Month: March 2017

Forth Valley Disability Sport

Forth Valley Disability Sport School and Clubs Gala

Grangemouth Sports Complex was host to Forth Valley Disability Sport Regional School and Club Swimming Gala on Saturday 4th March 2017.

Clubs and schools from throughout the Forth Valley and Lothian Area entered teams to compete in 25m, 50m and 100m events in freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

The event was very well attended with every swimmer having a fun and enjoyable time.

85 swimmers competed in the event to a very high standard.  Many of who achieved the qualifying times for the Scottish Disability Sport National Swimming Championships that take place later this year.

The competition was very close and there was very little time between placing in many of the events, which made for a great atmosphere and lots of cheering from the spectator’s gallery.

Jim “The Swim” Anderson, 17-time Paralympic medallist, and Angus Whyte, Forth Valley Disability Sport Chair Person, presented medals to swimmers and everyone that participated received a certificate.

Many thanks must go to the many club volunteers, time keepers, marshals and officials for their assistance at the event.

Thank you to the many organisation and groups that support this event – Scottish Swimming officials, FVDS volunteers, Falkirk Community Trust, Clackmannanshire Council, Active Stirling.

For further information on swimming lessons and clubs for adults and children with physical, learning and sensory disabilities in the Forth Valley area telephone Forth Valley Disability Sport on 01786 466486 0r email: graham.harvey@fvds.org.uk

 

Group photo of archers

Fife Archery Championships

The second event of the 2017 Annual Fife Sports Festival organised by Disability Sport Fife (DSF) and supported by the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust and Fife Council, was held at Queen Anne HS in Dunfermline. The Fife Indoor Archery Championships have been part of the Sports Festival programme since the mid 70s but this was the first occasion that the event has been held in the west of Fife.

Queen Anne HS Archery Club and Queen Anne HS Community Use came to the rescue when it was clear that DSF was experiencing difficulties finding a venue in central Fife. DSF is indebted to Kirk Hannah and the young archery club volunteers who played such a significant role in the running of the Championships. DSF is also indebted to Anna Capon, Ronan Capon, Ian Paterson and Scott Fenton from Fife Council whose interest in relocating the event made a group of enthusiastic archers very happy.

All the participants in the 2017 Championships access archery coaching through West Fife Community Support Services. Archers were grouped into two divisions according to their level of ability and experience. Results were as follows:

Division 1:
Gold – Paul Arthur
Silver – Wayne Sammut and Craig Pollock
Bronze – Aaron Kean

Division 2:
Gold – Lauren Jack
Silver – James Cormack
Bronze – Ryan Cormack

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

Group photo of West Fife CSS Team

Excellent Turn Out for Fife Swimming Championships

The 2017 Fife Swimming Championships organised by Disability Sport Fife and supported by the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust and Fife Council were held at the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre on Friday 3rd March. The Championships launched the 2017 Annual Fife Sports Festival and incorporated a 70 event programme of individual events and relays. Glenrothes Swimming Club officials and Sports Leaders from Kirkcaldy HS supported DSF volunteers to run a five hour programme of quality swimming.

West Fife Community Support Services retained the Anne H Brodie Team Trophy with 71 points, almost 30 points ahead of second placed East Fife Community Services. West Fife CSS also retained the Sonia Kane Memorial Relay Trophy. Ryan Peterson East Fife CSS and Nikki Baxter West Fife CSS won the men’s and women’s individual Trophy Races.

In the senior events for athletes with a learning disability Shaun Rowcliffe, Paul Coultard and Carter Taylor were the leading swimmers in the men’s races. All swimmers are coached by Kathy Bijak and attend DSF weekly swimming sessions. Briony Clark and Nikki Baxter were the leading senior women with a learning disability.

The senior swimmers with a physical impairment were Kirsty Brunton INCAS, Mary Wilson and Michelle Hill. The leading junior swimmers with a physical impairment were Connor Brown Woodmill HS, Cara Smyh INCAS, Logan Harley, Kerys Ballard Carnegie SC, Steven McCormick FINS and Cameron Hemphill INCAS.

