Wednesday 1st – Friday 3rd March 2017 saw the Peak, Stirling host the successful Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship.

Wednesday 1st March, also known as International Wheelchair Day, inspired over 50 wheelchair curlers to attend the three-day competition, which was praised as being played with a high level of friendship and an inspiring event.

The Chief Executive of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, Bruce Crawford, presented medals at the event.

Medal winning teams
Gold: Jim Sellar, Jim Gault, Debbie McKenna, Tom Killin with the Rhona Martin trophy and their gold medals.
Silver: Gill Keith, David Pollock, Alan Hopkins, Martin Elliot.
Bronze: Team Donaldson.

Debbie McKenna also won the Rhona Martin trophy playing her part as a member of Team Gault in winning the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Championship.

In her first UCI Para – cycling Track World Championships, the remarkable Alison Patrick from Dunfermline won bronze in the tandem 1000m Time Trial (1:11.115) and then just lost out to Belgium for a second bronze in the tandem 3K pursuit. Alison shared the success on this occasion with Helen Scott. Hazel Smith (now McLeod) was her Para- triathlete pilot when she won silver at the Paralympic Games in Rio.

Sophie Thornhill and Corrine Hall from GB won double gold. Scot Aileen McGlynn won silver in 1K time trial with pilot Louise Haston (1:11.089) and finished 6th in 3K Pursuit. Lorna Turnham and Hazel McLeod from GB won silver in 3K pursuit to make it an outstanding all round tandem performance by Team GB Elite Women.

Alison is a specialist in the disciplines of swimming, cycling and running. Entry into track cycling is an effort to see how realistic it is to gain selection for Team Scotland for the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018 where she would have Hazel McLeod (nee Smith) on board as her pilot. The results from Los Angeles clearly indicate she is off to a brilliant start. Helen has had considerable success in track cycling and was the ideal partner for Fife’s exceptional visually impaired all rounder. Alison now returns to her preparations for the European Para – triathlon championships later this year.

Well done to the Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council Sports Personality of the Year.

Photo of Alison with Grace Francis who was her pilot at the Test Event in Rio prior to the Games.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

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

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

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.

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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