The Scottish Wheelchair Curling Squad concluded their 2020 World Wheelchair Curling Championship campaign with an 11-1 victory over the Czech Republic and a narrow 4-7 defeat to South Korea. This final result meant that the Scots missed out on the final stages of the competition and had to settle for a ninth-place finish.

The Scots had travelled to Wetzikon, Switzerland in confident mood, having taken the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in Stirling. Hugh Nibloe’s rink got of to a slow start with defeats to Russia and Slovakia and finished the group stage of the competition with a record of 4 wins and 7 losses.

However, Scotland avoided relegation from the top group of wheelchair curling nations and will have the opportunity to get back on the ice at the 2021 World Championships. They also remain in a strong position to qualify ParalympicsGB for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. Winter Paralympic qualifying points are accrued over a three year period in the build up to Beijing and Scotland will be looking to add to the impressive start they made to that process when finishing runners up to Paralympic Champions China in last year’s World Championship final.

The Scottish Squad at the 2020 World Championships in Wetzikon, Switzerland, were as follows;

Team Scotland:

Hugh Nibloe (Stirling)

Robert McPherson (Bellshill)

Gary Smith (Edinburgh)

Charlotte McKenna (Bridge of Allan)

Meggan Dawson-Farrell – Alternate (Tullibody)

Sheila Swan – Coach (Perth)

 

Images : Graeme Hart

Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA) have undertaken a year long funding campaign, having chosen Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) as their Charity of the Year. The Glasgow students have undertaken a wide variety of fundraising events which has brought in an amazing £1,972 which will go towards supporting the SDS national events programme to provide access to competitive sports for athletes and players with a disability from across Scotland.

Everyone at SDS would like to take this opportunity to thanks all the students involved in this mammoth fundraising effort for all their hard work in support of our Association. The funds raised will have a real impact on the opportunities we offer across Scotland.

The SDS Parasport Festival Series funded by the Celtic FC Foundation kicked off this week with two phenomenal events taking place in the West of Scotland and Tayside.

SDS works with many partners at local, regional and national levels and the Parasport Festivals are just one example of how all partners come together to make a difference in the lives of the young people who participate at the events.

To make these happen, Scottish governing bodies of sport and  local sports clubs deliver the fun sport activities. They are always very ably supported in their delivery by Young Leaders from Local Authorities and students from nearby further and higher education institutions.

The purpose of these events is to introduce mainstream school pupils with physical disabilities and hearing and visual impairments to a wide range of sports that they may not experience at school, and then offer tailored support to enable them to regularly participate in their chosen sport.

To date almost 2,000 young people have benefitted from attending these events with an average transition rate into weekly activity of 13%.

If you or anyone you know would like to attend a para sport festival, there are still opportunities to participate in the events listed below:

Region	Date	Venue
East of Scotland	Friday 27th March 2020	Forrester HS, Edinburgh
Grampian	Friday 18th September 2020	Aberdeen Sports Village
Highland	Saturday 26th September 2020	Dingwall Sports Centre
Central Scotland	Wednesday 28th October 2020	Grangemouth Sports Complex

If you are unable to make any of these events but would like to get involved in disability sport please get in touch by emailing admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or telephone Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130.

See reports from the West of Scotland and Tayside events below.

Fun was the Theme of the Day at the West of Scotland Parasport

On the 2^nd March 2020 the 11^th West Parasport Festival was held at the On-X Linwood for the first time. We had children and young people from P5-S6 mainstream schools from the West with physical disabilities and visual and hearing impairments attending to try out various sports. There were 59 participants from 43 schools from 12 out of 13 local authorities in the west of Scotland.

The On-X was the new venue due to changes at Ravenscraig, although different the new venue provided an opportunity to offer swimming for the very first time.

The event was a great success and couldn’t have happened without the partners listed below who delivered their sport in a fun way to engage all pupils.

• Athletics (Victoria Park AC)
• Badminton (Badminton Scotland)
• Basketball (Basketball Scotland)
• Boccia (SDS)
• Football (Celtic FC Foundation)
• Judo (JudoScotland)
• Swimming (Scottish Swimming, Temple Swimming Club, Kilmarnock Jets)
• Table Tennis (Table Tennis Scotland)
• Tennis (Tennis Scotland)

Thanks must go to the 25 Young Sports Leaders from Renfrewshire Leisure and 20 students from West College Scotland who supported the event and brought their positivity and enthusiasm to support deliverers and participants on the day. Paralympic and Deaflympic role models Danielle Joyce and Sam Ingram were on hand to support activities and tell everyone about their journey.

