Town gets its first multi-sports club for the disabled
THE town of Northallerton is to get its own multi-sports club for young people and adults with special needs and disabilities.
Hambleton District Council’s leisure apprentice, Joe McKechnie ,who plays football for the England Cerebral Palsy Senior Squad, has secured nearly £700 in funding from North Yorkshire Sport to set up the new club.
It will kick off with an eight-week course offering coaching in recognised disabled sports – including boccia, goal ball, Kwik Cricket, dance, dodge ball, skill based sessions in football and football for the visually impaired.
Tait targets Paralympics
AFTER a series of wins at the National Senior Boccia Titles, Tait Jenkins has his sights firmly set on competing in the Paralympics in Brazil in 2016.
Tait, who only took up the sport about 18 months ago, took out the overall best and fairest award and finished second in the pairs competition at the national titles staged at the Academy of Sport and Recreation in Sydney recently.
He was also a member of the Australian team that won the Trans-Tasman Cup against New Zealand.
ON TARGET: Paralympics hopeful Tait Jenkins works on his game with exercise physiologist Mark Roberts after starring in the Trans-Tasman Cup.
Mireille Merlet-Shaw
Tait is already a member of the Australian Paralympic boccia team but his next challenge is to be at the top of his game for the Australian Oceanic Games to be played at Sydney’s Olympic Park in October.
Boccia teams battle it out!
Boccia teams from across the county took part in the 2013 adult boccia competition last week.
Held at Milford Haven Leisure Centre, the tournament was organised by Sport Pembrokeshire – Pembrokeshire County Council’s sports development arm – and Disability Sport Wales.
A record 13 teams entered this year’s event including Portfield Social Activity Centre (2), Young Vipers, Young Vipers (2) , St. David’s Care in the Community (2), Avenue Social Activity Centre (2), Anchorage Social Activity Centre (2), Pembrokeshire College (2) and Crymcyh Panthers.
The competition was won by Young Vipers ‘1’ who beat Anchorage ‘A’ in the final.
Both winners and runners up were presented with trophies by Will James from Valero, which sponsored the event.
Angela Miles, disability sports development officer for Sport Pembrokeshire, said the standard of play had been extremely high.
Northland boccia players come up trumps
Boccia may not be one of our region’s well-known sports, but three Northlanders’ success at the Lower North Island Boccia Championships show there is some strength in it.
Originating from a Greek ball tossing sport, Boccia is a cross between indoor bowls and petanque, which is designed for people with disabilities.
However, having a disability did not stop 16-year-old Alex Dickson coming away with a gold medal in the combined BC1, 2 and 4 grades during the weekend.
via Northland boccia players come up trumps | Northern Advocate.
Special effort goes close to first medal
Special Wanganui athlete Diederik Struijck just missed out on his first medal in the world on Boccia in Wellington last weekend.
Struijck was competing at the Lower North Island Championships at the ASB Sports Stadium in Kilbirnie.
Luke Morriss, Director of Boccia, said despite having only a year of playing under his belt, Struijck lost out to local favourite Hyran Daymond in the bronze medal match of the BC3 grade 7-9.
“Apart from Diederik, other promising players such as Northland’s Alex Dickson and Wellington’s Daymond showed that they are going to be forces to be reckoned with over the next few years,” Morriss said.
via Special effort goes close to first medal | Wanganui Chronicle.
Australian World Dwarf Games team boosts numbers for double medal effort
Coppolino, who lives in Essendon, was not one of those to collect a medal in her sport of boccia – an adaption of the well-known bocce – last time, but will be going for gold this year.
Standing just 121cm, she said she had not looked back since taking up boccia four years ago and had even joined the Boccia Victoria committee to help further develop the sport.
“It’s the kind of sport that anyone can play,” Coppolino said. “It’s had a great influence on just about everything I do.”
While you are unlikely to see any footage of slam-dunks from the World Dwarf Games, Coppolino said that surprisingly there was little adaption made for short-statured people.
Sheffield Boccia sports club is on the up
A SPORTS club in Sheffield with Paralympic ambitions is going from strength to strength – thanks to a donation from a charity appeal backed by The Star.
Sheffield Smashers, a boccia team for young disabled people, was given a £1,000 grant through the Star-backed 12 Days of Christmas appeal, run by city charity Help A Child Have A Chance.
The cash has been used to buy new equipment including two sets of boccia balls, a ramp, scoreboards, measures and bats, as well as funding coaching for nine people.
Boccia is a sport similar to bowls played by athletes with more severe physical disabilities.
Now, in a move to get more players involved, the Smashers will now be based at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in the city centre, running sessions every Thursday evening.
The club is run for disabled people aged eight to 25.
via Sheffield sports club is on the up – Community – The Star.
Medals success for Lewisham and Greenwich teams
In the boccia, Lewisham were looking to win gold and earn the right to compete in the national finals.
They had won the London Youth Games boccia finals at Westway Sports Centre the week before, but second best to Wandsworth on the day and had to settle for a silver medal.
Lewisham were represented by All Saints Blackheath Church of England Primary School in the Year 5/6 tag rugby, who were beaten by Stanley Primary School of Richmond in the semi-final to leave them with a bronze.
via Medals success for Lewisham and Greenwich teams (From News Shopper).
Disabled sports open participants’ eyes
A number of disabled sports were on offer at the ASB Arena for Have A Go Day on Saturday.
Members of the public, both able bodied and disabled, were invited to take part in the different sports on offer, which included para triathlon, blokarting, boccia, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, table tennis, indoor bowls and more.
The Wheelchair Rugby North Island Championships were also held at the same time and the public were invited to give it a go (see photo gallery here).
Among the participants were volunteer Shirley Bacica and her daughter Georgina, 10.
Mrs Shirley said Georgina had enjoyed having a go at wheelchair rugby, but had come out of it with a rash on her wrist from pushing the wheels.
via Disabled sports open participants’ eyes | Bay of Plenty Times.
Calling football refs and boccia & short mat bowls umpires
Volunteer sports officials are being sought to help out in a few specialist roles at this summer’s Special Olympics GB National Summer Games in Bath.
Some 1700 athletes with intellectual disabilities will compete in 12 different sports at the Games, which run from 28 August to 1 September.
Hundreds of volunteer positions have already been filled but sports officials are still being sought to help out in a few roles, those of football referees, boccia umpires and short mat bowls umpires.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help out with these roles should have a relevant qualification in their sport, but with the exception of boccia, previous experience of officiating in sports for people with disabilities is not necessary.
Most of the sports at the National Summer Games are taking place at the University of Bath.
“We’d like to hear from anyone with experience of officiating in football, boccia or short mat bowls who would like to volunteer to help out at the Games,” said Ben Coombs, Games Manager.
If you’d be interested in volunteering as an official at the Games, please contact Ben on 01225 384257 or on bjc20@bath.ac.uk
via Calling football refs and boccia & short mat bowls umpires | Team Bath.
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