Key points:
The sun wasn’t the only thing shining in the Granite City during the 2018 Parasport Festival.
Grampian’s Festival was hosted in an unusually sunny Aberdeen at the city’s Sports Village, and saw almost 40 children with physical and sensory impairments from all over the City, Aberdeenshire & Moray register for the opportunity to try a range of sports geared towards & adapted to suit their needs and abilities.
As well as the usual, popular offering of table tennis, basketball, boccia, athletics & swimming, the 2018 event also featured badminton & bowls for the first time, and these were very well received by the youngsters!
The Parasport Festival aims to enable children with physical & sensory impairments (who are more tricky to engage in sport & can be less confident about their sporting ability) to discover their sporting interests, uncover hidden talents & develop a thirst for sport. Following the event, we hope to see a number of the children getting involved regularly in sports that they’ve shown an interest or promise in. This will be achieved through the support of the Scottish Disability Sport Regional Manager, the clubs and partners involved in the Festival, and the Sports Governing Bodies who will work together to make sure that local, inclusive opportunities are available, that families are given relevant information, and that the quality of opportunities are high.
Susan, whose son, Dylan, attended the event for the first time said “It is nice to see him confident when participating in sports activities which’s he often shys away from in school”.
The Parasport Festival wouldn’t have been made possible without the help of our amazing partners, who we are eternally grateful & thankful for: Grampian Disability Sport; sportscotland; The Mary Salmond Trust; BP’s Coast 2 Coast team; Active Schools Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire & Moray; Bowls Scotland; Badminton Scotland, Basketball Scotland; Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust; Aberdeen Sports Village; ASV Table Tennis Academy; Triangle Table Tennis Club; Aberdeen Amateur Athletics Club; Scottish Athletics; Elgin Amateur Athletics Club; our community volunteers; our athlete mentors – Rhys Gill & Rachel Gilbert; and our wonderful photographer, Frazer Rennie.
We now look forward to next year’s event on 6th June 2019, which is set to be an even bigger event with more sports on offer for our region’s young people.
If you, or anyone you know, lives in Grampian with a physical, sensory or learning disability and is keen to get involved in Para Sport, please contact Alison Shaw on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or on 07828 744 848