A TEESDALE coach is hoping to help a team of disabled athletes strike gold at one of the world’s biggest sporting events next year.
John Richardson, who helps to train the Teesdale Special Olympics swimming team, has been selected as the UK’s ten-pin bowling coach for the Special Olympics World Games, which will be held in Abu Dhabi, in March 2019.
Mr Richardson had originally applied to be a swimming coach at the event but all of the vacancies had been filled.
Despite his initial disappointment, his history as a former league bowler helped him secure an alternative role.
He said: “I applied for swimming but they said they’d had a lot of swimming coaches who had applied. They said they’d had no applications for ten-pin bowling coaches. I used to pay ten-pin bowling as a league player in the mid-1990s, so I said if I could help with that I would.
“There was no coach in place so if someone did not take that opportunity, all the ten-pin bowlers could not go to the World Games.
“I just wanted to give them that opportunity as I know that working with these guys here in Barnard Castle is second to none.”
Mr Richardson has been a sports coach since 2004.
He began training the Special Olympics swimmers at Teesdale Leisure Centre three years ago but had already worked closely with the Teesdale Sharks prior to that.
In between his weekly sessions with the Teesdale swimmers, Mr Richardson is now looking forward to working with a team of eight bowlers from across the country.
He said: “Over the years I have volunteered as an official for the modern pentathlon and done the Commonwealth games and Olympics.
“I have helped set things up and helped make the competitions run but I have never done it as a coach.”
He added: “When I applied in September, I never expected a reply. I just expected a thank you but no thank you. I was gobsmacked when they phoned. It is one of those things that you think will never happen.
“I just can’t put it into words what it means. It does not get any bigger than this.”
Mr Richardson’s success has now sparked the idea for a Teesdale Special Olympics ten-pin bowling team.
Assistant coach Christine Taylour says that plans are in the pipeline and they hope to provide training very soon at Planet Leisure, in Newton Aycliffe.
She said: “We are looking at extending our branch to include ten-pin bowling. It is still in the talking stages but our members love it.
“I think we could have some good competitors. It will help John with his coaching too. I am over the moon for him.”
Extending provision within the dale club means that extra volunteers are always being called upon to help run sessions or escort members to events.
Ms Taylour said: “It is just so worthwhile working with the members of our club. They become much more accepted in the community.
“We are trying to promote opportunities that they never had. They can achieve and be as good as, if not better, than everyone else,” she said.
“To watch them achieve and see the delight they are getting from achieving is unbelievably rewarding.”
Meanwhile, Mr Richardson is gearing up for a busy schedule of events over the coming months in preparation for the games.
He added: “I’m really looking forward to it. I have still got my ball and shoes from when I used to play. Getting the ball out again is exciting.”
