Parasport Festivals are designed to offer young people with physical disabilities, hearing loss and vision impairments within mainstream primary and secondary schools an opportunity to try a wide range of sports in inclusive, safe and fun sessions delivered by local qualified coaches.
For some, the day is about sport and physical activity but for many it is a wider experience as they meet other children with similar impairments and experiences and establish new friendships. These festivals are aimed at those young people who are significantly under-represented when it comes to participating in weekly sport or physical activity.
As 2023 draws to an end it’s time to reflect on some of the top moments across Scotland.
Here’s a quick recap of some of the highlights, divided by the regions in Scotland.
By Emma Logan, Communications Manager
EAST OF SCOTLAND –
Frame runners at Corstorphine AC
2023 was a groundbreaking year for the East region. In the spring, Corstorphine Athletics Club welcomed Frame Running sessions and in doing so, became the very first club in Edinburgh to offer this training to athletes with a disability. More information here.
In the same month, great success was found on the court as the Edinburgh Giants Wheelchair Rugby team was formed. SDS provided support in it’s launch at the Edinburgh University Pleasance Sports Complex & Gym. Through weekly training sessions and national matches, the club went on to receive great recognition within the sport and developed exponentially.
The Edinburgh Giants WHRL Club’s foundation is built on inclusivity and each player brings great uniqueness. The club attracts a diverse range of people, with the majority of people joining without past experience playing the sport. Some players have even gone on to represent Scotland on an international level. To find out more or get involved, visit here.
GRAMPIAN –
In September, Grampian celebrated another fantastic Parasport Festival.
24 children, aged 6-17 years-old, attended the event in which they got to try multiple sports including: swimming, Paddle sports (kayak and canoe), judo, wheelchair basketball, table tennis, Snowsports, boccia and all disciplines of athletics.
SDS Parasport festivals provide a unique opportunity for young people with either a physical disability, vision impairment or hearing loss to try sport in a safe and inclusive environment.
Josef Tautscher, Regional Development Manager for Grampian, regarded the day as a huge success and highlighted its significance when he said: “The Grampian Parasport Festival is an important opportunity for kids across the region to come and try sports and activities with their peers, often for the first time! It’s an awesome day of fun, showcasing the opportunities that are available for these kids to take part meaningfully in a safe and inclusive environment. For many parents coming along it allowed them to see what is possible and, in many cases, surprising them with what their child was able to do and achieve. The event was a great success with positive feedback from everyone and I’m looking forward to welcoming more kids from across the region to our 2024 Parasport Festival! A big thank you to everyone for coming along and to the Clubs & Coaches, Governing Bodies, Aberdeen Sports Village and of course the Students from North East Scotland College, for making the event happen.”
Video highlights of Grampian’s Parasport festival can be found here. You can learn more about SDS’ Parasport Festivals here.
FIFE –
Fife celebrated its first ever Women and Girls Day in May. The event was a huge success, attracted over 80 participants. The day gave women and girls the opportunity to engage in sport and physical activity. It also provide a social setting in which women and girls could connect and form friendships, in a fun and safe environment.
Further celebrations continued throughout the year for Fife, with Steve Doig from Fife AC
Steve Doig accepting his award at SSA 2023
winning the Sport Scotland Coach of the Year Award (in December).
“It’s a great honour to be nominated for such a prestigious award and to actually win is incredible. In reality I feel it’s an award for the whole of our training group, both athletes and coaches”, said Steve Doig upon receiving the award.
Doig supports many athletes, including coaching Ben Sandilands to gold in the men’s 1500m T20 at the Paris 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, on his debut.
“The nomination is based on the successful performances of some top quality Para athletes and their success is aided by the assistance of many training partners and support coaches. It’s great recognition for athletics and more specifically Para athletics.”
He continued to say, “It’s important to stress that there are hundreds of people across athletics clubs in Scotland doing exactly the same as me, but I’m in the incredibly fortunate position of working with a group of high profile Para athletes. I’m very proud of what people have achieved, but also proud of the fact that so many people have been involved in helping these athletes fulfil their potential.”
WEST –
The West made great strides in development, in a variety of areas and sports.
The SDS Get Active Referral Programme has now been implemented in 12 of 14 NHS health boards. To date, 46% of individuals who have been referred as part of the scheme by Allied Health Professionals, have been supported to engage in sport and/or physical activity, such as swimming, athletics and wheelchair sports including wheelchair basketball.
Lorna Sinclair, Advanced Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist, NHSGGC Specialist Children’s Services, commented on the scheme: “In my 10 years of being with NHSGGC and accessing SDS for inclusion and activity support for our patients – I’ve never had as many compliments from parents as I’ve had over the past 6 months. Whatever you’re doing at SDS, keep doing it – it makes a huge difference to the health, wellbeing, esteem and acceptance for our children and their families and carers.”
