Disability Sport NEWS April 2014

Transcription

1 Disability Sport NEWS April 2014 ABERDEEN CITY The Winter Paralympic Games We hope you were all as enthralled by the recent Winter Paralympic Games as we were! It was fantastic to witness one of our local Athletes, Gregor Ewan, win a bronze medal in the Curling final! It was a tense battle right to the end but Congratulations to Gregor and the rest of the Curling team! Gregor first started playing wheelchair curling in December 2008 and went on to make his international debut the following year. Gregor is a full-time athlete and his training base is at Moray Leisure Centre, where he is coached by Joan Reid, Albert Midler and GB head coach Tony Zummack. Overall GB had a very successful year - they were set a medal target of 2-6 medals and they came in at the top with six!! Other medals included Jade Etherington, the visually impaired skier, with her guide Caroline Powell who took home a total of four medals, including three alpine skiing silver medals, this made them the most successful British women in the history of the Winter Paralympics! Along with this Kelly Gallagher, from Northern Ireland, took home Britain s first ever gold at a Winter Games, with guide Charlotte Evans, in the visually impaired super-g skiing contest, and Etherington and Powell took bronze in the same event. The Winter Paralympic buzz has been encouraging some more local athletes to take part also!

2 Winter Sports Taster Sessions To celebrate the Winter Olympics & Paralympics in Sochi the Social Care & Wellbeing service of Aberdeen City Council offered a range of Winter Sports taster sessions from the 24 February until 1 March for children and adults with disabilities. In partnership with Aberdeen Sports Village, Aberdeen Snowsports Centre and Aberdeen Curl the activities offered were new age kurling, skiing, snowboarding, tubing, and curling. The sessions proved to be very popular with children, young people and their families with all the main sessions being fully booked. Children with a range of abilities took part. At ASV we offered sessions on New Age Kurling. Stephanie, mother of Adam (10) who is autistic said We tried the New Age Kurling taster session and he loved it! So did his brother and sister who were allowed to take part as well, and the three of them interacting together and with the other children gave me hope for the future. The tubing session was able to accommodate a girl with complex needs within the group of 12, who is a wheelchair user, and she clearly loved the experience. Her mother said that we would not have thought of this activity, although their daughter is more open to try stuff that we would want to risk. I think it s great and we will definitely be back, at 5 for the hour its good value and we ll encourage others to try it too. Tubing Testimonial: When we heard about the snow tubing event, we were very excited for our daughter Alia to try it. She had loved watching snow tubing on Mr Tumble! She has been a determined and fun loving little girl from the moment she was born. She is fearless when it comes to anything fast and doesn t see why she can t do stuff like other kids just because she can t walk! As this was a trial, we didn t know exactly how accessible the dry ski slope was going to be to get Alia up in her wheelchair but we wanted to at least go and look and see if it was possible. We like to try as many new things as we can for Alia as she gets so much joy from them. On the day of the event, Alia wasn t her usually happy self and was very grumpy. However, we decided that she wasn t going to be any happier being at home and enjoys the car so we went to check out the venue and were fully prepared to turn round and come home if needed. Well the minute Alia saw the slope that was it! She absolutely loved going down the slope and went from grumpy to a very, very happy girl. We didn t take her right to the top of the slope as that was a bit hard with the wheelchair but Alia s dad managed her up to the middle bump. She enjoyed herself so much that at one point she didn t want to wait for her wheelchair to get wheeled back up but started to try to crawl back up the slope herself! Needless to say we have found an activity that our daughter loves and we will definitely be going again. The people working at the dry ski slope were fantastic and helped us a lot too. We all had a great time and it was nice to be able to try it in a calmer and quieter environment than it would have been if we had just gone to a public session.

