Disability News

Following on from Isaac’s 2.5km fundraising swim at the Swimathon in March where he and his brother raised £500 for Cancer Research, Monday 6th May saw him in Walsall for his first visit to the National Dwarf Games.  Isaac has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism and had entered 3 events, 25m freestyle, 25m butterfly and 50m freestyle.  He swam really well and came first in both his 25m events and 2nd in the 50m freestyle and fully intends to be back next year as the event was brilliantly organised and efficiently run and Isaac enjoyed the opportunity to compete against […]

On 18th May 10 members of the squad attended the North-West Regional swimming gala in Liverpool and yet again our team surpassed all expectations with every swimmer achieving a medal along with several personal bests times.  A grueling 8 hour gala rewarded the team with 7 Gold, 7 Silver and 8 Bronze medals along with Gold and Bronze in the relays.  The team are now in training for the 2019 National Partnership Swimming Competition to be held in Liverpool in September.  Alison Rank (coach) says this wonderful achievement  is only achieved by the hard work of the swimmers and  support […]

Our annual trip to Harrogate Hydro pool on Saturday 10th November yet again brought us success and no doubt the loudest cheering supporters. We were delighted to introduce our newest member to the team, Joe Davies.  Joe’s debut earned him a silver and a 4th place, well done Joe.   Yet again the team surpassed all our expectations with every swimmer achieving a medal along with personal bests from several of the team.  Our young adults once again amazed us and entertained us (lots of “flossing”  from our swimmers on poolside).  Well done team BOK.

After what seems like quite a long time without attending a competitive event, we took a team of 7 swimmers to the North West Regional Special Olympics Gala in Blackpool  and, with  everyone managing at least one medal on the podium it was a very successful day.  Daniel Jackson  managed to smash his previous best time in the 25m freestyle which earned him a special award of a Speeding Ticket (for swimming  more than 15% faster than his entry time).  All our swimmers showed their usual wonderful team spirit on poolside and , as ever, we were extremely proud of them […]

Nine swimmers took part in the Y&H Regional swimming gala in Harrogate, taking home 4 gold, 8 silver and 2 bronze medals between them. Ruben Reuter, Jack Drennan, Zoe Rank and Daniel Jackson swam magnificently and clocked up a personal best time.   Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event culminating in some exciting relay races when the male freestyle relay team secured gold and the female, a silver medal.

Seven swimmers from the disability squad returned from the four-day Special Olympic Games in Sheffield with a haul of medals.  They picked up a gold, seven silver and six bronze medals between them, plus a gold in a replay race.  Together they competed before a great crowd at the Ponds forge International Sports Centre and were accompanied by their volunteer coaches, Gemma Hill-Wood, Ed Lim and Olivia Davies.  The whole experience was amazing. Our swimmers did us proud.  Well done to Emily McKevitt, Ruben Reuter, Zoe Rank, Rebekah Hill, Aisling Connelly, Joanne Kempley and Jack Drennan who took part and […]

Six members of the squad attended the Learning Disability National swimming competition in Leeds, supported by Ed Lim, coach.   This was a full day event with swimmers entering 3 races each.  Jack Drennan and Ruben Reuter managed to achieve personal best times in two of their races. and overall the team came away with one silver and bronze medals.

Five members of the Squad have just returned from the British Learning Disability National Swimming Competition in Swansea with some brilliant results. Each swimmer won at least one medal in their division races and all clocked up at least one personal best time reflecting the hard work they have been putting in  in preparation for this event. Joanne Kempley:  Gold in 100m breaststroke and bronze in 100m backstroke; Emily McKevitt:  Silver in 25m backstroke,  Bronze 50m Freestyle:  Zoe Rank: Gold in 25m breaststroke and 25m Freestyle and Silver in 25m backstroke; Jack Drennan: Gold 25m backstroke and 50m freestyle; Aisling Connelly: […]

Another successful day for our team achieving an amazing  5 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals between them, which was brilliant.   Rebekah, Zoe and Lily  each recorded a personal best time, and to Ruben, Alwi, Aisling, and Kai  achieved personal best times in both of their events –  a superb achievement.     Everyone swam really well as usual there was a great team spirit on poolside and in the balcony where we were (as usual) the most enthusiastic supporters throughout the competition. Here are some of the team with coaches Ed and Gemma.

Joanne Kempley swam with the GT Downs Syndrome Team in Italy in November 2015 at the DSISO European Swim Championships.  She won a gold medal and a European Record in the Female 4 x 25m medley relay and also won two bronze medals in another two relay events.   She also qualified for the finals in the 50 and 100m breaststroke events.