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January - February 2007 - Newsletter
Australian Athletes with a Disability Funding Grants Applications have now opened for Australian Athletes with a Disability’s (AAWD) second funding round for 2006-2007. Application forms and information have been forwarded to all states and sports. Applications close on Friday 23 March 2007 and an announcement on successful applicants will be made in April 2007. Australian Paralympic Committee Beijing Summit The APC conducted its Beijing Paralympic Games planning and preparation summit early in February. This summit covered all operational areas and sport performance expectations for the lead up to Beijing. Key team staff, head coaches and managers of all paralympic sports were invited to attend. Sports News Wheelchair Basketball
Osaka Cup The Australian women’s wheelchair basketball team (Gliders) finished with the Silver medal earlier this month at the Osaka Cup in Japan. The Gliders were defeated 66-41 by current World and Paralympic champions Canada in the final. The young Gliders team had entered the tournament as probable long outsiders to win a medal, having shaved their average age from 34 to just 25 following the retirement of three long-term Australian Paralympians. Head coach Gerry Hewson was thrilled with his young team's performance against three of the top-ranked international teams in wheelchair basketball, being Japan, the USA and Canada. The Gliders were in a great frame of mind for the grand final, having disposed of the USA and Japan by 46-35 and 50-40 respectively, in the preliminary series, while falling to Canada 69-34
Head Coach - Rollers Murray Treseder has been appointed Head Coach of the Great Britain men’s wheelchair basketball team. Up until the recent announcement, Treseder had been the Head Coach of the Australian men's wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, since 2001. Australia is ranked number 2 in the world in men’s wheelchair basketball, while Great Britain have not been out of the top five at a major championship for the last 13 years. “We thank Murray for the contribution he has made to wheelchair basketball and, in particular, the Rollers,” Australian Paralympic Chief Executive Darren Peters said. Expressions of Interest are now being sought by Basketball Australia for the position of Head Coach for the Australian Wheelchair Men’s Basketball team i.e. The Rollers. The term of appointment will be from 1 April 2007 to 31 December 2008. For further details check Basketball Australia website www.basketball.net.au League Dates For all of this year’s NWBL and WNWBL dates check the calendar at www.sports.org.au Boccia Boccia clubs in every state are looking forward to State Championships. Arrangements are well underway for the National Championship July 2-7 at Elizabeth Murdock Centre, Langwarrin, Victoria. Expression of Interest forms are available by emailing joanstev@bigpond.net.au We congratulate West Australian Cameron Searle, Australia's National Boccia referee, for being invited to the 2007 World Championship in Canada. Anyone wanting to know more about Boccia in Australia can contact Joan Stevens, BA Development Officer on the above email address. Cerebral Palsy Football National Team In November 2006 the national team traveled to Kuala Lumpar for the FESPIC Games. They took on Korea in their first match and defeated them 10-0. Next came China who will host the 2008 Paralympics and Australia won 2-nil. This qualified them for the semi finals where they took on Japan. The Australian team was determined to make their first final and defeated Japan 4-nil. From there they took on the might of Iran in the final but the experience of the Iranian team was too much for the team and they were defeated 5-nil. This was however Australia's first international final and the players will only learn from their experience. This result ensured them a spot at the World CP Championships to be held in Brazil from the 3rd to 18th November. This will also be the final chance to qualify for the 2008 Paralympics.
The team that went to FESPIC were:
Congratulations on your Silver Medal. The next National camp is on the 30 March - 1 April 2007. If anyone is interested in Cerebral Palsy Football please contact David Campbell on 0407 393 433. National Championships This year’s National Championships will be held at the Sydney Academy of Sport at Narrabeen. The dates are 15th - 17th June 2007. We are currently seeking sponsorship for this tournament so if anyone is interested please contact David Campbell on 0407 393 433. Queensland Team Queensland are in the process of organising their program, which is due to commence in March. If anyone is interested in being involved in CP Football in QLD, please contact the QLD Sporting Wheelies on 07 3253 3333. Victorian Team Victoria also is getting their program under way for this year and they are planning on producing a strong side for the National Championships in June. If anyone is interested in being involved in CP Football in Victoria, please contact the Paul Roche on 0419 520 715. South Australian Team Yes there may be a South Australian Team this year. We have people currently working in South Australia who have expressed an interest in forming the new team. If anyone is interested in being involved in CP Football in South Australia, please contact the David Campbell on 0407 393 433. New South Wales Team The NSW team has just completed their first camp of the year and have added three new faces to the squad. They are determined to hold onto their position as National Champions. In February this team was honoured at the NSW Sports Awards where they were announced as "NSW Team of the Year with a Disability". It was a great honour to be acknowledged for their achievements over the past year, in front of the likes of the Sydney Swans, Swifts and many other great sporting men and women in NSW. If anyone is interested in being involved in CP Football in New South Wales then please contact the David Campbell on 0407 393 433. Day of Difference Junior Games (Incorporating the 2007 National Junior Games for Athletes with a Disability) Wheelchair Sports NSW and the 2007 Games Organising Committee are pleased to announce that the Patron of the 2007 National Junior Games is Ron Delezio of the Day of Difference Foundation. In conjunction with this, the Day of Difference Foundation has come on board as the naming rights sponsor of the Games. Henceforth the Games will be known as the “Day of Difference Junior Games (incorporating the 2007 National Junior Games for Athletes with a Disability)”. We welcome Ron and the support of his foundation and hope the relationship between junior disability sport and the Day of Difference Foundation proves to be long and fruitful.
