Month: August 2017

Bill Pullar Bursary Awards in Fife

The Disability Sport Fife (DSF) athlete and coach bursary system has assisted a significant number of individuals at a critical time in their sporting career. Bursaries have been awarded to assist members attend major events, purchase expensive equipment, meet their weekly training costs or settle fees or individual athlete sports event contributions. Over almost four decades almost one hundred Fife athletes and players from a wide range of sports have benefited from the DSF system.

One of the most successful is the Bill Pullar Bursary Scheme, established by Margaret Pullar in the name of her late husband Bill, a great supporter of DSF. The Bill Pullar Bursary scheme has assisted many Fife leading Paralympians and high performance sportsmen and women when lack of funding was playing a part in their career development.

Each year Margaret Pullar attends the Disability Sport Fife AGM and Awards Evening and personally presents the bursaries. This year because of ill health Margaret was unable to attend make the journey to Glenrothes and hand over bursary awards to Oliver Carter (Cupar) and Michael Simpson (Auchtermuchty). Each athlete was however most grateful for the financial support which has helped them this year in their respective international swimming and bowls careers.

Margaret has been a Disability Sport Fife supporter for many years and a recent visit to her home in Cupar found her in good spirits and as always fully committed to the Bill Pullar Bursary programme.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

Fife Swimmer Lifts First Open water Title

Well done to Kirsty Brunton from Dalgety Bay and INCAS swimming club and Adam Donnachie from East Kilbride on winning the women’s and men’s 1K race at the 2017 Scottish National Open Water Championships at Loch Venacher organised by Scottish Swimming earlier in the month.

This was the first occasion that events have been included in the championships for swimmers with physical impairments. Both Kirsty and Adam swim in the S8 category of international Para swimming. Kirsty’s time was 0:29:36.00 and Adam’s time was 0:18:59.00. Excellent swims on both counts. Kirsty is coached by Garrie Roberts at INCAS.

Kirsty is an excellent and experienced sailor and the week leading up to the open water swim was fully involved in the Dalgety Bay sailing club youth week. She is a fully committed club volunteer with years of service to the club in various capacities.

Disability Sport Fife recognises Kirsty as a role model mum who is now involved in a range of sports and is supportive of Get Out Get Active (GOGA) in Fife. Kirsty herself has benefitted from the GOGA investment in Fife and is now fully committed to recumbent cycling as well as her aquatic sports. Her open water swimming commitment has enabled her to lift the first Scottish title for female disabled participants.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

 

British Blind Sport Participation Officer

 Participation Officer

Salary: £22,500 to £25,000 per annum

Fixed term contract until 29th September 2020

Closing date for applications: Thursday 7th September 2017

This post will be employed by British Blind Sport based in Leamington Spa.

The role is funded by Sport England. This role will report directly to the National Partnerships Manager within British Blind Sport.

Could you make a visible difference?

This role will work to take forward new and established links and initiatives across the visually impaired (VI) community across England to grow participation in sport.

Candidates for the post must have a proven track record of managing and delivering projects. High level project and event planning skills needed. Knowledge of working with or supporting visually impaired people is desirable. The successful applicant must be able to work flexibly and be willing to travel to other locations as the role requires.

British Blind Sport is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and as such, where appropriate for a role, a full DBS check will be requested.

Full information can be found on the British Blind Sport website here:
http://www.britishblindsport.org.uk/about/jobs/

Logan Eases to Crown as Junior British Champion

 

Edinburgh based Ruairi Logan can be very pleased with his British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Nottingham at the beginning of August.  The 15 year old retained his British Open boys singles title with a comfortable 4-0, 4-0 win against Northern Ireland’s Ross Gourley in the final and then added the mixed doubles crown alongside fellow Scot Ellie Robertson, recording another comprehensive 4-0, 4-0 victory.

