LETTERS

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Apr 3, 2006

I COULD not agree more with Neil Drysdale's account of the state of Scotland's sports facilities (The Last Word, March 26) and the need for a better support structure for our athletes. I am the mother of a 13-year-old who has dedicated her life to her chosen sport of gymnastics and, despite a profound lack of facilities, she has been selected for training with Scotland's national squad.

I am well placed to make judgments on the system which has not actively facilitated her achievements.

The club she trains in receives no funding from any national bodies and there is no support, financial or otherwise, from the local authority. It is a non-profit making community amateur sports club run by volunteers which is independent of the local authority and since all lottery and government funding is channelled through Sportscotland who state that they prefer to work in partnership with local authorities, the club and its members fall outside Sportscotland's preferred support mechanism.

It is interesting to note that the Scottish Women's Artistic Gymnastic Team at the Commonwealth Games was made up entirely of young ladies who are not indigenous to Scotland. They live in England and train with English clubs.

The question must be asked why gymnasts who train in Scotland are not good enough to be selected for the Scottish team.

Part, if not all of the answer is obvious. Athletes are unable to train to a high enough standard to attain the level required for the international stage without adequate (unlimited) access to well- maintained facilities.

For my daughter (and five fellow national squad members from her club), the only purposebuilt facility that is closer than a 230- mile round trip is so badly maintained as to be a danger. It is widely acknowledged that the three core sports of athletics, gymnastics and swimming provide the foundation skills for all sport. There is no adequate gymnastic facilities in the whole of the north of Scotland, therefore it is astonishing that a proposed Olympic standard national sports centre being built in our home city does not include gymnastics facilities (not to be confused with "gym", "games hall" or "performance/fitness gym").

It is galling to hear politicians and local authorities claiming ownership for the success achieved by "their" athletes at the Commonwealth Games, who in reality received next to no help or acknowledgement from them before they were successful. I agree that setting up a Sports Ministry to cherrypick the cream of Scottish talent from the age of 12 and give them an education as well as professional coaching is one solution that should certainly be considered and would go some of the way to help Scotland evolve into a nation of highperforming sports men and women.

But let's not forget the athletes who are struggling today. A revolution is indeed required to change the mindset of a national system which does not even address the achievements of the youngsters today who have already raised their game through their own hard-earned efforts without any of the benefits of a first- class Scottish sports regime or the facilities they so richly deserve.

Lynn Cadger Aberdeen

Enjoy your whisky, Lynn

SCOTLAND'S success at the recent Commonwealth Games masked a huge problem in Scottish sport. Our two most successful set of competitors came from swimming and track cycling and almost all of them had to leave the country to train to reach that level.

Now both these are indoor sports, so there is no need for them to move away from Scotland other than a chronic lack of investment in sport in this country.

Scotland has for the last few years produced some great track cyclists who have won at all levels to become world champions yet our main track is the out-dated outdoor at Meadowbank and after that the next is an ancient one at Caird Park in Dundee.

Jack McConnell likes to call Scotland the "best small country in the world" while at the same time stifling calls for Scotland to compete at the Olympic Games.

It suits Mr McConnell's political argument to starve Scottish sport as he can then say our medal winners are stronger from training in England and could not compete at that level if they stayed in Scotland.

What a loser's attitude. He should back the calls for a Scottish Olympic team and give our sportsmen and women the facilities their performances deserve.

Andy Simpson Aberdeenshire

IT is was interesting to read the article about how many of the Scottish rugby team came from a public school background.

Could their larger, stronger physiques be attributable to compulsory school dinners and more sport on the curriculum?

In the area that I live, it is very rare to see school children with the physique to play rugby, never mind at international level.

Too little PE and and the option to leave school at lunchtime and eat crisps and pies appear to contribute to producing the standard pale, unathletic Scottish teenage specimen.

John Henderson Forres

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