Category: Latest News

02/03/2017

SDS Para Bowls v SYIBA

Falkirk Indoor Bowling Club will be the setting for the Scottish Disability Sport Para Bowls test match against the Scottish Young Indoor Bowling Association (SYIBA) on Sunday 5 March 2017. The event is set to become an annual fixture in the calendar, with both organisations seeing the benefit in the lead up to several important events.

The competition has been organised by Sarah-Jane Ewing, one of our leading coaches and directors, who also coaches with the SYIBA. She knows first-hand the benefits that this fixture will have in both organisations preparations.

The format will be pairs and triples, in line with the Para bowls element of the Commonwealth Games. However, matches will last 3 hours (plus trial ends) with a maximum of 18 ends being played. Individual match, as well as overall team scores, will be kept, making for a good team competition, which we are sure will create a positive camaraderie amongst our players as well those of the SYIBA.

Scottish Disability Sport has preselected the pairs and triples that will compete as part of the ongoing work in trying to determine successful combinations in the lead up to the Multi-Nations Event in Broadbeach, Australia in June 2017.

A full SDS line up can be found here.

02/03/2017

Scots Tutors Making Boccia Accessible in Rwanda

Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to announce that Andrinne Craig and Darren Thomson, a formidable duo of talented tutors, are helping to spread the word of boccia within Rwanda.

As part of the BISFed ‘Making Boccia Accessible’ project, seven countries attended a training workshop at which ‘Boccia Ambassadors’ learned how to play and coach the game so that they, in turn, can teach others in their countries.

In addition, BISFed will distribute over 400 sets of boccia balls free to 20 countries around the world, with the aim of introducing boccia to 10,000 new players. The project has been sponsored by the IPC’s AGITOS Foundation; UK Sport, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Hogan Lovells.

Darren and Andrinne have been part of the project delivering in Dubai and Cali, Columbia in 2016.

For full information see the BISFed website here:
www.bisfed.com/bisfed-launches-its-making-boccia-accessible-project

28/02/2017

Para Bowlers Selected for Home Nations Championships

Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to announce a team of twenty seven bowlers, directors and coaches that will compete in the upcoming Home Nations International in Newport Wales from Friday 21 April to Sunday 23 April. The event is one of two Home Nation international fixtures in 2017, with preparations for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 starting to gather pace.

The best of Scotland’s para bowlers will compete against the leading players from England and Wales, to be crowned champions. In addition, the event serves as an opportunity for coaches and selectors to try differing combinations and analyse team and individual performances against top level opposition. Furthermore, it will allow the squad the opportunity for much needed team building, as several new players and coaches will be involved.

Commenting on the team selection, SDS Performance Manager Gary Fraser said:

“SDS are delighted to announce a strong team of players to represent Scotland at this Event and having been involved in the programme over the past 6 months, it will be great to see the players compete at this level. It is an exciting time within the sport as we head into a busy competition period.”

Performances at this event will go a long way in determining who will be selected for the Multi Nation Event and Training Camp in Broadbeach, Australia in May. This event has a major significance on our programme as it contributes to qualifying the nation for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

For a full list of players please see below.

	Name	Classification	Town	Local Authority
Player	Billy Allan	B6	Cowdenbeath	Fife
Player	Gary Clelland	B6	Linlithgow	West Lothian
Player	Mike Nicoll	B6	Jedburgh	Scottish Borders
Player	Garry Brown	B7	Kirkmuirhill	South Lanarkshire
Player	Don Chalmers	B7	Buchlyvie	Stirling
Player	John Hughes	B7	Stewarton	East Ayrshire
Player	Martin Hunter	B7	Burntisland	Fife
Player	Barbara McMillan	B7	Cowdenbeath	Fife
Player	Michael Simpson	B7	Auchtermuchty	Fife
Player	John Wardrope	B7	Ayr	South Ayrshire
Player	Brendan Handling	B7	Stranraer	Dumfries & Galloway
Player	Robert Barr	B3	Glasgow	Glasgow
Player	Billy Edgar	B2	Saltcoats	North Ayrshire
Player	Irene Edgar	B2	Saltcoats	North Ayrshire
Player	Maria Spencer	B3	Dunfermline	Fife
Player	Mary Stevenson	B2	Barrhead	Renfrewshire
Director	Sarah Jane Ewing		Dunfermline	Fife
Director	Ron McArthur		Falkirk	Falkirk
Director	Christine Morrow		Dalmuir	Clydebank
Director	Doreen Strachan		Glasgow	Glasgow
Director	David Thomas		Ardrossan	North Ayrshire
Head Coach	Bob Dick		Cupar	Fife
Coach	Chris McGready		Perth	Perth & Kinross
Coach	Eric McMillan		Cowdenbeath	Fife
Coach	Nigel Walker		Dalgety Bay	Fife
Coach	Bob Christie		Brechin	Angus