 

It was a busy few days for the Broughton High School pupil as he also competed in the main draw for the first time, claiming a victory on his debut.  The former Lothian Disability Sport (LDS) Young Person of the Year, a recent recipient of the Jim Anderson OBE Bursary at the LDS 2017 Awards, recorded a first round victory against Pakistan’s Asif Abassi, winning the tie 6-3, 6-3.  This triumph then provided the young Scot with an opportunity to take on a fellow GB player Alfie Hewett – a player ranked number 4 in the tournament.  The experience shone through as current French Open and Wimbledon doubles Champion Hewett recorded a 6-0, 6-0 victory over the young Scot, as it became evident the pace, power and intensity required to succeed at the very top of the game.  However the young Englishman reserved praise for Logan, stating “Ruairi played some really good points and has a bright future ahead of him.”  Praise indeed from Hewett who would eventually lose in the final 6-4, 6-3 against Argentina’s number one seed Gustavo Fernandez. It is imperative to Ruari’s continual development that he is able to secure more match-time against this elite group of players and this experience will no doubt leave him wanting another crack at this level.

 

The week also saw Logan team up with French partner Guillaume Legendre in the main draw of the male doubles.  The duo received a bye and progressed immediately into the Quarter Finals where they were convincingly beaten by Joachim Gerard (Belgium) and Stefan Olsson (Sweden) 6-0, 6-0 who were then beaten by eventual winners Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer of France.

 

60 seconds with a Tayside athlete: Freya Howgate

Name: Freya Howgate

Branch: Perth & Kinross Disability Sport

Sport: Athletics

Club: Perth Strathtay Harriers

How did you get involved in your sport? Watching my big brother

How long have you been playing your sport for? About 5 years

Biggest Strength (as an athlete): I Iove to compete

What’s the best thing about your sport? Its fun

What equipment do you need to take part in your sport? Trainers and sportswear

Greatest sporting achievement: I received the disability endeavor award in 2012

Favourite Para-athlete: Richard Whitehead

Favourite athlete to compete against: I don’t have one

Any advice for someone interested in your sport? If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

Tennis Scotland

Tennis Scotland National Pathways Coach

Salary: £35,000 – £40,000
Location: Across Scotland
Contract Type: Permanent (Full time)
Closing date: 8 September 2017

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join Tennis Scotland in a new role as National Pathways Coach. The successful applicant will work alongside our new National Coach as we aim to build on the profile created by our players and coaches over the last 5-10 years to ‘Deliver a Legacy’ for tennis in Scotland.

The National Pathways Coach will develop and drive a new Tennis Scotland Pathways Programme for players aged 8 to 14 that will enhance the Tennis Scotland National Programme and support the transition of more players to the National Squad.

This role will require the chosen applicant to work with our District Associations to implement the regional aspects of the Pathways programme via leadership and mentoring of the regional performance coaches. He/she will also be responsible for the planning and leadership of national training/coaching activities both players and coaches.

The role will report to the National Coach.

To Apply

We look forward to hearing from you if you have previous successful experience of coaching junior tennis players aged 8-14 to a national/international standard, and a proven ability to lead /mentor other performance tennis coaches. You will have a good knowledge of the long term player pathway in tennis, and will be a strong communicator.

For an informal, confidential discussion about this role, please contact Colin Fleming, National Coach, on 07983 613052.

Tennis Scotland is committed to selecting staff solely on the basis of their ability to do the job for which they are being recruited, and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community.

To apply, please e-mail your CV and detailed covering letter summarising your suitability for the role to florence.haines@tennisscotland.org or alternatively, please post this in confidence FAO Florence Haines, Tennis Scotland, 177 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1BZ. Please also complete the anonymous Tennis Scotland Equality Monitoring Survey which can be found below.

Tennis Scotland Equality Monitoring Survey

The closing date for applications is Friday 8th September 2017. Interviews will be held early in the week commencing 18th September 2017.

To assist with the recruitment process, please title your email with the Job position and your name.

Tennis Scotland JD – National Pathways Coach

2018 BISFed World Boccia Championships Logo Revealed

The logo for the 2018 BISFed World Boccia Championships was revealed on Sunday 13th August at the medal ceremony for the 2017 United Kingdom Boccia Championships.

