OTARS gathered in force at The White Swan in Mansbridge for their Christmas Party on the 6th of December.
It was really great to celebrate the athlete's achievements over the last year. Awards were given out for each of the sessions, chosen by the coaches for overall development, participation and sportsmanship. Including for the first time The Phillip Howard Award which was given in honour of Phillip who sadly passed away last month after years as a dedicated athlete with us. This honour was awarded to Richard Manning for always trying his best, performing stronger and developing as an athlete.
A Fabulous evening enjoyed by all.
Thank you to all of the Coaches and Volunteers for your ongoing support.
Looking forward to another year with some exciting things happening.
It was really great to celebrate the athlete's achievements over the last year. Awards were given out for each of the sessions, chosen by the coaches for overall development, participation and sportsmanship. Including for the first time The Phillip Howard Award which was given in honour of Phillip who sadly passed away last month after years as a dedicated athlete with us. This honour was awarded to Richard Manning for always trying his best, performing stronger and developing as an athlete.
A Fabulous evening enjoyed by all.
Thank you to all of the Coaches and Volunteers for your ongoing support.
Looking forward to another year with some exciting things happening.
Sheffield 2017 Celebration!
Wednesday 27th September
Ageas Bowl
A wonderful night was had by all as we celebrated our Athletes and their achievements at the event held in the Hampshire Suite at The Ageas Bowl last Wednesday evening. The Athletes arrived in style when they turned up at the event chauffeured in a stylish, white Hummer! Alison McNeil, Sam Moss, Lynsey Lodwidge, Wayne Taylor, Gillian Sherman, Lindsey Shirley, James Chalk, Richard Manning, Gary Hiscock and Adam Holley all got to show off their medals and ribbons as they enjoyed the special event in their honour.
Ria provided top class entertainment as she sang her heart out to guests only happy to oblige by dancing the night away. Parents, carers, family members and volunteers all enjoyed a fabulous spread provided by The Ageas Bowl. 'It was such a good night' said athlete Lynsey Lodwidge.
Many thanks to Nikki Hunns for organising the event, and to Carole Richardson and Laura Phillips for organising the photobooks as mementos for the Athletes.
Ria provided top class entertainment as she sang her heart out to guests only happy to oblige by dancing the night away. Parents, carers, family members and volunteers all enjoyed a fabulous spread provided by The Ageas Bowl. 'It was such a good night' said athlete Lynsey Lodwidge.
Many thanks to Nikki Hunns for organising the event, and to Carole Richardson and Laura Phillips for organising the photobooks as mementos for the Athletes.
On Friday 9th October OTARS celebrated it's 10th anniversary at Romsey Golf Club.
When it came to the planning the event , OTARS members had a lot of input and then got what they wanted, balloons, a singer and drinks upon arrival all to be followed up by a BBQ.
All the members and staff had a fantastic time, they even saw some old friends such as Mervyn and Maxine, who are no longer active OTARS members.
Finally, we would like to offer sincere thanks to all the staff and volunteers that helped set the evening up and contributed to such a fantastic time on the night.
All the members and staff had a fantastic time, they even saw some old friends such as Mervyn and Maxine, who are no longer active OTARS members.
Finally, we would like to offer sincere thanks to all the staff and volunteers that helped set the evening up and contributed to such a fantastic time on the night.
Inclusion Day
We went mainly for the football with our Thursday eve football athletes to try and gain friends and to see how about getting into small events for football
We played football, made friends with others also trying out tennis, dance, basketball, the group enjoyed there day out
We played football, made friends with others also trying out tennis, dance, basketball, the group enjoyed there day out
The Bridge Party
The Welcome Back Party this year was held once again in the hospitable surrounds of "The Bridge" at Woolston with our fantastic hosts John and Mandy. All our athletes from Bath attended along with family, friends and supporters for a night of fun and feasting.
The night got off to a spectacular start, our athletes arrived with style, in a limo with music blaring and champagne as it disgorged its beaming contents to start a celebration of achievement.
The music came from Nick Burnett, with his "Storm" Disco providing plenty of opportunities for the dancers to show off. Whereas those of a more sedentary metabolism looked forward to a fantastic spread prepared by Mr Martin Shepard, who kindly donated both his time and effort, we should also thank Toby Carveries for the kind use of their facilities and the sausages they donated.
Thanks to, must go to Balloons R Us, Portsmouth Hardware & Pet Supplies for their support and donations, along with Sweet Pea florists for all their help.
It was a superb evening and a great way of saying "well done and thank you" to each and every one of the athletes who have put in so much effort to achieve their goals.
Once again thank-you to each and everyone who helped make this the success it was.
