Scottish player and three-time British Paralympic boccia player Scott McCowan has announced his retirement after 16 years in the sport.

McCowan, 31, made his Paralympic debut at London 2012 and went on to compete alongside younger brother Jamie at Rio 2016 and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, where he finished just outside the medals, coming in fourth in the BC3 category.

Boccia has always been a big family affair for the McCowans with Dad Gary travelling the world as Scott’s ramp assistant – and Mum Linda undertaking the same role for Jamie. Scott and Gary have been instrumental in developing boccia in Scotland over the years especially in the BC3 game.

Scott has been a great role model for the sport as a player and will continue to be so as he embarks on his coaching journey. Scott is one of the four boccia sportscotland Coaching Futures Apprentices with Scottish Disability Sport and we are delighted to have Scott in the programme. Scott will also continue to be a key member of the Scottish Boccia Subgroup where his knowledge and experience will continue to grow and develop the sport.

McCowan said: “This was always going to be a difficult decision for me and my family after so many years in the sport. But I’m not stepping away entirely as I have decided to focus on coaching and I will hopefully be in Paris to cheer on my girlfriend, Claire Taggart, my brother Jamie and the rest of the squad.

“I would never have had this career without the unlimited support of my parents. They have gone through all the highs and lows that sport brings but I believe it’s time my Dad had a well-earned rest!”

Gavin Macleod, SDS CEO, said: “On behalf of SDS we would like to congratulate Scott on a fantastic career in boccia and we look forward to keeping him involved in Scotland through his coaching role and inspiring the next generation of world class players.”

Greg Baker – who joined Boccia UK this year as Performance Director – said: “I’ve only been involved in the programme for just over two months and in that time I have been able to observe how much insight, experience and knowledge Scott brings to the sport of boccia. He has had a fantastic career, one of which he should be very proud of, and we wish both him and his dad, Gary, a great retirement.”

SDS wish Scott and Gary McCowan all the best for their retirement.

Scottish Disability Sport is thrilled to be working in partnership with Four Pillars, an organisation that supports the LGBT+ community in Grampian to improve the overall health and wellbeing of service users. The organisation currently offers its own sport and physical activity opportunities, and recognised the potential to grow provision for the service users who also had a disability. 

An informal ‘referral’ programme has now been launched where service users from Four Pillars will be put in touch with SDS and local Branch, Grampian Disability Sport, for bespoke support in accessing inclusive and accessible sport and physical activity opportunities. 

Alison Shaw, Regional Manager for SDS in Grampian added “This is a great development. We want to make sure that as many people with disabilities in Grampian are able to benefit from sport and physical activity as possible, but we recognise that the LGBT+ community may face additional barriers in participating. We’re proud that the clubs and organisations we work with in Grampian are welcoming, safe and inclusive, and we thoroughly look forward to seeing the Four Pillars service users thriving in sport and physical activity”.

If you are from the LGBT+ community, live in Grampian & would like support in getting active or with your overall health, contact Four Pillars on mail@fourpillarsuk.org or 01224 211 963

British Curling won the 2022 SWCII after a great 4 days of wheelchair curling at the Peak, Stirling. They secured victory on the final day when they defeated Latvia to take the title for the first time. Italy, who were playing in the event for the first time, finished 2nd on count back after losing their head to head match with the eventual champions. Norway finished in 3rd place after yet another strong performance.

The 8 team event returned made a welcome return after a 2 year break with some outstanding curling on show over the four days. We look forward to welcoming some of the best wheelchair curlers in the world back to Stirling in 2023.

All details of our event including the draw are on our website: https://stirlingwheelchaircurling.weebly.com/

Stirling Wheelchair Curling Club hold wheelchair curling sessions weekly every Wednesday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Please contact Jacky McLaren if you would like to try out the sport jackymclaren@talktalk.net.

A team of Medical Engineering students at Swansea University have undertaken a project to design a multifunctional wheelchair which can be converted from a Paralympic basketball wheelchair to an electric wheelchair for everyday use.

To gather ideas for how to make their design as efficient and user-friendly as possible, they have created this short market research questionnaire and have reached out to Scottish Disability Sport for help distributing it.

Please note the survey was created with wheelchair users in mind, but anyone is welcome to respond.

Swansea University Market Research Survey

Scotland enjoyed a very successful trip to Swansea for the 2022 UK Championships over the weekend. The team consisting of Kayleigh Haggo (BC2), Lewis McConnell (BC2), Scott McCowan (BC3), Jamie McCowan (BC3), Stephen McGuire (BC4), Tyler McLelland (BC4), Scott McIntyre (BC4) and Paul McIntyre, secured 4 medals and 23 match wins between them.