3 O n the 1 April 2014 the Social Care (Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 1993 comes into force. This new law says that everyone who gets social care support has the right to choose how they get it. It enables people to be in control of the money they get for their support, and they can choose how to spend that money. Local councils must make sure that people can make real choices and have enough information to do this, to support them to take part in the life of their local community. The Winter Sports sessions were funded by Aberdeen City Council from monies granted by the Scottish Government for community capacity building to help prepare for Self Directed Support, and to help people change the way they think about their support. West Midlands Regional Open ski championships A team of 7 skiers from the Special Olympics ski group took part in the West Midlands Regional Open ski championships held in Birmingham in October. 79 Special Olympics athletes from around Britain participated making it the largest annual event of its kind. The 7 skiers each competed in a slalom and giant slalom event, and between them returned with 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 2 bronze medals, a fantastic result. The Special Olympics Grampian Area ski group, serving Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, was set up in It currently runs training classes for 20 youngsters on Wednesday evenings throughout the year at Aberdeen Snowsports Centre. Anyone interested should contact Jim Purdie at jim.purdie@btinternet.com

4 Disability Sport Award from Aberdeenshire Sports Council The Aberdeenshire Sport Council s Awards Evening was held on Friday 28th March. Conner Morrison won the Disability Sport Award and was presented his award by 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist Katherine Grainger CBE. Conner is 16 years old and swims with Garioch Amateur Swimming Club. He started his swimming with Garioch Gators, the section within the club that caters for swimmers with disabilities. It was soon noticed by Bruce Stewart, Conner s coach, that Conner had potential so the natural progression was for Conner to take on additional training with the mainstream swimming club. This provided the pool time Conner needed to progress. In 2012 Conner was selected as a guest into the Scottish swimming squad. For Conner to progress along a disability pathway he needed to go through the classification process. Claire McDonald the Regional Development Manager for Scottish Disability Sport supported Conner and his family through this process and in 2013 Conner received his UK Classification as a S14 swimmer and became a full members of the Scottish Swimming Squad. In 2013 Conner competed in the Scottish Disability National championship winning multiple medals and also swims in the mainstream swimming galas making the podium on regular occasions. In early 2014 Conner gained his international classification as an S14 swimmer. Conner has just returned from the British Junior Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield where he won 3 gold and 2 silver medals. Conner is a truly dedicated athlete and spends hours in the pool with the dream one day he will represent GB in the Paralympics Games. Cove Rangers Football Festival The second schools league football festival for children with additional support needs was held on 14th November at Aberdeen Sports Village. Additional support needs bases and special schools from Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City were all invited to attend. Two tournaments ran on the day, one for special needs schools where Anna Ritchie came out on top after a close final against Bucksburn with the final result finishing 5-3 The second tournament for the additional support needs bases of mainstream schools was won by Fraserburgh Academy after a nail biting final which came down to penalties just fighting off last year s champions Cordyce finishing 4-2. The presentation was done by Cove Rangers Youth Development Coach Scott Bridgewater who said The sport of football is a great way of bringing children together. Football can teach children so much. Cove Rangers are delighted to support this tournament and give all children a competitive sports opportunity regardless of their ability. The final league festival will be held in Inverurie on 24th April. For further information contact Claire McDonald on or claire.mcdonald@ scottishdisabilitysport.com Photo courtesy of Jamie Cutts, Aberdeenshire Council photographer

5 Cordyce Coach wins SFA Disability Coach of the Year Claire McDonald, Regional Development Manager for Scottish Disability Sport said, Its great that AFC have become involved to provide kids with additional support needs the competitive opportunity in football. Cordyce football went from strength to strength last year, which was nicely rounded up by the coach being recognised at the National level. Gordon Semple is the driving force behind extracurricular sport in Cordyce, football is his main passion and he took his team to the national support for learners finals in Glasgow last year. He was recognised over the summer as SFA s disability coach of the year after all his hard work. We wish Gordon all the best with the upcoming season which will prove to be his toughest yet. Aberdeen Football Club run first ever Primary ASN Football Festival AFC professional players, AFC community coaches, SFA school of football pupils and of course Angus the bull were all involved in delivering the first ever primary football festival for ASN pupils. Schools from across Grampian travelled in to take part in the one of the first of many festivals throughout the ASN school sport calendar.11 teams from 6 schools took part in skills sessions and small sided games. This great turn out and such a successful event has created the desire for more, Active Schools will be working with AFC and other partners to deliver more festivals in the future. Inclusive Zone Basketball Grampian Flyers Basketball Club furthered their development of wheelchair basketball, by assisting with Scotland s first Inclusive Zone Basketball Festival (IZB), at the Beach Leisure Centre in Aberdeen. IZB is a 4 v 4 game, combining wheelchair and running basketball on the same court. Over 20 pupils from 2 schools participated in the event. Festival organiser and Active Schools Co-ordinator, Grant Wilson, said, Basketball is a highly popular sport in ASN schools, and we were excited to pilot Scotland s first ever IZB festival. An unexpected story from the event was that two brothers, one who attends a special school and the other a mainstream school, were able to compete against each other, this is the first time they have had opportunity to do this. Tina Gordon, Wheelchair Basketball Development Officer, said, The partnership support between Sport Aberdeen, the Active Schools Network, Grampian Flyers, and HND Sports Development students from North East College, was key to putting on the festival. It shows that this is an ideal model of good practice which can be rolled out in other areas of the country. Grampian Flyers, have just received grant support to purchase 5 sports wheelchairs, to enable the club to expand their junior section, and further develop their school-club links.