The UK Championships were held at Exhibition Centre Liverpool, the same venue that will be used for the World Champs the following year. Paralympic champion David Smith MBE retained his BC1 title while World Champion Stephen McGuire repeated his BC4 triumph of 2016. In the BC2 competition Tim Hayes claimed the title in his first appearance at a UK Champs. In the most dramatic final, Scott McCowan beat his brother Jamie after a tie-break to take the BC3 crown.

The World Championships will take place between the 12th and 18th of August 2018. Liverpool will play host to 192 athletes at the most prestigious boccia competition outside the Paralympic Games. Assistant Mayor of Liverpool Councillor Wendy Simon told the athletes at the medal ceremony how thrilled Liverpool was to be the home of the World Championships and that all participants would receive a very warm welcome to a sports mad city.

Tickets will go on sale later in the year and the local organising committee aim to stage a competition that will showcase a sport of intriguing tactics, incredible skill and nail biting tension to a new audience. The event is supported by UK Sport, Liverpool City Council and ACC Liverpool Group.

The logo was inspired by the rich cultural history of Liverpool and combines details of Boccia court markings into a striking montage.

 

Special Olympics Success for Forth Valley

Forth Valley Disability Sport Team has excelled themselves in the 10th Special Olympics National Summer Games which was hosted in the City of Sheffield from Monday 7th August and Saturday 12th August 2017. Forth Valley Special Olympics Teams medal haul has reached 44 medals overall.

The Forth Valley Team of 53 athletes and 29 coaches / carers competed against athletes from all over Britain. The team was made up of individuals from Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire. Athletes represented Forth Valley in the Special Olympics National Summer Games which is a competition for people with learning disabilities and is organised by Special Olympics GB.

The athletes have competed against 2600 athletes from 19 other regions in the UK in athletics, boccia, bowls, football, golf, and swimming.

The games began with an exciting opening ceremony which set the scene for the three day competition with performances from world famous signer Tony Hadley and many other well know celebrities. Cheers from family and friends welcomed the athletes in their parade as they entered Bramell Lane, home of Sheffield United FC.

The Forth Valley Team has been training hard for the competition which took place in 13 venues throughout Sheffield. The commitment of the athletes has been evident in the results which you can see listed below. Well done to all of our Special Olympics athletes, many of whom medalled and recorded personal best.

Graham Harvey, Team Manager, said: “It has been a fantastic competition and for many of the athletes it has been their first time away from home and competing in a National event. Everyone will be going home with memories they will never forget.” He also went on to thank the many local business that have supported the team including RJM sports who supplied the Forth Valley teams Uhlsport kit, M-line for transporting the team to and from Sheffield and the volunteer coaches, escorts and careers who have made it possible for the team to be here.

Forth Valley Disability Sport would also like to thank everyone who helped the Special Olympics team to be so successful. A few companies, clubs and organisation are listed below:

Awards for All ,The Schuh Trust, Bannockburn Miners Welfare Social Club, EDF Energy, Morrisons Supermarket, Aldi Supermarket, Asda, Forth Valley Flyers Athletics Club, Right on Target Boccia Club, Stirling City All Stars, Enable Arion Swimming Club, Falkirk Indoor Bowling Club.

If anyone reading this article would like more information about sports participation opportunities for people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities please telephone Forth Valley Disability Sport on 01786 466486.

The extensive individual and team medal haul is as follows:-

Athletics
Name Area Gold Silver Bronze
Steven Stone Falkirk 3 4th
 Chloe McLean Stirling 2 4th, 6th
 George Le Hardy Falkirk 3 1
 Alanna Burton Falkirk 1 3
 Caitlyn Ross Falkirk 2 1 6th
 Niall Finlayson Stirling 1 4th, 5th, 5th
 Kenneth Holderness Falkirk 4th, 6th, 7th, 7th
Bruce Anderson Stirling 1 6th, 7th
Liam Nolan Falkirk 2 1
David Harley Falkirk 1 2 8th
Grant Waplington Falkirk 1 5th, 6th, 8th
Amy Currie Stirling 1 4th, 7th, 8th
 Ellen Wotherspoon Falkirk 1 6th
Paul Wotherspoon Falkirk 1 4th, 5th, 6th
INDIVIDUAL MEDALS 12 4 10
TEAM MEDALS 1 1

