- If you could introduce yourself, your sport and your club.
“My name is Diane Gillan, my club is East Kilbride Disability Sports Club, Glasgow Disability Badminton Club. My main sport is badminton, and I do a variety of different sport. At the East Kilbride Disability Sports club we do different sports every week including football, basketball, handball, tennis, cricket. I go to the gym at the Dollan Aqua Centre and I attend Mark Wilsons Body pump class and Mary McCarroll’s Body Pump class. They keep my fit.”
- How did you get involved in sport?
“When I was at school, I wasn’t very good at sport, and I didn’t really get on very well at school. I didn’t get any exams or anything like that. When I left school, I was asked by a coach called David Gillespie, he asked me if I’d be interested in badminton. Now when I was at school, I didn’t actually like badminton, ‘cause it was a constant sport, and I wasn’t actually very good at it, but when David Gillespie asked me I said ‘well all right, I’ll give it a go.’ And since then, it’s just opened up a lot of great things for me. I’ve carried the Olympic Torch, I’ve represented my country, I’ve won various medals and awards, so it has been a good experience.”
- Why do you think some women and girls don’t participate in sport?
“They might not have time if they have children, that’s a problem, I also think maybe a lot of people are quite shy to go to the gym or to go to classes. “
- What do you enjoy most about playing badminton?
“I like playing badminton because I get to meet my friends, obviously I like winning my games, especially if it’s against the guys. I like doing competitions and stuff like that and keeping fit as well that’s the main thing.”
- Have you made new friendships through sport?
“Oh yeah, I’ve made a lot of friends through sport, I’ve made a lot of friends at my disability sports club, made a lot of friends at the Dollan by doing the classes, I’m even a volunteer at the Dollan on the reception so I’ve met a lot of people there. I’m inspired by Mark Wilson, and Mary McCarroll for getting me involved in the classes.”
- Although you are very much a participant in sport, how did you get involved at becoming a volunteer?
“Well I’m a volunteer at the reception, and basically, yet again, it was Mark that gave me the opportunity and Elaine Donaldson, they gave me the opportunity to work there. It was only meant to be for a short time maybe like a work experience for six or seven weeks, but I’ve probably been there for about 6 or 7 years so it’s all right. “
- What would you say to women and girls who don’t play sport?
“I would say to them, give it a go ‘cause you never know it could help you feel better, it can help you lose weight cause a know a lot of women get problems like that. It can also help your mental health as well.”
- How can we get more girls and women involved in sport?
“Girls could go to different schools and show them like their medals they’ve won, for instance I could show them my Olympic torch and say look, if you can go and try and do sports you get a chance to do different things, it opens up a lot of stuff to do and you meet a lot of friends and you keep fit. You could also put posters up and people would be able to see it on there.”
