Go Kids Go are running Wheelchair Skills Sessions across Scotland in October.
This is a great chance to learn skills to help you become more independent. Manual or powered wheelchair users welcome, extra wheelchairs provided for family members to participate.
Young people from 2 years upwards welcome!
Small groups – Covid secure setting.
UK have recently launched In Tandem, an exciting new pilot project that aims to give people with a visual impairment more opportunities to experience the joys and benefits of cycling.
Cycling with a visual impairment is entirely possible, all that is needed is a tandem bike and a sighted person to ride in front.
To help develop new activities Cycling UK would like to offer free tandem try out sessions across the West of Scotland to both Vision Impaired and sighted people. Training and rides can be delivered during the week or at weekends locally throughout the West of Scotland and we’d like to encourage all curious people, of all experience levels, to get in touch.
If you, or someone you know, would be interested in joining a session or would like to know more about the project then please get in touch with Andrew.campbell@cyclinguk.org
Sharing inclusive practice was the game of the day at the Local Authority Professional Officers Group Meeting last week. SDS with 85 professional officers from 30 local authority areas joined together to hear how partners had embedded inclusive practice throughout school and community sport.
Dougie Millen, Lead Manager from sportscotland set the scene for the day by explaining the importance of embedding inclusion within practice and the importance of engaging participants with disabilities in physical activity and sport as they have the lowest representation in sport and have been impacted the most by the pandemic.
The SDS Performance Manager then gave an overview of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games and highlighted the performances of some of the 33 Scottish Para athletes competing in the games before an overview of Return to Sport was presented by regional manager Lynn Allison.
The morning was rounded off by the SDS Regional Team facilitating sessions on a new Inclusive Club Resource being developed and “Having the Conversation” with participants with disabilities.
Particular thanks go to Fiona Donald Swim IT, Brian Pahlmann and Ruth Watson Aberdeen AAC, Chris Cleary and Jill Coleman, Renfrewshire and City of Edinburgh Councils respectively who presented in the afternoon sessions providing an overview of and Inclusive Mainstream Clubs and Inclusive Leadership Programmes.
A managers discussion group discussed how the gathering of local data and how it can be used to inform planning. Thanks to Lori Ure (Live Argyll) and James Fenna (Dundee Leisure and Culture) for delivering presentations on their practice.
Gavin Macleod SDS CEO said “We were delighted to see the large numbers in attendance at the recent Local Authority Professional Officers Group Meeting. This demonstrates the significant commitment to equality and inclusion at a local level and the role that SDS continues to play in embedding inclusion for participants with disabilities within strategic planning and operational delivery.”
The date for the next meeting is Tuesday 1 February 2022. If you are a professional officer or manager and would like to join the network, please contact admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or telephone 0131 317 1130.
BadmintonScotland, Glasgow Disability Sports and Scottish Disability Sport are delighted to announce that we will be hosting the first West Open Disability Badminton Championships on the 2nd October!
The event will be held at Tollcross from 10am-3pm and will be open to all abilities from ages of 14 and above, with the cost for the overall day being £8 per person. This will be a singles only event which will have a round robin of games along with a knockout format in finals.
SECTIONS:
There will be four sections at the event which are:.
A – Open Class for Players who use a Wheelchair (WC)
B – Open Class for Players with an ambulant Physical Disability (PD)
C – Open Class for Players with a Learning Disability (LD)
D – Open Class for Short Stature Players (SS)
Have you been inspired by the Paralympians in Tokyo? Would you like to get involved in physical activity and sport?
We believe sport is for everyone and has an ability to change lives. At SDS we can help you find an appropriate and inclusive opportunity for everyone to experience the physical, social and psychological benefits that physical activity and sport can bring.
Hear from people who have experienced the #PowerOfSport and how being active has changed their lives
If you would like to get involved in physical activity and sport, please email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com and we can help find the right opportunity for you.
The Inclusive Apprenticeship programme will empower young people (aged between 16 – 24) with physical, learning and sensory disabilities throughout Scotland to develop their confidence and coaching skills over a one-year period. The young people will gain coaching qualifications or equivalent CPD.
Programme Outcomes:
Find out more about the programme by watching out Young Start summary video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B11EN5iA17w
To be considered for the programme, young people must:
Other information:
Contact Details:
Victoria Clark, Lead Mentor – email: victoria@activeadvantage.org, tel: 07969 751 470
Heather Lowden, Education and Development Manager – email: heather.lowden@scottishdisabilitysport.com, tel: 07787 151 043
Nominations are invited from those connected with SDS for the following awards that will be presented at the Online Annual General Meeting on Sunday 3rd October 2021. It is important that there is a clear indication why the individual/group is being nominated.