There were many fine swims by junior swimmers with a learning disability and in particular Andrew Chapman Burntisland SC, Arran Howe Bell Baxter HS, Mathew Blair Woodmilll HS, Calum Robertson Balwearie HS, Megan Morgan Woodmill HS and Holly Jane Gray Madras College.

Madras College swimmers achieved something very special by winning the boys and girls junior relays. Congratulations to Nathan Orr, Kieran Beaton, Laurie Doran, Josh Gibson, Chloe Hutchison, Holly Jane Gray, Caitlin Pringle and Danielle Adamson.

DSF Fire won the senior open relay – Shaun Rowcliffe, Pauline Bryson, Jamie Thomas and Robert Anderson. DSF 2 won the challenge relay – Michelle Hill, Kirsty Brunton, Cerys Venters Scott and Steven McCormick.

Paralympian Derek Rae from Kirkcaldy presented medals along with DSF Chairman Paul Noble MBE.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

Cameron Hemphill

Another Fife Youngster to Watch – Cameron Hemphill

Cameron Hemphill from Ladybank is a second year pupil at Bell Baxter HS in Cupar. Cameron was introduced to Disability Sport Fife (DSF) by NHS Fife physiotherapist Joyce Cummings in 2013 and he has not looked back since.

Initially Cameron swam for an hour with Anna Tizzard at the Wednesday DSF session at the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre before joining Cupar and District Swimming Club eighteen months later for an additional hour in 2015. DSF secured a classification for Cameron through Scottish Swimming in 2016 and he was then called up for national junior squad training once a month in Stirling.

Cameron travelled to Manchester in December 2016 with the Scottish squad for the British National Para – Swimming Championships. Cameron thoroughly enjoyed the experience and when he returned a meeting was set up with DSF to look at increasing training time. This resulted in a move to INCAS and coach Garrie Roberts for four sessions per week in addition to his single DSF session with Anna.

Like every novice swimmer who wants to be a performance swimmer Cameron made steady progress from late 2013 through to early 2016. Cameron’s 25 metres backstroke dropped from 42.07 to 28.87. His 25 metres freestyle time was 37.91 when he started out but at the DSF Championships in March 2016 he had a PB for 50 metres of 58.91. Because Cameron has a hemiplegia and has a weakness in an arm and leg on one side of his body he has always looked upon breaststroke as his third stroke. In early 2016 he had a PB for 50 metres breaststroke of 1.24.94.

Since joining INCAS and being able to access additional water time Cameron’s times have tumbled. At the recent Scottish Disability Sport Performance Gala Cameron recorded PBs for 100m backstroke 2:12.28; 100m breaststroke 2:32.52; 100m freestyle 1:50.78; 50m freestyle 48.3. These were improvements by 17 seconds, 32 seconds and 15 seconds for his 100 metres swims. At the Fife Championships last Friday Cameron swam 50 metres freestyle in 44.93:50 metres backstroke in 1:00.63; 50 metres breaststroke in 1:04.90; all three swims were PBs.

Cameron also attends the DSF Monday badminton session in Glenrothes and enjoys mountain biking. Cameron is a scout and is interested in all things Science and Technology. Cameron’s long-term goal is to represent Scotland and Great Britain at many major Para-Swimming Championships.

Cameron is an exceptionally pleasant young man and a very popular member of DSF with coaches and fellow athletes. Cameron works hard and early signs are that his more challenging training regime will pay dividends. As with so many successful junior sports participants Cameron has an amazing family support team behind him.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

 

Free Classes at Dance Base for Disabled Access Day

This year, for Disabled Access Day, Dance Base is making two of the regular Friday dance classes free for all to attend. Come and try out Inclusive Hip Hop or Inclusive Party Playlist on Friday 10 March:

Inclusive Hip Hop, 10.00 – 11.00

Inclusive Party Playlist, 11.00 – 12.00

This classes are free and you can simply drop in. Both disabled and non-disabled dancers are welcome to attend together. Prepare for a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.

