Australian Athletes with a Disability


Funding Grants

The February round of funding grants are now open. Further information including eligibility and application forms is available from the AAWD website. Applications close on Friday 12 March 2010..

Laureus World Sports Awards

Congratulations to Justin Eveson (Wheelchair Basketball) and Kurt Fearnley (Wheelchair Racing) on their nominations for 2010 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. The awards are recognised as the premier honours event in the international sporting calendar with the winners selected by the ultimate sports jury - the 46 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the living legends of sport honouring the greatest athletes of today.

Justin Eveson, in 2009, was on the winning side in every tournament in which he took part including the National Wheelchair Basketball League, the Turkish National Wheelchair Basketball League and the European Wheelchair Basketball Champions Cup.

Kurt Fearnley is the reigning wheelchair marathon world champion and was undefeated over the distance in 2009 with victories in Chicago, London, Paris, Seoul and Sydney. In November, after 18 months preparation, he crawled 96km of the Kodoka Trail in Papua New Guinea to raise money and awareness for men’s health issues.
The other nominees are Gizem Girismen (Turkey) for para-archery, Shingo Kunieda (Japan) for tennis, Michael Teuber (Germany) for cycling and Natalie Du Toit (South Africa) for swimming. The 2010 Awards Ceremony will take place at the Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday 10 March.

Wheelchair Basketball

Osaka Cup

Congratulations to the Australian Gliders Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team on their win (55) against 2008 Beijing Paralympic gold medallists USA (37) to take out the 2010 Osaka

Cup. Other nations taking part in the tournament held on 18-20 February were Japan and Canada. Most Valuable Player was awarded to Kylie Gauci (Goudkamp Gladiators), while the All Star Five included Shelley Chaplin (Victoria Dandenong Rangers).

WNWBL and NWBL

Final preparations continue for the 2010 Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) and National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL). The 2010 season commences early due to the 2010 IWBF World Championships being held in Birmingham on 7-17 July. Round one of the WNWBL will be held in Sydney on 9-11 April, and round one of NWBL will be held on 7-9 May.

For information on the WNWBL visit http://wnwbl.basketball.net.au and for the NWBL visit http://www.nwblaus.com.

KEVIN COOMBS CUP

The Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championships ‘Kevin Coombs Cup’ will be held from 13-17 April 2010. The Championships are being held in conjunction with the 2010 Australian U18 Basketball Championships being held in Terrigal, NSW on 10-17 April by Basketball Australia.


Boccia

The dates for the Boccia Australia National Championships are May 3-6 2010 inclusive and will be held in ACT. Other dates are found in the calendar of events.

If anyone is interested in playing or learning about Boccia, please contact the National Development Officer, Lynn Kavanagh at bocciaaustralia@powerup.com.au or by contacting Cerebral Palsy Boccia Australia, 2 Duchess Place, Cleveland, Qld 4163.

Further information is available from www.boccia.com.au

Cerebral Palsy Football 7-A-Side

If you are interested in finding out more about CP Football then please email david.campbell@exemail.com.au or phone 0413 713 368 after business hours.

Para-Cycling

Results from the Australian Para-cycling Track Championships are available from www.cycling.org.au

Lawn Bowls

The 2010 National Championships will be held from 3-7 May 2010 in Melbourne. A classifiers course and classification of athletes are planned during the championship and information will be available shortly.

The IWAS World Championships are being held this year from 24 September – 5 October in Adelaide, South Australia, and information about team selection will be distributed shortly. The 2011 IBD World Championships dates have been proposed for April/May 2011.

For further information on Lawn Bowls contact Wheelchair Sports Australia at infor@sports.org.au or your state wheelchair sport organisation (links are available from www.sports.org.au).


Volleyball

Mr Weiping Tu has been formally approved as a World Organisation Volleyball for Disabled (WOVD) Coach Instructor by the world body.

Weiping has a long history of involvement in coaching in Australian Volleyball and a special interest in disability Volleyball since the late nineties that was inspired by the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. He is currently the Development Officer for disability Volleyball in the Asian-Oceania region that forms part of the WOVD and has been a long standing and dedicated coach at the international level.

Weiping attended the Coach Instructor training course in Malaysia and was financially supported by a grant from Australian Athletes with a Disability.

