Wheelchair Basketball Team Competed and Staff, Who Continue to Make the Moments and Internationally for the First Time Ever at the the Memories

Annual Report 2019 Vision

Our vision is for everyone with a physical disability to enjoy sport, physical and recreational activities on a fully inclusive basis in any environment.

Mission To develop and promote sport, physical and recreational

opportunities for people with a physical disability to reach their full potential.

Values Fun: IWA-Sport’s ethos is that having fun should be at the heart of everything we do.

Belonging: IWA-Sport is dedicated to fostering and instilling a sense of belonging and camaraderie through involvement in our programmes.

Empowerment: IWA-Sport believes that our members will be empowered to achieve greater independence, by building condence and self determination, through involvement in our programmes.

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland Vision

Our vision is for everyone with a physical disability to enjoy sport, physical and recreational activities on a fully inclusive basis in any environment.

Mission To develop and promote sport, physical and recreational opportunities for people with a physical disability to reach their full potential.

Values Fun: IWA-Sport’s ethos is that having fun should be at the heart of everything we do.

Belonging: IWA-Sport is dedicated to fostering and instilling a sense of belonging and camaraderie through involvement in our programmes.

Empowerment: IWA-Sport believes that our members will be empowered to achieve greater independence, by building condence and self determination, through involvement in our programmes. Full Page Pic

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland Welcome Address

Dear IWA–Sport Members,

2019 once again saw our members take part in a European Youth Paralympic Games in Finland, wide range of sport and events all over Ireland and took home the Bronze medal. Our Archers and abroad. Our national events programme and Table Tennis athletes also competed at continued with the 5 Senior Wheelchair European Championships. Congratulations to Basketball Competitions, the Irish Wheelchair all of our members that took part in domestic Rugby League and the National Championships in or international competitions. Please refer to Swimming and Archery. the specific sports reports for the detail of their performances. In 2019 we secured funding from Sport Ireland via the Dormants Accounts Fund to deliver The coming year promises to be just as busy a ‘Community Sports Club Project’ which will as the year gone by as we celebrate our 60th be one of the most impactful programmes we anniversary with a hectic schedule of events have ever delivered. The aim of this project is planned both at home and abroad. All eyes will to establish Multi Sport Junior Clubs (MSJC) in be on Tokyo next August as we watch our athletes every county in Ireland in the coming years with represent IWA-Sport and Ireland as they aim to a particular focus on counties where our clubs do realise their dreams at the Paralympic Games. not currently exist. 4 new MSJC were established The best of luck to everyone in the upcoming in 2019; Lillywhite Wheelers (Kildare) Multi-Cats qualification year and of course at the Games. (Kilkenny), Royal Rockets (Meath) and Barrow Swifts (Carlow) and we are looking forward to 2020 will also see the beginning of our next growing this number in the coming years. strategy development process. This is an important roadmap for the next number of years At International level, our members competed for IWA-Sport and we look forward to consulting at World Championships in Para Swimming, with our Members, Volunteers, Sports and Staff. Para Athletics and Para Powerlifting with great distinction. History was made when an U23 Lastly, thank you to everyone; athletes, volunteers IWA-Sport Wheelchair Basketball team competed and staff, who continue to make the moments and internationally for the first time ever at the the memories.

Yours sincerely

Tom O ‘Doherty Chairperson IWA-Sport National Sports Executive Committee

Nicky Hamill Director of Sport IWA-Sport

i Contents

Vision, Mission, Values ...... Inside Front Cover Welcome Address ...... i Contents ...... 1 Wheelchair Basketball ...... 2 Para Athletics ...... 4 Para Powerlifting...... 6 Wheelchair Rugby ...... 7 Our Year in Sport ...... 8 Para Table Tennis...... 10 Boccia ...... 11 International Competitions ...... 12 Paralympic Representation ...... 13 Community Sports Club Initiative ...... 14 Education & Awareness ...... 15 Women in Sport ...... 15 Sports Centre ...... 16 Other Events, Initiatives and Partnerships ...... 17 Governance and Compliance ...... 18 Funding, Grants, Sponsorship & Other Support ...... 19

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland Contents

1 Wheelchair Basketball

2 DOMESTIC REPORT  9 Irish Senior Clubs competed in 5 domestic competitions  League Champions – Rebel Wheelers  Hula Hoop Cup Champions – Rebel Wheelers  Paddy Byrne Cup Champions – Rebel Wheelers  Greene/Walsh Cup Champions – Ballybrack Bulls  Gerard Larkin Cup Champions – Kingdom Wheelblasters  8 junior teams took part in 8 Junior Blitz events

