Aspiring Paralympian, Kayleigh Haggo, shares the significant role Parasport festivals had on her sporting journey.

By William Moncrieff, Communications Apprentice

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Kayleigh Haggo is an elite Para athlete that has competed on the international stage in both Para athletics (RaceRunning) and boccia. With World and European titles in RaceRunning under her belt, she’s now hoping to represent Team GB playing boccia, at this summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris.

Her sporting career all started with one of Scottish Disability Sport’s (SDS) Parasport Festival. She attended the West of Scotland Parasport festival when she was 14 years-old, during her first year of secondary school.

Kayleigh’s exclusion for participating in sport at school was a key factor in her attending the Parasport Festival. “When I was at school I wasn’t really included in P.E (physical education). The P.E teachers didn’t really know with my disability, how to include me in sessions”.

The West of Scotland’s annual Parasport festival soon became a yearly highlight for Kayleigh. She said, “When the Parasport festival came around every year and the school took me to it, it was one of the best days”.

Kayleigh really appreciated the opportunity to socialise with other young people at the Parasport festival and attended a total of five, throughout her time at secondary school.

What was important to Kayleigh was, “meeting up with people my age who also had cerebral palsy and understood what having cerebral palsy means”.

Once on her sporting journey, Kayleigh was a natural athlete and it wasn’t long until she competed in frame running on the international stage. Despite this international success, she continued to attend the Parasport festivals.

She said: “It was nice to just go to the Parasport festival and just have fun with it. It was never too serious or anything so that’s why I liked it so much.”

Nevertheless, she always aspired to do her very best. “I’m very competitive. I wanted to do every sport to the highest level when I was at the Parasport festivals”.

Kayleigh is now a full-time athlete and proud member of Boccia UK. She’s recently returned from a training camp in South Korea, where she trained alongside the hosts and the sport’s current world leaders.

Although Kayleigh is now a competent boccia player, it wasn’t love at first sight.

“I played boccia at the first (Parasport) festival I ever attended. I really didn’t enjoy it at all”. Laughing, she said: “The irony of it, now I am competing for Great Britain in boccia”.

It was also at the Parasport festivals where she first met Claire Morrison, her current Boccia UK coach. Together, Claire and Kayleigh hope to be selected for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

“It would be a dream come true. Ever since I started sport at the age of 12, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” said Kayleigh.

“Unfortunately, although I got to the highest level with frame running, this isn’t a Paralympic event so I couldn’t really take that any further but with boccia, I really have the opportunity to take that and compete at the Paralympic Games”, commented Kayleigh.

Like so many others, the London 2012 Paralympics had a lasting impact on Kayleigh. After watching some sport live in London with her mum, she remembered thinking: “That’s what I want to do. I want to be an athlete. I want to compete at the Paralympics”.

Kayleigh is a great example of how SDS’ Parasport festivals can provide a pathway to elite sport.

Kayleigh would recommend the Parasport festivals to anyone who has the opportunity to attend: “If you get the chance to attend the Parasport festival, I would definitely say go for it. It’s a brilliant opportunity to try new sports and meet new people”.

There’s still time to register for most of the remaining Parasport festivals in 2024. You can sign up for the West of Scotland’s Parasport Festival here. To register for all other Parasport festivals, visit here.

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Watch below, Kayleigh Haggo being crowned the first ever women’s 100m RR3 RaceRunning world champion. (Dubai 2019, World Para Athletics World Championships.)

Scottish Disability Sport’s (SDS) newly appointed Boccia Development Officer, Jonathan Kennedy, is eager to further develop boccia in Scotland to help promote and increase equal opportunities in sport.

By William Moncrieff, Communications Manager

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Kennedy joined SDS in November last year and since then, he has been busy working with clubs and coaches throughout the nation to understand how they can further work together to develop the sport.

“I was working with two local athletics clubs which was great”, said Kennedy, explaining his involvement in sport before joining SDS.

“I could help lots of regular attendees, within the clubs, but I couldn’t help anyone who wasn’t attending the sessions. I found that to be quite hard and frustrating. However, I saw this post to be a great opportunity to use my knowledge and passion to help more people and to provide a service”, added Kennedy.

“Sport changed my life and this boccia position is a fantastic opportunity for me to help others change theirs”, said Kennedy.

His new role involves collaborating and communicating with SDS Regional Development Managers and third sector organisations, such as Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland.

Another area of Kennedy’s role is to ensure that boccia clubs and sessions are sustainable, ensuring that there are relevant tools and resources, alongside making sure clubs and coaches are up skilled to a sufficient level.

Now that he has been in post for a little under two months, he described that he is most enjoying: “Getting out into the field, managing to meet loads of different people, and getting to understand how passionate they all are about boccia.”

