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DDWSC Chairperson, Elizabeth Ferris.

A Message From The Chair.

On Wednesday 25th February, Dragons were once again found at the Caird Hall in their glad-rags, for another night of good food, quality banter, a few drinks, oh and some shiny awards.

This time it was the Dundee Sports Awards where the club was represented in four of the 12 categories. I was pleased to take home the Jenny Wood Allen Award for Disability Sport; an accolade I really didn’t expect, but nonetheless was honoured to receive.

The next two categories saw Head Coach Kevin Rattray make Finalist in Community Coach of the Year, and Club Secretary Sally Lumsdaine was also a Finalist for Volunteer of the Year.

The last award of the night was Club of the Year. The winner was chosen by way of a public vote and we were up against five other clubs from across the city. Every one of the other finalists would’ve been worthy winners; all were well established, thriving clubs and all were much larger than us.

I’ll be honest, I really didn’t think we had much chance of taking such a prestigious title, so when we were announced as the winners and I was given the microphone for a second time that evening; I couldn’t even think of where to begin!

So it’s a pleasure to list my personal thanks here to each and every one of you who make up a part of The Dragons Family;

To the coaches who give willingly of their free time to provide top class tuition.

To our main sponsors Gowrie Care, and the other funders such as Wooden Spoon, Rotary Dundee, Dan Maskell Trust and Awards for All Scotland, without whom we simply couldn’t function.

To organisations like Sported, Leisure & Culture Dundee, Dundee City Disability Sport, Basketball Scotland, Scotland Wheelchair Rugby League, Tennis Scotland and Scottish Disability Sport; all of whom are only too happy to provide advice and support no matter what the query.

To the “doers”, of which there are many;

To the families who bring their kids along faithfully week by week, regardless of the weather outside or the time on the clock.

To the players who refuse to let their disabilities hold them back from enjoying and excelling in team sport.

To all these folks and everyone else associated with the club, a thousand thousand thank-yous for your role in our success. Here’s to the 2015/16 Season, I trust you’re looking forward to it as much as I am! Last night was another one of celebration for club, this time at the Dundee Sports Awards, where we took home the prestigious title of Club of the Year! ‪Thanks so much to everyone who voted for us, we were thrilled to hear we received such a large proportion of the 5000 votes! Dragons accepting the Dundee Academy of Sport Club of the Year Award.

Two years ago on the 16th February, club chairperson Elizabeth Ferris’ idea of offering active wheelchair sport in Tayside was still but a pipe dream.

With the amazing support of our friends The Bradford Bulls travelling up that morning to chilly Dundee, an Open Day was held at Fintry Primary School showcasing the sport of Wheelchair Rugby League. From the turnout it was clear there was an appetite within the community to bring WRL to the city, and thus The Dragons were born.

The club began meeting regularly to play WRL, though those early days were pretty tough as we had neither money nor equipment, but a keen band of merry souls with lots of heart and the desire to make it work!

In the two years that have passed we now have over 50 members on our database, training weekly in five core sports. We often have too many players and not enough sports wheelchairs (a nice headache to have!) and if we had our own home we could offer active wheelchair sport literally every night of the week. We have players boasting international caps in WRL and Wheelchair Basketball, who do a fantastic job as role models for the kids as young as 4 who come along and realise that having a disability need not stop them from aiming high.

So what better birthday present than winning the Sport Category of this week’s Dundee Community Spirit Awards! The Dragons would not be as successful a club without the hard work of those who give up their spare time to coach, provide physio guidance, maintain the chairs, plough through the mountain of administration and raise funds. Without our sponsors we’d still be playing in our day chairs, and without the players who pull on our colours and take to the court with pride, there’d be no need for a club at all.

So Happy Birthday to each and every one of “The Dragons’ Family”, here’s to another exciting year! 

Just a reminder that there will be no training at Lynch this Saturday 14/2/15. This is due to the hall being unavailable. Tennis will still go ahead at David Lloyd on Sunday as planned, and our Saturday sessions at Lynch will resume as normal on 21/2/15.





 Dundee Academy of Sport Club of the Year 2015 Dundee Academy of Sport Club of the Year 2014 Are You Ready to Play?

DDWSC in Action Evening Telegraph Community Spirit – Sport Award Winners 2014 

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