As the end of the year drew closer, on Monday 11th December the University of Strathclyde Sport hosted an Active Campus Christmas Festival where over 50 supported learning students from City of Glasgow College, Glasgow Kelvin College, Glasgow Clyde College and West College Scotland attended the event. The students got to try a number of sports including Boccia, Badminton, Football and Zumba which were all delivered by City of Glasgow HND sports coaching students. The event was brilliantly organised by the newly appointed Active Campus Coordinators from each college with the support of Scottish Student Sport and Scottish Disability Sport on the day. It was a huge success and leaves plenty scope for more of the same next year.
There were great developments in increasing opportunities in sport in South Lanarkshire. The South Lanarkshire Disability Sport Multisport and Boccia Sessions began in East Kilbride, in June. The sessions offered new opportunities for participants with disabilities of any age and ability to try out new sports and get involved with Boccia.
“With The start-up of the SLDS Multisport and Boccia sessions I am very happy that there are now more opportunities for people with disabilities to come along and participate in sport. The participants have all enjoyed the sessions and the ability to try new things and find sports that they love to play,” said Regional Development Manager, Colette Martin.
Martin continued, “I am thankful for all the support from SLDS committee, the coaches and the volunteers who come along every week to the sessions and provide amazing support to those who participate and I am glad that the participants and their families have a new opportunity to get involved in sport within their community.”
TAYSIDE –
There was brilliance in boccia for Tayside.
Alex Medley (18) from Perth Eagles Boccia Club won the gold medal in Scottish BISFED Boccia Championships in the BC2 category. Alex has been supported to progress his overall game from playing with his local club to then the Tayside regional boccia squad, to now where he trains with the Scottish National Development squad currently coached by Paralympian, Peter McGuire.
Alex Medley smiles after winning a boccia match
“It’s been amazing to see the progress Alex has made in 2023. He is very tactically aware and has added so many key elements to his game”, said Tayside’s regional development manager, Graeme Doig.
“He also helps with some coaching at Perth Eagles and has gained his Level 1 Boccia Officials qualification. I’m really excited to see what’s next in Alex’s boccia journey in 2024”, said Doig.
Dundee City Disability Sport, in partnership with Leisure & Sport Dundee and supported by Scottish Disability Sport, were delighted to host this year’s Discovery Games – the 24th year of delivering this event. The Discovery Games are held in September every year with almost 300 people with disabilities competing in the various championships, including: Wheelchair Basketball, Badminton, Equestrian, Powerchair Football, Boccia, Carpet Bowls and this year introduced a new style SOMA Festival.
“The discovery games have been a mainstay of the events calendar for many years and each event is always so well run with a clear focus of giving opportunities for people with
disabilities to participate, progress and perform with their peers”, commented Graeme Doig.
“The return this year to a full schedule of events following the pandemic was great to see and huge credit must go to Darren Thomson at Leisure and Sport Dundee who brings so many people together to make the games happen”, said Doig.
CENTRAL –
November 2023 saw the return of the East Dunbartonshire Inclusion Forum, where over 10 clubs attended alongside the LA.
Through the ED Inclusion Forum, it’s the first time that clubs in East Dunbartonshire have had the opportunity to come together to discuss the state of inclusion in the local authority since the pandemic. The meeting was crucial to create club engagement around inclusion and inclusive opportunities and will continue going forward as a regular forum.
A few months prior, Forth Valley won the Bob Mitchell Trophy at 2023 Scottish Senior Athletics Championship in Grangemouth.
The sport in the local area has endured some challenging years recently and so receiving the trophy was a significant moment for Forth Valley and an encouraging one for the sport’s development at a local level.
HIGHLAND –
Highland welcomed Alison Thompson as Highland Disability Sport (HDS) Co-Ordinator.
Alison Thompson sitting at her desk
Thompson came into the role already familiar with HDS’ work, as she previously volunteered with HDS. She co-ran the athletics group at the athletics track in Inverness and also coached at D.I.S.C at Drummond school. She also helped out with some summer sports projects over at Dingwall Academy around 2012. From leaving High School she went to work at Drummond School for ten years and thoroughly enjoyed her time there.
Thompson comes with a wealth of experience and she is eager understand where her skills and expertise can be applied, to help HDS thrive and give opportunities to those who may have struggled to participate in the fantastic work that has already being done. Based at Culloden Library, she will be working alongside the High Life Highland Disability Sport Development Officers, Charlie Forbes and Fiona Green.
To find out more and/or get involved in your region, please contact Scottish Disability Sport via –
Encourage by friends and colleagues to apply, Kathryn Talbot-Heigh joined the SDS team as the Highlands regional development manager in mid-September (2023).
Talbot-Heigh enters the role with a strong skillset gained throughout her years of experience as a coach and instructor. She has always had an interest in sport and working with individuals with a disability, influenced by her personal life as well as her professional. Her career has seen her running her own swim school, coaching at the Grantown swim club and being a gymnastics coach at Inverness Gymnastics club. Talbot-Heigh further gained skills and experience through being a support worker at a local nursery where she worked with an individual with autism and delivered 1-2-1 play therapy.