INTERNATIONAL REPORT History was made when an U23 IWA-Sport Wheelchair Basketball team competed internationally for the first time ever. This is a superb reflection of the great progress that has been made in the domestic junior programme which has been running for the last number of years. The team competed at the European Youth Paralympic Games in Finland, a multi sport event, in July and took home the Bronze medal – an incredible achievement on the teams first outing. Senior European Division C Championships: At senior level, the Irish Wheelchair Basketball team competed at the Division C European Championships in Bulgaria. Despite a number of valiant effort Ireland didn’t make the playoffs for promotion.

IWA-Sport Senior Wheelchair Basketball ALL-Star 2018/19 Season

1. Ballybrack Bulls Jonathan Hayes 2. Clonaslee Seamus Holland 3. North East Thunder Martin Murphy 4. Kingdom Wheelblaster Johnny Quaid 5. Killester John Fulham 6. NI Knights George Wallace 7. Rebel Wheelers Derek Hegarty 8. South East Swifts Jack Mangan 9. Shannonside Steelers Stephen Melvin 10. Titan Wheelers Tim Creedon

Senior Individual Awards IWA-Sport Senior Wheelchair Basketball 2018/19 Season

1. Able Bodied Player of the Year Tadhg Buckley Kingdom Wheelblasters 2. U23 Player of the Year Conor Coughlan Rebel Wheelers 3. Most Improved Player of the Year Jack Mangan South East Swifts 4. Sportsmanship Award Robbie Hurr North East Thunder 5. Best Male Player Derek Hegarty Rebel Wheelers 6. Best Female Player Christine Doyle Killester

3 Images courtesy of Paralympics Ireland 4 Para Athletics

In 2019 our members competed at 11 record list. Shauna Bocquet competed home games over the course of the at the IPC World Junior Games winning season; 8 Grand Prix Games, the Leevale two gold medals. Cathal Ryan ran at the open, the AAI nationals seniors and the European Para Youth Games and IWAS Junior Nationals. The games once again Games improving his Irish records at 100m, facilitated all levels of competition from 200m and 400m. Patrick Monahan made a elite Paralympic athletes to first timers. The big improvement in the marathon pushing standard of competition continued to grow just over 1 hour 22 min. in 2019 with many Irish records, personal best and seasonal bests broken. Alex Lee ran under 12 sec for the 100m and made the IPC world championships Junior athletes competed at the DSE games becoming the first Irish blade runner at a in Derby for the first time in a number of major games. Conor McIlveen also made years and a senior team also competed at the worlds for the first time. the Czech open in Olomouc. Track and field athletes competed at the The track athletes had a great season with IWAS World Junior Games winning two gold Cillian Dunne getting his name on the Irish medals, two Silver and two Bronze medals.

Grand Prix Award Main Winners:

Male Young Athlete of the Year Cian O Neill Female Young Athlete of the Year Mary Fitzgerald Jamie Boyle Athlete of the Year Niamh McCarthy Anne Ebbs Award Larry Dunne Jimmy Byrne Award Jean O’ Sullivan Merit Awards Liam Kinsella & Grainne Trait Special Awards Michael Downey & Aisling O Regan Rosemary Tallon Award Shane Curran Jamie Boyle Memorial Award Ann Keon Track Athlete of the Year Cillian Dunne

5 Para Powerlifting

In 2019 Britney Arendse and Nicola Dore continued competing internationally in Para Powerlifting.

 Britney Arendse competed in  Britney won the Gold Medal in  Nicola finished 7th at the 3 international competitions the Junior category in Dubai Fazza World Cup, Dubai, throughout 2019 competing and Eger and is the current joint 2nd in the British in both Junior and Senior World Junior record holder, Championships, ranked 17th categories up to 73kg. the Bronze Medal in the 73kg at the World Championships, Nicola Dore competed in 4 senior women’s category in Kazakhstan and won Bronze international competitions the World Cup, Hungary and Medal at the Ready Steady throughout 2019 in the Senior came 9th in women’s category Tokyo competition. Women’s up to 61Kg and 67Kg in the World Championships, Kazakhstan.

