While many athletes will be focusing on Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games this year, when it comes to achieving sporting success one talented Fife teenager is already looking further ahead.
Kieran Steer, from Crossgates, is fully focused on being among the medal winners at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio in two years’ time and backed up his Brazil intentions with another outstanding international performance in the sport of boccia.
The 18-year-old was among the 2,000 international students who travelled to the fourth and largest Paralympic Schools Championships in Brazil at the turn of the year and took part in a full range of Paralympic sports, although Kieran came out with a gold medal in the BC4 class at boccia beating off competition from 117 other competitors.
And the Fife youngster hopes it will not be his last taste of gold in Brazil as he targets more medals when the Paralympics take place in 2016.
“Competing at the Paralimpiadas Escolares in Brazil was a fantastic opportunity and was very different to anything I have done before,” Kieran said.
“Being so far from home, experiencing a different culture and competing against the best international players was a great experience that I’m sure will help me develop my future career.”
Boccia is an indoor court game played by the most severely disabled performance athletes within the disability sports programme.
The game was initially played by power and manual wheelchair users who have cerebral palsy but in recent years it has been opened up to players with other impairments, similar to cerebral palsy in functional ability, having an impact on a player’s four limbs and trunk.
Kieran competes in the classification for players with muscular dystrophy, severe spinal injuries or the equivalent, and the young west Fife athlete has challenged and on occasions defeated some of the country’s leading BC4 players.
And following his performances in Brazil, national and local coaches hope Kieran’s latest success will prove to be a defining moment in the young man’s career.
Kieran started his campaign on day one in the pool matches with a more than convincing 20-0 win, although on day two he came up against fellow Scot Jamie McCowan in his opening pool match and lost out narrowly 3-1.
However, the two Scots progressed to the semi-finals where Kieran defeated the South American junior champion 5-3 with a brilliant final winning ball and Jamie overcame his Brazilian opponent by 13-0.
The all Scottish/British BC4 final was staged on day four of the competition with Kieran dominating the opening exchanges, racing into an early lead which he held throughout.
The young Fife player eventually lifted the title by the winning margin of 9-3.