Andrew MacKenzie (SDS West Regional Development Manager) said: “The event was great, and we are so happy the participants are getting to try so many different sports. The smiles on their faces told the story very well. Bringing these opportunities for the children and for sports to promote their sessions and build on the pathways really shows how good the Parasport is. Having Paralympians at the event really shows that you can make it to the top of your level and hopefully this will encourage children to stay in sport, whether they go to the top level or for fun.”

A special thank you to the Celtic FC Foundation for supporting the event, hosts Renfrewshire Leisure, the West Branches, West Active Schools, all the sports, Renfrewshire Young Sports Leaders, West College Scotland students and the On-X staff for their support. With a big thank you to the parents, teachers and helpers for supporting as well.

We look forward to following up with all participants who attended to support the next step of their journey in parasport.

If you or anyone you know would like to get involved in disability sport please email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or alternatively telephone Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130.

Two years ago, Ross MacNeil started a journey in the Paralympic sport of boccia that would have a huge impact on his and his family’s lives.

Ross had struggled his entire life with cerebral palsy and, after leaving school, developed depression and high anxiety due to the lack of a social outlet. He was having frequent outbursts of anger and felt out of place.

Sport helped Ross to turn his life around, to the point where his father now says: “Boccia has made Ross the person he is. It’s really changed his attitude in life.”

So how did he discover the benefits of sport? Read the full article here:

https://sportfirst.sportscotland.org.uk/articles/focus-on-boccia

A fantastic day of athletics was had as the Grangemouth Sports Complex saw 11 teams from around Scotland descend on it to participate in multiple athletic-disciplines. This was the first year the event ran in partnership with UK Sportshall organisation alongside our usual partners scottishathletics. The event is designed to be an introductory competitive outlet for those athletes at the first stages of enjoying the sport, many of who have qualified for this event by participating in local and regional events and have been selected to represent their branch area. Teams are asked to select athletes from all disability disciplines to be eligible for the trophy which is awarded to the team who collect the most points throughout the day. SDS were delighted with the attendance and it is heartening to see that strong development is being encouraged in such an important sport.

There were some slight changes to the format and order of the event as it assimilated with the typical Sportshall format ran up and down the country. Team Fife once again took home the trophy with the team performing superbly across all disciplines. Fife have put a lot of work into developing their run, jump and throw sessions in the area and all this practice clearly is bearing fruit as the youngsters excelled on the day with Dumfries and Galloway and Highland in hot pursuit but ultimately finishing in the second and third positions respectively.All participants and team support should be applauded as they all contributed to a special atmosphere at the event as the sport proved to be the real winner.

A big thank-you should go to Adam Burgess, the Senior Development Officer for Sportshall and to Harry Baird, the scottishathletics Sportshall co-ordinator for their extensive contribution both before and during the event.

The excellent partnership continues with Barclays and West Lothian College with both organisations providing tremendous voluntary support to this event along with the usual excellent volunteers from the local athletics clubs Forth Valley Flyers.

Don’t forget the National Cross Country Event at Bellahouston on Thursday 19th March. If you would still like to participate in this event please let us know at events@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

Photo: Team Fife A Team: Winners of the SDS Sportshall Challenge 2020

Thirty-eight participants attended the inaugural Scottish Disability Sport Boccia Conference at the Inverclyde National Sports Centre in Largs.

Gavin Macleod, CEO, set the tone of the day by saying he  hoped it would be informal and informative. He was followed by Patrick Wilson ( BC3 Boccia UK athlete) providing an honest and humorous account of his journey in boccia.

Delegates then attended two workshops, in which the key messages were as follows.

Session Planning

• Need for Planning
• Each coach needs to plan as an individual
• Plan – Do – Review

Club development

• Boccia should be fun when introducing new players
• Transitioning from boccia session to boccia clubs
• Recruit, retain and reward boccia workforce

Officiating and Rules

• Process needs to be followed
• Constant requirement to update and refresh on rules
• Support available

Creative coaching

• Lots of easy accessible equipment
• Simple skills
• Fun, fun and more fun

Over lunch, four poster sessions took place which allowed delegates to explore topics, from Girls in Boccia to refereeing and  from pathways to equipment.

Claire Morrison, SDS Vice Chair and Boccia UK Performance Coach, closed the conference by thanking all delegates for attending, the workshop and poster facilitators and a special thanks was given to Andrinne Craig who was stepping down from chairing the Boccia Scotland Group since its inception.  Finally, the staff at Inverclyde were acknowledged for their tremendous support on the day.

What a great group of individuals making boccia happen.  Thank you.

Picture: Delegates in attendance at the SDS Boccia Conference  

Gordon Reid is celebrating a return to the world’s top five this week after his impressive start to
2020 continued with his latest singles final and a fourth successive doubles title with fellow Brit Alfie Hewett over the weekend in Rotterdam.