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland 6 Wheelchair Rugby

y Irish Wheelchair Rugb JUNIOR BLITZ! 2019 2020 Four Wheelchair Rugby Clubs Round 2 competed in the Irish league Date: Saturday June 22nd 2019 t Clontarf Venue: IWA-Spor Irish League Winners – Laois Lions 10.00am – Warriors v Laois Wheelers 11.15am – Ulster v Rebel Wheelers v Laois 12.30pm – Rebel A pilot Junior Blitz was trialled 1.45pm – Warriors v Ulster – Ulster v Laois 3.00pm Warriors – Rebel Wheelers v 4.15pm y.com Contact: teresa.dineen@irishwheelchairrugb

com wwwiwasort

7 Growth & Development

OVERALL MEMBERSHIP Multi Sport GREW BY Junior Clubs network grew by OUR YEAR IN SPORT HOME EVENTS

Major International Events

Education U23 European Youth IPC Athletics World IPC Swimming World IWAS World Games Paralympic Games, Finland Championships, Dubai Championships, London in Dubai

Irish Wheelchair Association

All-Ireland Para Powerlifting Wheelchair Basketball International Championships Para Table Tennis Events x 4 TY Finland, Czech, Dubai, Eger & Tokyo Wheelchair Basketball, Slovenia, Poland, World Cup, World Senior, Division C, Championships in China Opens. European Championships, Bulgaria Kazakhstan

70 Schools participated in Roll out of new 2018/2019 All Ireland Business Operations School Tour experience TY Wheelchair Basketball Championships €275k Core Grant Funding Dormant Account funding (via Sport Ireland) €30k Grant Award for the rollout of Community Sports Club Project.

€22k Aspire Graduate Internship Grant

Intro to Anti Doping Awareness €40k Women in Sport Wheelchair Basketball Workshop Business Special events Coaching Course x1 Operations x1 €8k (towards speci c international competitions)

8 Growth & Development

OVERALL MEMBERSHIP Multi Sport GREW BY Junior Clubs network grew by OUR YEAR IN SPORT HOME EVENTS

Major International Events

Education U23 European Youth IPC Athletics World IPC Swimming World IWAS World Games Paralympic Games, Finland Championships, Dubai Championships, London in Dubai

Irish Wheelchair Association

€22k Aspire Graduate Internship Grant

Intro to Anti Doping Awareness €40k Women in Sport Wheelchair Basketball Workshop Business Special events Coaching Course x1 Operations x1 €8k (towards speci c international competitions)

9 Table Tennis

Para Table Tennis continued to grow and develop in 2019 with approximately 20 players regular attending monthly training camps in IWA, Clontarf. Colin Judge remains on track for qualification for Tokyo 2020 in his new class sitting just a few places off an automatic qualification spot. Colin achieved the following results on the international circuit.

 Bronze Medal Singles Event - Poland Open  Bronze Medal Team Event - Poland Open, China Open  Gold Medal Team Event - Finland Open, Czech Open  Silver Medal Team Event - Slovenia Open

Conor O’ Callaghan and Patrick Vaughan remained on the performance pathway and competed at the Czech and Finland Opens.

10 Boccia 200 members National IWA Boccia Competition  200 members including 43 single players competed in Team competitions or Singles competitions.  31 IWA services representing 22 counties 6  6 regional finals Regional Finals Boccia 2019

Team Finals Winners Ardee Roc Representing Singles Player of the Year Kevin Clinton (Tuam) 22 Most Improved/Valuable Player Aaron Quinlan (Carlow) Counties

11 International Competitions

Over 40 IWA-Sport athletes competed at the following international competitions:

 Wheelchair Basketball  U23 European Youth Paralympic Games, Finland  Senior, Division C, European Championships, Bulgaria

 4 x Para Powerlifting international events Dubai, Eger and Tokyo World Cup, World Championships in Kazakstan

 Multi sport international competitions European Paralympic Youth Games in Finland IWAS World Games in Dubai

IPC Athletics World Championships, Dubai IPC Swimming World Championships, London

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland 12 Paralympic Representation

Our Paralympic athletes and members represented Ireland with great pride and success at many major Championships in 2019. There were many personal bests and seasons best over the course of the year. Notable achievements included:  At the Para Swimming World Championships in London Ellen Keane won bronze in the 100m breaststroke SB8 with a season’s best performance and Nicole Turner took bronze in the 50m butterfly S6.  Niamh McCarthy claimed the Bronze Medal in the F41 discus at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.  In Para Table Tennis Colin Judge, won Bronze Medals in both the singles and team events at the Para Polish Open.  The focus for 2020 will be qualification for the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Image courtesy of Paralympics Ireland 13 Images courtesy of Paralympics Ireland Community Sports Club Initiative

The Mission of IWA-Sport is to develop and In 2019 we grew our club network by 33%. promote sport, physical and recreational This saw 4 new clubs join our existing network opportunities for people with a physical disability of 12. to reach their full potential. Our Vision is for This represents an additional 100 athletes everyone with a physical disability to enjoy sport, who are children with a physical disability, and physical and recreational activities on a fully volunteers, engaging in sport and physical inclusive basis in any environment. activity in their local community.

