Your chance to win tickets for Celtic Tri Nations 2011!

Fancy winning some tickets to see some of Wales’ top swimmers in action?

We have two pairs of tickets to give away for the Celtic Tri Nations at Wales National Pool, Swansea 27^th-29^th May 2011.

Jemma Lowe in action in Delhi 2010

With the likes of David Davies, Tom Haffield and Jemma Lowe in action it’s an event not to be missed by swim fans!

For your chance to win all you have to do is follow @sport_wales and retweet any tweets with a #CelticTriNations mention. Easy!

Names will be drawn after the competition closing date on Wednesday 25^th May at 12pm.

Terms and conditions apply.

Click here for more information on the Celtic Tri Nations.

New This Week!

We also have lots of new LAKAI, DVS and FALLEN shoes in stores. We'll try to get them up by next week.

Why the Paralympic World Cup is so important...Disability Sport Wales Academy Manager Gerwyn Owen:

With great success already seen at the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Senior and IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation) Junior World Championships so far in 2011, all eyes are now on the BT Paralympic World Cup, which will be hosted in Manchester again this year.

Also, for us in Wales, it provides an opportunity to highlight Disability Sport to the mass population. This year, Channel 4 has come on board for the first time as the new host broadcaster.

This is an exciting new dimension to the BT Paralympic World Cup and will provide the event with the strongest broadcast coverage it has ever received.

Indeed, Channel 4 has taken coverage of Disability Sport to a new level since being awarded host broadcast rights for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and programmes such as 'Inside Incredible Athletes' and 'That Paralympic Show' demonstrate imaginative, positive and provocative imagery of our athletes.

Welsh athletes have always been prominent in this event, whether it's David Roberts CBE in the pool, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's last ever competitive race in Athletics or double Paralympic Gold Medallist, Simon Richardson MBE in the Velodrome.

This year again sees a strong Welsh presence, with the three core sports of swimming, athletics and wheelchair basketball represented.

Beijing Paralympic Gold medallist Liz Johnson will be one to watch in pool. Over at the athletics stadium, recent IPC World Champion Nathan Stephens is joined by training partner and IPC World Championship silver medallist Aled-Sion Davies, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jenny McLoughlin and IBSA (International Blind Sports Association) World Games athlete James Ball.

On the basketball court, experienced Paralympians Clare Strange and Caroline Matthews will form part of the Women's Great Britain wheelchair basketball team and will be looking to avenge their fourth place finish last year as they compete against Canada, Germany and Japan.

Two exhibition events have been included this year, sitting volleyball and Boccia. We'll be looking to see how James Roberts and Sam Scott pit their wits against the Netherlands in the exhibition match.

You can follow our athletes and the rest of the goings-on in Manchester at  http://www.btparalympicworldcup.com/home.php

For all the latest news on Disability Sport in Wales click on www.disabilitysportwales.com or follow us on twitter

I'd be happy to get your comments via facebook

Liebe Leser,
wegen Stalking muss ich leider die Kommentare auf meinem Blog abstellen. Natürlich freue ich mich sehr, wenn Ihr dafür auf Facebook Lob und Kritik an mich mich loswerdet! Danke nochmal an alle, die mir hier geschrieben haben. Es hat mich immer aufgebaut und mich darin bestätigt, dass das, was ich mache, einen Sinn hat!
***
Lilli

It's no secret that sport is not my only passion in life...Prof Laura McAllister, Chair of Sport Wales.

The other (not sure 'passion' is the right word!) is politics. So when the two collide, I am in my element.

So, as the party manifestos for the Assembly elections landed in my inbox back in mid-April, I was more than curious to see how sport had been embraced by the main political parties in Wales.

In the months leading up to the election, I have met with Assembly Members in my role as Chair of Sport Wales and have been speaking to them about sport and my hopes for how sport could be reflected in their respective manifestos.

What struck me was the genuine passion that everyone I spoke to displayed, not only for elite sport, but for the grassroots clubs and community opportunities as well.

And, turning the pages, it was encouraging that political commitments reflected many of the conversations I had, including referencing some of the key priority areas laid down in our Vision for Sport in Wales.

Now that a new programme of government is being developed, the next stage of my work is to ensure that these manifesto promises with regard to the power of sport are included and that the collective voice of sport in Wales is heard.

I strongly believe that advocating on behalf of sport is a team effort. We have developed the Vision with the support and input of the sector; the next stage is making it a reality and ensuring that our politicians are aware of the impact that sport makes.

I would like to see a sport sector that is proactively celebrating the achievements of sport, from engaging more children to elite success.

With a number of Assembly Members standing down,we have an exceptionally high number of new politicians which brings the opportunity to shape new ideas and fresh thinking.

The challenge, of course, will be to immerse our political newcomers in the world of sport, emphasising its reach and power.

Some might question my focus on political advocacy this past year, but I make no apologies.

Without the commitment of our political leaders at all levels, the infrastructure of sport would be in jeopardy and our ambitious strategies for coaching, elite and community sport would be impossible.

To continue demonstrating the often under-estimated ability of sport is right at the top of my 'To Do' list and I look forward to working with colleagues, partners and politicians from all parties to achieve this.

Cofion cynnes,
Laura

The view from Daran Hill - Managing Director and Principal Consultant at Positif Politics

He leads consultancy, research and monitoring work for a range of clients in all sectors. His specialisms include horizon scanning and picking up the political mood, which enables clients to be forewarned of shifts in policy and political emphasis.

"Over the past decade sport policy within the National Assembly and Welsh Assembly Government has become more centre stage, not least with the appointment of a Culture and Sport Minister in 2003. That change also saw the creation of a Committee in the Assembly to mirror that portfolio.

In 2007 the Committee structure was tweaked so that Culture (and by association Sport) fell in with Communities. Though the Committee continued to examine sporting issues, not least in terms of accessibility and also attracting large sporting events to Wales, the simple mechanics of such an arrangement is that the bigger the scope of a Committee, the more it will roam over the plains.

Quite how much emphasis the next Assembly gives to Sport policy will very much depend, therefore, on the design of government and the consequent architecture of the Assembly. On the latter point, changes to Standing Orders point to fewer but bigger Committees. This will present its own bigger challenge in making Sport a priority.

The auguries from the party political manifestos, however, are good. All four parties had clear commitments on sport, and all were united in terms of its importance in the school curriculum and in terms of widening access. Plaid also committed to a National Coaching Plan for Wales, while the Liberal Democrats proposed an innovative Arts & Sports Investment Trust, which would be a self-funding organisation dedicated to levering more private investment into smaller Welsh arts and sports.

It was Labour, though, that made the biggest number of sporting pledges including commitments on the sporting workforce, and a promise to nurture sporting innovation while at the same time doing more to attract major sports events to Wales.

At time of going to press, Labour is pretty much guaranteed to be the lead player in government, the number and level of these commitments and their support for the Vision can only be good for sport policy in Wales".

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How could I have seen something?

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Yesterday in school...
One boy: "Here he comes!"
The other boy: "Didn't you mean 'she'..?"
-My first "Matching"-Experience-
Transsexuals describe it as "faboulous" and "the final goal
of all their dream-wish-phantasies".
I had to laugh.