Australian Athletes with a Disability

May - June 2008

The Australian Boccia National Championships were hosted by Queensland May 3-7 2008. Forty players from Queensland, NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania and New Zealand in BC1, BC2, BC3, Open, Pairs & teams classifications managed a gruelling 186 games of boccia over the five days. Referees and officials were outstanding in their roles and along with the players helped to make this a very successful championship.

Congratulations to the following players:-

Sgles: BC1: Barry Fear (NSW) 1, John Richardson (Vic) 2, Tyler Ellis (ACT) 3. BC2: Scott Elsworth (NSW) 1, Fiona Lyons (Qld) 2, Belinda Harris (Qld) 3. BC3: Angie McReynolds (NSW) 1, Gavin Thorneycroft (Vic) 2, Sharon Sheedy (NSW) 3. Open: Jade Sannen (Vic) 1, Leanne Hardaker (Qld) 2, Chris Van Keulen (Tas) 3.

Pairs: BC3: Angie McReynolds, Kylie Daley, Sharon Sheedy (NSW) 1st, Gavin Thorneycroft, Sylvia Collard (Vic) 2nd, Chris Murphy, Helena Kidd (Qld) 3rd. Open: Chris Van Keulen, Darren Jones (Tas/NSW) 1st, Leanne Hardaker, Bruce Walker (Qld) 2nd, Kate O'May, Belinda Binns (Tas) 3rd.

Congratulations to the nine players selected to represent Australia in Christchurch, July 2008. Anyone interested in finding out more about boccia can visit our web site at www.boccia.com.au

Football

2008 Canadian Invitational Tournament

The National CP Football team recently competed at the inaugural Invitational Tournament in Canada which saw the Australian Team taking on the World Number 1 Team Russia, Argentina and Canada. The tour was aimed as a development tour for the Australians and saw two young Australian players making their international debut. They were Thomas Goodman from South Australia (age 17) and Ben Atkins from NSW (age 16). The side was very lucky throughout the tournament and if not for the cross bar results could have been completely different. The following are the results from the tournament:

Russia 4 defeated Australia 1
Canada 1 defeated Australia 0
Argentina 3 defeated Australia 0
Canada 1 defeated Australia 0 in play off for 3rd & 4th

2008 National CP Football Championships

The 5th National CP Football Championships were held at Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation, Narrabeen, 6 – 8 June 2008. Many of the national team players who had attended the tournament in Canada fronted straight up again for the National Championships – so a huge couple of weeks for them. The results from the Nationals were as follows:

Friday – 6th June 2008
Queensland 6 defeated Combined Team 0

Saturday – 7th June 2008
NSW 6 defeated Queensland 0
Combined Team 3 drew with NSW 3
Queensland 3 defeated Combined Team 2
Queensland forfeited final match of the day against NSW

Sunday – 8th June 2008
Due to the forfeit by Queensland the final match between NSW and Combined team was cancelled. The combined team was then split into two teams and a friendly match was then played – two players from Queensland who had played very little participated in this match as well. All the players had a great time in this match.

The standings were as follows:

The final saw a very tough match being played between NSW and QLD. NSW had lost its reserve keeper Chris Pyne in a earlier match and started with a very inexperienced player in goals. An early goal to David Barber from Queensland put NSW on the defensive side and when a second was added not long after NSW knew they were in for a fight if they wished to retain their title. NSW did an excellent job to fight back but the honors for the day went to Queensland with the final score being QLD 4 and NSW 3. Congratulations to the QLD team.

Hand Cycling

The following upcoming events are inviting Handcyclists to be part of the action:

Ride 4 the Environment

The inaugural Ride 4 the Environment event in Victoria has been launched and registrations are open. The ride will take place over the weekend of 30-31 August 2008 and is an initiative of Sport 4 the Environment, which has been developed to create true environmental change and awareness (see website below).

The ride is set to take place on Victoria’s beautiful Mornington Peninsula with two days of riding scheduled. Day 1 will have participants ride from Mornington to Sorrento and Day 2 will return and culminate in Mornington which will be transformed into a “Bike Town” with the main street closed and the party atmosphere as thousands enjoy a car free day in the centre of town. There are also one day and shorter options for you to enjoy. To register visit www.sport4theenvironment.com.au and click on the Ride 4 the Environment logo.

The Great Doherty Tour

The 2008 Great Doherty Tour - a 3 Stage Cycling Tour - will be held in Victoria from 15th - 16th November 2008. Rarely will you get a chance to compete in a 3 Stage Tour event like this, so if you're available jump on board and ride or come out for a look. This Tour conducted by Blackburn Cycling Club is an annual event, which would be an excellent event to tap into. If you have any questions or to enter, you can email Blackburn Cycling Club Great Doherty Tour on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Lawn Bowls

The 2008 WSA Lawn Bowls National Championships will be held in Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast from 21-28 July. This event is one of the major calendar events for the year with each state sending a representative team to vie for the national championship awards. For further information contact Wheelchair Sports NSW on 02 9809 5260 or visit http://www.wsnsw.org.au

Wheelchair Rugby

2008 Telstra NWRL Update

The first rounds of the 2008 Telstra National Wheelchair Rugby League have been run. Thanks to Wheelchair Sports WA and NSW and Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Assoc, QLD for hosting these rounds. The third and final round of the NWRL is to be held in Melbourne on 11-13 July. This event includes all the finals and it will also crown the 2008 Champions. The top three teams following Round 2 are as follows:

1. New South Wales Gladiators 11
2. New Zealand Development 8
3. Victoria Coloplast Thunder 8

Wheelchair Rugby Super Series

On 20-25 May, Wheelchair Sports Victoria hosted the 2008 International Super Series, with Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Japan competing. It was a great week of top level International Wheelchair Rugby competition.

On the first day of play Australia had 1 win and 1 loss after being defeated by Canada. This was the Australian Steelers only loss for the competition, as they went on to win all of our remaining games, which included the Final. It was a great event for the Steelers providing an opportunity to compete against other countries helping the team to best prepare for the Beijing Paralympics which is now only a few months away.

Australia beat Canada in a great final in front a fair size home crowd at the Aqua Link facility in Box Hill. In the 3rd and 4th playoff, Great Britain defeated a strong and up and coming Japanese team. The Australian Steelers would like to thank Wheelchair Sports Victoria for hosting this event.

2008 Canada Cup

The Australian Steelers next port of call is Canada where Wheelchair rugby players from eight countries will compete at Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby, Vancouver on June 27 – 29. The 2008 Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament promises to be an exciting preview of the Paralympics. The eight teams competing are Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany and China. Results during the competition will be available at www.bcwheelchairsports.com

Tenpin Bowling

The 2008 Tenpin Bowling National Championships were held in Belconnen, ACT on 31 May – 6 June. Thanks go out to AMF Belconnen for sponsoring the event. Full results of the Championships can be found at: www.tenpin.org.au Of interest also to Tenpin Bowlers or aspiring Tenpin Bowlers are the AMF Macarthur Centre Championships, which this year will be held on 2-3 August at AMF Macarthur in Campbelltown, Sydney. For further info please email Tony Morris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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