Age: 36

Home town: Dunfermline

Sport: Para Lawn Bowls

Classification: Director

Event/s: B2/B3 Mixed Pairs

Club: Abbeyview Bowling Club

Coach/es: Bob Christie

When and how did you get involved in sport?

I started playing lawn bowls when I was 12. I started my para bowls involvement in 2009, assisting at training sessions preparing the players for the 2011 World Championships. As a bowler competing for Scotland at International level myself I loved passing my experiences to the players to prepare them for competition on the world stage.

Career highlights to date:

2015 IBD World Championships – Director to Maria Spenser Gold in the B3 singles and Silver in the B3 Mixed pairs. Many Scottish Singles championships directing Robert Barr.

Selected for the 2018 Commonwealth games as director for Robert Barr and delighted to be selected with Robert again for the 2022 games

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

We finished a cruel 4th place in 2018. We lost the shot to the last bowl in an extra end after finishing the match level. I would love to medal as the players, Robert and Melanie deserve to after all the hard work they put in.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Perfecting the little things make the big days happen!

Twitter: @SarahJaneE09

Facebook: Sarah Jane Ewing

Age: 16

Home town: Edinburgh

Sport: Swimming

Classification: S8

Event/s: 400m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke are main events

Club: East Lothian Swim Team

Coach/es: Jamie Ward

When and how did you get involved in sport?

Parasport Festival.

Career highlights to date:

• World Para Swimming Championships (Madeira) 2022 double finalist finishing 7th in the world for Men’s S8 400m Freestyle and Men’s S8 100m Backstroke
• Youngest in Team GB. Selection to Team Scotland, as the youngest member to date, for the Commonwealth Games (Birmingham) 2022
• Invited onto British Swimming’s World Class Podium Potential Programme.

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

Swimming up a class in S9 100m Backstroke and would love to make the finals.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Take advantage of opportunities given to you, find something you enjoy and never give up.

Twitter: @SamDownie6

Instagram: @samdownie_

Facebook: Sam Downie

TikTok: samdownie6

Age: 26

Home town: Gordon

Sport: Athletics

Classification: T53

Event/s: 1500m

Club: Red Star AC

Coach/es: Rodger Harkins

When and how did you get involved in sport?

I started wheelchair racing when I was 17 years old after I had a spinal cord injury when I was 14. I started because I wanted to meet new people that had a disability so that I could relate to others and learn from them.

Career highlights to date:

• Double world champion in 2017 over 100m and 200m
• Paralympic silver and bronze medalist over 100m and 400m

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

To go out and give it my best shot, enjoy and learn from the experience.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Try every sport and take every opportunity.

Twitter: @Sam_Kinghorn

Instagram: @sammikinghorn

Facebook: Samantha Kinghorn

Age: 38

Home town: Aberdeen

Sport: Cycling

Classification: B

Event/s: 1km Time Trial & Spring

Club: Black Line

Coach/es: David Daniell

When and how did you get involved in sport?

I joined Aberdeen Amateur Athletics club at the age of 10, competing able-bodied until 2005 when I joined the British Athletics development squad. Switched to cycling following the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Career highlights to date:

• London 2012 Paralympic Games – 1km Time Trial – Gold and new world record, Sprint – Silver
• Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – 1km Time Trial – Gold, Sprint – Silver
• Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – 1km Time Trial
• Gold Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games – 1km Time Trial – Gold, Sprint – Gold and new world record
• Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games – 1km Time Trial – Gold and new world record

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

I would like to take 2 more medals home for Team Scotland, hopefully gold.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Even if it’s not happening now, stick with it. I lost almost every race I did between the ages of 12 and 16, I never expected to stand on top of a podium.

Twitter: @neilfachie

Instagram: @neilfachie

Age: 25

Home town: Lockerbie

Sport: Wheelchair Racing

Classification: T54

Event/s: Marathon

Club: Red Star AC

Coach/es: Joyce Rammell

When and how did you get involved in sport?

When I was five years old, my head mistress organised to get me my first sports wheelchair, That was me hooked, never looked back.

Career highlights to date:

Winning the 2021 40th Anniversary Great North Run Elite Wheelchair Half Marathon Race.

Also winning the 2021 Manchester Marathon Elite Wheelchair Race.

Most recently being selected to represent Scotland at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games for the T54 Marathon race.

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

To soak up the experience of the games and to learn as much as possible from the  experience of the whole event.

To hopefully achieve a podium finish in the race.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

My dad always says to me, that life is not a dress rehearsal. If you get the opportunity to take part in something that you love and are capable of participating in whatever it may be. Just go for it. Everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Twitter: @SeanFrameT54

Facebook: Sean Frame

Age: 75

Home town: Ardrossan

Sport: Lawn Bowls

Classification: VI Director

Event/s: VI Mixed Pairs

Club: Saltcoats Bowling Club

When and how did you get involved in sport?

Began bowling in 1986 after becoming too old to play soccer.

Career highlights to date:

Director for Peter Ramsay in South Africa World VI Tournament 2017.

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

Our hope is to perform well enough to get the Gold medal.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Enjoy your sport, work hard, be focused.

 

Age: 60

Home town: Glasgow

Sport: Para Lawn Bowls

Classification: B3

Event/s: Visually Impaired Mixed Pairs

Club: Hyndland BC (mainstream), Three Towns (visually impaired)

When and how did you get involved in sport?

I played able bodied bowls from the of 16 until 24 and returned at the age of 49. I became involved in visually impaired bowls at the age of 54, the legacy of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014.

Career highlights to date:

• Representing Scotland at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
• Winning Silver at the 8 Nations in Gold Coast in 2017
• Captaining Scotland on several occasions
• Three times UK Visually Impaired Champion
• Winning the Able Bodied Club Championship at Jordanhill BC

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

My ambition is to medal (we lost out on Bronze with the closest of margins at Gold Coast 2018).

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Practice regularly and ENJOY.

Age: 23

Home town: Paisley

Sport: Athletics

Classification: T38

Event/s: 100m

Club: Red Star AC / Kilbarchan AAC

Coach/es: John Kinder, Alasdair Barker, Ricky Miell

When and how did you get involved in sport?

From as early as I can remember I attended the Panda Centre Hospital (where I got my nickname) for physiotherapy after being diagnosed as having cerebral palsy, which affects the right side of my body.

The physio recognised my love for football and actively incorporated sport into my therapy programme to help me engage with my right side.

Career highlights to date:

Major Championships and International Records:

• 2021 – European Para Championships, 100m, 7th
• 2021 – European Para Championships (Poland), 400m, 4th
• 2018 – European Para Championships, 400m, Silver

Domestic Championships Records

• 2021 – Scottish National Para Championships, 200m, Gold
• 2021 – Scottish National Para Championships, 100m, Silver
• 2017 – Scottish National Para Championships, 200m, Gold

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

Qualifying for the Commonwealth Games is a dream come true and when I stand on the start line at the Alexandra Stadium in Birmingham on the 3rd of August, I’m going to enjoy every minute of my Commonwealth Games journey. My ambition is to be the best I can be, let’s see where that takes me.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Find a coach who loves the sport just as much as you do, challenge each other every time you train but most importantly remember why you played, ran, jumped, pushed or threw in the first place. It was to have fun. Don’t lose sight of that and the hard work that you put in will all be worth it.

Twitter: @PandaRoss_1998

Instagram: pandaross1

Age: 72

Home town: Dumfries

Sport: Lawn Bowls

Classification: B6

Event/s: Ladies Pairs

Club: Crichton Royal Bowling Club

Coach/es: Chris McGready, Bob Christie

When and how did you get involved in sport?

Started in 2005 at a local level after I became a wheelchair user. Then competed annually in the SDS Championships at Aberdeen which I won on several occasions.

Career highlights to date:

Competing at the IBD Worlds in Australia (2007), South Africa (2011) and in New Zealand (2015) where I won a Silver in the Mixed Pairs with Michael Simpson. Also won Gold and Silver at Northfield at the Bowls Scotland Championships.

What are your ambitions for the Commonwealth Games?

To gain a podium place, preferably Gold.

Do you have one piece of advice for an aspiring athlete?

Stick at it and take all the advice you are given, training definitely pays dividends.

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) is delighted to announce that Maria Lyle has joined the SDS Events Team as Event Coordinator and is tasked with supporting the SDS Events Calendar for the duration of her internship, including the junior and senior athletics championships, the residential summer camp and a upcoming wheelchair sport engagement event in September.  

Maria is one of Scotland’s most decorated athletes and brings with her an extensive experience of events locally, nationally and internationally.  

Maria is also currently coaching the next generation of athletes at Meadowmill in her home district of East Lothian and is also returning to her own training after a period out with injury.  

Maria can be contacted by email, event.coordinator@scottishdisabilitysport.com from now until the end of her role in September, after which Maria returns to her Sports Coaching course at Napier University.