Sitting Volleyball An historic event took place in Sydney in January when a delegation of 12 athletes and officials from China flew in to assist with setting up the very first Australian women’s sitting volleyball program. The 2007 Women’s Sitting Volleyball Development Camp took place at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation, Narrabeen from 14-19 January. This event was run by Sitting Volleyball Australia (NSW) Incorporated and had the support of the National Volleyball Committee of the Australian Sports Organisation for the Disabled, the Australian Paralympic Committee, the Australian Volleyball Federation, Australian Athletes with a Disability and the Shanghai Disabled Sports Association. The facilities at the Sydney Academy of Sport proved to be the perfect environment to hold such an event and participants from both countries thoroughly enjoyed the training and matches that took place. It was a great thrill for all the Australian girls to train with the current Paralympic Champions - their commitment; athleticism and volleyball skills certainly helped the Aussie girls understand what it takes to be champions. The training was often hard for some of the new girls but what helped to bridge that gap were the friendships that formed between the two teams. The Australian team was convincingly beaten in their matches but when the teams were mixed the matches became more competitive. Even with the language barrier one could safely assume that the Aussie girls now know how to say ‘yours’ and ‘mine’ in Chinese. The Australian women’s sitting volleyball team has lots of work to do if they are to qualify for the Beijing Paralympics in 2008 but at least are now heading in the right direction. Swimming 2006 was a good year for the Paralympic Program with the Australian Swim team performing well at the IPC World Swimming Championships held in December in Durban. The Australian team won 6 Gold, 16 Silver and 5 Bronze to finish 12th on the Gold Medal tally and = 7th on the total medal tally. The challenge now exists for those that make the Beijing Team to challenge the performance of the team that competed at Athens. While the Australian team was competing at the IPC World Champs, swimmers back home were competing at the Telstra Australian Swimming Championships. The event saw many good swims with 8 swimmers qualifying for the Paralympic Development Program and 10 swimmers qualifying for the Paralympic Program. Congratulations to all. Wheelchair Tennis This year for the first time the Australian Wheelchair Tennis Open was conducted by Tennis Australia as a division of the Australian Open. It was an historic event for all those involved and an overall success. The Sydney International Wheelchair Tennis Open, which followed the week after the Australian Open, was possibly the best on record. There was a large field of the very top international players and a strong contingent of Australian athletes. To top it off in the week following the Sydney tournament, the Queensland Open also attracted its best field and this is promising in terms of an Australian summer circuit developing. Track and Road Kurt Fearnley was named Sports Person of the Year with a Disability.at the prestigious Australian Sports Awards in Melbourne on February 21. The win capped off an outstanding 2006 for the 25 year-old who won three gold medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Assen (800m, 5000m and marathon), marathon victories in Sydney, Seoul and New York, second place in the 26th Oita International Marathon in Japan and first place in England’s Great North Run and Tyne Tunnel 2km races. Fearnley holds all T54 Australian records from 400m to the marathon and is seen as the dominant force in men's wheelchair racing internationally. His race program for 2007 has begun strongly with three wins from three starts – the OzDay 10k in Sydney, and the Port Elizabeth and George marathons in South Africa – and he is in excellent form as he prepares for Beijing in 2008. Kurt will also carry Australia’s hopes at the prestigious Laureus World Sports awards where he will be battling for the prize of world sportsperson with a disability. He is Australia’s lone nominee on the annual awards shortlist which has just been released. The winners chosen by a specialist panel will be announced at a ceremony in Barcelona, Spain on April 2. Wheelchair Rugby
2007 Telstra NWRL The following rounds are confirmed: Round 1: 29 June – 1 July, SA Rugby PPP All program staff have now been confirmed. They are as follows: A planning workshop, which was attended by all staff, was held in Sydney on February 1. The workshop provided the opportunity for staff and key personnel to plan training camps and competition schedules up to and including Beijing in 2008. The first PPP camp of the year will be held at the AIS in Canberra next month. Calendar of Events 2007 (*Subject to alterations)
Subject
to alterations If you have any articles, news items or information that you would like included in our monthly newsletter, please email details to info@sports.org.au . Whilst we will do our best to include your stories, we do not guarantee publication of all articles due to either space or content restrictions. We also reserve the right to edit any content prior to its publication in our newsletter. Information should be received prior to the 20th of each month. |
