Meet the Scots family whose Paralympic dream is about to come true

Unlike most parents Gary, 52, and Linda, 50, will take to the boccia court alongside their sons. All four McCowans are part of the ParalympicsGB team. Gary and Linda are ramp assistants for Scott and Jamie, who both have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle-wasting condition.

Yet, the irony is that while Gary and Linda will be in the thick of the action, they won’t get to see a thing. It is against the rules for ramp assistants to communicate or pass advice to players, so they must sit with their backs to the field of play. The chess-like nature of the game necessitates a staunch poker face which means Scott and Jamie will be giving nothing away either.

“They are both very good at that,” says Linda, laughing. “You are always watching their faces, looking for even the slightest flicker which gives you an idea of what is going on. But they never let on. There are times when we have no clue what’s happening on the court behind us.”

Boccia, which made its Paralympic debut in 1984, can be played individually, as part of a team or in pairs. The aim is to get the ball – made of leather and filled with plastic granules so it is easy to grip – as close as possible to the jack. The playing area is similar in size to a badminton court.

Scott and Jamie took up the sport in 2006 when they were 15 and 11 respectively. Three years later they were selected to represent Great Britain. The nature of their condition means Scott and Jamie’s muscles will weaken over time. They have found sport and exercise can help slow the decline.

There are different classifications in boccia based on disability impairment levels. Scott has always played in what is known as the BC3 category, where players use a ramp to help propel the balls on to the court.

Jamie started out in the BC4 group as he had sufficient strength and range of movement at that time for throwing. As his muscular deterioration progressed, however, he was reclassified as a BC3 player last year.

It meant the brothers joined ranks for the first time and have proved a formidable combination. It marks a second Paralympics for Scott – he competed at London 2012 – while Jamie will make his debut in Rio when the action begins this week.

Although on the boccia court they can be team-mates and fierce rivals alike, as we shoot the breeze on a quiet midweek afternoon Scott and Jamie are like any other siblings sitting side by side, gregariously swapping battle stories and gently ribbing each other.

They regale me with tales about psychological warfare in the call room before matches (not for the faint-hearted).

The camaraderie is palpable and they make a whip-smart double act. Scott draws clever analogies coupled with a quick wit and canny one-liners, while Jamie possesses an unflinching candour.

With a twinkle in his eye, Scott recalls his first time playing boccia. “They got some guttering from B&Q and cut it in half,” he says. “I had one bit and another guy got the other bit. That was my ramp.”

He was attending a disability multi-sports event and caught the eye of the Scotland coach, who mentioned they were looking for players. “My first thought was I probably wouldn’t be able to do it because that was my experience of sport,” he says. “There wasn’t much I could do, certainly not at a competitive level. After some persistence from the coach, I decided to give it a try.”

Scott remembers his surprise at hearing about a boccia tournament in Liverpool. “I didn’t know that people travelled for competitions,” he says. “I hadn’t imagined even leaving Ayrshire to play. I thought it was something I would do for fun. I had no idea where it would lead.”

Gary takes up the thread. “Even now a lot of people have never heard of boccia,” he says. “Granted, there are lot more now than when we started. When Scott came home and was talking about playing, I thought: ‘What’s boccia?’ I had to look it up.”

Linda nods beside him. “Sports day was awful – I hated it,” she says. “Like them, I was worried it was something they might not be able to do. I didn’t want them to get their hopes up only to be told they then couldn’t.”

Scott has gone on to compete at the top level around the world, winning a clutch of international medals, including silver at the 2014 BISFed Boccia World Championships in Beijing and bronze at the 2013 BISFed Boccia European Championships in Guimaraes, Portugal.

Younger brother Jamie has also excelled. While competing in the BC4 category he became a European champion in 2013.

They share the determination and drive that is present in every leading athlete. “It could be anything. We always want to win, no matter what. Even Monopoly is competitive with us going head-to-head,” jokes Jamie.