 

Boccia
Name Area Gold Silver Bronze
Lee Duncan Clackmannanshire 1 1
Connor Whannel Clackmannanshire 1 1
Darren Rooney Clackmannanshire 1 4th
Barbara-Ann McGinn Clackmannanshire 1 5th
INDIVIDUAL MEDALS 1 1
TEAM MEDALS 1 1

 

Indoor Bowls
Name Area Gold Silver Bronze
Craig Stirling Falkirk 1
Frank Maguire Falkirk 1 1
Robert McWilliams Falkirk 1 1
PAIR MEDALS 1
TEAM MEDALS 1

 

Football 7-a-Side 
Forth Valley A Team Forth Valley B Team
Gold Medal Bronze Medal
Names: Names:
Hendry Bell  Stephen Donaldson
Craig Boyle James Ferguson
Garrie Knight Jamie Henderson
Paul Lucy Peter Holden
Paul Marshall David Lenton
Iain McLeod Callum Macdonald
Stuart Munro Daniel McLean
Shaun Wotton Patrick McLean
Christopher Pearson
Gordon Reid
John Shanks

 

Golf
Name Area Medals
Andrew Stuart Stirling 1 silver

 

Swimming
Name Area Gold Silver Bronze
Andrew McMillan Falkirk 2 2
Gavin Miller Clackmannanshire 1 1 4th, 4th
Claire Robertson Clackmannanshire 1 5th
Mark Lumsden Stirling 2 5th
Lewis Kellett Falkirk 1 5th, 6th, 8th
Nathan Boyle Stirling 7th
James McDonald Stirling 5th, 7th
Virginia Shaw Stirling 6th, 8th
Claire Mathewson Stirling 5th, 8th
Sharon Sloan Stirling 4th
Darren Byrne Stirling 6th, 8th
John Thompson Stirling 6th, 7th
INDIVIDUAL MEDALS 2 3 1
TEAM MEDALS 1

THE TOTAL OF THE MEDAL SUCCESS OVERALL IS: 44 MEDALS

Medal Success at UK Boccia Championships

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) sent a team of eight players to the Exhibition Centre in Liverpool or the UK Boccia Championships from the 11 – 13 August 2017.  The same venue will be used for the BISFed World Championships in 2018.  The UK Championships are always a significant date on the calendar for our high performance players.   Sadly, one of our players, Innes Martin, had to withdraw for family reasons on the eve of the competition.

Scotland has a history of delivering medals at this event in recent years and with four player’s part of the UK Boccia high performance pathway there was room for optimism.   The 2017 event was no different, with Scots winning five medals across the across the BC3 and BC4 classification groups.

In the BC1 section, world number one David Smith retained his British title defeating Wales’ Ricky Stevenson in the final.  Scotland’s representative in this class was SDS Academy Athlete, Reegan Stevenson, but lost out 8-2 to Jabe Peake (ENG) in the bronze medal match.

In the BC2 section it was England’s Tim Hayes who claimed the Gold medal, defeating teammate Reshad Saraj in the final.  Veteran, Zoe Robinson won 10-1 to claim the bronze medal against Morgan Butterfield (WAL).  Scotland’s representative in the class was Calum Glasgow from Forth Valley.  Glasgow failed to qualify from the pool but did manage to beat Scott Cromie (NIR) on a tie break.  As a developing player this experience will stand him in good stead.

Scotland’s strength is unquestionably in the BC3 classification and with Rio 2016 Paralympians Scott McCowan, Jamie McCowan and Patrick Wilson fighting it out for the British title – it is anyone’s guess!  Furthermore, there is considerable depth in the BC3 class across the UK which always makes for an exciting competition.  The tie of the group stages was between the McCowan brothers, with Scott losing out 3-4 to his younger sibling.  As it turned out, all three Scots made it to the Semi-Final.  Jamie McCowan beat Jess Hunter (ENG) 5-0, whilst brother, Scott, came up against teammate Patrick Wilson, and triumphed 9-1.  Patrick defeated Jess Hunter 5-0 in the bronze playoff match but the final was an all family affair.  Scott avenged the earlier group defeat to the hands of his younger brother, showing all his experience to win under pressure.  The match finished 2-2 and went to tiebreak.  A Scotland 1-2-3 in the BC3 classification indicates the strength we have in this country.

