On Saturday, 22nd August 2015t Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club played host to the first ever “Gowrie” Dragons v. “Blackwood” Phoenix Wheelchair Sports Tournament.

The event brought together two of Scotland’s most successful Wheelchair Sports Clubs and their respective sponsors, Gowrie Care Group for Dundee Dragons and Blackwood Homes Care and Support for Lothian Phoenix.

The event coordinated by Sally Lumsdaine of Dundee Dragons in conjunction with Rebecca Muir from Gowrie, was designed to showcase the sports that these two companies support.

Over 40 participants took part in a fun introductory session of Wheelchair Basketball with Tina Gordon from Basketball Scotland/Scottish Disability Sport and Jen Scally from Dundee Dragons and Wheelchair Rugby League with Kevin Rattray from Dundee Dragons.

One of the main sounds coming from the groups was laughter as non-players realised very quickly that playing in a sports wheelchair was more challenging than they had maybe thought, but with the expert guidance of players from both sides they soon found their inner Ade Adepitan.

The fun introduction was followed by the serious stuff; well depending upon your point of view still seemed to be a lot of laughter coming from the courts, but this didn’t stop the requests for goal line technology and video refs, once a competitor always a competitor!

The series of matches pitted teams made up of Gowrie staff and Dragons players with Blackwood staff and Phoenix players involved in a series of fun yet competitive fixtures of Wheelchair Rugby League and Wheelchair Basketball, enabling the sponsors to experience the thrill and excitement of playing wheelchair sports.

In the middle of the “high octane” play, the sponsors were also able to enjoy an end to end children’s Wheelchair Basketball match that highlighted the benefits of the sports for even the youngest of participants, now this was competitive!

The day drew to a close with a fantastic buffet provided by Gowrie and enjoyed by everyone and with the pledge that we must do this again, a view shared by all participants, spectators, families and friends and a commitment from all of the organisers to work together for the benefit of wheelchair sport.

Written by DDWSC Head Coach Kevin Rattray.