SDS are delighted to promote the West Coast Paddlers club which specialises in sea kayaking.

The club are offering opportunities for people with disabilities aged 14 and above up the chance to kayak within the sea.

For further information please see the poster and flyer below. For those looking to get involved in any water sports activities within the west please contact gary.mcdonald@scottishdisabilitysport.com. Thank you!

WCP Poster

WCP Flyer

Scottish Disability Sport were delighted to return to Dundee & Angus College for our 9th Tayside Parasport Festival on Wednesday 8th March where we welcomed 

56 pupils with either a physical disability, visual or hearing loss from 30 different schools across Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross.

So we can incorporate water sports in our festival, we also delivered a second Parasport day on Saturday 11th March at Perth Leisure Pool where a further 12 pupils took part in Kayaking with Perth Canoe Club and the Scottish Canoe Association and swimming with Dundee City Aquatics and Scottish Swimming.

The Parasport Festival is designed to introduce pupils with a physical disability or visual or hearing loss to try new and exciting sports. It has been identified that these groups are significantly under-represented when it comes to participating in weekly sport or physical activity.

Our event was supported by 24 sports coaching and development students from Dundee & Angus College who did a fantastic job encouraging and supporting the pupils throughout the day to ensure everyone felt at ease and participated to the best of their ability.

The day started with an introduction from Scottish Disability Sport Tayside Regional Manager Graeme Doig, followed by athlete talk from Shayne Humphries who shared his sporting experiences and achievements at the Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club and previous Parasport Festivals to hopefully inspire and relax other pupils, especially those attending for the first time.

In the morning session, pupils enjoyed five different sports including football and Goalball delivered by coaches from Dundee United Para-sports club, powerchair football with Tayside Dynamos, Judo with tayside Judo Club, badminton with Badminton Scotland.

Pupils with a visual impairment got a chance to play goalball which is a Paralympic sport specifically for people with a visual impairment and was great fun to be involved in.

The afternoon session included boccia with Darren Thomson from Leisure and Culture Dundee and Scottish Boccia, wheelchair basketball and rugby with the fantastic coaches from Dundee Dragons and run, jump and throw activities with @Scottish Athletics which included a Frame Running demonstration from Perth Strathtay Harriers athlete Rosie Randall.

It was great to see so many pupils with smiles on their faces all day long learning new skills, increasing confidence and making new friends. 

The day also included a parent / teacher engagement workshop and guest tour involving regional and local councillors, sport, health and education officers who had the opportunity to watch everyone in action.

Thank you to all involved in the day for making it such a positive experience for all.

We are currently contacting everyone who took part to support them into weekly participation with the sports they enjoyed.

For more information on disability sport in Tayside, please contact graeme.doig@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

The West Parasport Festival took place on 2 March 2023 at On-X Linwood Leisure Centre in Renfrewshire. The event was a complete success and gathered 107 enthusiastic participants with hearing loss, vision impairments or physical disabilities. Each participant had an opportunity to explore new activities, was able to take away something new and is hopefully continuing to take part in a sport after the event.

Thirteen Local Authorities took part in the event on the 2nd of March with schools ranging from East Renfrewshire, Argyll & Bute, East Dunbartonshire, South Ayrshire and many more.

There were nine activities that the young people took part in within the festival. These sports included football, badminton, tennis, table tennis, basketball, boccia, swimming, athletics, and Judo. Furthermore, there were show case sessions in kayaking, sailing and snow sports. These lessons involved a demonstration of the activity and a lead coach discussing the pathway of the sport.

Throughout the event learners had the chance to communicate with the six-time world champion frame runner Kayleigh Haggo. Kayleigh was able to answer questions from several young people during the day about her competitive experience and is an outstanding role model example for all the participants.

The young people rotated within their groups and thoroughly enjoyed their activities during the day. Each of the governing bodies that led their sports within the On-X leisure centre provided enjoyable sessions and offered a pathway for those interested in taking part in the sport after the festival. It was amazing to see so many people coming together enjoying sports, making new friendships, interacting with local clubs, and seeing the confidence grow in all these young adolescents.

A big thank you to the helpful staff of On-X Linwood, the students of the City of Glasgow College for volunteering, the local authorities for supporting, the active schools’ teams for promoting, the schools for bringing the young people along and most importantly that all the participants enjoying themselves.

If you, or anyone you know, lives with a physical, sensory, or learning disability in the West of Scotland and is interested in getting involved in sport, please get in touch with Gary on gary.mcdonald@scottishdisabilitysport.com or 07474479370.

The East of Scotland Parasport Festival took place at Forrester High School in Edinburgh on Friday 24th March. Scottish Disability Sport and Edinburgh Active Schools had the pleasure of welcoming 43 children aged 8-17 from Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Scottish Borders.

Throughout the day participants were able to try out a variety of different sports including athletics, frame running, swimming, goalball, powerchair football, wheelchair basketball, judo, badminton, football, snowsports, canoeing and boccia. All sessions were delivered by local clubs and governing bodies of sport. All the participants seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience and will now be supported into regular sport and physical activity within their local communities. SDS Chair, Catherine Goodfellow, said: “The facilities were great, the number of partners involved was tremendous and it was great to see so many smiling and excited participants.”

At the end of the festival, we were lucky enough to be joined by Paralympic sprinter Maria Lyle, Commonwealth Games swimmer Sam Downie and Goalball UK player and England Blind Football Captain Samantha Gough. They shared inspirational stories and answered questions from an inquisitive audience.

The event was also supported by 22 young ambassadors from St. Augustine’s HS and various other schools across the Capital. One S6 volunteer from St. Augustine’s commented that it was one of the “best days I’ve ever had at school.”

We’d like to thank Edinburgh Active Schools, Lothian Disability Sport, the clubs, coaches and our sports governing body partners for their support on the day!