2016 National Dwarf Games

What a DSAmzing National Games the members of the DSAuk competed in over the May Day bank holiday weekend.

There was an amazing entry of athletes in 2016 with 192 taking part from all four corners of the world. Athletes took part in twelve sports over three days with some fantastic performances watched by capacity crowds.

This year our younger athletes had a full programme of events with balance bike racing, new age curling, soft archery, football, Frisbee throw, cricket ball and track events. All designed to encourage our youngest members into a sporting lifestyle.

The senior athletes performed admirably in difficult conditions at the Alexander stadium as the day saw every kind of weather imaginable including hail and snow, rain and sun, but this didn’t dull the athlete’s competitive spirit and the day saw some fabulous races on the track and amazing skill in the field events. Many of the athletes have competed in these games for many years and it is brilliant to see how they improve year on year.

The Sunday is a very busy day as there are eight different sports taking place over one day but everyone seemed to work out where they needed to be and the day ran smoothly. The table tennis was hotly contended in all age groups. The shooting has become very popular and it was nice to see a few new names on the medal table. Over the last few years the cycling time trial has become more and more popular and on a very wet afternoon the athletes competing in the time trial took on the banked track and produced a very close competition with times that had to been separated by only 100th’s of a second. After our successful coast to coast event last year some new faces took part in the cycling time trial and the times were driven down into the 55 second lap area a whole new level of performance. The Basketball and Hockey moved to Sunday in 2016 and both tournaments were very enjoyable to watch and as the next World Dwarf Games will be in Canada next year, the team sports which are always popular on the world stage and team GB will need teams to participate in this prestigious world event.

The new age kurling had a record number of entries and it was fabulous to see such young athletes enjoying this sport as it takes skill and a sound strategy to win in this games which is very similar to kurling on ice. The same youngsters then moved on to their own football tournament and the U6 and U8’s football was lots of fun for all the children involved.

Bank holiday Monday hosted the DSA’s swimming gala at Cheslyn Hey Sports Centre. The gala had a record number of swimmers entered and there were some really close races. Lots of young swimmers took part in the width races and the relays were particularly exciting. The swimming goes from strength to strength and continues to be a very popular event.

The weather turned wet in the afternoon so our Football tournament was held indoors this year, the standard in both Junior and open age groups was high and the football had an amazing atmosphere which made for one of the best football competitions for some years. With the next World Games coming up in 2017 all the GB teams will be hoping for a good result in Canada.

After the final medals and Trophies were given out Paul Doling officially closed the event for this year.