WATERSPORTS INCLUSION GAMES

     “An excellent event, we all enjoyed so much. Volunteers were so lovely and warm. My daughter progressed from paddle boarding in a wheelchair to on her own over the 2 days and that was down to volunteers, Lorna and Nico. Having her siblings and parents in activities with her made it so much easier and also allowed siblings to have a great time. A wonderful weekend for all the family”

     “…..it was truly fantastic event. Probably the best organized, with the most helpful, kind and caring volunteers I have ever come across. I worked for a huge Corporate Company as Event Manager for years & I was blown away with how fantastically this was run. Well done & Thank you so much”

 

     “Overall I thought it was such an amazing event. I volunteered to bring one young man with an ID on the Saturday. He loved the whole day as did I. I got to take part in some of the sports, chatted with family members, instructors and volunteers and had an amazing day. lunch was great, venue was perfect and the sun shone. I cannot commend the organisation, volunteers and staff enough. Well done to all. I just wish it was in Galway more often. Thank you to everyone involved”

 

     “Thought it was very well organized and volunteers were excellent , really really enjoyed the day”

 

The Watersports Inclusion Games is supported by the Sport Ireland Dormant Accounts Sports Inclusion Fund

 

Lough Derg Yacht Club

          

         

       

               

       

       

       

You can take the pledge and make a difference too ... go here

 

John Twomey: Paralympic Sailor 

John Twomey is an Irish Paralympic athlete and sailor. He has represented Ireland at 11 consecutive Paralympic games winning medals at three of them.

Recently elected President of Irish Sailing (March 2022), John has been a member of the board since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He is also Chairperson of the board of Spinal Injuries Ireland.

John has been the helmsman in the Mixed Three Person Sonar, a 23-foot two sail keelboat in the 2000 Sydney Games, 2004 Athens Games, 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games and the Mixed Two Person SKUD18 in 2008 Beijing Games. At the 2013 ISAF World Championships in Weymouth, he teamed with Ian Costelloe and Austin O’Carroll to win the bronze medal in the Sonar Class. They finished sixth in the Miami event.

John was elected President of the International Association for Disabled Sailing in 2012. He was responsible for helping the IFDS through three major challenges which occurred after that including a court case related to the 2012 Paralympics, the merger of the IFDS and the ISAF as well as the loss of sailing as a paralympic sport in the 2020 Paralympics. Twomey lead the Ireland team out during the opening ceremony as the National Flag Bearer of the Rio 2016 Games.

---

Oisín Feery – Special Olympian Kayaker

Oisín Feery is from Ballycommon in the Parish of Daingean, Co. Offaly. He has kayaked with the Tullamore Canoe Club since the age of 9. He also represents Ballinamere Special Olympics Club. He is the current Leinster and Ireland Special Olympics Gold medalist in the 200mtr and 500mtr sprint kayak discipline. In March 2019 he won a Gold and Bronze medal in the 200mtr and 500mtr, respectively at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi just one week before his 18th birthday. He is currently a Level 2 kayaking instructor and has participated in the Special Olympics Athlete Leadership programme. He was awarded a An Garda Síochána Youth Award (Leinster) in the same year.

Oisín is Canoeing Ireland Autism Ambassador and is currently working part time delivering outdoor recreational therapy programmes to youths and young adults with neuro-diverse diagnosis and is also studying digital media.

---

Bryan Dobson – RTE Journalist / Presenter / Newscaster /Sailor 

Bryan Dobson is known by most as the long-time popular lead news anchor for RTÉ 1 main evening news, Bryan is now presenter of RTÉ’s News at One, and prior to that, Morning Ireland for RTE Radio 1. An ardent sailor, Bryan spends much of his free time sailing Irish coastal waters onboard his cruiser Mawal, and abroad doing the odd ‘delivery trip’! Bryan is an Irish Sailing Keelboat Instructor who trained extensively and volunteered often with the famous Glenans Irish Sailing Club (Baltimore Base) prior to its closure in 2012.

Bryan has been most enthusiastic about the Watersports Inclusion Games for some time now and was on board from early 2019. Bryan volunteered his time to launch our 2019 Kinsale Inclusion Games and volunteered at the event skippering a Sonar keelboat. Bryan is passionate about advocating for Inclusion in his role as Event Ambassador for the Games.

---

Mary Duffy – Applicant for Paralympics 

Mary Duffy has been sailing since 2018 and turned 60 this time last year.  The late start was not for the want of trying, but for the want of ambition.

"Over the decades, suspecting I would make an excellent helm,  I made several attempts to get on the water.  I knew that to be any good, I needed to “know” the ropes.

In the end, in order to learn to sail, I had to buy a boat and adapted it with unique foot steering. That was the easiest part. Finding a club, finding shore crew, that is the really challenging bit.

Looking back, I can see clearly that what stopped me was my lack of ambition.  I didn’t think it would even be possible for me to sail in a boat by myself in the wild Irish sea. In fact, as someone born without arms, I found it hard to persuade others that I could even get into a boat, let alone be part of a member of a crew

But when I did …… when I found my tribe, it was all plain sailing after that."