In the BC4 section we had three representatives, with the youngest being Ross Munro, who has made tremendous progress in this class.  The West of Scotland youngster recovered well from a 0-13 defeat to England’s Louis Saunders in his first game to narrowly lose out 2-4 to Paralympian Evie Edwards and 3-4 to the experienced Harry Thomson (ENG).  Although the young Scott failed to qualify from the group his performances were extremely encouraging against tough opposition.  The famous Boccia Brothers were at it again in the BC4 section, as both reached the semi-final.  They had actually faced one another in the group stages, with reigning World Champion, Stephen, coming out on top.  In the first semi, Peter came up against England’s emerging talent, Louis Saunders.  The match finished in a 4-1 defeat in a very close contest.  Stephen squared up against England’s Harry Thompson and emerged victorious after a close 5-2 contest.  Peter eventually won the bronze following a tie-break with Harry Thompson.  A result that was particularly pleasing for all involved in Scottish Boccia – it was great to see Peter amongst the medals again at the event.  Stephen came up against the Louis Saunders and broke him down to win 10-3 on the day and claim another BC4 British title.

 

 

The final medal results for the 2017 UK Championships were as follows:

BC1 Class
Gold: David Smith (Eng)
Silver: Ricky Stevenson (Eng)
Bronze: Jabe Peake (Eng)

BC2 Class
Gold: Tim Hayes (Eng)
Silver: Reshad Saraj (Eng)
Bronze: Zoe Robinson (Eng)

BC3 Class
Scottish medal sweep!
Gold: Scott McCowan
Silver: Jamie McCowan
Bronze: Patrick Wilson

BC4 Class
Gold: Stephen McGuire (Sco)
Silver: Louis Saunders (Eng)
Bronze: Peter McGuire (Sco)

 

SDS would like to congratulate all the players, coaches and support staff on an extremely successful UK Championship and our thanks go to all at UK Boccia and Boccia England for hosting and organising this event.

Amazing Experience at World Dwarf Games for Fife Family

Earlier in the year I reported that Skye and Finlay Davidson from Inverkeithing were part of the UK Dwarf Sports Association Team that headed to Canada for the 7th World Dwarf Games. The eight day Games have drawn to a conclusion and the Davidson family are heading home exhausted but fully satisfied that they have given their very best for Team UK across a wide range of sports.

In team games alone they have played four back to back games and within their age group individual events they have encountered quality international opposition. Mum Hailey has paid tribute to the coaches back in Fife who helped prepare Skye and Finlay for this sporting chance of a lifetime on the world stage.

Finlay and Skye are hugely enthusiastic about sports and very eager to try everything that comes their way. Mum Hailey also travelled with the team and she is herself is an active Disability Sport Fife sportswoman, leading by example. The Davidson’s are inspirational and considered a true role model DSF family with a strong commitment to weekly Fife sports sessions, Fife teams and GOGA in Fife. Hailey herself is fully committed nationally to encouraging families of young people with achondroplasia to become involved in physical activity, including sport.

For the young Davidson children the World Games are a stepping stone on the journey that may one day lead to their involvement in Para sport at international level. Not surprisingly swimmer Ellie Symonds is a family heroine and performances in Canada are an indication that the Davidson children may have the potential to follow in her footsteps. For the record results for Skye and Finlay were as follows:

Skye – 40m run gold, 20m run gold, relay 4×20 silver, Frisbee bronze, tennis ball gold, football gold, swimming 25m gold, hockey bronze, badminton bronze, basketball bronze

Finlay – boccia quarter finals, crossbow bronze, hockey bronze, relay 4×60 bronze

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife