Month: June 2025

04/06/2025

Celebrating Coby Keith During #VolunteersWeek

To celebrate National Volunteers’ Week (2nd–9th June), SDS are highlighting some of the many volunteers throughout Scotland, who have devoted time and effort to help provide more opportunities in disability sport throughout their region.

Coby Keith has been a valued volunteer for Scottish Disability Sport’s (SDS) member branch, Grampian Disability Sport, having represented the branch over the last 18 months. This has been due to Coby’s consistent volunteering work with Aberdeen Amateur Athletic Club (AAAC) and their para-athletics sessions. These sessions play a vital role in supporting athletes with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities in a range of track and field events.

Coby finds himself contributing to the club, community and sessions in many ways. His duties include:

Providing hands-on support during training sessions, helping athletes safely and confidently participate in events such as wheelchair racing, frame running, and throwing events.

Assisting coaches with setting up and packing away equipment, ensuring sessions run smoothly and on time.

Offering encouragement and one-to-one support to athletes.

Helping to build athlete’s confidence, motivation, and enjoyment of sport.

Promoting inclusion by helping to create a positive, respectful atmosphere where every athlete feels welcomed and valued.

Working with para-athletes has deepened Coby’s understanding of inclusive sport and the importance of creating accessible, empowering environments. Along with volunteering deepening Coby’s understanding, it also provides him with a sense of pride “Volunteering at AAAC has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m proud to contribute to a club that promotes opportunity, achievement, and community for athletes of all abilities.” Coby said.

Coby has developed strong communication, teamwork, and adaptability skills throughout his time as a volunteer, and he takes pride in being a consistent, positive presence for the athletes each week.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

If you would be interested in volunteering within disability sport in Scotland, check out all the current opportunities on the SDS website, here.

SDS NATIONAL EXHIBITION EVENT

If you would be interested in finding out more about SDS and how sport and physical activity can support you, sign up to attend SDS’s first ever National Exhibition Event. The event is free and is being held at the University of Stirling on Saturday 14th June. The event will allow people from all over Scotland to interact with all elements of SDS in one place.

You can also find out more about what sporting opportunities are available in your community by contacting your Regional Development Manager. To keep up-to-date on all of the ongoing work, make sure to follow Scottish Disability Sport on Facebook, X and Instagram, as well as on the SDS website.

02/06/2025

Paralympians Reunite at First Athlete Community Reunion

ParalympicsGB’s Athlete Community Reunites Team Members from Across the Decades

ParalympicsGB held its first ever Athlete Community reunion event in Stirling, Scotland on Saturday (31st May), bringing together British Paralympians from across the generations to celebrate and recognise their place in the team’s rich history.

The event was the first in a series of reunion events which will take place across the UK as part of ParalympicsGB’s newly established Athlete Community and provided an opportunity for athletes and loved ones of athletes who have passed away to reunite, make new connections and celebrate their achievements.

Athletes also received official ParalympicsGB recognition tokens, honouring their contribution to the history of the team. The first tokens were presented to athletes during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, with the ambition of awarding tokens to all those who have represented the British Paralympic team at a Paralympic Games since the inaugural competition in 1960.

ParalympicsGB Chief Executive David Clarke, who competed at the Atlanta 1996, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, awarded athletes with their tokens and said:

“ParalympicsGB’s Athlete Community was established to provide a space for British Paralympians to reconnect with their peers, celebrate achievements and also to sign up for training and other opportunities. We also wanted to acknowledge every athlete’s contribution to the team in a tangible, lasting way and hopefully ParalympicsGB’s recognition tokens help do just that.

“I am delighted that so many athletes past and present were able to attend our first ever reunion event and to witness the joy that shared experiences can bring. Being a British Paralympian is not just about excelling on the field of play, it is about overcoming barriers, creating legacies and inspiring a better world for disabled people which is something we can best strive for together.”

The event also included a panel discussion chaired by Scottish Disability Sport Chief Executive, Gavin Macleod alongside Paralympians from across the decades – Martin Mansell, who competed in Para swimming at the 1984 and 1988 Games, winning eight medals; swimmer Paul Noble who competed in five consecutive Games from 1984 to 2000 winning 15 Paralympic medals including four golds; Caroline Baird, a Para athletics gold medallist at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000; and Kelly Gallagher who became the first Paralympian to win a gold medal on snow with victory in the women’s super-G at Sochi 2014.

Former Para swimmer Iain Gowans, who competed at Atlanta 1996, attended the event and said: “It’s great – it’s a unique opportunity to come and meet people that you might not have seen since your competition days. I competed back in 1996 so there were a couple of people I hadn’t seen since then – last century! So it was really good to reconnect.

