SDS Athlete Academy

The Scottish Disability Sport Athlete Academy is a support structure for talented athletes, who have the potential to progress onto World Class Performance Programmes (WCPP). The Academy offers financial support at an integral stage in the athlete’s development and underpins the sportscotland Institute of Sport (SIS). Furthermore, SDS works in partnership with the SIS and other key partners to develop a programme of workshops and training opportunities in order to best prepare the athletes for when they progress to a UK Sport funded programme.

SDS has a strong working relationship with Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport (SGBs) and we invite nominations from them for our Academy. Athletes are selected based on strict criteria relating to performance levels, attitude to training and commitment to their sport. Each athlete must be eligible to compete for Scotland and have aspirations of reaching podium level for Great Britain.

Over the years the SDS Athlete Academy has grown and this year represents our largest programme to date, supporting 36 athletes across 8 sports. The sports include, archery, athletics, badminton, boccia, cycling, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball. We are also delighted to welcome three cycling pilots onto the programme as we recognise the importance of these individuals in supporting our most promising visually impaired riders.

Gary Fraser, SDS Performance Manager, commented: “It is an exciting time to be involved in performance disability sport, and the standard of athlete that has been selected for the SDS Athlete Academy indicates a promising future for Scottish para athletes competing on the international stage. Last year the programme supported six athletes onto a World Class Performance Programme which demonstrates the significance of support at this stage of the pathway. The programme continues to grow and we thank our SGB partners for their commitment to para sport”.

For a full list of athletes see below and for further information, please contact Gary Fraser on gary.fraser@scottishdisabilitysport.com