2014 National Dwarf Games.

185 athletes with a genetic dwarfism or restricted growth condition made their way from all four corners of the UK to Birmingham and Wolverhampton for three days of sport over the May day bank holiday weekend. The Dwarf Sports Association UK National Games was the biggest ever with athletes from all four home countries plus Canada, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, Denmark, Spain and Ireland.  

The sun shone upon the Alexander Stadium on Saturday as some of the World’s best dwarf athletes gathered to show the UK that they could all do something amazing.

The event was opened by the DSA’s patron Ellie Simmonds with the deputy mayor of Birmingham and was immediately followed by the field events of Shot, Discus and Javelin which had a record number of entries the spectators witnessed some fantastic performances from all age groups.

There was a notable improvement in technique and performances with some dwarf world junior records falling and many of the athletes throwing new personal bests during the day.

The track event was very popular this year with eleven more races than last year.

The youngest age groups of under 8 and under 11 track events had large entry numbers this year and we definitely saw some brilliant runners who we are sure will feature in years to come.

On Sunday morning Cheslyn Hey Swimming Pool hosted the national games swimming gala, another capacity crowd watched fantastic swimmers of all ages.

Ellie Simmonds presented the swimming medals and the Margaret Scott Trophy which was won by Sebastian Williams.

The relay was particularly exciting with a very close finish in both the junior and open age groups.

After the swimming event finished all the athletes moved on to Aldersley Leisure Village for a packed afternoon of sport featuring, table tennis, cycling, new age kurling, shooting and hockey.

The shooting took place in the West Midlands shooting centre with support from the disabled shooting project.

The centre supported the GB dwarf team for the world games last year and with a massive entry in 2014 it bodes well for the World Games in 2017. 

The table tennis tournament was extremely exciting with the French team bringing some very accomplished players over the channel to the UK, making the open age competition very tight and resulting in the French team winning all the medals in the men’s event this year.

The cycling although delayed in starting was still an amazing event with fantastic times set by some athletes at their first ever games.

New Age kurling event receives more entries every year and was particularly popular this year with a record entry for 2014.

After a wonderful evening at the DSA’s annual gala dinner the athletes took to the Basketball court on Monday morning with an international flavour to all the teams taking part and the brilliant performance of the GB team in America to spur the teams on 2014 was witness to some of the best Basketball seen in the national games for some years.

The junior players showed some real skill at the basket and comment was made by the referee’s on how much improvement they had see over the last year.

The basketball was followed by an exhibition match between France and England to start the Football Tournament.

The last time these two nations met was in 2005 in Paris so even in a friendly there was everything to play for. The play was competitive but fair with the England team winning 2 goals to 1.

The football exhibition match was followed by the DSA’s very youngest players taking part in their own tournament which was very entertaining, at the next world dwarf games these young players will be the next generation of junior players.

The main Football tournament followed with men’s and ladies teams featuring in an action packed soccer tournament full of thrills and spills.

The DSAuk hosted a National Dwarf Games with 185 athletes competing this year if you have a genetic dwarfism or restricted growth condition perhaps you’d like to take part in 2015. If you would then contact the DSA office for more details.