28/02/2017

Get Out Get Active Regional (GOGA) Forth Valley Launch

The official launch of the GOGA Project in the Forth Valley was held on Monday 20^th February 2017 at the Stirling Albert Hall. The Forth Valley Launch was held on the same night as the Forth Valley Disability Sport AGM and Awards evening in front of Forth Valley’s three local authority Provosts, local and national partners representatives and FVDS participants, supporters, coaches, volunteers and family members. During the regional GOGA launch attendees were shown a short video explaining the back ground of GOGA and project main areas of development over the next three years. Please see below link to our website where the Forth Valley GOGA launch video can be viewed, www.fvds.org.uk

The project’s main focus will work around the physical activities of Walking, Cycling and Swimming and will implement research undertaken at Stirling University on FVDS’s intake and will look at improving FVDS gender balance. However through engaging many new individuals, partners and organisations we will hope to see an increase in both male and female participation numbers. The project will involve improving existing activities and developing new provision to support the needs of our participants.

From the start of the project FVDS will be looking at recruiting a new bank of volunteers during the project and will provide training for all volunteers to upskill and improve their knowledge and understanding of the needs of people with and without a disability and the ways of engaging both groups together.

GOGA is funded by Spirit of 2012 and driven by a consortium of 18 UK wide local partners and 15 national partners. The lead organisation in Scotland is Scottish Disability Sport. In this project FVDS will work with many partner organisations including Scottish Disability Sport, Stirling Council, Clackmannanshire Council, Falkirk Council, sportscotland, Active Stirling, Falkirk Community Trust, NHS Forth Valley, Forth Valley College, University of Stirling, Women in Sport, 2e-volve, local community clubs and classes, support agencies, Blazing Saddles, Paths For All, Braveheart and Scottish Swimming. From the project, partnerships will have strengthened and FVDS work will be recognised by partners. Good practice and learning from this project can be circulated around Scottish Disability Sport Branches, local authorities and other organisations.

Graham Harvey, FVDS Branch Coordinator, said:

“The Get Out Get Active project will give Forth Valley Disability Sport the chance to grow and strengthen the opportunities the charity provides to engage new participants from our hardest to reach groups, as well as bringing individuals with and without disabilities together.”

For more information please do not hesitate to contact FVDS GOGA Lead Officer Eva Finlayson by email on: goga@fvds.org.uk or Info@fvds.org.uk

Like us on facebook and Twitter at Forth Valley Disability Sport.

24/02/2017

Para Bowlers Compete with the Best

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) entered two triples for the inaugural East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club ProAm triples event. The event provided SDS with an opportunity to field two different combinations as preparations start to ramp up in the lead into the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 in Australia.

The selected teams included a combination of players from the B6/B7/B8 classification groups and all players are members of the Scottish Disability Sport para bowls Commonwealth Games Extended Squad. They were supported by two of our leading coaches, Nigel Walker and Chris McGready.

The teams were as follows:

Billy Allan (Fife)
Garry Brown (West)
Michael Simpson (Fife)

AND

Barbara McMillan (Fife)
Mike Nicoll (Scottish Borders)
Martin Hunter (Fife)

The event attracted entries from many of the country’s leading mainstream bowlers, including the Alex Marshal MBE, Willie Wood MBE, Darren Burnett and Stewart Anderson, which provided a stern test for our players.

Allan, Brown and Simpson qualified from their pool winning each of their three matches to reach the quarter final, where they lost out narrowly. However, McMillan, Nicoll and Hunter struggled in their pool and failed to progress. The experience was of benefit for all the players involved, with all players gaining more playing time in the two bowl triple format, which will be the format used in Gold Coast 2018. A further plus point from an SDS perspective, was Mike Nicoll making his Scotland debut.