Reigning Paralympic champion Reid, who is part of the LTA’s GB Wheelchair Tennis World Class Performance Programme, is no stranger to success at the ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament. He won the singles title at the ITF 1 Series event in 2015 and 2016 and has also claimed three previous doubles titles in Rotterdam, where the wheelchair tennis event is integrated with one of Europe’s most popular ATP 500 tournaments.

In his first tournament since reaching the men’s singles final and winning the men’s doubles at the Australian Open, Reid, 28, enjoyed straight sets wins over Sweden’s Stefan Olsson and Belgium’s Joachim Gerard to set up the first ever all-Brit final in Rotterdam. However, despite five of the first seven games of their latest head-to-head going to deuce and the high-quality contest lasting an hour and 31 minutes, it was Hewett that added his name to the roll of honour 6-0, 6-3. Reid said: “I’m very happy to have reached back to back singles finals, with some solid performances to take out top two 10 players in straight sets in the quarter and semi-finals. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my highest level in the final and the best man won on the day. But I’m looking forward now to getting some more match play under my belt in Bolton.”

Reid, who has returned to the world’s top five this week for the first time since December 2018, is top seed for the men’s singles at the Bolton Indoor, a tournament he has also won twice before. The event continues until Saturday.

He will also be seeking back-to-back doubles titles in Bolton after partnering Hewett to their first title together in Rotterdam. The world’s top-ranked doubles pairing since winning their first Australian Open title as a pairing, Hewett and Reid beat Wimbledon champions Gerard and Olsson 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final before defeating reigning Paralympic champions Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer of France 6-1, 4-6, (10-5) after a deciding match tiebreak.

After winning his fourth doubles title in Rotterdam to maintain his and Hewett’s unbeaten partnership for 2020, doubles world No.2 Reid added: “I thought myself and Alfie performed very well as a team again this week. We had the perfect start to the year in doubles in Australia, so it was important for us to keep the momentum flowing in Rotterdam.”

Reid partners another fellow Brit, Dermot Bailey, in the men’s doubles at this week’s Bolton Indoor.

For news and updates from the Bolton Indoor follow on Twitter @WChairTennisGB and @the_LTA and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GBWheelchairTennis/.

To find out more about the LTA’s work with disability tennis, head to www.lta.org.uk/play or email disabilitytennis@lta.org.uk.

On the 21^st March between 6pm & 10pm the 2020 UK WCMX and Adaptive Skate Jam takes place in the at Graystone Action Sports in Salford, Manchester hosted by Womens WCMX World Champion Lily Rice.

WCMX or Wheel Chair Moto Cross is a new para sport that involves taking your wheelchair to the Skatepark and doing tricks on it. This year we are also reaching out to the community to see whether the UK has any Adaptive Skateboarders that would like to take part.

The aim of the Jam is to get like minded people of any age together that want to experience skating whether in a chair or on a board at one of the UK’s finest skateparks. Participants will need to bring with them suitable safety equipment such as gloves, elbow and knee pads and a helmet and their own wheelchair/ Skateboard. Equipment will need to be mechanically sound. RMA Sport Wheel chairs will be bringing  a few demo WCMX chairs to try but numbers are limited.

There will be Spotters and Pushers to assist riders should they be required. All riders must become a members of Graystone Action Sports which is simple and free.

https://bookings.graystoneactionsports.co.uk/Waivers/OnsiteWaiverStep1.aspx

Participants must also complete the registration sign up forms by contacting info@lilyricewcmx.com prior to the event. There will be a £10 entry free payable on the day.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Congratulations to  Gregor Ewan, Jim Gault, Ian Donaldson, Gill Keith & James Sellar who won the 2020 Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association British Open which was held at Hamilton Ice Rink from Sunday 9^th to Monday 11^th February.

Home based teams including Paralympic medallists Gregor Ewan, Angie Malone & Jim Gault were joined by Team Germany and members of the English national team in an 8 team round robin format before plays-offs on Tuesday afternoon to decide the winners.

Defending champions Team Ewan entered the tournament as favourites and they delivered a wheelchair curling masterclass to go unbeaten through the round robin stage before playing Team Germany in the 1^st v 2nd final to decide our champions.  In a close final Team Ewan held the upper hand throughout the early stages with Team Germany closing to within a couple of shots at the final end.  Final Score Team Ewan 7 – Team Germany 5.

Our thanks go to Hamilton Ice Rink for allowing us to use their facilities and thanks to the ice staff, umpire Harry Brodie and all the catering staff as well as our army of volunteers.

Our next tournament is the SWCA Scottish Championship, 17^th to  19^th March at The Peak, Stirling. Please see the new SWCA Facebook page “Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association” for info on this great sport.