Capture Cardiff: 50 years of the Chameleons (first posted 9 Dec 2009)

In 1959, the late Joyce Robinson (pictured below) founded the Cardiff Chameleons – the country’s first swimming club for people with learning disabilities.


(Source: www.cardiffchameleons.co.uk)

The club went on to become the first group in Great Britain to register with the Special Olympics in 1979.

A fitting way to celebrate the club's 50th year therefore was to attend the 2009 Special Olympics in Leicester. The club was enormously successful and took home around 100 medals.

But this wasn’t a one-off for the team as Chameleons’ swimming coach Pam Bailey explains: “We go to quite a few competitions all year round, and this year we also went to the Special Olympics European Swimming in Majorca.”

At that competition, the swimmers won nine Gold medals, five Silver medals and four Bronze medals. Despite this however, the club does not cater solely for swimmers wanting to take part in competition, they also teach new members to swim and the focus is very much on ensuring that the members enjoy themselves.

Another of the swimming coaches, Robin O’Donovan, said: “I’m here for them to enjoy themselves. If I say: ‘Have you enjoyed yourself?’ and they say ‘Yeah!’ Great! That’s what I like.”

Gymnastics, Athletics and Cycling

Due to the club’s success in swimming, they expanded into gymnastics, athletics and cycling. As some of the swimmers and athletes started to get older, they began looking for a sport that required less physical exertion and so the Cardiff Chameleons Bowls Club was born.

The team travelled with the swimmers to the 2009 Special Olympics and were as successful as the swimmers. Their mixed doubles teams took Gold with Ceri-Anne Davies and Angus Pirrie, and Silver with Louise Daw and Alan Beech.

The Chameleons celebrate their success at the Leicester Special Olympics

From Left to Right: Angus Pirrie, Ann-Marie Coles, Ceri-Anne Davies, Janet Broomfield, Louise Daw and Alan Beech

Disability Sport Wales

All the sports run by the Chameleons are brought under the umbrella of Disability Sport Wales.

Joanna Coates-McGrath, Cardiff's regional development officer, said of the organisation: “It’s basically increasing participation opportunities for disabled people. All ages, all abilities, all sports, [just creating] more opportunities out there for them to take part in whatever environment that might be.”

Part of that involves setting up new clubs for which there is often a demand. However, which clubs are ratified depends very much on the virtues of each proposal as Joanna Coates-McGrath explains:



The organisation does have a performance strand, but all of the teams facilitated by Disability Sport Wales cater for both competitively-minded people and for those who are there to make friends.



The Future

The Chameleons are reliant on youngsters coming through and helping the club. David Parsons (pictured below), who went to his first swimming club aged just seven and has competed in numerous competitions, would like to be a full-time coach.

David Parsons: Pictured at the Special Olympics in Glasgow (2005)
(Source: www.cardiffchameleons.co.uk)

He says: “What I like most is seeing people coming on. I like to see them get to the same level as me. I want to be a full time coach by the time I’m 30.”

With young members coming through and taking over the responsibility for the club, the Chameleons should have no trouble surviving for another 50 years.

For the full edit of this article, please see my blog at www.andrewpapworth.wordpress.com