BC2 Round Up – History For Haggo

Kayleigh Haggo continued her meteoric rise in boccia by adding a silver medal at the UK Championships to go with the gold medal picked up at the Scottish Open. Kayleigh started strongly in the group stage picking up 3-1 and 9-4 wins over Rachel Ross and James Clowes respectively. The final group game was against world number 2 Claire Taggart which ended in an 11-0 defeat however Kayleigh still done enough to qualify for the semi-finals. Reshad Seraj awaited in the semi- finals and Kayleigh produced a brilliant final end comeback to come from 4-1 down to win 5-4. Claire Taggart was once again the opponent in a historic match-up as this was the first all-female final – subsequently officiated by an all-female team including Scottish referee Sam Thomson. Taggart made a strong start taking 5 points in the first end however Kayleigh regained her composure to win 2 of the remaining 3 ends, eventually succumbing to a 6-2 loss.

In further BC2 action Lewis McConnell had a strong weekend picking up a win over GB player Will Hipwell 6-4 and securing a 7-0 win over Sian Jones. Tight losses to Reshad Seraj and Jason Rolph ultimately ended Lewis’ competition at the group stage.

BC3 Round Up – Battle of the brothers

Scott and Jamie McCowan twice faced off against each other in a successful weekend for them both.  In their opening encounter in the group stage Scott took the bragging rights with a 4-3 victory before easing through his remaining group games to qualify for the semi-finals. Jamie recovered from his defeat against Scott to win his remaining group games against Gareth Stafford, Cecilia Turk and Rafael Young to join his brother in the last 4. In semi-finals, both brothers had very close encounters that were delicately poised right until the end however Jamie overcame Will Arnott 3-2 while Scott defeated Sally Kidson 4-2. In a brilliant final it was Jamie who avenged his earlier loss and picked up the gold medal with a 5-2 win.

BC4 Round Up -Bronze for McGuire

Two all Scottish match-ups started off the competition in this section and they both displayed the best of Scottish boccia with excellent moments in both. Tyler McLelland overcame Scott McIntyre 6-3 while Stephen McGuire started off his weekend with a 7-1 victory against Paul McIntyre. Tyler and Scott found themselves in a tough group with eventual finalists Louis Saunders and Sophie Newman. Despite some good ends and brilliant shot making, they both came up short in the end meaning they both exited at the group stage. Paul McIntyre recovered from his opening loss to beat Harrison Smith 13-0 but then suffered an agonising 5-4 loss with final shots of the 4^th end against Penny Froude. A 13-0 win against Tomas Martin was not enough to see Paul through to the last 4. Stephen enjoyed a successful group stage, progressing to the last 4 undefeated however in the semi-final an absolutely enthralling match saw him go down 3-2 to Sophie Newman. Stephen recovered in the bronze medal match with a 5-0 victory over Penny Froude to cap a brilliant weekend for the Scottish team.

Congratulations to all the athletes that took part over the weekend, and special thanks to the volunteers and officials as well as the staff from Boccia UK and Disability Sport Wales for hosting a brilliant event.

Photos courtesy of Claire Morrison

Eight teams will take part in the Stirling Wheelchair Curling International which returns to the Peak, Stirling from 18th to 21st October.

The line up consists of teams from British Curling, England and Stirling along with overseas entries from 3 times winners Norway, Estonia, Italy, Latvia and Switzerland. Many teams will feature new line ups as they begin their new Paralympic cycle with teams looking to build towards the next World Wheelchair Curling Championships which are to be held in Vancouver, Canada in March 2023.

Harry Brodie of the organising committee said: “This is our first chance to stage the competition since the global pandemic forced us to cancel the events in 2020 and 2021 and it will be great to have this competition back on the ice. There is an excellent curling facility at the Peak and we hope that all the teams enjoy their experience here and in the City of Stirling.”

Game times are 10.00am and 2.30pm from Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th October with the final round robin games scheduled for 9.30am on Friday 21th October. Spectators are welcome and entry is free so please come along and watch some world class wheelchair curling.

