Category: A News

Ayrshire Swimmers at Open European Trigames

Congratulations to Ayrshire Swimmers Cerys McCrindle and Laura Logan (both South Ayrshire Swim Team) on representing Down Syndrome Swimming GB (DSSGB) at the Open European Trigames in Ferrara, Italy.

The girls flew out at the beginning of October, along with Andrea Manson from Dumfries and Galloway, one of the swimming coaches for DSSGB. This was the first competition for two years and everyone was delighted to have been able to travel and compete safely all within the constraints of Covid.

The girls had been training hard throughout lockdown which definitely paid off. The swimming team as a whole (8 swimmers) broke world records, produced numerous medals and PBs, not to mention lots of fun on and off poolside, to which Cerys and Laura contributed significantly.

The team also managed to do some sightseeing round Ferrara which was a nice ‘rest day’ before back on poolside doing what they do best!

Well done to all, looks like it was a great trip away with many medals, personal achievements and memories made.

CP Football: 100 cap milestone for Jonathan Paterson

On Saturday 16th October, Jonathan Paterson collected his 100th cap for the Scotland Cerebral Palsy Football team. It was an occasion to remember as Scotland ran out 5-0 winners over Northern Ireland in which Jonathan marked his 100th cap with a goal.

Scotland’s most capped CP footballer, ‘JP’ is also a triple Paralympian with Great Britain and has had a long and successful football career which has led to this impressive milestone.

SDS congratulates Jonathan on this fantastic achievement, and the dedication he has shown to reach this milestone.

If you are interested in playing football, read our Factfile to find out how you can get involved in the various forms of the game.

 Football Factfile

Scottish FA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager

Competitive salary and benefits package.

The Scottish FA is seeking to appoint an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager to ensure Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded within the organisation’s departments, structures, and processes, as well as pushed across the wider football membership. Additionally, the job holder will continue the progress achieved so far by the organisation towards sustained accreditation of the Advanced level of the Equality Standard for Sport.

Full information is on the Scottish FA website here.

Get Active with Curling Festival

Scottish Curling in partnership with Parasport and Lothian Wheelchair Curling Club are delighted to be running a Para Try Curling festival on the afternoon of Friday 22nd October at Curl Edinburgh, Murrayfield.

“Try Curling” is our introductory curling programme that runs within ice rinks across Scotland and during the event we will be running specially adapted para Try Curling sessions to allow people of all ability levels to experience curling.

We are excited to invite those with various abilities who are in secondary school or older, along to this exciting festival. Sessions will be 60 minutes long and provide participants with the opportunity to try curling, throw a few stones and get a feel for the sport.

During the day we will also have special appearances and visits from some of Scotland and Great Britain’s top para curlers including Olympic Bronze medallist Aileen Neilson.

Full event information and details on how to sign up are available on the Scottish Curling website.

For further information or questions, please contact Catriona Morton via catriona@scottishcurling.org

SDS welcomes back Louise Gillespie as Regional Manager for North and South Lanarkshire

Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to welcome back Louise Gillespie to the role of part-time regional manager for North and South Lanarkshire.

She joins the SDS team with a wealth of knowledge and experience in all areas of sports development. Louise is passionate about creating new opportunities and engaging participants with disabilities in sport. She returned home to Edinburgh in February 2020 to take up a maternity cover post with Scottish Disability Sport after five years of living in London and Hong Kong.

Returning to SDS following ten months working for Waterski and Wakeboard Scotland she also works part-time for Help for Heroes engaging injured and disabled veterans in sport and physical activity.

In her spare time, Louise plays basketball and netball (when her knees allow!) and is currently training to become a paddleboard instructor. Louise is looking forward to working with partners to further develop disability sport opportunities for participants, volunteers, coaches, and clubs across North and South Lanarkshire.

Welcome back, Louise!

Two youngsters paddle a kayak across a pond.

Successful Summer of Fun Programme for Grampian Disability Sport

Grampian Disability Sport had a fantastic return to sport during the summer holidays, thanks to Summer of Play funding.

GDS was able to access just under £8,000 of the government funding thanks to a partnership between Live Life Aberdeenshire and Aberdeenshire ClubSport, which enabled their member clubs and organisations to apply for funding to run free of charge sports and activities for young people and families in Aberdeenshire.

After a surge in popularity of Scottish Disability Sport’s Summer Camp offering for youngsters aged 10 -17 with physical disabilities and sensory impairments, which was to be held at Lochter Activity Centre in Oldmeldrum, the funding enabled GDS to provide a further 7 half-day adventure camps at the site, which were opened up to youngsters with any disability aged 8-17 from Aberdeenshire, and their siblings and families.

Families had the opportunity to take part in a range of adventure activities including buggy driving, water zorbing, go karting, Segway, archery, kayaking and more! The environment was relaxed, staff were very flexible and went above and beyond to support the youngsters, and a total of 161 unique participants were involved across the 7 sessions.

Families commented that they wouldn’t ordinarily pay for this type of experience as they were concerned that their youngsters wouldn’t take part or wouldn’t manage, but seeing their children fully engage in the activities and gain confidence in their abilities changed their perceptions. It enabled parents and carers to meet other families and allowed their children to connect with their peers after lockdown.

They’re looking forward to hopefully offering a similar programme with Lochter during the Aberdeenshire Tatty Holidays.