The night got off to a spectacular start, our athletes arrived with style, in a limo with music blaring and champagne as it disgorged its beaming contents to start a celebration of achievement.
The music came from Nick Burnett, with his "Storm" Disco providing plenty of opportunities for the dancers to show off. Whereas those of a more sedentary metabolism looked forward to a fantastic spread prepared by Mr Martin Shepard, who kindly donated both his time and effort, we should also thank Toby Carveries for the kind use of their facilities and the sausages they donated.
Thanks to, must go to Balloons R Us, Portsmouth Hardware & Pet Supplies for their support and donations, along with Sweet Pea florists for all their help.
It was a superb evening and a great way of saying "well done and thank you" to each and every one of the athletes who have put in so much effort to achieve their goals.
Once again thank-you to each and everyone who helped make this the success it was.
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Quiz night
28th June 2013
OTARS first ever quiz night was a great success, with everyone having a great time as the 5 teams competed for the gold medal!
6 rounds of questions, along with 2 table top rounds kept everyone's brain busy as they stormed their way through Nature, Dogs and Current Affairs before tackling the Olympics, Entertainment and 'In Which Year', it all went down to the two table top questions on Plants and Animals giving us 'Wings' as our final winners squeezing out "Dum Dears", "Airheads", "Saints Alive" and the aptly named "Desperados".
With all the money pooled from the raffle, hot dogs and drinks we managed to raise in total
£239.53
which will go towards the Special Olympics in Bath this year.
In fact everything went so well, we are planning to hold another Quiz night later this year, probably late Nov/Dec.
We along with others would like to thank all those who gave up their time and effort to make this event such a success.
Special thanks must go to Coriander Lounge, Seacity Museum and Annie's Tea Room who kindly donated the prizes
28th June 2013
OTARS first ever quiz night was a great success, with everyone having a great time as the 5 teams competed for the gold medal!
6 rounds of questions, along with 2 table top rounds kept everyone's brain busy as they stormed their way through Nature, Dogs and Current Affairs before tackling the Olympics, Entertainment and 'In Which Year', it all went down to the two table top questions on Plants and Animals giving us 'Wings' as our final winners squeezing out "Dum Dears", "Airheads", "Saints Alive" and the aptly named "Desperados".
With all the money pooled from the raffle, hot dogs and drinks we managed to raise in total
£239.53
which will go towards the Special Olympics in Bath this year.
In fact everything went so well, we are planning to hold another Quiz night later this year, probably late Nov/Dec.
We along with others would like to thank all those who gave up their time and effort to make this event such a success.
Special thanks must go to Coriander Lounge, Seacity Museum and Annie's Tea Room who kindly donated the prizes
Over the last few months we have had sessions run by Luke Davis with both old and new friends making up the 15 trainees,
The feed back from these first set of sessions was extremely positive, in fact so positive we have increased the length of the course to 20 weeks. Those who have already attended really enjoy the experience and all are looking forward to the next few weeks.
Along with the group sessions, there was even time for some one on one work so everyone got a good kick around and learnt a bit more about the wonderful game of football.
October Badmintion Competion Bournemouth
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Otars have just attended the badminton comp in Bournemouth. We had 3 new athletes joining the group too, which is really good, so in all 7 athletes had been entered.
Everyone was pleased with Sam's first competition that he played with Lee which he won. Gillian also won her first game before getting mobbed by her friends congratulating her Matthew smashed his first ever competition and again won his first game. Lynsey 1st comp is doing well as she gets some tips from our Sue the coach In all the athletes from Otars badminton had a really good day, the 7 participants who entered came away with 4 athletes getting bronze followed by 4th and two 5ths Many thanks for the support given by Gareth who came to watch and to help. |
Winsor regional athletics meetingLast week we attended Winsor athletics meeting, where our athletes enjoyed competing against the best the south has to offer.
As yet we do not have the final placings. Once we do do you can find them here. But in the mean time enjoy the photos. |
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Southampton OTARS Ski team traveled to Serre Chevalier in France to take part in the Special Olympics National Winter Games. Sarah Leavesley, Neale Hudson and Sam Searle competed in the Super Giant Slalom, Giant Slalom and Slalom. The competition was over 5 days with 80 competitors from across the country taking part. The course the organisers set was challenging, but all the skiers stepped up to that challenge.
Sam won Gold in the Giant Slalom and Slalom and Silver in the Super Giant Slalom
Neale won Bronze in the Giant Slalom and Slalom with a 6th in the Super Giant Slalom and
Sarah won a Bronze in the Slalom and a 4th in the Giant Slalom
It was a fantastic week with beautiful weather and a great competitive spirit meeting old friends and making new ones.