Throughout this year our leading para bowlers have major events to prove their worth, including the SYIBA Test Match in Falkirk in March, the Home Nations in Wales in April, the SDS/SIBA Indoor Bowls Championships in Falkirk in April, Multi Nation Event and Training Camp in Broadbeach Australia in May, Bowls Scotland National Championships in July and the Home Nations Championships in Nottingham in October.

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24/02/2017

Scottish 4 Nations ParaBadminton Tournament

Many of Scotland’s finest ParaBadminton players took to the stage at last weekend’s Scottish 4 Nations ParaBadminton Tournament. The annual event took place at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell between the 17 and 19 February. The Scots came up trumps once again with Fiona Christie, Aimee Allan and Karen Lyttle leading the way as the Scotland players topped the podium in 13 of the 28 categories. Well done to all the players, coaches and officials for hosting another successful 4 Nations event in Scotland. For full results and information please follow the link below

http://www.badmintonscotland.org.uk/index.php/latest-news-a-publications/4169-christie-allan-and-lyttle-show-scots-the-way-at-4-nations-para

21/02/2017

Forth Valley Disability Sport GOGA launch

Forth Valley Disability Sport successfully launched their Get Out Get Active (GOGA) project ‘Lady GOGA’ at the Branch AGM and Awards Ceremony on Monday 20 February 2017. The event was hugely successful with over 100 attendees ranging from Provosts to coaches, volunteers, athletes, families and the vast number of partners/sponsors FVDS work with.

Forth Valley Disability Sport project ‘Lady GOGA’ main aim is to significantly increase female participation in disability sport and physical activity across the Forth Valley area. FVDS will work with many of their key partners during this three year project, including Blazing Saddles, Paths For All and Scottish Swimming to deliver the outcomes. For more information on the FVDS ‘Lady GOGA’ project watch the video below.

GOGA is an exciting new UK programme funded by Spirit of 2012 with three Scottish localities, Grampian, Fife and Forth Valley, taking part. More information on GOGA can be found in the launch booklet here.

20/02/2017

Reid Wins Second World Singles Title in Rotterdam

Gordon Reid clinched his first singles title of 2017 on Saturday after securing his second successive ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament crown in Rotterdam with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Nicolas Peifer of France.

World No.3 Reid secured early breaks in both sets of the ITF 1 Series final and took the last three games of the opening set, serving out the with a forehand down the line. He took a commanding 4-0 lead in the second set and a Peifer double fault set up match point, with the Frenchman knocking a forehand into the net to give 2016 ITF World Champion Reid the victory and the latest title for a Brit on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme.

“I’m very pleased with how this week went for me in Rotterdam. Not just the results, but more importantly the performances were massively improved from how I started the year in Australia,” said Reid, who completed the Rotterdam event having beaten Australian Open champion Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina in the semi-finals and Australian Open runner-up Peifer in the final.

Paralympic gold medallist Reid began his singles title defence in Rotterdam with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over fellow Brit Alfie Hewett in another rematch of their Rio 2016 men’s singles final. Hewett was also a finalist in the men’s doubles in Rotterdam, partnering Fernandez.

“It’s always a big opportunity to play alongside and ATP event, so I’m happy to have showcased some of my best tennis on the way to defending my title here. I’m looking forward to a good lengthy training block at home now before getting back to competing in April,” added Reid.

Image courtesy of Hannie Verhoeven

08/02/2017

World Wheelchair Curling Team Announced

The World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2017 will be held in Gangneung, South Korea from the 4^th – 11^th March 2017. Scotland secured their place at the World Championships following a silver medal finish at the World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship 2016 in Lohja, Finland. The team representing Scotland in South Korea will be:

Aileen Neilson (Skip)
Gregor Ewan
Hugh Nibloe (Vice Skip)
Robert McPherson
Angie Malone

The teams competing at the 2017 World Wheelchair Championships will be Russia, China, Norway, USA, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland and hosts South Korea. The Scots have been handed an opening encounter against Canada on the 4^th March.

Scotland have already ensured Great Britain’s involvement in the Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea from the 9^th – 18^th March 2018.

For more information visit the World Curling Federation website on http://www.worldcurling.org/home

07/02/2017

2017 SDS National Carpet Bowls Championships

The 37^th annual Scottish Disability Sport National Carpet Bowls Championships took place at Dundee International Sports Complex (DISC) on February 4 2017.