If you (or someone you know) lives with a disability in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray or Shetland and wants to get involved in sport or physical activity, get in touch with Alison on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or call 07828744848.

Stephanie and Charis from Ability Shetland smile as they hold their MOR certificate towards the camera.

Ability Shetland Joins the SDS Family

We were delighted to announce at this year’s AGM and Awards that Ability Shetland has satisfied the criteria for our Minimum Operating Requirements and is now the 14th Branch to have joined Scottish Disability Sport.

Ability Shetland, and in particular, Stephanie Bain, has worked tirelessly over the last couple of years to get to where they are today, and it was a pleasure to be part of the partnership that established their development plan which aided them in securing funding from Shetland Charitable Trust and sportscotland’s Direct Club Investment for their very first Sports Development Coordinator post.

Ability Shetland and their partners were keen to develop more and better opportunities for people with disabilities across the Islands to get involved in sport and physical activity, and to better connect with clubs, athletes, competitions and pathways on the mainland. Stephanie has commented that they are already seeing the benefits of being a Branch with new athletes being supported, opportunities being developed and participants being invited to events on the mainland.

We are now delighted to work closely with Charis Scott, Ability Shetland’s Sports Development Coordinator, who has done a spectacular job so far in creating partnerships with clubs, developing a successful summer holiday programme, and engaging schools, participants and athletes in SDS events.

Well done to all at Ability Shetland.

If you (or someone you know) lives with a disability in Shetland and wants to get involved in sport or physical activity, get in touch with Alison on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or call 07828744848.

A young boy sitting in a kayak smiles at the camera.

Parasport Festival Returns to Grampian

On Friday 17th September, we saw the eagerly-anticipated return of the national Parasport Festival programme.

The Festival, which provides opportunities for school-aged pupils in mainstream education with physical disabilities and sensory impairments to try a range of specially-adapted sport and physical activity opportunities, returned to Grampian last month and was the first post-COVID Parasport Festival to take place.

Hosted at the well-equipped Aberdeen Sports Village, this year’s Festival featured a range of exciting sport and activity sessions including the debut of sitting volleyball and kayaking.

Extensive COVID measures were in place including the limiting of participant numbers and spectators, but this didn’t take away from the sheer joy that the youngsters and their families experienced whilst trying new activities and socialising with peers.

Rachael – mum to participant, Lucy – said of the day: “These days are a fantastic opportunity and are so good for the children on so many different levels, physically, socially and emotionally. It enables the children to participate in the sports in an environment that is inclusive, achievable and fun. Thank you so much for organising them. For me as a parent I love attending the days. Being part of the experience and being able to enjoy it with Lucy but also being able to stand back and watch her enjoying herself and what she is achieving. I also think it is beneficial to spend time with other parents and carers for the support you can give each other”.

In addition to providing opportunities for young people with disabilities, the Festival serves as an opportunity for coaches, teachers and activity leaders to gain hands-on experience of inclusive practice. This year, we were fortunate to be joined for the first time by over 50 first year Sports Coaching students from North East Scotland College. They spent time with the youngsters, engaging them in the different activities and providing concentrated support where needed. They also learned from the sport-specific coaches and were treated to a wheelchair basketball masterclass by Grampian Flyers Wheelchair Basketball Club Coach, Kirsty Smith.

Our next step is to continue to upskill the students and to signpost the participants into regular activity available locally to them.

A huge ‘thank you’ goes to all of the partners, clubs, organisations and individuals who supported the event, Corra Foundation for providing the funding to enable us to offer this event at no charge to the participants, and to the youngsters, parents and carers who came along and tried something new.

Roll on the 2022 event!

 

If you (or someone you know) live with a disability in Shetland, Moray, Aberdeenshire or Aberdeen City, and are keen to get involved in sport and physical activity, please email alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or call 07828744848.

Girls In Boccia

Come and Try Boccia – Scottish Women & Girls in Sport Week 2021

Come and try Boccia during Scottish Women & Girls in Sport Week

We have partnered with Scottish Women in Sport to deliver a Come and Try Boccia session for women and girls with physical, sensory or learning disabilities.

The event, which will run alongside the Boccia National Championships is focused on women and girls participation and will be a fun and educational introduction to the sport.

Event Details

Saturday 30 October 2021

1430-1600

[EN]GAGE Sports and Fitness Centre, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh, EH11 4BN

During the session, participants will;

  • Learn about the sport
  • Play the game
  • Speak to knowledgeable people
  • Find a club

Closing date for registrations Wednesday 27 October 2021

Register below   

 

 

 

Forth Valley Flyers Taster Session 2021

Forth Valley Flyers Athletics Club in partnership with Central AC, Forth Valley Disability Sport, Scottish Athletics, Scottish Disability Sport and Clackmannanshire Council hosted an athletics taster session at Lornshill Academy on Sunday 26th September 2021.

Qualified coaches and volunteers led 15 participants through a range of athletics disciplines including runs, jumps and throws.

The session was specially designed for children, young people and adults with physical, sensory and learning difficulties and gave a brief insight into the many events that you can participate in the sport of athletics. “This event brought individuals from the local area together to chat and have fun in a sport and activity that they enjoy. It was a great day and nice to see everyone interacting together and making new friends” – Graham Harvey, Branch Coordinator.

If you would like further information on disability sport classes or clubs which take place in your area please contact:

Please visit the FVDS website at fvds.org.uk and social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for ongoing information.