There has been lots of change for me since my last blog post for SDS. In June 2018 I graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a 2:1 honours degree in Sport & Exercise Science. A few weeks after that I swam what would be my last competitive race as a swimmer. Swimming has been such a massive part of my life for a long time and was a huge factor in helping me through some really tough times with my health, both physically and psychologically. A big thank you to Scottish Swimming and Scottish Disability Sport for making my time as a swimmer so enjoyable, I will always look back with fond memories. As they say when one door closes another one opens …

After a friend shared an advert that British Canoeing were looking for new talent athletes, I thought ‘I could do that’, I sent an email to say I was interested in giving Paracanoe a try. After a successful trial in Nottingham I soon found myself at a freezing canal in Edinburgh where I first got in a boat. Despite a few unintentional swims I absolutely loved the sport, I love the freedom of being out on the water and after many years in a chlorinated pool environment its great to be outside in the fresh air. Conveniently I love training in the rain, the wind however is not my friend and can often lead to lots of wobbles in the boat and going for a swim!

Not long after I first started training in the boat I was very lucky to be invited down to Nottingham to train full time. Both Olympic and Paralympic sprint canoeing are based at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham so to be asked to train there full time was a massive honour. I moved down at the end of September 2018 and spent the winter improving my technique on the water and getting strong in the gym.

The training is very different to swimming, but I absolutely love it. The Paralympic distance is 200m so we have to be strong and powerful. In April we went to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for a training camp, with some nice flat water to train on it was a great opportunity to transfer strength in the gym to speed on the water in preparation for selection for European Championships and World Cup. I learnt lots from our Plovdiv camp and was looking forward to continue making progress back in Nottingham.

Storm Hannah threw a spanner in the works for our selection regatta at the end of April, we were supposed to race on the Saturday but due to the wind it got postponed to the Monday, my poor Mum and Dad flew down from Scotland to watch me race for the first time but due to the rescheduling they had to go home and still haven’t got to see me race! After a strange couple of days not knowing when we were going to race, I was very happy to put down two solid runs resulting in selection for both the European Championships and also the World Cup in Poznan, Poland 21-24th May.

We found ourselves in a very rare position in Poland where there were two international competitions held back to back, but as this sport is still very new to me and it’s the first time I’ve raced internationally I saw it as a great opportunity to learn as much as I could. Europeans were up first. I had a good race in my heat finishing a close 2nd which gave me automatic qualification for the final the next day. Unfortunately the day of the final the weather took a turn for the worse providing us with some very challenging racing conditions, I wobbled the whole way down the course, was constantly having to regain my balance in the boat and eventually finished 4th. Although 4th at my first international was a pretty good result, I found it frustrating because I really struggled with the conditions so couldn’t give it my all and it didn’t feel like a true representation of what I’ve been doing in training.

However I had to quickly put that race aside as the following day was the start of the World Cup. Unfortunately for the heat of the World Cup the conditions were also pretty tough, so I was very relieved to come 3rd in that race meaning I qualified straight for the final without having to do a semi-final. Thankfully for the final the wind was a bit calmer and it turned out to be a very close race. I was in a photo finish for bronze, but had to settle for another 4th. Although a frustrating place to finish I did the fastest time I’ve done in a race and it was nice to know I was up there and competitive against some very experienced and successful athletes.

All in all the experience from Poland was invaluable. I definitely learnt a lot and I know that I still have a lot of areas to improve on. It was amazing to be part of such an amazing supportive and successful team. The team of athletes, coaches and support staff we have at British Paracanoe is world class and I feel privileged and lucky to be part of that every day.

After a brief recovery week back in Scotland seeing family and friends, I am back training preparing for selection for World Championships at the end of June. If selected, Worlds are in Hungary in August, I also have the possibility of a trip to Tokyo for the Paralympic test event in September – fingers crossed selection goes well!

In terms of the Young Persons Sports Panel, although I am unable to attend as many events due to being based in Nottingham, I continue to be involved from afar contributing to meetings and future planning via Skype. We have some cool stuff planned and I’m sure the panel will continue to strengthen and grow.

Brits Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid both booked a place in a Grand Slam singles semi-final for the first time since the 2017 US Open on Thursday after they triumphed on the opening day of wheelchair tennis action at the French Open.

Hewett beat world No.3 Stephane Houdet of France 6-2, 7-6(4), while Reid earned a steely 3-6, 6- 4, 6-3 victory over world No.4 Joachim Gerard of Belgium on a remarkable day for the top two men’s players on the LTA’s GB Wheelchair Tennis World Class Performance Programme.

Hewett, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, raced into a 3-0 lead against Houdet and left by a set and 1-0 when the Frenchman needed time out to repair a puncture. When the match resumed Houdet went on to open up a 5-2 lead, but Hewett calmly found his way back, saving a set point at 4-5 down before going on to reach his second Roland Garros singles semi-final.

Hewett also beat Houdet just over two weeks ago in the match that earned Great Britain victory in men’s final at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup. Hewett and Reid finished the event unbeaten in all their singles rubbers. Hewett, the reigning US Open champion, said: “I really felt like I was playing well. Then at the start of the second I was still playing good shots, but I was just starting to feel that little bit of an energy drop. The tyre was maybe a bit of a factor, but at
the end of the day these things happen. I took some time off after the US Open last year, and since then I didn’t feel like I’d reached the level I should have been at. Then the World Team Cup came along and I felt a change and played some amazing tennis.”

