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:
Two East of Scotland swimmers received well-earned rewards recently, recognising their individual achievements over the last 12 months.
Beth Johnston received the Junior Sports Personality of the Year Award at the ClubSport Ettrick and Lauderdale Awards last week to cap a fantastic 12 months which has seen performances across the world, including securing medals at the World Para Series in Indianapolis. This recent award also compliments the Sports Personality of the Year accolade which the BEST swimmer received from her peers at Galashiels Academy earlier on this year. The S10 swimmer has enjoyed her best season to date and this has been acknowledged by her fellow swimmers, coaches, and school mates.
Edinburgh based swimmer Neil Ferguson was also recognised for his incredible achievements over the last 2 years – presented with a ‘Stroke Association Life After Stroke Award’ by Paralympian Scott Quin and TV presenter Amanda Lamb at a glittering award ceremony in London on 1st November. Lothian Racers and Musselburgh ASC swimmer Ferguson is relatively new to Para Sport after having a stroke just prior to Christmas in 2013, resulting in injuries to the right side of his body and also severely affecting his speech. The 15 year old has worked tirelessly to regain strength and mobility in the muscles that were weakened, while also finding the energy and enthusiasm to become involved with Para Sport during this period. Neil is now once again excelling in the swimming pool – recently being invited onto the Scottish Swimming Para Squad for 2017 / 2018 after receiving his classification this summer. The George Watson’s pupil motivation and drive to achieve all he can is absolutely evident to anyone who has worked with him or seen him train or compete, with his coaches often claiming, ‘it’s difficult to get him out of the water’. Neil – who was also the joint recipient of the Lothian Disability Sport Young Sports Person of the Year in the summer – has also engaged with events facilitated by Scottish Disability Sport, including the Summer Camp and is still an active member of the Forth Canoe Club after attending the Wheels to Water Event in 2015. A genuinely inspirational story and congratulations to Neil on receiving the Children and Young People’s Courage Award, a UK award which received over 400 nominations.
Watch Neil’s story on the link below –
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 Midlothian Sports Awards were held on Friday 27th October at Lasswade Community High School, with athletes and coaches involved within disability sport recognised for their significant achievements over the previous 12 months.
Visually Impaired Alpine Skiier, Michael Kear picked up the Senior Sports Personality Award after a very impressive series of results earlier this year. The former Royal Blind School pupil recorded some notable performances, including 2nd place finish in a leg of the Europa Cup in Veysonnaz, Switzerland. The Loanhead sportsman also recorded a 1st place finish in January this year at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing Slalom Race, pipping athletes from Switzerland and China to claim gold in Rinn, Austria. Kear has achieved a remarkable amount over the two years since becoming involved with the sport and has been part of the British Parasnowsport Development team since 2015/2016 and has recently been selected onto the British Parasnowsport Foundation Squad for 2017/2018 – ultimately aiming for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.
Further recognition surrounded the significant success achieved at this summer’s Special Olympics National Games with the Lothian Special Olympics team receiving the Senior Team of the Year Award and Lynne Sturgeon awarded with the Coach of the Year accolade.
Lynne Sturgeon led a successful Lothian team of over 100 athletes, coaches & volunteers as Head of Delegation (HOD) at the National event in Sheffield. This role involved managing a large team of individuals, working closely with a range of personalities and ensuring an environment was created for an enjoyable experience for all involved – all of this and more was achieved, meaning a hugely successful week in Sheffield. In addition to the significant undertaking as HOD, Lynne also leads the development of Beeslack All Stars – a multi-sport club for youngsters with a disability – acting as a coach and coach mentor on a weekly basis. This relationship has helped develop a number of coaches and benefited the local authority, providing the experience and confidence for individuals to go out and coach in the community.
The Lothian Special Olympics team received the Senior Team of the Year award after a hugely successful performance in August. The Summer Games, held every 4 years, invites athletes with intellectual disabilities of all sporting abilities to participate and compete in a wide range of sports including athletics, swimming, football and judo. In total, there were 69 athletes and 31 coaches & volunteers who represented Lothian across 10 of the 20 sports offered during this year’s games, with a third of the overall number coming from Midlothian. Athletes participated superbly throughout whilst claiming 25 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals and a host of 4th- 8th place ribbons. Head of Delegation and recently crowned Midlothian Coach of the Year, Lynne Sturgeon added “It was amazing, the attitude and respect the Lothian athletes showed throughput the games. The weekly dedication of the voluntary coaches and admin volunteers who create the training opportunities in the Lothians was repaid superbly by the athletes. Without these volunteers the athletes would not have these opportunities to excel on and off the sports field.”
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 26th-29th 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 20th and 24th 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 23rd-25th 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
Disability Sport Fife (DSF) is delighted to report that inspirational athlete Susanne McGrath from Glenrothes has just completed her second wheelchair marathon of the year and for the first time in Dublin. To add to the celebrations Susanne completed the course in a personal best time of 3.35.
Along the way Susanne was cheered on by her Aunt Marie and her two friends. The “influential” banner they carried was the creation of family 
friend Geraldine Walsh from Dublin who ensured that all the arrangements for Susanne went smoothly on the day.
Susanne came to wheelchair racing late in her athletics career but has made amazing progress within a short period. Her father Eddie is never far away when she is training or competing and his support has been critical as her “enabler” and “fixer”. Eddie also completed the Dublin Marathon and has been encouraged and inspired by Susanne to follow her lead into distance running training and the occasional big event.
Susanne is a member of the DSF wheelchair racing squad that is coached by DSF lead athletics coach Pamela Robson. Recently the group was inspired by a visit to Fife from world champion Sammi Kinghorn and her coach Ian Mirfin MBE from Scottish Athletics.
Up until earlier this year Susanne trained in a racing wheelchair provided by Disability Sport Fife but that chair has now been returned to stock awaiting the next newcomer to the sport. Due to her own fundraising efforts, those of local fundraiser Neil Smart and a bursary from the Russell Hogg Trust, Susanne took possession earlier this year of her own bespoke Bromakin chair and she has not looked back since. Improvements in technique, higher levels of fitness and of course the new racing wheelchair have resulted in a finish to the season that she could only have dreamed of a couple of years ago. Well done Susanne an inspirational Fife athlete.
Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife
Curling for All at the Peak
Stirling Sports Village, Forthside Way, Stirling FK8 1QZ
For adults and youn gpeople witha range of disabilities. The cost is £3 for participants, one parent/carer/supporter friend joins in for free. Places are limited, booking is essential.
Wednesday 22nd November 2017, 3-4pm, 4-5pm
Wednesday 29th November 2017, 3-4pm, 4-5pm
Wednesday 6th December 2017, 3-4pm, 4-5pm
Open to people with physical, learning and sensory impairments, and autistic spectrum disorders. Traditional, stick or wheelchair curling available.
For more information and to book a place contact Helen Kallow, RCCC Disability Curling Development Officer, 0131 333 3003, helen@royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org.
Have you the desire to learn how to skate, gliding over the Ice like Torvill and Dean? Well, now you can!
Intu Braehead Ice Rink is introducing a new open Inclusive Skating session every Saturday morning from 10am to 11am.
It will cost £8.50 for an inclusive skater and carer, and skate hire is included in the price.
If you are interested in this exciting new venture, head along to Braehead Ice Rink this weekend, or contact Margarita Sweeney-Baird on margarita.msb@gmail.com for more information on inclusive Skating.
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