The Active Ageing Table Tennis group celebrated Christmas after another year of impressive growth.
The Table Tennis sessions, held at Jesmond Sports Centre, has grown rapidly since its inception doubling in both the number of sessions and those who attend.
Regular attendee Christine has witnessed first-hand the benefits of the session to both her and her husband. “My husband has had issues with his lungs for 3 years now and started coming to these sessions a year and a half ago. He’s already up to playing 3-4 times a week now and the benefits have been immeasurable.”
Head Coach Dick has watched the club grow from strength to strength and is delighted with the progress. “It’s a fantastic group we have here. We’ve grown over the years from one session with sometimes less than 8 attending to 2 sessions with 16 coming at a time. This growth has not gone unnoticed with organisation across the country looking to replicate what we’ve done here, and we aren’t finished yet!”
Active Ageing Table Tennis is an activity with numerous health benefits. Physically it allows people of all abilities to remain active and physically fit developing, stamina, concentration and balance. It also has immeasurable mental benefits too with the sport being a very social day out for those who attend. The session is also dementia friendly.
If you would like to know more about the session or any other Active Ageing Activities visit the Active Ageing page here.
From all the Table Tennis players at Jesmond, have a Merry Christmas!
A selection of staff at Sport Aberdeen have celebrated over two hundred years of service.
The eight employees were recognised during a Long Service Awards presentation at the Inspire Building on 2nd December.
Among the staff were Leisure Attendant at Mackenzie Championship Course; William Bannerman, who reached 26 years of service in June while Duty Manager for Sheddocksley Sports Centre; Edward Wood also celebrated 26 years. Marilyn Ingram, also of Sheddocksley, celebrated 27 years of service.
The employees were presented with their awards before members of the Sport Aberdeen Board who were delighted to recognise their impressive milestones and years of hard work.
Human Resources & Organisational Development Manager, Nickie Scorgie, says their knowledge and insight are invaluable to both the company and the City of Aberdeen and the award is a symbol of our recognition.
Human Resources & Organisational Manager, Nickie Scorgie, said, “It is with great pleasure that Sport Aberdeen can boast over 100 years of experience between just three employees. Their knowledge and insight are invaluable to both the company and the city of Aberdeen. But more than this, they embody hard work and determination as evidenced through their years with Sport Aberdeen. As a company, we cannot thank them or congratulate them enough for their endeavours.”
The complete list of long service awards are as follows:
Anne Low – 25 years on the 01 April 2015
Edward Wood – 26 years on the 16 October 2015
Helen Morley – 29 years on the 16 April 2015
Iain Hunter – 26 years on the 05 June 2015
Kenny Seivwright – 27 years on the 01 August 2015
Marilyn Ingram – 25 years on the 27 March 2015
Neil Tennant – 26 years on the 02 October 2015
William Bannerman – 26 years on the 29 June 2015
A local ice skater has won silver at a prestigious competition in Sheffield.
Greig Smith from Bridge of Don picked up the silver medal in the Advanced Novice category on 3rd December at the British Figure Skating Championships.
Greig was the only athlete from Aberdeen to be selected for the invitation only event and the 14 year old did not disappoint.
Setting an overall score of 65.07 Greig was able to achieve a silver medal in a tight contest.
Greig trains daily at the Linx Ice Arena with Coach Kerrie Brown and he was delighted with his performance.
“After months of training I was excited to attend this year’s British championships. Having won it at basic novice level last year I was nervous about competing at advanced novice this year and taking 2nd place silver medal was amazing! It was a fantastic experience.
Next year I hope to compete at junior level and my dream is to compete in internationals to further my skating career.”
At the start of the 2015 season Scottish Rugby introduced a new conference league for clubs and schools to enter. Aberdeen Wanderers Youth RFC teamed up with Deeside RFC to enter a combined team called Deeside Wanderers to ensure all players at each club could be part of the new conference league structure and get competitive games at each of the youth age groups (Under 13 to Under 18). After the final round last weekend, Deeside Wanderers were crowned winners of the Club League with a total of 107 points.
The Club Red Conference has been a great success for all clubs involved, but especially Aberdeen Wanderers RFC and Deeside RFC.
2016 sees the start of the Cup Competitions and let’s hope the Aberdeen Wanderers and Deeside players are just as successful.
As well as the Cup Competitions, there will be plenty of friendly matches at all age groups, so the players will get a lot of game time to help develop their skills as rugby union players.
If you are interested in joining Aberdeen Wanderers, please visit www.aberdeenwanderers.com or email info@aberdeenwanderers.com for further information.
Aberdeen Wanderers promotes Rugby Union for all ages and abilities
A budding young Table Tennis athlete continues to impress on the National and International circuits.