He recounts his first international boccia match as a fresh-faced 12-year-old competing in Canada. “I was playing people twice my age but I was hungry to win,” he says. “That is something Scott and I have both always had. The day I lose that drive is the day I stop playing.”

The family would be the first to admit that life has not always been easy. The laughter ceases momentarily as we talk about the watershed moment when Scott, then six, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition which usually affects only boys – around one in every 3,500 – and two-year-old Jamie was tested and also found to have Duchenne.

“Scott was diagnosed first and with him being older than me, I was basically seeing beforehand what lay ahead,” says Jamie. “But in other ways I had an easier run at it because Scott steamrolled his way through all the different challenges, so when I hit them we already knew how to deal with them. He is a bit more hardened from the experience.”

Spending time with Scott and Jamie, who are relentlessly upbeat, it is easy to forget Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a brutal and relentless and ultimately fatal condition. There was a time when the average life expectancy for those affected was mid-twenties, but increasingly there are cases of men living into their thirties and even forties and fifties.

It is not something the duo like to dwell on. “None of us know how long we have,” says Jamie. “It is not so much about the duration, but rather what you do in that time. At 21, with my condition, I’m in a really good place physically. I don’t ever think about life expectancy.

“By worrying about things you are decreasing your time because if you are worrying, then you’re not living life. It is what it is. That’s the hand we’ve been dealt. You need to make the most of it.”

Scott has a similar outlook. “It is not about what you can’t do or focusing on the negatives,” he insists. “It is about saying: ‘We will worry about that when it happens’ and focus on enjoying life. Otherwise you waste time worrying about things you can’t change.”

Across the table, Linda looks uneasy at the turn of conversation. She mentions the impact the death of a teenage friend who also had Duchenne muscular dystrophy had on the family. “It was awful,” she says, “but you need to pick yourself up and get on with life.”

She casts her mind back to the days before Scott was diagnosed and early signs that something was amiss, her son frequently falling over and then struggling to get back up. “He would have fallen over nothing,” she says. “His legs would just collapse.”

Linda and Gary have always instilled a can-do attitude in their sons, finding ways to sidestep and overcome traditional barriers regarding disability.

“I can’t remember when I realised there was anything different about me than anyone else,” says Scott, lightly. “I just remember being the guy who fell over more than other people. As to why that was the case, I didn’t focus on it.”

His tone remains soft, but there is steely glint in his eye. “I want people to read this and think: ‘Wow, isn’t that great? I want to try that …’ I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for us,” he adds. “We have an amazing life and are about to compete at the Paralympics.”

Scott was 10 when he began using a wheelchair, while Jamie was nine. “There isn’t a day where I’ve felt I’m not normal or I’m disabled,” says Jamie. “When it was time for me to use a wheelchair I thought: ‘OK, I’ll just sit in this now.’ I simply see myself as sitting down now.”

As a youngster he played football with his friends and was even the school goalkeeper for a time. When Jamie fell out of his wheelchair in the park, he would to crawl along the pitch to the nearest tree or wall and use that to pull himself upright. “It wasn’t a big deal,” he says. “It was just life.”

Scott looks protectively towards his younger sibling. “He would never want my mum or dad to come and lift him up – Jamie always wanted to do it himself,” he says.

The McCowan brothers hope to be seen as positive role models and inspire others. “It is not about forcing sport down people’s throats because at the end of the day not everyone wants to do this,” says Scott. “It involves a lot of sacrifice – and that’s nothing to do with being disabled.

“You need to give up a lot of your time and I know that isn’t for everyone. What I don’t want is people not doing things because they think they can’t.”

There is much guffawing from Gary and Linda when I ask how alike Scott and Jamie are. “Be nice,” chides Linda, with a broad smile looking at her two sons.

Scott is quick to point out that Jamie is the “more outgoing and extroverted”, while Jamie says his older sibling is “the academic one” and “very matter-of-fact, detailed and factual”, whereas he describes himself as “a bit more go with the flow”.