This event traditionally is one of the first major events in the competition year and brings together many of the nation’s leading indoor and outdoor bowlers. The quality of the bowling on show was frequently of the highest level and yet again demonstrated the standard of bowler regularly playing in Scotland.

Leisure & Culture Dundee and Dundee City Disability Sport proved to be excellent hosts and DISC is a venue ideally suited to the hosting of this Championships, indeed we hope to return in 2018 to the same venue. Many thanks to all staff involved in the set-up of this event, especially Gordon Quinton, Darren Thomson, Carol Duncan and Sam Thomson.

This year saw players from Highland, Fife, Lothian, Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and host branch Dundee compete over 5 sections to determine the leading carpet para-bowlers in the country. It was gratifying to see an increase in the sections with a learning disability and to welcome back the bowlers from a branch with a strong bowling history, South Lanarkshire. More development work is required to unearth bowlers with a physical and sensory disability and SDS and Bowls Scotland will continue to identify bowlers through the grassroots programmes within schools, clubs and branches. SDS Bowls Performance Development Manager Ron McArthur is gathering a picture of provision and accessibility amongst bowling clubs in Scotland and is developing the Regional Indoor Hubs with 4 clubs evidencing progress. Allied to an extensive Coach Education programme and the comprehensive national events programme the sport is well placed to ensure existing and new para-bowlers in all classifications are well catered for in accessible sessions and competition structure.

Interestingly, none of last year’s title winners were able to retain their trophy this year, which only serves to prove the level of competition evident each year at these championships.

Team Highland were celebrating their first trophy in almost two decades with Evan MacKintosh victorious in the Wheelchair section. With previous champion Wullie Harrison in the draws it was certainly well contested. It was, however, another Fife bowler who won through to contest the final with Evan. In a group where three bowlers finished on the same points, Theresa Wyse from Central Fife progressed to the final thanks to her superior points difference, partly achieved with her victory over her stablemate Wullie, however, Evan proved too strong in the final emerging the victor by 11 shots to 4.

In the Mixed Ambulant & B3 section the clever money was on a repeat of the 2016 final between Fife’s Billy Allan – a Commonwealth Games 2014 representative and a member of the current Games squad for 2018 – against Lothian’s Jimmy Restorick. Billy won the 2016 final which brought his title tally to four and he was keen to add the fifth this time around, however the roles were to be reversed this year with Restorick, the Prestonpans bowler in scintillating form and not allowing his experienced opponent from Cowdenbeath a foothold in the final.

In the all-Fife section for restricted ambulant & B2 bowlers two former champions went head to head. Eleanor Clark from Kirkcaldy lost a narrow final to Central Fife’s Neil Laughlin

Fife’s Craig Donaldson has shown incredible consistency in the section for male bowlers with a learning disability, contesting many finals over the years and has also won titles in this section. He was beaten by Lothian’s Alan Gordon – who exited at the semi-final stage this year – in 2016 and it is worth noting that the quality of bowler in this section is remarkable. Andrew Harrison, a previous multiple winner in this section and conqueror of Alan Gordon in the semis, from South Lanarkshire was the man to defeat Craig on this occasion in an incredibly tight affair, Harrison completing the victory 21-19 in a match that kept a ferocious pace throughout.

Thanks as ever go to our Fife office – Norma Buchanan and Richard Brickley MBE who prepared the programme and draw for the event, with Norma providing crucial administration support on the day. Further thanks to Ron McArthur, Bob Christie – Director of Development at Bowls Scotland, and Gordon McCormack OBE, Chairperson of the Glasgow Disability Sport branch for their support of this event.

Officials from local Bowling Clubs all provided officials for the day and without this input the event simply would not be possible. The support was again significant with 30 officials attending on the day and SDS are indebted to all who attended.

This continues to be an incredibly exciting period for bowls in Scotland as preparations for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast gathers momentum and on national attention turns to the new SDS National Indoor Championships in April at Falkirk IBC.

Photo Credit: James Mackie

Photo: L to R: Christine Fisher (Dundee), Evan MacKintosh (Highland), Amanda Craig (Lothian), Neil Laughlin (Fife), Andrew Harrison (S. Lanarkshire) and Jimmy Restorick (Lothian).