Scottish Swimming have released a new video to illustrate their belief that swimming is a sport for all, a sport for life.

No less than 13 Championship Records were broken yesterday in Grangemouth at the 40th SDS Junior Swimming Championships for swimmers with a physical or sensory impairment.

The event is one of the oldest on the SDS Calendar and the fact that so many records were broken is a testament to the rude health that para-swimming finds itself in. The next generation of swimmers coming through our branches and regions smashed personal best times across the classes and entries were up overall and from key areas where targeted development has taken place, such as the Scottish Borders, Tayside and Highland to name just three.

West of Scotland’s Abby Kane – the Rio Paralympic silver medal winner from Largs – was one of the stars of the show in claiming 5 gold medals and 4 Championship Records (CR) at the event. The only CR to escape her is the 50m breast-stroke record currently held by Fife’s Lara Ferguson – a Paralympian in Sydney and Athens – and shows the level the young swimmers are aspiring to. Abby was pushed all the way by Beth Johnston from the Scottish Borders, who was the previous CR holder for the 4 events Abby claimed yesterday. The quality of swims these two produced in their 5 races, alongside the many other fine performers on the day, was something to behold and all who were in attendance recognised this event will be seen as one of the very strongest in its history, with swimmers of the highest calibre competing.

Fife’s Oliver Carter definitely fits the bill in this respect too. The progress of this remarkable swimmer from Carnegie can be charted by a quick analysis of his times in this event alone. Every year Oliver has competed and every year his times improve almost exponentially. Oliver smashed the 1-minute barrier in the 100m Freestyle event he got so close to last year and – similarly to Abby – went on to claim 5 golds and 4 Championship Records. One of the records was the 25-year-old record in the 50m breaststroke held by another Fife Paralympian, Iain Matthew. The fact that Iain was the 1992 gold medallist in the 100m Breastroke at the 1992 Barcelona games only serves to highlight the quality of Oliver’s swim. The only CR escaping Oliver was Robert Dalgleish’s 50m Backstroke record from 2011. Robert from Lothian was on hand to witness some of these swims and kindly presented some medals to our successful swimmers alongside Jim Anderson OBE and Colette Martin. Robert joined his great friend and rival Stefan Hoggan in attendance, Stefan was fulfilling a role as Announcer-in-Training, shadowing the best in the business, Paul Noble MBE, who has undertaken this role for SDS at both the junior and senior events for years.

Lewis McCulloch from Port Glasgow Otters had another phenomenal Championship, following on from his Best Male Performer award last year. Lewis bettered the CR in all five events he competed in. He was extremely unfortunate to miss out on the Best Male Performance for 2017, the award, this year, going to Oliver in recognition of his exceptional performances in his races and the records he broke.

A big thanks should go to Falkirk Community Trust, all staff at Grangemouth Sports Complex and the many officials and volunteers from Scottish Swimming, marshalled by Jean King, and the SDS Branches who support the event so much.

Photo: Oliver Carter (Fife) & Abby Kane (West of Scotland) – Best Male & Female Performers of the 2017 Championships

British Wheelchair Basketball are looking to recruit 12 Lead Coaches/Court Managers for the new ‘Regional Skills Camps and Young Activators Course’.  The Skills Camps will definitely help our up and coming young U16s players, and also help promote the sport to potential new players.

For more information see the British Wheelchair Basketball website:

http://www.britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/gbwba/index.cfm/about-british-wheelchair-basketball/vacancies/junior-programme-court-manager-and-lead-coach/

Four Scots formed part of the UK Boccia team, winning four out of the five medals to ensure they topped the medal table at the 2017 BISFed European Championships, held in Povoa de Varzim, Portugal.

Team & Pairs

In the team and pairs events, the BC4 Pair of Stephen McGuire, Evie Edwards and Louis Saunders were closest to a Gold medal.  Their final against Portugal, who they had earlier beaten at the pool stage, went down to a tie break after finishing 3-3.

An all Scottish BC3 Pair of Patrick Wilson, Jamie McCowan and Scott McCowan also took Silver. They recovered from a 1-4 loss to France in their Pool to record three victories, 4-3 over Portugal, 6-3 over Spain and 7-0 over Denmark. They defeated Greece 5-2 in the Semi-Final before losing the final 0-11 to Russia, who claimed their first European title.

