some significantly faster times and allowed me to get on to the British Athletics Futures Academy.

Ultimately I didn’t have any overly specific goals – other than improving. I knew I was a beginner and had a long way to go, but I just focused – and now continuing to focus – on seeing how good I can be. That has all come through a mixture of commitment and dedication to training and having coaches/athletes around to support and guide along the way.. Getting on to the pathway system just gave me confidence that I was moving in the right direction.

12th West of Scotland Parasport Festival a great success

The 12th West of Scotland Parasport Festival was held on the 3rd March at the On-X Linwood in Renfrewshire, where 65 young people with disabilities of physical and sensory from mainstream schools took part in a variety of exciting sports.

On the day we were delighted to welcome children from all 13 local authorities in the West of Scotland, with dedicated coaches putting on inclusive and exciting sessions the participants. At the end of a fun, inspiring day the feedback was excellent –  “It was the best I’ve had in sport”, “Awesome” and “Sportacular” summed up the day for the participants.

There were 9 sports on the day, where we were delighted to invite coaches from the following organisations to run appropriate and engaging activities:

Athletics– Scottish Athletics and Red Star AC

Basketball– Basketball Scotland

Badminton– Badminton Scotland and Glasgow Disability Badminton Club

Boccia– Scottish Disability Sport and GB Boccia

Football– Partick Thistle Charity Trust and Scottish Powerchair Association

Judo– Judo Scotland and Hamilton Judo Club

Swimming– Scottish Swimming, Kilmarnock Jets SC, Temple SC

Table Tennis– Drumchapel Table Tennis Club

Sailing– Sailability and Bardowie Sailing Club


Please have a look at our events calendar with all SDS events for the rest of the year as well as keeping an eye on our social media channels to keep up to date with everything disability sport in Scotland – Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.

 

Inclusive Club Resource E-Learning Module

Introducing the Inclusive Club Resource E-Learning Module developed by Scottish Disability Sport, aimed at mainstream clubs and activity providers to further their knowledge of creating an inclusive club culture for participants with disabilities.

The purpose of this resource is to support inclusive practice by providing your club with information, tools and resources to offer opportunities to members with disabilities. The resource by no means provides all solutions to challenges you may face, but will give you the confidence and competence to begin to reach out to and welcome members with disabilities to your club and will open the door to further bespoke support for your club.

Throughout this module, learners will have the opportunity to carry out self-reflection, complete short quizzes and surveys, all of which will enable the creation of an action plan to further develop inclusion in all areas of your club.

The module covers the following 9 units:

  • Introduction and Overview
  • Understanding Inclusive Sport and Physical Activity
  • Understanding Inclusive Clubs
  • Developing an Inclusive Culture 
  • Effective Communication
  • Education and Learning
  • Partnerships 
  • Pathways & Competition

Access the Inclusive Club Resource E-Learning Module here

Further support is available from Scottish Disability Sport, if you would like to know more information about the resource please contact us – admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com

Central Parasport Festival 2022 – A Huge Success

Wednesday 30th March saw the success of the 2022 Central Parasport Festival with children and young people with Physical, Visual and Hearing impairments taking part at the event held at The Peak, Stirling. Pupils from P1 – S6 in mainstream schools travelled from across Central Scotland to take part in a variety of sports such as Archery, Boccia, Badminton, Swimming, Athletics, Football, Curling, Climbing and Basketball, all delivered by local sports clubs, Trust/ SGB representatives, regional/national coaches and GB athletes.

After the recent and difficult pandemic years, we were delighted that the event was such a great triumph, kindly hosted by Active Stirling and supported by the Celtic Foundation and Sheridan Keane Real Estate Investment. Strong partnerships from Forth Valley Disability Sport, Falkirk Community Trust, Active Stirling and Clackmannanshire Council supported the identification of pupils attending this years event and future pathway opportunities.

Inspirational speeches closed the event from Paralympic Athletes Meggan Dawson Farrell, Derek Rae, Owen Miller and even Olympian silver medalist Hammy McMillan supported the delivery of the curling session to the pupils on the ice. All para athletes shared their personal journey and experiences through disability sport and without a doubt inspired the pupils at the festival.

Cheryl Lappin (SDS Regional Development Manager for Central Scotland) said: “The event was a fantastic success and a worthwhile experience for many pupils engaging in sports they may never have tried before, but also their parents and teachers alike. Due to the pandemic and being the first face to face Central Parasport festival since 2019 I was ecstatic to see so many pupils with a physical and sensory disability from mainstream schools engage in all sports on offer, have fun, and potentially move up the pathway. The message is certainly getting out there that we are back with a bang and there are opportunities and pathways in place for all individuals with a disability within the FV community, from a local level to an international level.”

A special thank you to Sheridan Keane Real Estate and the Celtic Foundation for supporting this years event, as well as our kind hosts Active Stirling, Forth Valley Disability Sport, Falkirk Community Trust, Clackmannanshire Council, Scottish Swimming, Badminton Scotland, Basketball Scotland Scottish Boccia, Scottish Curling, British Curling, Climb Scotland, Wee County Archers, Forth Valley Flyers, Arion Swimming Club, Riverside Powerchair Football club, Falkirk Football Foundation, Stirling Albion FC, Stirling Wheelchair Curling Club, Inception Catering, sportscotland, SDS Staff, individual volunteers and the Active Stirling/Peak staff for all their support.

To find out more about this event or disability sport in Central Scotland, please contact:

Cheryl Lappin – cheryl.lappin@scottishdisabilitysport.com / Phone: 07577 830360