6 ASN Giant Heptathlon School Position Score Meldrum 1 64 Bucksburn Bucksburn Aboyne 4 50 Anna Ritchie Hazlewood 6 39 Anna Ritchie The ASN Giant Heptathlon for Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire schools was held at Aberdeen Sports Village on Thursday 13th March. The teams took part in a range of athletics based activities including sprinting, hurdling, endurance, jumps and throws. The festival was organised by Scottish Disability Sport and Active Schools and supported by Ally Love, Athletics Regional Development Manager. Powerchair Sports Sessions Caitlin Dudley, Disability Sports Officer for Aberdeenshire Council, said It was great to see so many teams attend from the Aberdeenshire and City schools and to see so many pupils try such a range of activities. Well done to all of the pupils that took part in the event and thank you to all of the accompanying staff. It was a really fun day and a close fight for first place! Congratulations to Meldrum Academy! Following a successful open day, new sports sessions for young people who use power wheelchairs have been running at Sheddocksley Sports Centre. The sessions combine powerchair football and boccia and participants, their families and coaches have enjoyed learning to play both sports. Powerchair football is a new sport Worldwide, with it s own rules, pitch and equipment and thanks to the support of Premier Oil Plc, Aberdeen & District Hotels Association and Grampian Disability Sport the group have been able to buy the equipment needed to run the sessions.

7 Volunteer Marcus Brown coaches the sessions and thanks to his commitment and enthusiasm the team are well on their way to competing in the Scottish Powerchair Football League next season. Boccia is a target ball sport which is played in the Paralympics. It is a fun and tactical sport which relies on skill and accuracy rather than on power, speed or strength. Boccia is especially strong in Scotland and players at this session have the opportunity to attend events and competitions if they wish. Riding for the Disabled Association Circle of Life Back in 1984, the Buchan Branch of the Riding for the Disabled Association was formed. Fast forward to 2014 and we see Kristopher Duthie riding Milo, accompanied by one of the group s trustees and regular volunteers, Barbara Baillie. Also present in the photo is Roseleen Kelly. The group is keen to welcome new players and for more information on the sessions please contact Andrinne Craig, Inclusion Development Officer, Sport Aberdeen on ACraig@sportaberdeen.co.uk or Next terms session details are: Day/Time: Saturdays Dates: 26th April, 10th & 24th May, 7th & 21st June 2014 Venue: Sheddocksley Sports Centre, Springhill Road, Aberdeen, AB16 6QJ Cost: for the block Roseleen s mother, Margaret Watson, was one of the original founder members of Buchan RDA, and she tragically lost her life in an Aberdeenshire road accident in February 2014, an accident which also killed her brother. It was the wish of Margaret s family that a collection was made after her funeral service in Fraserburgh, and a total of over 1500 was raised for Buchan RDA. This generous donation is much appreciated and will be used to purchase some essential new items of specialised safety equipment for riding. Horses played a major part throughout Margaret s life, and she always maintained a keen interest in the continued growth of RDA. Roseleen Kelly, a geophysicist from Banchory, commented, My mum loved working with the kids, and now her great nephew, Kristopher, is benefitting from it. There are only a few places in the Grampian area offering riding and carriage driving opportunities through the RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association.) Both activities are very popular, as they provide the chance to exercise in a safe but challenging environment, enjoying a relaxed atmosphere of fun and companionship. There are many positive benefits to physical and mental health, for children and adults.