Our organisation identified that opportunities for The impact on our organisations network, children with a physical disability to participate our members and their families has been in sport was not provided on an equal basis from phenomenally positive. By way of context many county to county around Ireland. Simply put there of the children that joined these new clubs were were many gaps in terms of the local participation not physically active in their local community opportunities available. To address this issue we due to a number of challenges including, lack applied for and received Sport Ireland funding of opportunities in local clubs, low confidence, through the Dormant Accounts fund to roll out physical access challenges, lack of knowledge in a ‘Community Sports Club Project’ which would inclusive sports practises, etc. The provision of see the establishment of 16 multi sport childrens these local opportunities will have a life changing clubs in counties where clubs or participation impact on our members and their families. opportunities did not already exist. Working in partnership with the LSP and SIDO network we In conclusion, this project has the potential established 4 new clubs in 2019; the Lilywhite to change lives and its positive impact is Speeders, Royal Rockets, Barrow Swifts and far reaching. The mission is to provide local Multi Cats. The primary objectives of these clubs participation opportunities. The vision is to are to bring our Values of Fun, Belonging and provide a lifelong pathway for our members Empowerment to Life. to stay involved in sport. The project is a great example of collaboration and cooperation and We worked closely with the LSP/SIDO network to the impact that can have. develop the club start up model and produced attractive and engaging content for promotion.

Meath local sports partnership is delighted to work alongside IWA-Sport in establishing a Multi-Sport Junior Club in County Meath. The club will provide a much needed social outlet; giving participants a fantastic opportunity to engage in physical activities. We hope to receive the support of the local community and the wider county of Meath on this Initiative. Terry Donegan SIDO with Meath Sports Partnership 14 Education and Awareness

Throughout 2019 we have been raising awareness of our sports in Primary and Secondary schools.

We introduced a Schools Tour Experience for Primary Schools in Clontarf which gave students to opportunity to play Wheelchair Basketball Wheelchair Rugby, Seated Volleyball, Orienteering and more.

Our TY Wheelchair Basketball All-Ireland Championships was once again a great success in 2019 with over 70 schools taking part.

Anti Doping  1 Information Workshop

Coach Education  1 Introduction to Coaching Wheelchair Basketball Course

Women in Sport

We received funding from Sport Ireland towards a new IWA-Sport Women in Sport initiative.

This initiative will focus on increasing women’s sustained involvement in four target areas, Active Participation, Coaching + Officiating, Leadership and Visibility.

Our main focus is to increase the numbers of Women and Girls in our multisport clubs, coaches, volunteers, club members, athletes, advocates, leaders, and participants from grassroots to elites.

15 IWA-Sports Centre

We increased visibility of the Sports Centre through social media posts and updating website content, showcasing our fully accessible gym, fitness studio and group fitness classes. A member survey was held at the Sports Centre with several new services for gym members developed using information obtained. These included; fully inclusive group exercise class timetable, IWA-Sport Health and Wellbeing Programme, new equipment purchased including two fully accessible Concept 2 SkiErgs and full set of Dumbbells. A new initiative in 2020 will be Les Mills virtual fitness group exercise classes.

Key achievements in 2019  New School Tours programme - 7 tours with over 300 primary school kids  Delivered Disability Awareness to 2nd and 3rd level schools and colleges as well to Corporate Companies  We held Sports Camps during Christmas, Easter, Summer and Halloween for our members and also for the local community throughout 2019.  The sportshall is home to IWA Sports clubs Killester Wheelchair Basketball Club, Blackheath Archers and Gaelic Warriors Wheelchair Rugby. The sportshall is also used regularly as a training facility for our National teams including Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby and Para Table Tennis.  Local and national sports organisations and teams include Killester Basketball Club, Irish Table Tennis Association and numerous schools within the local and extended community.  360 Gym Members.

