Gwynedd & Môn offer festival of disability sports events

Gwynedd and Môn are teaming up to deliver an autumn-long festival of disability sports throughout the area.

As part of the Gwynedd & Mon Community Club Challenge, Disability Sport Wales (DSW) Development Officers for both counties are working in partnership with Health Challenge Gwynedd & Môn to develop inclusive clubs within both counties.

Gwynedd Council’s Disability Sport Wales Development Officer, Marcus Politis said:

“Following the success of last year’s event, we felt it was essential for both Gwynedd and Môn to stage a similar event again this year with a wide-range of different disability sports on offer. This year’s event will once again include a schools event, a volunteering campaign, and a community programme.

“Our aim is to raise awareness of the wealth of activities on offer throughout the Gwynedd and Môn areas. We hope the festival will allow people to have a look at what’s on offer and try something new.”

The campaign aims to raise awareness of Disability Sport Wales opportunities, as well as creating and increasing participatory opportunities for people with disabilities within the Gwynedd & Môn areas. The events will provide a vast range of physical and leisure opportunities for people with disabilities, not just within disability sport clubs but also by offering integration opportunities into existing mainstream clubs.

The sports promoted during the festival include wheelchair tennis, kayaking, climbing, sailing, target shooting which is a paralympic sport, archery, athletics, walking, football and much more.

There will be a unique opportunity for people to try disability target shooting on Thursday, 1 October at the Maes Glas Leisure Centre in Bangor. Join the GB National Performance Coach at the taster session held between 10am and 2pm.

Marcus Politis, Gwynedd Council’s Disability Sport Wales Development Officer added:

“The variety of activities on offer in Gwynedd is great. We have established boccia clubs which are mainly for electric wheelchair users and we also offer wheelchair tennis which tends to be for people with very good coordination.

“We felt it was vital to offer a good menu of opportunities that everyone can enjoy. We hope to see a number of people attending this target shooting event, and following this taster session, we hope to set up a common programme around Gwynedd which will be the first of its kind in north Wales.”

For more information contact Marcus Politis, DSW Development Officer for Gwynedd Council on 01758 704109 / 07766 505320, or Karen Williams DSW Development Officer Môn on 01248 752046.

Photograph: Brian Roberts from Tanygrisiau in Gwynedd practicing target shooting at Stoke Mandeville, home of the British Paralympic Association