8 The RDA is a registered charity, and each individual group has its own unique charitable status. This means that every group operates in a different way some own their own premises and horses, while some rent the facilities and horses. Some are a mixture of the two! In the city of Aberdeen, the Aberdeen Branch of the RDA is based at Oldfold Stables, Milltimber. The Buchan Group is based at Ladymire Equestrian Centre, Ellon, and the Gordon Group has its own purpose-built centre at Tweeddale just outside Inverurie. There s a group operating at the ILPH centre at Belwade near Aboyne, while another is based at Oyne, near Insch. Travelling further north and west there are RDA groups working in Moray and in the Forres area. To the south of Aberdeen, the nearest branch is the Angus one, based near Forfar. For anyone interested in carriage driving, there are only two groups offering this highly specialised activity in this north-east corner. One is based at Maryculter and the other at Strathorn Farm, near Pitcaple (north of Inverurie.) So there are plenty of opportunities to ride or drive, but because demand for places is high, most groups need to operate a waiting list system. Volunteering Opportunities Too! - As you can imagine, a huge number of volunteers are needed to make this happen. Without willing helpers, the RDA would cease to exist. Sometimes as many as three helpers are required to enable one disabled person to ride a horse and carriage driving is even more labour intensive. Whether you re interested in helping, or want contact details of your nearest group, please don t hesitate to get in touch with Susan Fowlie on Mary Duncan Gala 2014 Saturday 22nd February saw 60 plus swimmers from across Grampian assembled at Cults Academy Swimming Pool for the annual Mary Duncan Gala. Swimmers of various ages and disabilities took part and achieved some excellent times and medal places. This gala is used as the qualifier for Grampian Disability Sport s entry to the SDS Scottish Senior Championships (LD) held in Glasgow in May and over 30 athletes now have qualifying times. Well done to all who competed on the day. One to Watch! Lewis Clow, an Aberdeen Amateur Athletics Club athlete travelled to Dubai to compete in his first International Paralympic Committee Athletics event following his transfer from the sport of Football to Athletics in September Lewis faced the gruelling classification process first and was successful in a T37 international classification. The next challenge facing Lewis was to step out onto the track in his first ever event and run under the Commonwealth qualification time of Lewis pulled out an amazing performance running 12:82 taking Bronze in his very first international competition. Unfortunately the wind speed was not legal for Lewis to use this time towards his dream of qualifying for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Following a couple of days recovery Lewis get another opportunity in Dubai to run in another IPC event where unfortunately his inexperience and nerves got the better of him and he was disqualified for a false start which was massively disappointing for both Lewis and his coach Trevor who also travelled with Lewis to support him throughout this experience. However Lewis then managed to clear his head, focus, and just one day later he took on the 200m and won gold with an outstanding performance! Claire McDonald Scottish Disability Sport Regional manager said This has been a great experience for Lewis, he experienced the highs and the lows on his trip to Dubai but proved he has the ability to fulfil his dream for competing in Glasgow. He is a top class athlete and very lucky to have so much support locally. Trevor, who has been an outstanding coach from the day Lewis became an athlete within his squad, Donald Pirie, who has given Lewis the strength and conditioning support he needs, and Ruth Madill, his physio who helped start the journey, will all continue to support Lewis. He is an athlete to watch for the future delivering outstanding performances at the age of 18 and only 5 months into the sport, it will be interesting for us all to see where he is in 5 years time