16 Other Events, Initiatives and Partnerships

NRH Games  GAA & FAI – support at various summer camps  Date: September 6th 2019 and programmes  Location: NRH, Dun Laoghaire  Partners: NRH, Spinal Injuries Ireland and Dún IWA-Sport Members Summer Camp Laoghaire Rathdown Local Sports Partnership  Date: July 21st – 25th  Participants: 20 athletes (comprising of current  Venue: IWA, Clontarf and former NRH patients)  Sports: Ultimate Frisbee, Boccia, Sailing, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby, LSP/ SIDO Partnerships & Events Wheelchair Tennis, Athletics, Table Tennis.  Cork Sports Ability Week  Date: 6th – 13th April Inclusive PE & Disability Sport Initiatives  Location: (various) Mardyke, Cork City Throughout 2019 we have been raising awareness  Partners: HSE, FAI, COPE, CIT and LSP. of our sports in Primary and Secondary schools. We introduced a ‘Schools Tour Experience’ for NGB Collaboration Primary Schools in Clontarf which gave students to opportunity to play Wheelchair Basketball  Tennis Ireland - Enjoy Tennis programme Wheelchair Rugby, Seated Volleyball, Orienteering  Basketball Ireland – National Cup Finals, and more. officials training & support  Athletics Ireland – Volunteer support Our TY Wheelchair Basketball All–Ireland  Paralympics Ireland – International federation Championships was once again a great success in liaison / Classification programme 2019 with over 70 schools taking part.  Table Tennis Ireland – Promotion of Para Table Tennis

17 Governance & Compliance

2019 National Sports Executive Committee (NSEC);  Chairperson Tom Doherty  Treasurer John Brady  Secretary Damian Haslett  Committee Member Amy Fitzpatrick  Committee Member Raisa Carolan  Co opted Committee member Mary Brannigan  National Safeguarding Officer Daragh Kennedy  IWA Board representative Laura McDermott

NSEC Meeting Attendance 2019 Declan Slevin, Darren Healy and Kerrie Leonard resigned from the Committee on 23 February 2019. Raisa Carolan was appointed to the Committee on 23 February 2019, Amy Fitzpatrick was appointed on 17 May 2019, and Laura McDermott was appointed on 25 August 2019. The members of the Committee, and attendance at meetings in 2019 were:

Attendance 2019 Tom Doherty (Chair) Director 10/10 Mary Branigan Director 3/10 Laura McDermott Director 4/4 John Brady External Member 8/10 Raisa Carolan External Member 7/8 Amy Fitzpatrick External Member 7/8 Damian Haslett External Member 9/10 Darren Healy External Member 0/2 Kerrie Leonard External Member 0/2 Declan Slevin External Member 1/2

Sport Ireland Compliance We completed all requirements as requested by Sport Ireland for the 2019 mid-year review in addition to submitting the 2020 core grant application.

Safeguarding  Review of current status of Volunteers (National and Club Volunteers) with regard to Garda Vetting, Reference checking, Training.  Monthly report meetings with Director of Sport  Monthly report meetings with National Sports Executive Committee  Monthly report meetings with IWA, CEO  Implementation of Child Safeguarding Statement and risk assessment work plan across Clubs and Sports Sections

18 Funding, Grants, Sponsorship and other support

Sport Ireland  Core Grant funding €275K  Dormant Account funding (via Sport Ireland) Grant Award €30K for the rollout of Community Sports Club Project.  Aspire Graduate Internship grant €22K  Women in Sport - €40K  Special events €8K (towards specific international competitions)

Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) The IWA Board of Directors continued their funding support in 2019. The financial support from our parent body is of vital importance to IWA-Sport and we thank them for their continued assistance.

Acknowledgements The National Sports Executive Committee would like to thank the following people and organisations for their continued support:

 Outgoing Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport – Shane Ross.  Outgoing Junior Minister - Brendan Griffin.  Sport Ireland – John Treacy and staff.  Dormant Accounts  IWA CEO – Rosemary Keogh.  IWA Board – Martin Kelly (Chair), Eileen O’Mahony (President) and Board members.  IWA Senior Management Team.  IWA-Sport National Sports Council.  Section Co-ordinators, National Team Managements  Paralympics Ireland – CEO Miriam Malone, Members Forum and Staff.  All volunteers, athletes, families and friends of IWA-Sport.  Our corporate sponsors who support our programmes.  The many agencies and organisations that support our work at so many levels.

Irish Wheelchair Association-Sport Blackheath Drive, Clontarf, Dublin 3, Ireland. facebook.com/iwasport Tel: 01 818 6400 | Email: [email protected] www.iwasport.com twitter.com/iwasport CHY 5393