He went on to say. “All of these people have such good ideas alongside their passion and I am getting really excited about helping these [ideas] come to fruition”

Kennedy believes that it is important that everyone has the opportunity to try the sport because, “this way if you like the sport great and if you don’t, great because then we can help you find a sport that works for you.”

In the coming months, Kennedy is really looking forward to playing a key role in the planning and delivery of the national schools boccia championship. This is the second time that the event will take place and he is keen to develop and take learnings from it.

The event is being held on March 20th at The Peak, Stirling. The event creates a competition between school pupils to ultimately, “crown the Scottish schools boccia champion”, said Kennedy.

He continued to say, “This event is a great opportunity for participants to meet others from around the country and play against each other, it brings people together to have fun, play to their best ability and to develop their skills”.

With 2024 being a Paralympic year, Kennedy sees this as a fantastic opportunity to, “engage and get more interest” in the sport. He continued to say, “It will be a great opportunity to host school sessions and events to showcase a possible pathway”.

Out with the Games in Paris, he is eager to: “work with the whole team at SDS to make sure we have opportunities for boccia in Scotland. This is what I am looking forward to the most”.

2023 gave us plenty to cheer about! Here’s a shortlist of some of those top moments.

By Emma Logan, Communications Manager

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SCOTS DOMINATE BC4s AT UK CHAMPS

It was a 1-2 for the Scots in Warwick as McGuire and McLelland faced off at the UK Championships.

It was redemption for Stephen McGuire who sealed BC4 gold after settling for bronze at last year’s meet. In the Scottish gold medal final, the experienced McGuire faced off rising star, Tyler McLelland. The youngster gave McGuire a good fight but was unable to stop McGuire’s winning ways.

The Scots also found the podium in the BC3 category, with a bronze by Edinburgh’s Patrick Wilson. Wilson rode that medal momentum into the following World Cup (in Fortaleza) where he bettered his performance, winning a silver with ramp assistant Meredith Greenwood. He last made a World Cup podium in 2019, so he should be feeling confident heading into 2024.

 

MEDAL MOMENTUM FOR DYNAMIC DUO

Stephen McGuire was no stranger to the podium in the pairs competition, as he found great success alongside Fiona Muirhead.

After joining the Boccia UK squad in 2022, Muirhead has gone from strength to strength, just like her partnership with McGuire. The Lanarkshire duo clinched bronze with a 3-1 over Colombia at the Montreal World Cup, in the BC4 pairs. It was another medal to McGuire’s collection but a first-ever World Cup medal for Muirhead and certainly, not her last.

The pair climbed the podium to seal silver in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) at the European Championships.

Continuing their medal momentum, McGuire and Muirhead claimed gold in style at the Heraklion Challenger in Crete. The BC4 pair were undefeated across all four games, closing the season on a high.

 

FIFE’S RISING STAR

2023 was a momentous year for Fife’s Tyler McLelland, as he was selected to be part of Boccia UK’s first ever Talent Transition Squad.

McLelland was one of four players selected, who will be exposed to more international competitions as well as attending training camps alongside some of Great Britain’s top boccia players.

The 17 year-old is part of the Scottish Boccia Squad and is coached by Claire Morrison. He got people’s attention and demonstrated his potential when he won his debut individual international match in 2022.

He has continued to excel in boccia throughout 2023, a major sporting highlight for McLelland being winning pairs gold with Sophie Newnham (from England) at the World Youth Championships. The future looks very bright for this young man.

 

BOCCIA DEVELOPMENT

As the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games fast approach, great headway has been made in the sport’s development.

In 2023, weekly training sessions were launched at The Peak, in Stirling. Coaches from Boccia UK and Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) lead the coached sessions for both GB and Scottish athletes.

“The sessions in Stirling provide a great opportunity for GB and Scottish athletes and coaches to work together, support and learn from each other. Many boccia athletes tend to train on their own so to be able to bring everyone together on a weekly basis definitely helps to push us all on”, said Claire Morrison, boccia coach.

In addition, Alloa now hosts a bimonthly Scottish Squad session.

(If you would like to find out more and get involved, please email SDS at: admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or call 0131 3171130.)

 

MEMORABLE MENTIONS

Shoutout to Ross and Stewart McNeil (ramp operator) who took silver at the Boccia England Team and Pairs competition. Paired with Cecilia Turk and ramp operator, Mervyn Turk (England), the duo came second in the BC3 category.

2023 was littered with strong performances from Kayleigh Haggo.

Haggo, who joined the World Class Programme at the beginning of the year, was part of Team Great Britain’s bronze performance at the Montreal World Cup. They beat Japan 5-3 but went out to the gold medallists, South Korea, conceding 5-7.

Despite not reaching the podium, Haggo left quite the impression at the Heraklion Challenger. She enters 2024, brimming with potential.