The Derian Dynamos have picked up plenty of gold medals at Panathlon events over the years – and are all set for more sporting success.
They are the team representing Derian House Children’s Hospice, Chorley, which provides respite and end-of-life care and support for babies, children and young people across the north-west. They first discovered Panathlon when they were invited to join a boccia competition for Bolton schools.
“As many of our young people were familiar with the game of boccia, we decided to buy our own set and regularly play at Derian,” says Melanie Lowe, youth worker at Derian House. “We also purchased a kurling set after entering some of the kurling competitions too.”
She says that in those initial competitions, the young people didn’t necessarily take it very seriously – because they thought they would not win.
“One lad commented, ‘We have no chance; we are the only ones in wheelchairs.’ They went ahead and won the whole competition! They now turn up at events with a can-do attitude and a desire to be the best they can be and come away with a trophy. We have recently had to buy a trophy cabinet at the hospice to display all their winning certificates and trophies.”
The aim now is to include as many young people as possible in the teams that enter competitions (although as Mel points out with a grin, they also have star players at both boccia and kurling), and over the years she estimates that around 30 young people have represented Derian House at Panathlon events.
And their participation has, in many cases, been transformative. Mel mentions a young woman who is now 21 and enjoyed playing boccia when she was at school.
“She became quite isolated at home after leaving education but would always come to the Panathlon events as it gave her a sense of worth and something to look forward to. She was devastated when she was no longer able to enter the school games competitions once she turned 18 but thanks to Debbie, she encouraged her to get involved with officiating so she was still able to be involved. Now Panathlon offer events for 18+ she has once again become involved in the boccia events.”