Hewett now plays Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez in Friday’s semi-finals. He added: “It’s hard to just carry on, turn up here and think I’ll do the same – that’s not been the case. I had to progress, get back to training on the clay, which we haven’t played on for a year now. It’s like starting from scratch again, so that was really pleasing today.”

Reid, the men’s singles runner-up in Paris in 2016, gathered some welcome momentum to break Gerard’s serve and lead 4-3 in the second set of his quarter-final. He carried the momentum into the final set and could do little wrong as he opened a 3-0 cushion. The Rio Paralympic champion dropped just one point in the final two games, with Gerard serving up a double fault on match point.

The 27-year-old now plays defending champion Shingo Kuniedas of Japan. Former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Reid said: “I feel quite drained. It was quite a tense match – I was nervous going in, and my timing was a bit off in the first set, while he was serving and returning well. I’m glad I found my way into it in the second set, scrapping a bit, and in the third set I played some good tennis. Shingo’s No.1 in the world right now, and he’s back to what I would say is his best form. He’s always a tough opponent to play against, but I know I can beat him – I’ve beaten him in the past, and I’ve
got the game to beat him. I’ll go away, prepare, and try and do that tomorrow.”

With Hewett and Reid in opposite halves of the draw, an all-Brit singles final remains a possibility. Meanwhile, Friday’s second day of play in Paris also sees Hewett and Reid bid to reach the men’s doubles final together.

The three-time Wimbledon and two-time US Open champions play their singles semi-final opponents Fernandez and Kunieda in their doubles semi-final. Hewett and Reid have played Fernandez and Reid in five Grand Slam doubles semi-finals since 2017 and have so far won each one.

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

SDS is pleased to be able to celebrate some great coaches during Coaching Week, 3-9 June.  Today SDS is delighted to highlight Josh Manson and share his thoughts on coaching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI7d3sr-ZHs&feature=youtu.be

Coaching Week, 3-9 June, is a springboard for inspiring the public to value coaches, energising coaches to learn and prompting policymakers to invest in coaching. #greatcoaching

SDS wishes to thank all its volunteers during Volunteers Week and to share some of their stories, and there are so many more we could have told, for example  all the volunteers who supported the Athletics Championships yesterday in the pouring rain! …..

Ling Mann is an amazing volunteer who runs her local boccia club in Dumfries and Galloway and over the last year has volunteered at a number of events. In July 2018,  she participated at the SDS Summer Camp. She then was the competition Manager for Bocce at the Special Olympics Anniversary Games in Stirling.  Ling then repacked her bags and went to Liverpool to be a voluntary lines person at the World Boccia Championships in August 2018.  In March 2019, she was the Head Coach for Bocce at the Special Olympics World Games in Dubai. Ling is also a level 2 Official and coach for Boccia and can be found at weekends supporting Boccia events. Next month she is off to the SDS Summer Camp!

With 18 Grand Slam titles between them, including three on the clay courts of Roland Garros, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid bid to add more major success when they contest the French Open wheelchair events from tomorrow (Thursday).

Hewett and Reid will be looking to build on their part in last month’s record World Team Cup performance by Great Britain players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Performance Programme. Both players were unbeaten in singles competition in Israel as they led Great Britain to a second World Team cup men’s title, each defeating players that they could well be drawn against this week in Paris.

Roland Garros holds very special memories for Hewett, who won his first Grand Slam singles title in Paris in 2017, coming from a set and 2-0 down to beat Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez. He added his second major singles title at the US Open last September, beating world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan in the final and recently gained his first win over Kunieda since their New York meeting.

World No. 5 Hewett and seven-time Grand Slam champion Hewett said: “You could see my reaction at the World Team Cup as to how much that meant to me to beat Shingo again and going into Roland Garros unbeaten in my last three matches against Joachim (Gerard), Shingo and Stephane (Houdet), three of the world’s current top four players and three players that I could potentially meet at Roland Garros is, of course, very pleasing. Roland Garros is obviously a different event and a different surface, but it’s the same for all of us.”

Fernandez and Kunieda have played a part in Reid’s past Roland Garros successes, too. The 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon men’s singles champion and current world No. 8 played Fernandez in his first Roland Garros men’s singles final in 2016, the same year that he claimed his second men’s doubles title in Paris partnering Kunieda.

Reid, the Rio 2016 Paralympic men’s singles gold medallist and 11-time Grand Slam champion, said: “I’ve have had some really good results in patches this season but found it difficult to put together a string of results to collect any titles. Training’s been going really well, so it’s about moving that into matches at the bigger tournaments now. Clay’s a surface that I feel my game can be really effective on and I’ve got to the final in Paris before, as well as winning the two doubles titles with Shingo, so I can take plenty of confidence from that as well as from my World Team Cup performances.”

Hewett and Reid will not find out their first round singles or doubles opponents until this evening (Wednesday) in Paris, with singles matches getting underway on Thursday. And while both players will be looking to build on past singles successes they will also be aiming for their first Roland Garros doubles crown together, having won the last three Wimbledon and the last two US Open titles.

For daily updates throughout Roland Garros, head to lta.org.uk or keep up to date with all the action on Twitter @the_LTA

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

SDS is pleased to be able to celebrate some great people in Volunteers Week, 1-7 June and Coaching Week, 3-9 June.  Today SDS is delighted to highlight Stephen McGuire who won the BC4 gold medal at the Hong Kong World Boccia Open in May 2019. Stephen took time out of his busy schedule to share his story on coaching: