On a rainy November day in 2017, I pulled into the car park at Moray Sports Centre HQ on Southfield Drive. As a new recruit with Scottish Disability Sport with a remit to drive forward high-quality sport and physical activity opportunities for people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities, I was in the process of visiting all of the leisure trusts, local authorities, Active Schools Teams and everyone that I would be working with regularly for the foreseeable future, and had been invited for an update about the MSC plans. As I scrambled around the development trying to find the right office, I could see a mound of dirt and some fencing in the distance – all that existed of the grand facility you see today.

After finding the right building & a short wait in reception, I was greeted with an enthusiastic handshake and a grin from ear to ear – Kathryn certainly extended one of the warmest welcomes I’ve ever had from a CEO.

Following a whistle-stop tour of the office where I was introduced to the small but efficient team of MSC project staff, Kathryn took me to the board room where the blueprints of the grand design were laid out across the large table. They were impressive! Everything you’d expect from a brand-new top-of-the-range sports facility, but with a very important addition. Absolutely everything was designed to be accessible to people with even the most profound disabilities. After a few questions about specific facilities, it was evident that Kathryn and her team had left no stone unturned when it came to inclusive sport and activity – the icing on the cake being the Changing Places facility especially designed for people who need assistance with their personal care. It was at this point that I realised that Kathryn and I were on the same page and that a very strong partnership would be forged between Moray Sports Centre and Scottish Disability Sport.

Fast-forward a little over 18 months – the building was up and our partnership working was in full flow.

The first order of business was working together to ensure that the official opening day had the golden thread of inclusion woven throughout it. In amongst the festivities were adapted cycling and boccia (delivered by the staff and volunteers from our local Branch, Grampian Disability Sport), Sporting Opportunities for Motor Activity (delivered by PAMIS), and a range of inclusive taster sessions delivered by the MSC team. These opportunities ensured that people of all ages and types of disabilities could get fully stuck in with the celebrations. The event was a resounding success and really gave us the drive to do more.

Although the main aim of my role is to engage and support people with disabilities in sport and physical activity, it takes a lot of behind the scenes work to get to this point. One of the main barriers we face is a lack of confidence amongst coaches & activity leaders, who often feel they don’t have the skillset to make their activities inclusive. This was something that Kathryn wanted to overcome from the very beginning, and so we arranged a UK Disability Inclusion Training workshop for the sports coaches and gym team. This helped to allay any anxieties they had about working with people with disabilities and gave them the tools and resources to adapt their activities and sessions to include everyone.

Another major challenge in developing opportunities for people with disabilities is ensuring that accessible equipment is available. Whilst the majority of sports and physical activities can be made inclusive through very minor adaptations, there are some instances where specialist items are required. Grampian Disability Sport is fortunate to have a number of smaller items of specialist equipment (adapted footballs, table cricket kit, adapted bats etc) available for organisations to borrow – some of which are in situ at MSC today. However, larger and more specialised kit needs to be bought in and is almost always accompanied by a hefty price tag. With the thirst for inclusive cycling growing after the launch event, it was decided that the Centre would purchase adapted bikes to enable people with disabilities to experience the thrill of cycling, and for families of a person with a disability to be able to cycle together. We were able to draw on the experience of Grampian Disability Sport, who had previously purchased a range of adapted bikes for their inclusive cycling hubs in Inverurie and Peterhead. They advised on which bikes would likely be used most often, recommended models and sourced suppliers. The Sports Development Manager at the time, Tori, and I then knuckled down to calculate the budget and complete the required funding applications. Thankfully, our efforts were successful and the Centre now boasts a fleet of 13 adapted bikes which cater for all abilities and disability types. MSC has recently been able to launch a hire service during Lockdown 2.0 and I really look forward to seeing families from across Moray enjoying and benefitting from this.

The Centre launched its disability sport timetable soon after opening and, prior to lockdown, offered a wide variety of inclusive and specialist sport and activity opportunities when the disability sport sessions joined forces with the 50+ offering to form the Prime-Ability programme, which includes activities to suit all abilities and tastes from badminton to boccia and dance to multi-sport. Many additional activities within the gym, adults’ and childrens’ programmes were also inclusive for people with disabilities. All this inclusive provision gives me so many options to present to people with disabilities and their families when I meet with them – during non-COVID times we’re thoroughly spoilt for choice in Moray and it just keeps getting better and better. MSC and I have already started conversations with Mark Reith from Chrysalis Tennis –  a programme that provides free tennis opportunities for young people with Down Syndrome. Mark was keen to replicate the hugely successful programme he runs in Aberdeenshire and we felt that Moray Sports Centre would be a great venue of choice given its inclusive values and provisions and, particularly, with the imminent construction of the new tennis centre.

As part of the new tennis centre, we’ve been working together to source funding towards specialist tennis equipment, including a fleet of tennis wheelchairs to help introduce the sport to those with physical disabilities, and we’ll be working alongside a number of partners including the Active Schools Team, Tennis Scotland and the third sector to ensure that tennis is accessible to all from the outset.

Kathryn is a very out-of-the-box thinker so being at the helm means that the MSC team isn’t afraid of thinking big and pursuing ambitious targets including the aforementioned tennis facility and the development of the inclusive playpark – a one-of-a-kind facility open to all of the Centre’s patrons at no cost, the likes of which had never been seen in the area previously. The Centre did a tremendous amount of work during the tendering and selection process, building works and fundraising for the park, and it was fantastic to be consulted and kept informed at every stage of development. I remember excitedly eyeing up the equipment brochures and the proposals put forward by the suppliers like a child in the midst of writing a letter to Santa. This was something that HAD to happen and so Grampian Disability Sport and I set about to spread the message far and wide across our networks to encourage our disability sport family to donate to the project’s fundraising page. I don’t know how successful our efforts were, but the park came to fruition and it’s wonderful to see people with and without disabilities making use of it together. When I’m telling local families about the activities available at the Centre, I always make a point of mentioning the playpark too (and the lovely café & Changing Places facility) because it means they can make a day out of it & the whole family can get involved.

Cross-promotion like this is one of the strengths of our partnership working. Rather than duplicating efforts or working in silo, we join forces to promote opportunities, support one another’s events and activities, and celebrate each other’s successes. The work of the Branch and I has frequently been featured in the MSC newsletters, and I am always delighted to share news from the Centre on the Branch’s social media pages and through my weekly e-bulletins to all the participants and families I work with. MSC was instrumental in helping promote the 2018 and 2019 Grampian Parasport Festivals (a multi-sport taster event for school-aged children with physical and sensory disabilities) and it was really beneficial to have MSC staff present at both events to share their experiences with other partners and to chat with families from the local area.

The partnership doesn’t just stop at MSC and I. We have a fantastic, close-knit network of likeminded sports development, Active Schools, third sector, education and sports club staff that get together routinely through Moray iPEPAS (Inclusive PE, Physical Activity & Sport) meetings to help coordinate efforts to improve provisions for people with disabilities. One of the bigger projects that we’re working towards is the roll-out of boccia – a Paralympic sport designed especially for those with profound physical disabilities but accessible to everyone – within education. It is hoped that when COVID restrictions allow, we’ll be able to introduce boccia to all Moray’s schools, and that pupils with disabilities can get together somewhere down the line to participate in fun competitions in the sport. When this was brought up for discussion, Kathryn immediately offered up the Centre’s Sports Hall as the competition venue. This will be a welcome and inspiring change of scenery for the youngsters, and we now lay in wait of restrictions easing so we can get detailed planning underway.

One of the unfortunate casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic was our jointly-planned Olympic and Paralympic Games celebration programme, which had been designed to engage more community sports clubs with the Centre, provide their volunteers and coaches with training to become more inclusive, engage more participants with and without disabilities in club sport and physical activity, and celebrate Japanese culture. Hopefully restrictions will ease enough in the run-up to the rescheduled Games this year and we’ll be able to return to planning this event, which we anticipate would be of huge benefit to the people of Moray.

Working closely with Kathryn and the team has meant that, in short, I can get my job done a lot more easily and effectively as most of the barriers we face in providing inclusive activity are removed. I’m also really proud to have made a small contribution to a few of the Centre’s successes. The MSC team is wonderful and we have managed to mutually support each other over the last few years to achieve some great feats. Kathryn has been incredibly accommodating with offers of desk space and a cuppa whenever I’m in town. I feel very fortunate to work in partnership with such a forward-thinking and inclusively-minded organisation that treats its partners like an extension of the team.

By Alison Shaw – Regional Manager for Grampian & Shetland.