Dylan Curry has had an impressive year on the table and the young athlete is already preparing for next year where he hopes to be even more successful.
13 year old Dylan, from Banchory, only took up the sport of Table Tennis 4 years ago and now trains 15-20 hours per week across two venues. Much of his time is spent at Aberdeen Sports Village whilst the remainder is spent at Sport Aberdeens’ Westburn Outdoor Sports Centre.
He has continued to make progress and as a result, is now ranked number one in the Scottish Rankings in the under 15 category. Currently the National Champion, he also plays for the Scotland National Team where he won bronze in both the singles and team competition in June.
Dylan would then impress further by putting in a great performance in the 58th European Youth Championships in Bratislava, where the Scotland team would defeat Switzerland and Malta to finish runner up in the group.
In October Dylan competed in a major competition in England where he again impressed on the way to collecting a silver medal.
Sport Aberdeen is proud to support local talent like Dylan and his success in 2015 is just rewards for the time and effort he dedicates to his craft. 2016 will hopefully bring even more success, watch this space!
A Scotland International returned to her hometown to visit a girls Football Festival in Aberdeen.
Rachel Corsie visited the Senior Girls Football Festival which was held in conjunction with a number of schools, Sport Aberdeen and SportScotland on 6th December.
Over 70 girls attended the session at the Banks o Dee Football Pitch which included teams from Harlaw, Cults, Bucksburn, Kincorth, Torry and Northfield. The festival included a 6 team round robin tournament which Harlaw won on goal difference.
Special Guest Rachel Corsie has over 80 caps for Scotland and plays in the USA for Seattle Reign FC. She led a Q&A session where she revealed her favourite player was David Beckham.
A local rugby club held a successful girls festival on Sunday 6th December.
Aberdeen Wanderers RFC hosted the festival at their home turf on Groats Road, inviting players from clubs around the region to train with them.
The event, which benefited from ideal weather conditions, attracted around 35 girls across the Under 12, 15 and 18 classes including players from Huntly and Montrose.
The Sport Aberdeen clubCAP members held a number of training sessions through the day including small games and were delighted to see a good turnout. The club hopes as a result, more girls across the region will take up the sport and that those who attended have added to their skillset.
An Aberdeen Lynx fan was given the shock of her life at a recent fixture when the love of her life proposed to her in spectacular fashion! Amber Duncan of Aberdeen, it was all ice ice baby as she left an Aberdeen Lynx ice hockey match engaged to be married to the love of her life, Ricki Inkson.
Amber Duncan and Ricki Inkson, who had been attending a home match on Saturday evening, left the match husband and wife-to-be, after the engagement proposal took place centre stage on the ice.
Aberdeen Lynx Ice Hockey fan, Ricki, 26, got down on one knee and popped the question to Amber, 23, ahead of the games face off.
Mr Inkson, who devised the engagement plan with Aberdeen Lynx Ice Hockey Club organisers, staged the romantic gesture at Saturday’s icy affair so well, that Amber had no idea about the proposal.
Dressed in the Aberdeen Lynx mascot outfit, Mr Inkson took to the ice five minutes before face-off, skating centre stage where he was joined by Amber who had ‘mysteriously’ been called down to the rink. The masked crusader then took off his disguise revealing his identity, got down on one knee in front of 900 spectators, and popped the question with ring in hand.
Congratulations to the happy couple
Another winner has been announced as part of Sport Aberdeens monthly Membership Giveaway.
Earlier in the year, a short Venue Visit Survey on our website was formed and as a reward for completing just a few short questions, every entrant is put in a draw for a free 12 Month Membership.
A participant is chosen at random every month with Lloyd the lucky winner for Octobe
If you would like to be in with a chance to win a free full Fitness Membership with Sport Aberdeen for 12 months, simply complete our short survey via www.sportaberdeen.co.uk/about-us/surveys/
A local amateur football team competed in the 2015 Multicultural Football Festival at Lesser Hampden, Glasgow.
The clubCAP members, Jesus House Football Club, took part in the tournament on 17th October, impressing on the way before being knocked out in the quarter finals.
The festival is a celebration of diverse communities in Scotland and invites amateur sides of all ethnic minority backgrounds across the country to participate.
Jesus House Football Club, who recently achieved their standard accreditation with clubCAP, Sport Aberdeen, was one of 12 teams who participated. Grouped with FC Polonia Dundee and United Glasgow FC, Jesus House topped the group after 3 wins and a loss.
The team would go out to Glasgow Afghan in the quarters in a 2 – 1 loss, however player-coach Okechukwu Zubi was proud of his team’s efforts.
“We’ve had a great tournament. The festival is a huge advertisement for Scottish hospitality and warmth; I’d like to thank the Scottish FA Equity Project Department for their work in this initiative and my players for their effort”