Disability Sport Fife (DSF) has recognised the performances of three members of the DSF Futures Squad who have achieved all that was expected of them and more during 2009. The DSF Futures Squad includes young up and coming talented sportsmen and women who have the potential of representing Great Britain and / or Scotland and competing in a Paralympic or Commonwealth Games. All three Fife swimmers are Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) Academy athletes and they have excelled in their sport in the past year.

 

Craig Rodgie (20) from Dalgety Bay and the Carnegie Swimming Club has had an exceptional year. Outstanding performances at the Global Games in the Czech Republic and at the IPC European Championships in Iceland have rocketed him up to the very top of the British rankings. He is now one of Great Britain’s leading swimmers with a learning disability and he is overjoyed that athletes with a learning disability will be re-introduced to the Paralympic Games in 2012. He will be challenging for a place in the GB Paralympic team and under the watchful eye of coach, John Szaranek at Carnegie he has a wonderful chance of being selected. Craig’s target for 2010 is to be selected for the GB team for the IPC World Championships in the Netherlands in August. Craig has been awarded the DSF Bill Pullar Bursary for the past two years and like the other two swimmers has been supported by SDS Academy grants.

 

Young Lucy Walkup (13) from Glenrothes and the Glenrothes Swimming Club is coached by David McLean and is Britain’s leading young female deaf swimmer. The young Auchtmuty High School pupil was delighted to be pre-selected for the Great Britain team that will compete in the European Deaf Swimming Championships in Germany later this year. DSF and SDS have always considered Lucy a strong GB prospect for a future Deaflympics. Each year she continues to make incredible progress in all her strokes.  Internationally the S15 class is incredibly competitive and Lucy is well aware of the challenges she faces in her first international in Germany. She has just stepped on to the first rung of the pathway that hopefully one day will result in her representing Great Britain at the Deaflympics. DSF is working with Lucy and her family to secure funding to support her participation in the European Championships. She was delighted with the recent news that she has been awarded a supplementary SDS Academy grant of £500.

 

Stefan Hoggan (17) from Auchtermuchty and Glenrothes Swimming Club competes in the S9 class for physically disabled swimmers, one of the toughest in the international programme. Over the years Stefan has made steady progress to reach his current level. In November 2009 he had his best ever British Championships with six personal best performances. Stefan recognises that 2010 will be his most important competitive year and he has introduced changes to his training programme and is also in the process of changing swimming clubs. Hopefully these changes will help him follow in the footsteps of his Fife Futures colleagues. Being Scotland’s number one in his class is not enough for this fine young swimmer and he has set his sights much higher.

 

DSF recognises the considerable help it has received in supporting the members of the Fife Futures Squad and pays tribute to Margy Thomson, DSF nutritionist, and Gilmour Stevenson, DSF strength and conditioning coach in particular. Physiotherapy support is also available when required. DSF also recognises the support Fife performance athletes and players receive from Fife Council and the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust through grant aid and concessionary access to training facilities. Club swimming coaches have of course been instrumental to the success of these young swimmers and DSF pays tribute to the coaching team at Carnegie and Glenrothes Swimming Clubs.

 

DSF is proud of the success of the Fife Futures initiative and recently has inducted two new members from the sports of bowls and athletics. Robust training programmes are currently being mapped out for the two young athletes from east and west Fife who have the talent to represent their country in a future Commonwealth or Paralympic Games.