Parasport Festivals Kick Off supported by Celtic FC Foundation

The SDS Parasport Festival Series funded by the Celtic FC Foundation kicked off this week with two phenomenal events taking place in the West of Scotland and Tayside.

SDS works with many partners at local, regional and national levels and the Parasport Festivals are just one example of how all partners come together to make a difference in the lives of the young people who participate at the events.

To make these happen, Scottish governing bodies of sport and  local sports clubs deliver the fun sport activities. They are always very ably supported in their delivery by Young Leaders from Local Authorities and students from nearby further and higher education institutions.

The purpose of these events is to introduce mainstream school pupils with physical disabilities and hearing and visual impairments to a wide range of sports that they may not experience at school, and then offer tailored support to enable them to regularly participate in their chosen sport.

To date almost 2,000 young people have benefitted from attending these events with an average transition rate into weekly activity of 13%.

If you or anyone you know would like to attend a para sport festival, there are still opportunities to participate in the events listed below:

Region Date Venue
East of Scotland Friday 27th March 2020 Forrester HS, Edinburgh
Grampian Friday 18th September 2020 Aberdeen Sports Village
Highland Saturday 26th September 2020 Dingwall Sports Centre
Central Scotland Wednesday 28th October 2020 Grangemouth Sports Complex

If you are unable to make any of these events but would like to get involved in disability sport please get in touch by emailing admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or telephone Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130.

See reports from the West of Scotland and Tayside events below.

Fun was the Theme of the Day at the West of Scotland Parasport

On the 2nd March 2020 the 11th West Parasport Festival was held at the On-X Linwood for the first time. We had children and young people from P5-S6 mainstream schools from the West with physical disabilities and visual and hearing impairments attending to try out various sports. There were 59 participants from 43 schools from 12 out of 13 local authorities in the west of Scotland.

The On-X was the new venue due to changes at Ravenscraig, although different the new venue provided an opportunity to offer swimming for the very first time.

The event was a great success and couldn’t have happened without the partners listed below who delivered their sport in a fun way to engage all pupils.

Thanks must go to the 25 Young Sports Leaders from Renfrewshire Leisure and 20 students from West College Scotland who supported the event and brought their positivity and enthusiasm to support deliverers and participants on the day. Paralympic and Deaflympic role models Danielle Joyce and Sam Ingram were on hand to support activities and tell everyone about their journey.

Andrew MacKenzie (SDS West Regional Development Manager) said: “The event was great, and we are so happy the participants are getting to try so many different sports. The smiles on their faces told the story very well. Bringing these opportunities for the children and for sports to promote their sessions and build on the pathways really shows how good the Parasport is. Having Paralympians at the event really shows that you can make it to the top of your level and hopefully this will encourage children to stay in sport, whether they go to the top level or for fun.”

A special thank you to the Celtic FC Foundation for supporting the event, hosts Renfrewshire Leisure, the West Branches, West Active Schools, all the sports, Renfrewshire Young Sports Leaders, West College Scotland students and the On-X staff for their support. With a big thank you to the parents, teachers and helpers for supporting as well.

We look forward to following up with all participants who attended to support the next step of their journey in parasport.

If you or anyone you know would like to get involved in disability sport please email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com or alternatively telephone Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130.