Individual

There was also Scottish success in the individual competition with Jamie McCowan (and ramp assistant, Linda McCowan) took the BC3 title, whilst Stephen McGuire grabbed top spot in BC4 event in what was an incredible last day of the competition.

McCowan ground out a 3-2 semi-final against Greg Polychronidis of Greece, before facing Damian Iskrzycki from Poland in the final.  After losing the first end 0-6, he fought back to win 8-7 in a remarkable turnaround to win his first European title.

McGuire battled through a very challenging semi-final to win 5-3 over Micaela Balcova from Slovakia prior to facing Russia’s Sergey Safin.  In the end McGuire’s experience shown through as he ran out 6-1 to add the European Individual title to the World crown he claimed in 2016.

An impressive UK Boccia finished the competition with five medals from seven events.

FULL RESULTS

GOLD Individual BC1 – David Smith MBE

GOLD Individual BC3 – Jamie McCowan (assistant Linda McCowan)

GOLD Individual BC4 – Stephen McGuire

SILVER Pairs BC3 – Jamie McCowan (assistant Linda McCowan), Scott McCowan (assistant Gary McCowan, Patrick Wilson (assistant Will Wilson)

SILVER Pairs BC4 – Stephen McGuire, Evie Edwards, Louis Saunders

The Scotland National CP Team is made up of players from across Scotland with Cerebral Palsy, Stroke or Aquired Brain Injury.

Founded in 1995 in partnership with Scottish Disability Sport, the team has competed across the world in many competitions. Over the last 8 years we have competed with the top 16 elite teams, with our highest ranking of 6th in the world – this is higher than any Scotland national football team.

Unfortunately due to the current economic climate our funding is no longer available. This means that our players are unable to continue to compete on an international stage and without your help this team will no longer exist. Not only will our players lose their team, they will lose their pride, sense of belonging and their ability to reach their full potential.

This current group of players travel from across Scotland and the UK to attend regular training sessions, they sacrifice work, holidays, time with their family and friends to represent their country in the hope that we will compete in 2018.

To achieve this we want local businesses, sponsors, supporters, family and friends to come together during this crowdfunding period to play a part in something very special for the team and everyone involved.

Thanks for taking the time to read our story. Any donation, no matter how big or small, is much appreciated. We cannot do this without your support!

You can support the team here: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/scotland-national-cp-football-team/

West of Scotland duo Martin Perry and Conor McAdam won Gold in the men’s class 6 team event at the Para Table Tennis Belgian Open in what was a an extremely successful international series for the British Para Table Tennis Team.

This was followed up by an individual Silver for Perry who was defeated by Paul Karabardak 1-3 in an all British Final.

For a full report please visit: http://www.bttad.org/four-golds-in-14-medal-haul-for-british-team-in-belgium/

 

The 26^th-29^th of October saw the first USA Para-Badminton International held in Colorado Springs where Scotland had three athletes participating across three sports classes.

Mary Wilson, representing the SL4 category, was doubly successful in the women’s SL3-SU5 singles category, securing a bronze after beating off two Japanese opponents in her group to reach the semi- finals. With SL3 and SL4 playing up a class, Mary, the only SL3/SL4 to reach the semi-finals, was also awarded a gold medal in the SL3/SL4 class for women’s singles.

Deirdre Nagle, representing SS6, medalled in both the women’s singles, beating the USA’s Colleen Gioffreda to the bronze medal, and securing a bronze in the mixed doubles partnering the USA’s Danh Trang.

Fiona Christie, representing WH2 in both women’s singles and doubles, had some extremely hard competition from Asia, with all matches being played against Koreans or Japanese. She had some close games and some tough losses.

For all results please see: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=4824B9C7-A38C-42B4-9A4B-7137964D57E7

Fraser Michie was also in action running the first Para-Badminton course in Cairo, Egypt for BWF with Spain’s Dina Abouzeid. The course ran for four days between 20^th and 24^th October, and saw them coaching and educating new athletes and coaches.

Kaity Hall was in Dubai running the second coaches’ workshop at the Dubai Club for Disabled between 23^rd-25^th October, with herself and Fraser Michie conducting the first course one year previously. She had over 25 new coaches from all over the UAE participating in the workshop. Dubai will be hosting their first Fazaa Para-Badminton International in April in which we hope to have Scottish Athletes competing.