Volleyball Australia recently created the D-Volleyball Commission that is a permanent Committee of the NSO and has the aim of supporting and developing D-Volleyball as an opportunity for people with a disability. This involves Sitting Volleyball (to the Paralympic level), Standing Volleyball and Deaf Volleyball. The Commission recently appointed Weiping as the Head Coach of the Australian team that will seek participation in the December 2010 Asian Para Games, Guangzhou, China. This is a qualification event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

For further information www.avf.org.au

Wheelchair Rugby

2010 NWRL

The 2010 NWRL will be the ninth season of the National Wheelchair Rugby League. This season sees four teams compete for the title of National League Champion; the SA Sharks, Victorian Coloplast Thunder, Jetstar Gold Coast Wheelchair Rugby Titans and NSW Gladiators. There will be a total of four rounds each hosted by the competing states. Round one for 2010 kicks off on 21-23 May in Melbourne, followed by round two on 9-11 July in Adelaide, round three on 6-8 August in Brisbane and the finals series on 20-22 August in Sydney. The Australian Steelers Wheelchair Rugby team will then head to Vancouver, Canada for the 2010 IWRF World Championships to be held on 16-26 September.

State teams are currently finalising their team lists for the 2010 National Wheelchair Rugby League. If you are interested in playing wheelchair rugby please contact your state Wheelchair Sports office or Wheelchair Sports Australia at info@sports.org.au
For information on the NWRL visit http://rugby.sports.org.au


Referees

Wheelchair Sports Australia is always looking for new referees; with training and development provided for suitable applicants.

If anyone is interested in becoming a wheelchair rugby referee, please contact your state Wheelchair Sports office or Wheelchair Sports Australia at info@sports.org.au

Calendar of Events 2009 (*Subject to alterations)

March
4	Athletics	Athletics Australia Melbourne Grand Prix	Melbourne	VIC
5-7	Wheelchair Basketball	BA Summer League	AIS	ACT
6-7	Boccia	QLD State Championships	Brisbane	QLD
12-14	Wheelchair Basketball	Women's Festival of Wheelchair Basketball	Narrabeen	NSW
10-14	Lawn Bowls	VIC State Championships	Melbourne	VIC
19-21	Wheelchair Basketball	BA Summer League	AIS	ACT
19-21	Athletics	ACT Championships	Canberra	ACT
19-21	Athletics	QLD Championships	Brisbane	QLD
20-21	Athletics	TAS Championships	Launceston	TAS
20-21	Boccia	NSW State Championships	Sydney	NSW
22-26	Lawn Bowls	QLD State Championships	Brisbane	QLD
26-28	Athletics	NSW Championships	Sydney	NSW
26-28	Athletics	WA Championships	Perth	WA
28-30	Lawn Bowls	NSW Singles Championships	Beresfield	NSW
April
3-5	Wheelchair Basketball	International Tournament in Istanbul (Rollers)	Istanbul
9-11	Wheelchair Basketball	WNWBL - Round 1	Sydney	NSW
9-11	Cycling	Australian Paracycling Road Championships	Sunshine Coast	QLD
13-17	Wheelchair Basketball	Kevin Coombs Cup	Gosford	NSW
16-18	Athletics	Athletics Australia Championships & Commonwealth Games Selection Trials	Perth	WA
17-18	Cycling	National Handcycling Series Round 5	Brisbane	QLD
23-25	Wheelchair Basketball	Wheelchair Rugby State Championships "THE BASH"	Brisbane	QLD
25	Wheelchair Track and Road	London Marathon	London	UK
30-2	Wheelchair Basketball	WNWBL - Round 2	Sydney	NSW
May
3-7	Lawn Bowls	National Championships	Melbourne	VIC
3-6	Boccia	National Championships		ACT
7-9	Wheelchair Basketball	NWBL - Round 1	TBC
14-16	Wheelchair Basketball	WNWBL - Round 3	Melbourne	VIC
15	Football/Soccer	Festival of Football State Championships	Brisbane	QLD
21-23	Wheelchair Rugby	NWRL - Round 1	Melbourne	VIC
27-30	Wheelchair Basketball	Paralympic World Cup (Rollers & Gliders)	Manchester	UK
June
7-12	Wheelchair Basketball	Gliders World Challenge	TBC
11-13	Wheelchair Basketball	QLD State Championships 'The Classic'	Brisbane	QLD
18-20	Wheelchair Basketball	NWBL - Round 2	TBC	NSW

Subject to alterations
A full Calendar of Events can be found at http://www.sports.org.au/calendar.html


Gillian Ting - Executive Officer
Australian Athletes with a Disability Ltd
PO Box 4083 Homebush South NSW 2140
Phone + 61 2 8116 9720 Fax + 61 2 8732 1633
Email: gillian@sports.org.au
www.sports.org.au
ABN: 96104461814