“Paralympic sport is a fantastic vehicle for promoting positive social change and I think athletes are a key part of that, so the more we can get together and connect with each other, the better for the Paralympic movement and the disabled community in general.”

Angela Robertson (née McDowell), who competed at Seoul 1988 said: “I think it’s special to have the recognition tokens, but I think it’s more important to be recognised and be here in this environment. It’s nice to have something to show and pass on to family but just being around different people that had the experience you also had has been the highlight of my day.”

For more information about the Athlete Community go to: https://paralympics.org.uk/articles/athlete-community

Or contact: athletecommunity@paralympics.org.uk

02/06/2025

Volunteers’ Week: Refereeing Is A Family Affair

By William Moncrieff, Communications Officer

To mark National Volunteers’ Week (2nd–9th June), SDS spoke with the Thomson family, who have been dedicated volunteers in the boccia community for many years.

Every family has its own favorite hobbies and for the Thomson family, it’s all about boccia. From parents Sam and Darren to their sons Fraser and Martin, the whole family shares a passion for the sport.

Darren (52 years-old) explained what it is like to have his family involved in the sport that he has devoted 25 years to.

“I think for me, it’s just the fact that we can all do it together and be together. We are a boccia family and we do everything as a family.”

Each member of the Thomson family has got involved in the sport in different ways, with Sam (51 years-old) now being actively involved for 10 years. However, it took a bit of persuasion to get her to start: “Heather Lowden said to me, ‘do you not fancy getting your Level One (referee qualification)?’. Well, I am now a Level Three thanks to Heather’s persuasion,” Sam said.

Whereas for Martin, it came around a lot more naturally: “I was just around it constantly. I was taken along to help and I just enjoyed being around it,” the 32-year-old said.

Each member of the Thomson family enjoys a different aspect of boccia. Fraser (24-years-old) appreciates the sense of community that surrounds the sport.

“I haven’t been at a competition for some time but I will still have gifts sent to me through my mum and dad. There will still be everyone asking after me and I will be asking after them. It’s a very welcoming family (the boccia family).”

He continued to say: “Now that I am out of education, I would like to get back into it because I do really miss it. I like the atmosphere, even if it is not as a referee role it is still a great atmosphere.”

Martin enjoys the process of being involved in the technical side of the sport, often enjoying the pressure that can come with volunteering at a busy event. “I was at one of the events, and it was getting a bit hectic, and I thought, right I will step up. Just doing that makes me feel good, it makes me feel good because I am there because of what I know,” he said.

With Darren being a Level Four International Referee, he often takes up the role as head referee at competition – leading and managing the referees.

He said: “Generally, in Scotland I am the head referee at the vast majority of competitions, so it’s good to have that role where I am overseeing the family at most events and venues.”

This can make Darren’s job easier, knowing exactly what they can bring as volunteers and how passionate they are about the sport. “All three of them have done an absolutely brilliant role for me across Scotland. They’ve all stood up and done something within the sport to give something back.”

Sam shared that the family has always enjoyed refereeing and helping out at events, as each week brings new opportunities to learn. “We always say if we are coaching, if you don’t come away from a competition having learnt something, it’s not worth going to.”

She continued to say: “It doesn’t matter how long you have been doing it for, you are still learning.”

“As a family, it doesn’t matter where we are traveling home from, the journey is usually spent discussing what we have done and learnt.”

Darren explained how they still make time to talk about boccia off court. “When a new set of rules come out, we sit in the living room, with a set of boccia balls and work out, ‘right what does this actually mean’.”

Sam was quick to add: “We do actually have a life outside of boccia, just not much of one.”

It’s not just boccia that the Thomson family work closely on, with all four members either being current or former employees of Active Dundee.

Both Martin and Fraser have noticed how their experiences and time spent volunteering, has supported them during their work for Active Dundee. Influenced by Darren and Sam’s strong passion for inclusion, Martin shared his thoughts on the impact it has had: “I have been able to take that knowledge of disability sport into my work. Being in and around boccia has helped me in everyday life.”

Fraser agreed with this, saying: “When I was working for Leisure and Culture Dundee, I was a sports coach – predominantly working out in the community. We would have so many different types of people, and because of what I have grown up around, I have been able to adapt really well and easily to whoever wants to join our sessions.”

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

If you would be interested in volunteering within disability sport in Scotland, check out all the current opportunities on the SDS website, here.

If you are keen to get involved in boccia as a volunteer, coach, official or player, reach out to your Regional Development Manager or contact SDS’s Boccia Development Officer, Jonathan Kennedy, by email: jonathan.kennedy@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

SDS NATIONAL EXHIBITION EVENT