Dubai Photo Credit: James Varghese

The Scottish Para bowls team competed against England and Wales in the Home Nations tests series from the 27 – 29 October 2017.  The format included B2/B3 Mixed Pair and B6/B7/B8 Open Triples, replicating that of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast next year.

This was the final opportunity for the bowlers to put in a performance ahead of selections next month as competition for places are as fierce as they ever have been.

Although winning the competition was a goal for all players and coaches, it was deemed secondary to trialling player combinations and positions in order to inform our final selections.  In this regard the competition was a huge success.

There were some excellent performances across the board, with the physically disabled triple only losing twice in eight matches.  This highlighting the quality Scotland possess, with all six players competing well.  The visually impaired players had a mixed competition, losing five from eight matches, however, there were some top performances throughout from all players and directors.

Although finishing runners up by a narrow margin wasn’t the result we were all looking for, the competition served a great purpose and was hugely beneficial.  The individual and team performances has left all the coaches and selectors much to contemplate over the next few days as we draw closer to naming our Gold Coast 2018 team.

Scottish Disability Sport wishes to thanks all the players, directors and coaches for their hard work and dedication over the weekend.

Open Triples B6/B7/B8
Billy Allan
Mike Nicoll
Garry Brown
Martin Hunter
John Hughes
Michael Simpson

Mixed Pair B2/B3
Billy Edgar
Robert Barr
Maria Spencer
Irene Edgar

Directors
Christine Morrow
Ron McArthur
Grace Whitton
Sarah Jane Ewing

Coaches<
Bob Dick (Head Coach)
Bob Christie
Nigel Walker
Eric McMillan
Chris McGready

The Mixed Pair B2/B3, Directors and Open Triple B6/B7/B8 will be nominated to Commonwealth Games Scotland prior to the team being fully announced on the 30 November.

This is a fantastic opportunity for people with a visual impairment to try a variety of sports in a friendly and supportive environment.

The visual impairment sports day aims to provide an introduction to sport and engage participants in sport. RNIB, Haggeye, Guide Dogs Scotland and Visibility are supporting Scottish Disability Sport and governing body partners the Scottish Football Association, JudoScotland, Scottish Swimming and Scottish Athletics, Goalball UK and Blazing Saddles to provide a quality experience to participants on the day.  This unique opportunity is funded by the BIG Lottery Fund.

Many people with a visual impairment are not aware of the opportunities available to them in their local area. Scottish Disability Sport Regional Managers will be on hand on the day to raise awareness and support participants to get involved in their chosen sport in their local area. If you would like to have a chat about the event please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sports on offer throughout the day are: athletics, bowls, cycling, football, goalball, judo, swimming and tennis.

Date: Saturday 11th November, 2017

Venue: Scotstoun Leisure Centre, 122 Danes Drive, Glasgow, G14 9HD

Time: 10.30 am – 4.00 pm

Cost: FREE

If you have a visual impairment or know someone with a visual impairment that would like to get involved in sport and would like to attend please register by telephoning Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130 or email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

Please note that booking is essential for all participants. The full registration pack can be downloaded here.

For public transport information please see the SPT website at: www.spt.co.uk

Visual Impairment Engagement Day Flyer

The third Stirling Wheelchair International Invitational was held at the Peak, Stirling, from October 17th – 20th, with the very best of the world’s wheelchair curlers gathered to face each other. Eight teams representing the official Curling Associations of their respective countries took part. Norway, current world champions and three times holder of the trophy, would have to fight off the world silver and bronze medalists, as well as two other world top ten ranked teams and three just outside the top ten.

There was a tremendous show of curling skill on show, played on great ice, resulting in an exciting week of sport. It went right to the last game on Friday, when Russia, world silver medalists, overcame a plucky Scottish outfit, world bronze medalists, to emerge victorious at 5 shots to 4 after the very last stone. It was that close. Team Switzerland slotted into third place.

Norway, the defending champs, could only make sixth spot; after a sticky start.

Pictured, the Russian winning team. From left to right as viewed: Andrey Smirnov, Konstantin Kierokhtin, Alexander Shevchenko, Marat Romanov, Daria Shchukino.

On the back row: Anton Batugin (coach), Andy Hemming (SWCII), Christine Simpson (Provost), Sandy Lees (AGL sponsor) and Judy Mackenzie (SWCII).

(Courtesy of Royal Caledonian Curling Cub)