Both are self-confessed perfectionists. “There are a lot of similarities too and we are friends as well as brothers,” says Jamie. Was there the usual teenage fights? There is a ripple of laughter. “Teenage fights? We’re still at it now,” deadpans Scott. “Anything we can argue over: sport, politics, music.”

Boccia is the axis on which life at McCowan HQ pivots. Evenings are spent watching videos of their opponents or meticulously planning a training schedule. “It is very much boccia, boccia, boccia in our house,” says Jamie. “The world of all four of us revolves around it.”

There can’t be many players who not only have a world-class training partner, but also their ramp assistant living under the same roof. Gary and Linda’s role is likened by Jamie to being “a caddy in golf”. Or as Scott succinctly puts it: “It is similar to a goalkeeper in football – if they make a mistake it is probably going to cost you …” No pressure then.

Gary, a former manager of a steel stockholders firm, and Linda, who worked as a special needs auxiliary, have both given up their jobs to focus on helping Scott and Jamie pursue their sporting ambitions. “It was too big a chance to miss so we went for it – and it has paid off,” says Gary.

When the siblings do face each other on the boccia court as opponents, brotherly love goes out the window. “That game is more important than any game,” says Scott, with a wry smile. “There are team-mates who hate when they draw each other, but we have always said that when it happens we go out there to hammer each other.”

Jamie is equally sanguine. “I don’t think there is a better feeling than playing Scott,” he adds. “There is always the bragging rights on the drive back home for whoever wins. That even goes for weekly training – there is a battle to be champion every time.”

On the nearby washing line hangs a neat row of tracksuits and other assorted sporting apparel. Linda tallies that they have 12 suit carriers and eight suitcases packed for Rio. “After one competition recently there was 40 pieces of kit on the line,” she says, a fleeting look of trepidation crossing her face, as if she is picturing the towering laundry pile upon return from Brazil.

Before all that an epic adventure awaits for the McCowans. They hope to return from Rio with a clutch of medals. “We are always aiming for gold and truly believe we have the ability to do that,” says Scott. “You don’t set limits – you just go for it.”

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games run from Wednesday until September 18.

MEET THE SCOTS

THERE will be 33 Scottish athletes in the ParalympicsGB team in Rio competing across 12 different sports including boccia, cycling, powerlifting and swimming.

Here's the names to look out for over the next fortnight.

ARCHERY

Nathan MacQueen, Polbeth, West Lothian

ATHLETICS

Jo Butterfield, Glasgow

Maria Lyle, Dunbar

Libby Clegg, Newcastleton, Scottish Borders

Samantha Kinghorn, Gordon, Scottish Borders

Derek Rae, Kirkcaldy

Stefanie Reid, Toronto

BOCCIA

Joshua Rowe, Perth

Stephen McGuire, Hamilton

Kieran Steer, Crossgates, Fife

Scott McCowan, Dundonald, Ayrshire

Jamie McCowan, Dundonald, Ayrshire

Linda McCowan (ramp assistant), Dundonald, Ayrshire

Gary McCowan (ramp assistant), Dundonald, Ayrshire

Patrick Wilson, Cardrona, Scottish Borders

CYCLING

Karen Darke, Inverness

Hannah Dines, Glasgow

Neil Fachie, Aberdeen

Craig MacLean, Grantown-on-Spey

FOOTBALL SEVEN-A-SIDE

Martin Hickman, Lennoxtown

Jonathan Paterson, Motherwell

David Porcher, Livingston

JUDO

Sam Ingram, Edinburgh

PARATRIATHLON

Alison Patrick, Dunfermline

Hazel Smith (guide), Edinburgh

POWERLIFTING

Micky Yule, Musselburgh 

SWIMMING

Stephen Clegg, Newcastleton, Scottish Borders

Abby Kane, Largs

Andrew Mullen, Glasgow

Scott Quin, Edinburgh

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Robyn Love, Ayr

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS

Gordon Reid, Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Michael Kerr, Glasgow

Thanks to Scottish Disability Sport. Visit scottishdisabilitysport.com