At Dance Base, we try to make all of our courses and drop-in classes as inclusive as possible and our dance studios in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket have won Euan’s Guide Accessible Edinburgh Festival Awards in 2015 and 2016.

This is a great opportunity to check out Dance Base with two classes specifically designed for disabled and non-disabled dancers, and to explore our award-winning venue.

Dance Base is Scotland’s National Centre for Dance and a commitment to inclusivity is at the heart of our programme of more than 100 different dance classes every week.

The first Disabled Access Day took place on 17th January 2015, where an amazing 261 venues took part across 11 countries.

Find out more about Disabled Access Day here: http://www.disabledaccessday.com/

Find out more about Euan’s Guide here: https://www.euansguide.com/

Read our access statement here: http://www.dancebase.co.uk/about/access-69

The winning Forth Valley team

Forth Valley Win by Smallest of Margins at Grangemouth

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) in partnership with scottishathletics held their annual National Sportshall Athletics Event at Grangemouth Sports Complex on Thursday 2nd March. Teams competed from all over Scotland at this event which is specifically designed as an entry level competition to introduce participants to the sport of athletics in an indoor sports hall environment. All the activities are adapted, accessible versions of athletic activities and allow participants with a disability the opportunity to make their first moves into further athletics involvement.

The teams represented on the day were:

  • Dumfries & Galloway
  • Fife
  • Forth Valley
  • Lothian
  • Perth & Kinross
  • Renfrewshire
  • South Lanarkshire

Congratulations to the Forth Valley team for a fine performance in winning the trophy, beating last year’s champions Fife into second place by only one point which reversed the finishing positions of 2016, with Dumfries & Galloway finishing third in their highest placing for a number of years.

To encourage all youngsters with a disability to try out athletics in a safe and dynamic environment this event continues to be provided at no cost to the teams and SDS and scottishathletics remain determined to ensure youngsters with a disability are able to access inclusive athletics with many active sessions and clubs throughout the SDS branches and regions.

Finally, a big thanks to all our volunteers who ensured the event was a success. Students from West Lothian College – who had all received training from SDS and scottishathletics prior to the event – were joined by athletes from Forth Valley Flyers in encouraging the youngsters to some brilliant individual and collective performances.

Photo: Forth Valley celebrate their win.

Micky Yule

Micky Yule Wins Bronze in World Cup

ParalympicsGB athlete lifted 185kg in Gold Coast 2018 qualifier

Thursday 02 March, 2017 – British Weight Lifting’s Micky Yule returned to international competition this week to win bronze at the Fazza 2017 World Para Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai.

It was the first major competition for Yule since finishing in sixth place at last summer’s Paralympic Games in Rio; with his sights firmly set on next year’s Commonwealth Games, Yule opened with 178kg in the men’s -80kg category, before clearing 185kg and narrowly missing an attempt at 188kg in his third lift.

It was the first major competition for Yule since finishing in sixth place at last summer’s Paralympic Games in Rio; with his sights firmly set on next year’s Commonwealth Games, Yule, supported by coach Neil Crosbie, was out to secure qualification for Scotland.

Yule opened with 178kg in the men’s -80kg category, before clearing 185kg. With some timely and intelligent decision-making from Crosbie around entering the third attempt, he put rival coaches on the back foot and ensured that Yule had the opportunity to snatch silver. Unfortunately, he narrowly missed his attempt at 188kg but had already secured bronze.

The category was won by Jordan’s Abdelkareem Mohmmad Ahmad Khattab with a lift of 210kg; Syria’s Shadi Issa finished in the silver medal position with 188kg.

Visit https://www.paralympic.org/powerlifting for the live feed and all results from the Fazza 2017 World Para Powerlifting World Cup.

Kirkcaldy and Central Fife Sports Council Awards

The 2016 Kirkcaldy and Central Fife Sports Council Annual Awards were presented on Thursday 2nd March at Fife College in Kirkcaldy. Chairman Alistair Cameron welcomed representatives from clubs in membership of the Sports Council and provided a short resume of the year past and his hopes for the period ahead. Mark Goodall from Fife College delivered a short thought provoking session for the second year before Guest Speaker Derek Rae described his experiences of the last year that began with a London Marathon PB, selection for the Paralympic Games in Rio and attendance at a GB Athletics training camp in Kenya.

This set the tone for the main section of the evening, the annual awards that were coordinated by MC Ken White. Mathew Elder from the Fife Free Press brilliantly interviewed the individual category winners.

Derek Rae from Kirkcaldy deservedly won the Disability Sports Person of the Year Award sponsored by PLM Optometrists. One of the runners up in this section was Eleanor Clark from Kirkcaldy who is heading out to Cape Town in just over a week for the World Blind Bowls Championships. Derek was also recognised as a runner up in the Sports Personality of the Year Award sponsored by Fife College.

Owen Miller from Dunfermline who trains with Steve Doig of Fife AC in Kirkcaldy was awarded the Garry Innes Memorial Shield supported by the Sports Council.

Disability Sport Fife is fortunate to have an outstanding team of volunteers, peer mentors and committed coaches. No DSF coach is more committed than Pamela Robson from Burntisland and she was recognised in two categories by the Sports Council. Pamela was a runner up in the Coach of the Year section sponsored by Dundas Estates and also in the Service to Sport Award sponsored by SALSC.

The Chairman and President of Disability Sport Fife attended the Awards Evening as guests of Kirkcaldy and Central Fife Sports Council. George McDonald from the Sports Council gave the Vote of Thanks and brought to an end another evening of celebration and success for a massively inclusive Sports Council.

Richard Brickley MBE
President, Disability Sport Fife

Irene Edgar and David Thomas at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

SDS Para Bowls v SYIBA

Falkirk Indoor Bowling Club will be the setting for the Scottish Disability Sport Para Bowls test match against the Scottish Young Indoor Bowling Association (SYIBA) on Sunday 5 March 2017.  The event is set to become an annual fixture in the calendar, with both organisations seeing the benefit in the lead up to several important events.

The competition has been organised by Sarah-Jane Ewing, one of our leading coaches and directors, who also coaches with the SYIBA.  She knows first-hand the benefits that this fixture will have in both organisations preparations.

The format will be pairs and triples, in line with the Para bowls element of the Commonwealth Games.  However, matches will last 3 hours (plus trial ends) with a maximum of 18 ends being played.  Individual match, as well as overall team scores, will be kept, making for a good team competition, which we are sure will create a positive camaraderie amongst our players as well those of the SYIBA.

Scottish Disability Sport has preselected the pairs and triples that will compete as part of the ongoing work in trying to determine successful combinations in the lead up to the Multi-Nations Event in Broadbeach, Australia in June 2017.

A full SDS line up can be found here.

Rwanda Group Photo

Scots Tutors Making Boccia Accessible in Rwanda

Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to announce that Andrinne Craig and Darren Thomson, a formidable duo of talented tutors, are helping to spread the word of boccia within Rwanda.

As part of the BISFed ‘Making Boccia Accessible’ project, seven countries attended a training workshop at which ‘Boccia Ambassadors’ learned how to play and coach the game so that they, in turn, can teach others in their countries.

In addition, BISFed will distribute over 400 sets of boccia balls free to 20 countries around the world, with the aim of introducing boccia to 10,000 new players. The project has been sponsored by the IPC’s AGITOS Foundation; UK Sport, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Hogan Lovells.

Darren and Andrinne have been part of the project delivering in Dubai and Cali, Columbia in 2016.

For full information see the BISFed website here:
www.bisfed.com/bisfed-launches-its-making-boccia-accessible-project