9 Everybody Active Watch out for Everybody Active, Sport Aberdeen s new programme of activities and classes for adults with a learning disability. From skating to swimming there will be something for everyone to take part in at facilities across the city. The programme will launch in summer 2014 and for more information or to express an interest, please contact Andrinne Craig, Inclusion Development Officer, Sport Aberdeen on ACraig@sportaberdeen. co.uk or Other News Aberdeenshire Disability Sport and Aberdeen Disability Sport have now merged to form Grampian Disability Sport keep an eye out for our new logo: Aberdeen Sports Village have just launched their new Aquatics Programme as the new Aquatics Centre is due to open in May. There will be opportunities for children, adults and elderly people to develop their skills in swimming, diving, with water polo and lifesaving also available for children, and most programmes are inclusive for people with disabilities. Registrations for the programmes are now being taken and more information is available on our website - aberdeensportsvillage.com/aquatics Parabadminton Taster Session: Dust off your racquet & head over to Aberdeen Sports Village on Saturday the 31st May for a free Parabadminton Taster Session for adults with a disability. The session is suitable for all playing abilities, will run from 18:00 19:30, and you ll be guided through drills & games by a qualified badminton coach with experience in working with disabled athletes. There are a limited number of places available & advanced booking is essential. To book, call Citymoves Stepping Stones Class for Children with ASNs (age 8 and upwards) will be running on the following dates and times: Sat 26 April Sat 17 May Sat 31 May Sat 21 June pm Please book in advance with Citymoves. Grampian Disability Athletics Workshops: Adapted Sporthall Workshop :00 Inclusive Athletics Workshop 18:30 21:30 Tutors: Janice Egalsham & Shona Malcolm Venue: Aberdeen Sports Village, Linksfield Road, Aberdeen, AB24 5RU Cost: FREE TO ATTEND For further information contact Claire on or claire.mcdonald@scottishdisabilitysport. com or contact Alasdhair Love on or alasdhair.love@scottishathletics.org.uk Disability Sport Opportunities Brochure This useful brochure was produced in 2012 and thanks to the hard work of Lucy Buchan, a 3rd year student from Robert Gordon s University and funding from sportscotlands Community Sports Hubs this is now being updated. The brochure is currently with designers but look out for it in summer 2014, packed with details of even more opportunities to take part sports, have fun and meet new friends. Inclusive Coaching Programme Thanks to funding from sportscotland s Community Sports Hubs programme a series of training courses were delivered from January March 2014 for coaches working in both mainstream and disability sport to increase their knowledge and confidence in how to include athletes with a disability in their clubs and sessions. A fantastic group of 35 coaches participated in training which included Boccia Leaders Workshop, SFA Coaching Footballers with a Disability, Inclusive Swimming Teaching and Autism Awareness. Participants were fortunate to learn from some of Scotlands most experienced tutors on their subjects and we hope that this will lead to even more positive coaching experiences for athletes in the area.

10 A Disability Sport Summer Programme will be running this year, for more information please contact Caitlin Dudley. Dates for your Diary 24th April 2014 Loco s North Region Secondary School Festival for children with addition support needs 27th April 2014 Carpet Bowls Fun Day, Henry Rae Centre, Aberdeen 18th May 2014 City of Aberdeen Baker Hughes 10k and Wheelchair race 25th May 2014 Grampian Games, Beach Leisure Centre, Aberdeen 28th May 2014 Grampian Disability Athletics Workshops 30th May 2014 Grampian Disability Sport AGM, , Links Ice Arena. Open to any interested parties. 31st May 2014 Parabadminton Taster, Aberdeen Sports Village 19th June 2014 School Commonwealth Parasport Day, Aberdeen Sports Village 4th September Regional Boccia Qualifier, Grammar School, Aberdeen For Further information on Disability Sport please contact: Claire McDonald, Regional Development Manager - Grampian, Scottish Disability Sport or claire.mcdonald@scottishdisabilitysport.com Caitlin Dudley, Disability Sports Officer, Aberdeenshire Council or caitlin.dudley@aberdeenshire.gov.uk Andrinne Craig, Inclusion Development Officer, Sport Aberdeen or ACraig@sportaberdeen.co.uk Grant Wilson, Lead Active Schools Coordinator ASN Provision, Sport Aberdeen or GrWilson@sportaberdeen.co.uk Or keep up to date with all our latest news and club opportunities on our new Facebook page - Do you have any good news stories or club details that you would like shared in the next newsletter or on our Facebook page? Please get in touch with Caitlin Dudley if you do! Produced by Aberdeenshire Council GDT22388 April 2014