One of the first things that attracted Talbot-Heigh to the role was the ability to make a difference. This is something that she has always been passionate about and the role will give her the opportunity to do so; having an impact on individuals and at community level.
Talbot-Heigh is conscious that changing perceptions and awareness of disability sport and involvement in mainstream sporting clubs is going to be a challenge but an exciting one that she is already quite familiar with. A way of influencing opinions and perceptions is through opening a dialogue; allowing people to be curious and want to ask questions about disability and disability sport. It’s an area she’d like to develop to help provide more opportunities as well as developing and improving the pathways already available.
Another focus area that the new RDM is looking to work on, is “normalising the disability”.
Photo of Kathryn Talbot-Heigh
One way in achieving this is giving athletes and coaches out with disability sport, access to disability sport and opportunities to train with athletes with a disability. She believes that if you can provide coaches and players with experiences of participating in Para sports that they will gain more of an understanding and an insight into how to behave, interact and communicate with an individual who has a disability. The hope is that this will result in Para athletes having not only a greater experience but also providing a wider group of individuals chances to become more build understanding and compassion.
Talbot-Heigh is ready to tackle barriers and fight limitations through creative thinking and problem solving throughout her role as the Highlands new regional development manager.
Dundee & Angus College will host the 10th Tayside Parasport Festival in March 2024, welcoming pupils from mainstream schools across Angus, Dundee City and Perth & Kinross.
Pupils with either a physical disability, vision impairment or hearing loss are invited to try out nine different sports on Wednesday 6th March, as part of Scottish Disability Sport’s Parasport festival campaign.
Wheelchair Basketball, Badminton, Curling, Judo, Football, Goalball, Boccia, Athletics and Triathlon will be available to try at Dundee & Angus College on the 6th, whilst Paddle sports and swimming will be on offer at Perth Leisure Pool, as a second Parasport day on Saturday 9th March.
Parasport festival participant trying canoe
The event is designed to allow young people to experience a wide range of Para sports delivered by some of the best clubs and coaches available in Tayside. Activities have been selected where strong club links are already established, so that children can continue to participate and develop locally.
It is especially exciting to offer this opportunity during the Paralympic year as we look forward to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games taking place between 28 August to 8 September, where thousands of athletes from over 100 countries will compete and inspire the next generation of young people with a disability.
In 2019, Scottish Disability Sport celebrated 10 years of Parasport Festivals. Please check out this promotional video. We hope this will help to highlight the aims and impact of the Parasport Festival.
Our event is supported by sport coaching and development students from Dundee & Angus College who always do a fantastic job encouraging and supporting the participants throughout the day to ensure everyone feels at ease and participates to the best of their ability.
“It’s always great to see so many pupils with smiles on their faces all day long learning new skills, increasing confidence and making new friends. For many, their sporting journey starts now and I look forward to following up with everyone to support them into weekly participation for the sports they enjoyed”, said Graeme Doig, SDS Tayside Regional development Manager (RDM).
Rosie Randall trying frame running
“I started going to Perth Eagles because it sounded fun and they do lots of different sports in wheelchairs. Graeme introduced me to Frame Running and I really enjoy it because I don’t feel like I’m exercising because it’s so much fun!” Commented Parasport festival participant, Rosie Randall (11 years-old, Perth).
Devin, Rosie’s Mum, said: “Since Rosie started going to the Eagles, Harriers and Judo, her confidence has grown so much that she is now more independent. It has been great for her to meet new friends with all different kinds of disabilities and to realise anything is possible whether you are in a wheelchair or not. I am so thankful we have such amazing clubs like these available for people like Rosie to participate in.”
Pupils playing boccia
Further Details: How To Register –
Wednesday 6 March 2024 – Registration will take place between 9:45am – 10:15am.
The event will start promptly at 10:15am and finish at 2.15pm
SDS are excited to announce there will be a badminton come and try event at Tollcross Leisure Centre.
The event will take place on Saturday 26th August from 12-2pm.
The session is open to people with a disability for all age groups and free to attend. So, if you have an interest in badminton whether you are a beginner or experienced to the sport then please come along!
Chris Murphy, a member of the Shettleston Judo Club, led a martial arts session with Glasgow Life this week and the young people thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Chris recently won a gold medal at the Global Virtus Games held in France for the under 81kg category. Chris presented his medal to the participants after the lesson, and you could tell how amazed they were at seeing such a prestigious award. He was happy to pose for a photo after the session and quite rightly felt proud of his achievement. Chris is an inspiration to all people with disabilities and someone to aspire towards.
The Rangers charity foundation will be facilitating sessions in the summer for young people with autism aged 5-16. Sessions will be taking place at Rouken Glen Park during the summer. Activities regularly run on a Wednesday from 6-8pm. For further information please see the attached poster.
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