The Awards Panel will then meet to consider all applications and decide the winner for each category in advance of the presentations at the AGM on Sunday 3rd October 2021.
A list of former award winners can be seen on our website here: https://scottishdisabilitysport.com/sds-award-winners/
All nominations should be submitted in confidence, before Thursday 9th September 2021.
As a 14 year old schoolboy in Dingwall Academy, Fraser Owen from Marybank in Ross-shire would wonder what it would be like, as any other youngster would, about playing football for his favourite team or taking part in a sport that could elevate him to a higher level. But this was a thing he could only dream about.
Fraser has cerebral palsy and is a quadriplegic, which means he is affected in all his four limbs and his muscle power and movement are restricted to how he can run and move.
Unlike other pupils in his school, Fraser was basically swimming against the tide as opportunities for him to be part of a sporting environment where he could be like any other pupil or sport participant were not easily available.
However, when he got involved with Highland United Football Club (Disability Football Team) playing the sport he loves, it got to a stage as he matured that football was not going to be an option as his disability would not allow him to play as others could.
A chance meeting at his school with an athletics coach paved a way forward for him, and without much persuasion, he decided to give athletics a go. Since then his own grit and determination has taken him to where he is now, and words could not describe his joy at being selected for the British School Games taking place at Loughborough on the weekend of 3rd to 5th September. Fraser will compete in the Ambulant 100mtrs an event he has been training for since joining the Inverness Harriers Para Squad for the last four years. He will also be competing in the relay.
Nothing has phased Fraser about competing against non-disabled athletes and he trains 3 times a week which involves a 45 mile round trip each time. His main competitions take place in England where competes to help further his experience and development. At the recent British Athletics Championships at Bedford Fraser picked up a gold and bronze medal in the 200m and 100m respectively.
Well done on your much deserved selection Fraser.
The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games drew to a close with Scotland’s final member of ParalympicsGB taking to the track prior to the spectacular closing ceremony.
Athletics
Fife’s Derek Rae exorcised the demons of his Rio 2016 experience, where he was unable to finish, by completing the Tokyo course and finishing 9th in the T45 Marathon. The Fife AC athlete suffered a stress fracture in his lower back in June and his 2:47:04 run was a testament to his resilience and professionalism.
Following his race, Derek commented;
“I’m proud of myself for getting to the start line,”
“There was a doubt in my mind as to whether I’d compete but it was an honour to get here and represent ParalympicsGB.”
“I ran pretty much the whole race on my own and I wouldn’t have got through it were it not for the crowds. They’ve given us such a warm welcome here.”
“Rio has motivated me since it happened, it never left my mind. It was a demon but the final nail is now in that coffin.”
Scotland’s final medal tally at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games is 21, with two gold, nine silver and ten bronze. This total surpasses the 17 medals won by Scots on ParalympicsGB at the 2016 Rio Games.
Photo – courtesy of imagecomms
Today was the penultimate day of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games and the medals continued to come for the Scots on ParalympicsGB.
Wheelchair Tennis
Scotland’s Gordon Reid MBE won the Men’s Singles bronze medal, defeating double’s partner, Alfie Hewitt in an enthralling tie. The pair were left devastated yesterday after suffering a second successive Men’s Double’s final defeat to French duo Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer. Men’s Singles Rio champion Gordon, who had beaten Hewett in the final five years ago, once again came out on top when it mattered. The Scot edged a tight encounter 6-4 3-6 7-5 in two hours and 22 minutes to ensure another podium finish.
Commenting on an emotional week in Tokyo, Gordon said;
“The last thing we wanted to do was come and play against each other on the same court,”
“There have to be winners and losers and to be honest it doesn’t feel like I’m a winner today at the moment,”
“But I’m sure that as soon as the emotions settle down, I’ll be proud of that fact that I’ve come here and won another singles medal.”
“Also, I now have the full collection of medals so that’s a cool thing.”
Athletics
Ben Rowlings has made a real impact on his Paralympic debut in Tokyo and had set a time of 1:48.21 to finish in 4th position in his heat and so qualify for the final of the T34 Men’s 800m today. Ben couldn’t improve on that time in the final but raced home in 1:48.63, on a rain soaked track in the Olympic Stadium, to finish the final in 8th place. A really positive introduction to Paralympic competition for Ben who will now turn his attention to Paris in 2024.
Scotland’s medal tally rises to twenty one with two gold, nine silver and ten bronze after ten days of competition.
Photo – courtesy of imagecomms
You must be logged in to post a comment.