	Week Beginning 30/11/2007

Lothian's SOGB Success in China!!!!

On Monday 15th October 11 athletes, 3 coaches and an assistant team manager from Lothian proudly arrived in Edinburgh Airport – all who awaited them could hear them before they could see them! This was nothing to do with the athletes being noisy but because of the number of medals they had won at the 2007 Special Olympic World Summer Games held in Shanghai.

This event was the biggest sporting event the World will see this year with 7,000 Athletes from 169 countries, 40,000 volunteers and 3,500 event officials taking part. China were determined to put on a performance which would show the world that they were capable of staging a World Class event but also show how committed they are to the Special Olympic movement and what that means for people in China with a learning disability. And what an event it proved to be. Not only did the athletes take part in great sporting competition in some of the best sporting venues in the world but they had a real opportunity to experience Chinese culture, food, entertainment and the warmest welcome and hospitality you could ever hope for - we were made to feel like royalty! For Lothian to have had such a high representation in the GB team is a tribute to the ongoing support from coaches and families the athletes receive year in year out.
These athletes and coaches have returned home to their families with not only an impressive medal haul but with life long memories and extraordinary stories from one of the World’s most amazing cities. Powerlifters Christina McSherry, Scott Bruce, Chris Maxwell and Francis Skiftesvik, all from West Lothian, returned home with an impressive 9 gold and 7 silver medals amongst them. As if that wasn’t good enough Francis Skiftesvik also won the overall best female lifter in the competition – quite an achievement. Edinburgh swimmer David Fergus, at his first World Games, swam a nail biting 100m freestyle race to clinch Gold and a PB of 1.18. His achievements were made even more rewarding by the fact that his mum and dad had travelled there to experience that win with him. What an emotional day.

Eleven a-side footballers Marc Barnes, Andrew Brown, Kenneth Bryson, William Clark, David Dodds and Richard Hendry all played in a tense and extremely exciting final match against Russia to win Gold in a penalty shoot out situation. This was probably the most exciting and emotional Gold medal for Lothian as the 11-a-side in two previous World Games had just missed that glorious medal opportunity. At last the hard work, fantastic team spirit and belief in themselves paid off. Thanks must also go to the ongoing coaching support of Elaine McKenna and Keith Noble both of whom were part of the winning team and celebrations after! As the saying goes “success breeds success” and lets hope that these amazing athletes are the role models for our future aspiring young athletes in Lothian. Well done Athletes and thanks to your coaches and families for getting you there.

Jane Moncrieff
Assistant SOGB Team Manager

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LDS Swimming Gala – Time Trials

On 22nd September Saltersgate School played host to the LDS regional swimming gala in order to gain qualification times for the national event to be held at Grangemouth on 7th November for blind, deaf and physically disabled swimmers.
On the day there were seven clubs represented from lothian with 38 swimmers competing. The gala was also attended by 2 of our top swimmers, Jennifer Somerville and Sean Fraser, who now represent mainstream clubs. It is hoped that this will increase their chances to realise their potential by hopefully competing for Great Britain in forthcoming International events.

It was another successful gala with some memorable performances. In particular, Cassie Gunn and Becky Crossan from Saltersgate School and Josh Hadland, Michael Kear, James and Stephen Clegg from the Loanhead Dolphins. A particular mention must go to the Lothian Waves team whose swimmers improved on their entry times in almost all of their races. As always our MC Heather Lowden, who managed exceptionally well despite not having a PA system, kept everyone up to date.

Lothian Disability Sport would also like to take this opportunity to thank Pat Agnew for all her hard work in organising the many swimming galas over the years. Pat has decided to stand down in her role as LDS Swimming Coordinator to concentrate on her coaching work with the Loanhead Dolphins. We will no doubt see her at many swimming events in the future.

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Lothian Schools make impression at LD Gala......

The twelve members from Saltersgate School left for the National Swim Championships for Children with a Disability being held at the Tollcross Swimming Centre in Glasgow on a dark, dank Wednesday morning at 9:00am. They were travelling to meet up with the rest of the Lothian squad in Glasgow and despite the poor conditions they made sure it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for the day’s activities. The Tollcross Centre will be used for the swimming events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the children were very excited at the prospect of competing in such an arena.

The event remains the single largest sporting occasion for junior sports people with a learning disability on the Scottish calendar. Novice, intermediate and top class swimmers can swim side by side for the area team and within classes that offer them every chance of a place on the medal podium. From this event a number of the young Scots will be considered for the British Championships next year in Sheffield as members of the Scottish team.

Our own Lothian team joined Aberdeenshire, Tayside, Fife, Forth Valley, West of Scotland, Highland, Annan and Eskdale at the event with over 350 pupils from all over Scotland participating. Lothian’s presence on the rostrum was evident throughout the day with swimmers from Saltersgate making up a large percentage of Lothian’s medal winners.

The pupils from Saltersgate returned to school with a haul of 9 medals (including 5 golds!).

One of the team managers, Mark Gaffney, who works with children with additional support needs in Midlothian as an Active Schools Co-ordinator said “I was extremely proud of all the pupils from Midlothian. Not only did they give their best when they were in the pool but to see the support they were giving to each other and the camaraderie within the team was extremely pleasing. There is a lot of talent in this squad and I’m sure they will all continue to achieve more at this level.”

As always many races were closely contested and swimmers and support staff enthusiastically cheered on their fellow team members.
The behaviour and team spirit were particular high points of what was an extremely long day from the moment we left Saltersgate on our minibus - driven by the ever patient and cheerful Alison Burrows - right up until we arrived back 11 hours later, tired but proud and happy.

Special mention goes to Scott Quin who performed magnificently all day and took home the prize of Outstanding Male Performer of the championships. Not only did he win five medals he also broke his own Scottish national junior record in the 50m breaststroke, which is a fantastic achievement. He was also seen supporting some of our newer swimmers whom he has helped at the school swimming club. He was equally as proud of seeing them do well as he was of his own special achievements. Scott said, “ I am over the moon with this award. I have been trying to get it for three years! The whole squad did amazingly just to get here and the way everyone cheered for everyone else in the squad was brilliant!”