All details of the event including the draw are on the Stirling Wheelchair Curling Club website and social media:

Facebook: Stirling Wheelchair Curling Club

Twitter: Stirling Wheelchair Curling

Stirling Wheelchair Curling Club hold wheelchair curling sessions every Wednesday from 12.30pm to 2.30pm at the Peak. Please contact Jacky McLaren if you would like to try out the sport: jackymclaren@talktalk.net

Pictured: Jostein Stordahl, Norway, 3 times winner

Our partners Scottish ClubSport are recruiting for new Ordinary and Independent Directors to join their Board of Directors.

• Ordinary Directors = any committee member, affiliated club, individual, local partner that is affiliated or connected to the Sports Council/ClubSport network (we have capacity for up to TWO Directors to come from any Partner/Associate Member of Scottish ClubSport)
• Independent Directors = any of the above people connected to a Sports Council/ClubSport network but must act in an individual capacity OR someone who is not connected to a Sports Council/ClubSport network but has the essential skills/experience/knowledge that can support the organisation.

These adverts can also be found at https://www.scottishclubsport.co.uk/vacancies

Independent Director Vacancies 2022

SCS Director Advert 2022

SCS Director Application Form – October 2022

 

The Boccia UK Championships will be held in Swansea between the 14 -16 October 2022.

Scotland are delighted to announce the squad travelling to the championships who will compete in the BC2, BC3 and BC4 classifications.

SDS Boccia Development Manager, Josh Thomson, will travel down as Team Manager with SDS National Boccia Coaches Pete McGuire, Jenny Nethery and Michaela Rihackova. Good luck to all players who are competing over the weekend.

BC2
Lewis McConnell
Kayleigh Haggo

BC3
Scott McCowan & Gary McCowan
Jamie McCowan & Linda McCowan

BC4
Stephen McGuire
Tyler McLelland
Paul McIntyre
Scott McIntyre

1. If you could introduce yourself, your sport and your club.

“My name is Diane Gillan, my club is East Kilbride Disability Sports Club, Glasgow Disability Badminton Club.  My main sport is badminton, and I do a variety of different sport.  At the East Kilbride Disability Sports club we do different sports every week including football, basketball, handball, tennis, cricket.  I go to the gym at the Dollan Aqua Centre and I attend Mark Wilsons Body pump class and Mary McCarroll’s Body Pump class.  They keep my fit.”

2. How did you get involved in sport?

“When I was at school, I wasn’t very good at sport, and I didn’t really get on very well at school.  I didn’t get any exams or anything like that.  When I left school, I was asked by a coach called David Gillespie, he asked me if I’d be interested in badminton.  Now when I was at school, I didn’t actually like badminton, ‘cause it was a constant sport, and I wasn’t actually very good at it, but when David Gillespie asked me I said ‘well all right, I’ll give it a go.’ And since then, it’s just opened up a lot of great things for me.  I’ve carried the Olympic Torch, I’ve represented my country, I’ve won various medals and awards, so it has been a good experience.”

3. Why do you think some women and girls don’t participate in sport?

“They might not have time if they have children, that’s a problem, I also think maybe a lot of people are quite shy to go to the gym or to go to classes.  “

4. What do you enjoy most about playing badminton?

“I like playing badminton because I get to meet my friends, obviously I like winning my games, especially if it’s against the guys.  I like doing competitions and stuff like that and keeping fit as well that’s the main thing.”

5. Have you made new friendships through sport?

“Oh yeah, I’ve made a lot of friends through sport, I’ve made a lot of friends at my disability sports club, made a lot of friends at the Dollan by doing the classes, I’m even a volunteer at the Dollan on the reception so I’ve met a lot of people there. I’m inspired by Mark Wilson, and Mary McCarroll for getting me involved in the classes.”

6. Although you are very much a participant in sport, how did you get involved at becoming a volunteer?

“Well I’m a volunteer at the reception, and basically, yet again, it was Mark that gave me the opportunity and Elaine Donaldson, they gave me the opportunity to work there.  It was only meant to be for a short time maybe like a work experience for six or seven weeks, but I’ve probably been there for about 6 or 7 years so it’s all right. “

7. What would you say to women and girls who don’t play sport?

“I would say to them, give it a go ‘cause you never know it could help you feel better, it can help you lose weight cause a know a lot of women get problems like that.  It can also help your mental health as well.”

8. How can we get more girls and women involved in sport?

“Girls could go to different schools and show them like their medals they’ve won, for instance I could show them my Olympic torch and say look, if you can go and try and  do sports you get a chance to do different things, it opens up a lot of stuff to do and you meet a lot of friends and you keep fit.  You could also put posters up and people would be able to see it on there.”