WELCOME to the new website- it has taken a while but we hope you will be pleased with the result. It isn’t perfect yet and it is not supposed to be, we will welcome you all using it and passing any comments and suggestions you have to Daniel so we can iron out the glitches and improve the content. We still have words, photographs and documents to upload and we continue doing that over the next few days but wanted to get this on the streets now! The site has been designed to look good and be easy to use no matter what device you access it with. It will be equally at home on your smartphone as it will on your tablet or laptop, so do use it, enjoy it and let us know what you think!
The GOOD NEWS has been building up as I have waited for the new site and my first blog but here is a summary CONGRATULATIONS to:
- Mike Kerr who last night was appointed the new GB Captain. Mike, who has the experience of London 2012 under his belt and a long apprenticeship as Vice Captain, will lead a young and exciting squad into this year’s major competitions with the World Championships in Odenske as the major aiming point. A big thank you to veteran Alan Ash who has done a great job as Captain over the last year to bring together a whole new group of athletes following the London cycle
- Chris Ryan who becomes the GB Vice Captain – well done to Chris who certainly has a bright future ahead of him
- Phil Zealey who has been appointed as lead coach for Talent Development Coach and will work closely with a team which will include experienced coaches like Paul Jenkins and Ross Morrison The following – who have been selected for the Talent Development Squad
Mick O’Hanlon (2.5) South Wales Pirates
Danny Dawoud (2.5) West Coast Crash
Matt Hignett (2.5) Kent Crusaders
Jonny Collingwood (2.0) North East Bulls
Luke Twizell (1.5) North East Bulls
Josh Williams (1.5) West Coast Crash
Ryan Cowling (1.0) West Coast Burn
Alex Smart (0.5) Leicester Tigers
Richard Devine (0.5) Marauders
Ciaran Pryce (0.5) Caledonian Crushers
- Roma Sports who further develop their partnership with GBWR by coming on board as a sponsor for 2014-15. They will help support the 2014 National Championships in Stoke on Trent and will continue to offer preferential chair prices to individuals and clubs who are members of GBWR and who place their orders through GBWR
- Gloucester Rugby and Gloucester University who launched a joint partnership with GBWR on Monday 3 February. This is such a great partnership which sees all three organisations working together to support a new Gloucester Wheelchair Rugby Club and a wider community programme which will see wheelchair rugby delivered out in schools and community venues.
- Our Development Team : Kirsty Clarke, Jo Arnold, Paul Arnold, Amanda Thomas and Lee Stutely all supported by many others including Ross Morrison and Mike Spence for all the excellent development work achieved this year. This allowed us to achieve a positive annual review of our performance against the Sport England targets we agreed last year and it means we are in a strong position for further investment. This work has to continue and you will have seen in the news that Sport England and UK Sport has withdrawn some funding from those sports who are not achieving their agreed targets
- Mike Brown our first ambassador who is already setting this year’s 6 Nations alive – such an exciting player and an important partner for our sport
There is so much more great things to talk about but that’s enough to get the new site going more from me in the next few days!
David Pond