We would like to thank the team at Southampton Ski Centre for their support and training of the team over the years, Alison Gilroy and Paul Smith who supported the athletes, also Ashley York who kindly came along and coached us at the event.
Sam won Gold in the Giant Slalom and Slalom and Silver in the Super Giant Slalom
Neale won Bronze in the Giant Slalom and Slalom with a 6th in the Super Giant Slalom and
Sarah won a Bronze in the Slalom and a 4th in the Giant Slalom
It was a fantastic week with beautiful weather and a great competitive spirit meeting old friends and making new ones.
We would like to thank the team at Southampton Ski Centre for their support and training of the team over the years, Alison Gilroy and Paul Smith who supported the athletes, also Ashley York who kindly came along and coached us at the event.
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March Athletics meetingIn March we had a fun athletics meeting in Portsmouth and took the athletes along with some other members of OTARS to come and try. This was a great afternoon, since this event Gillian Sherman wanted to have a taster in athletics which she has done and is now an athlete and will be training for some regional competitions, also Andrew Ferguson came along to come and try out so watch this space for another potential athlete.
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Special Olympics Regional Games
Sunday 10th May. Leigh Valley. London.
Six athletes along with their support attended this year's Regional Games held in London's Leigh Valley. After what turned out to be an exciting event, we ended up coming home with a fine haul in medals.
Special mention must surely go to Adam Holley who managed a fantastic Gold in the shot putt, in what was his very first competitive event.
Along with Adam's Gold, the team achieved 3 Silver, 3 Bronze and a lot of either 4th and 5th places in what were their second events.
Sunday 10th May. Leigh Valley. London.
Six athletes along with their support attended this year's Regional Games held in London's Leigh Valley. After what turned out to be an exciting event, we ended up coming home with a fine haul in medals.
Special mention must surely go to Adam Holley who managed a fantastic Gold in the shot putt, in what was his very first competitive event.
Along with Adam's Gold, the team achieved 3 Silver, 3 Bronze and a lot of either 4th and 5th places in what were their second events.
Badminton trip 21st March
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Sue Davey had spent the last few months preparing Gillian and Gary for the competition, which was held in Birmingham this year. After travelling up, they stayed overnight at the local travel lodge, enjoying a good nights sleep before tackling the opposition on the Saturday. Gillian had some luck in each of her groups, ladies singles, mixed doubles and ladies doubles and narrowly missed out on progressing further. Gary also tried his luck in multiple events, also enjoying some of his results in the men's singles, mixed doubles and men's doubles before just missing the cut.
Although they may not have won medals this time, they did as always, win new friends. To round things off Gary celebrated his birthday, along with his presents he enjoyed the sing-along which came with his cake. |
The next competition will be a little closer to home, this coming October in Bournemouth.
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National Indoor Athletics competition
As some of you were probably aware the athletes went to the National Indoor Athletics competition at Lee Valley at the weekend, supported by Nikki Hunns, Leigh Rensch, Gillian Sherman and myself.
Everyone had an exemplary good time, staying in a hotel and enjoying their meal out, along with meeting up with friends for a few.
Everyone had an exemplary good time, staying in a hotel and enjoying their meal out, along with meeting up with friends for a few.
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The athletes results Lindsey Lodwidge has been training very hard and did her first 200 M and came 2nd so got a Silver, she absolutely smashed it and was very proud of herself. She also did the Standing Long Jump and again came 2nd with another Silver. Wayne Taylor did the 400M and just missed a medal coming in 4th, though he made up for it with a silver in the Long Jump. Richard Manning did the 60m dash getting himself a Silver medal, before his shot putt in which he got a whopping Gold. Sam Moss did his 60M dash and came a credible 5th before gaining a Bronze in the Shot Sam Searle stormed to silver in the 60M dash, then followed it up with another Silver in the Shot putt. James Chalk came third to get himself a Bronze in the 60M, before going one better in the Shot putt to get himself a Silver. |
18th October
for the second year running we sent athletes to the
Regional Badminton Tournament
held at Harewood College, Bournemouth.
for the second year running we sent athletes to the
Regional Badminton Tournament
held at Harewood College, Bournemouth.
Saturday we had great success at the Badminton Competition. Gillian Sherman and Gary Hiscock returned for the 2nd year running and both did very well, with Gillian winning 2 games coming 4th overall, while Gary Hiscock did amazingly well and smashed his way to 2nd place getting a silver of which Gary is very proud.
Lee Kenny also competed this year for the first time, he was quite nervous but did well and came in 6th place, Lee enjoyed himself so much he has signed up for next year already. Lee was surprised and thrilled that his brother Neil popped along in the afternoon to show his support,
Many thanks must also go to our badminton coach Sue for her training and continued support.
With any luck, our next badminton competition will be in Birmingham next March ...
Lee Kenny also competed this year for the first time, he was quite nervous but did well and came in 6th place, Lee enjoyed himself so much he has signed up for next year already. Lee was surprised and thrilled that his brother Neil popped along in the afternoon to show his support,
Many thanks must also go to our badminton coach Sue for her training and continued support.
With any luck, our next badminton competition will be in Birmingham next March ...
The Eastbourne Experience
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Our athletes went to Eastbourne for a regional competition on 8th June and yet again did fantastically well. 3 gold 2 silver and 4 bronze made it a great medal haul, with special mention to James Chalk for his twin set of gold medals, closely followed by Lisa Pearson who narrowly missed out on a second gold to add to the one she won for the standing long jump. Sam Searle, Richard Manning, Sam Moss and Lynsey Lodwidge made up the rest of our medalists, with Wayne Taylor just missing out this time with a 4th placed finish in the 400m. Again we wish to thank everyone for their support in making days like this a possibility.
Our next competition will be at Windsor Sunday 20th July |
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Windsor 20th July 2014
Yesterday our athletes competed at the Thames Valley athletics meeting held at Windsor and everyone came away with at least one medal, So the day went very well for all of us under the blazing Berkshire sun. As yet we do not have the times to give you but here are the results Wayne Taylor 400M 4th place and Long Jump Gold James Chalk Shot Bronze and 50M Bronze Sam Searle Shot Bronze and 100M 5th Richard Manning Shot Gold and 100M Silver Sam Moss Shot Silver and 100M 4th Lisa Pearson Standing Long Jump Gold and shot Gold Lynsey Lodwidge standing long jump 6th and 100M gold |
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Ski Sunday
4th May 2014 held at Bromley Yet another successful outing for the OTARS skiing team. We took 3 athletes to Bromley ski centre, where we came away with a pair of gold medals for Neil Hudson and a couple of certificates for Sam Searle, who gained a group promotion and Sarah Leavsley who was skiing for the first time since a nasty fall back in January, which had broken her wrist. So again well done to each and everyone, We would like to thank all those, who through their support make going to events like this possible, for as can be seen, a fantastic time was had by everyone who took part. |
Badminton at Bournemouth International
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Gillian Sherman and Gary Hiscock have made a great start, enjoying their first ever badminton competition, which was held last weekend (26th Oct) at the Bournemouth International centre. Even though it was hard work in the singles, the new friends that they met, made the whole trip worthwhile. Their new friends even gave them a great game of doubles at the end, capping a most enjoyable day out. Once again congratulations to them both.
Nottingham Regatta
The Nottingham Regatta was held over the weekend of September 7th and 8th, with no prizes for guessing where. Neil Harley, Wayne Taylor and Richard Manning all went along as members of Southampton's Canoe Club to compete in this year's races and although we came home without a gold medal this time, no one can deny the fun that was had all round. Thankfully the weather was good, as we were camping, though with fantastic timing it did rain as we struggled with the tents only to stop as soon as they were up.
As far as results went Neil came 3rd in the K1 200m and 5th in the 500m. Wayne also managed a 3rd and 4th in the K1 class, while Richard Manning came in a credible 5th in his solo run. In the K2 Neil and Wayne raced to a 2nd and a 3rd in the 200m and 500m respectively.
As far as results went Neil came 3rd in the K1 200m and 5th in the 500m. Wayne also managed a 3rd and 4th in the K1 class, while Richard Manning came in a credible 5th in his solo run. In the K2 Neil and Wayne raced to a 2nd and a 3rd in the 200m and 500m respectively.
Away from the racing, everyone including the staff were given the chance to go white water rafting. While some had a little reservation, everyone piled in, quite literally in Alison's case, much to the amusement of both Wayne and Neil who manged to stay dry, despite the turbulence caused by Alison repeatedly checking the depth of the water.
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Sam also had a great run to come in 5th in his first run and did well to complete the second. Meanwhile Neale took a tumble before brushing himself off to gain credible 4th and 5th places.
Having had such a great day we are now all looking forward to the West Midland games in October |
It was a very hot day which for us skiers is a little alien, however this did not deter Sam and Sarah's progression to the next level, meaning we now have all three skiers in the intermediate group.
Sarah did an excellent run coming home 4th and then 5th in her group completing all the gates in what to her is a new category, so well done Sarah. 
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Windsor Athletics Meeting
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East Region Skiing Competition
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