Friday 22 December 2000
People all over Scotland will have greater opportunity to fight the festive flab in 2001 with the revelation that over £30m of Lottery and exchequer funds have been invested by sportscotland over the past year, helping it to fulfil its aim of making more people more active, more often.
Ian Robson, Chief Executive of sportscotland, commented: "There is no doubt that 2000 has been a milestone year for Scottish sport.
"Since I joined sportscotland in July I have watched truly inspirational performances on the international sporting stage, especially at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sydney. Scottish athletes won 9 medals at the Olympic Games, a total not bettered since the 1908 London Games, whilst at the Paralympics, Scottish athletes won a record 32 medals, helping Great Britain to achieve second place in the overall medal table.
"Supporting our success at elite level this year has been £3.1m awarded both to our established top athletes and a whole new generation of world class performers. The quality of the talent coming through was clear at this year’s inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in Edinburgh, funded with £100,000 from sportscotland’s Lottery Fund, which provided a platform for our top young athletes to experience the spirit of international competition, and provided a taste of what we might be able to achieve in the future with more investment in sport at all levels.
"We are all concerned about the health of our nation, particularly our young people, and for that reason sportscotland is committed to investing in our nation’s health by creating active communities throughout Scotland. Over the past year sportscotland committed over £9m of Lottery funds towards improving access to quality sports facilities, making it easier for everyone to participate in sport.
"At the root of any active community must be an active youth. This year we confirmed the development of sport among young people as one of our top priorities, helped by the news that over the next three years, an additional £6m from the government’s spending review will be made available to invest in grassroots sport. This, in addition to £30m of Lottery funds committed over the next four years to the improvement of sports facilities for school pupils and the local community and £6m made available for the employment of School Sport Co-ordinators, means that we are now able to invest even more money in getting more young people more active, more often.
"Over the next three years almost £3m will be directed towards introducing an Active Primary School Programme aimed at getting primary aged children more active in a fun and safe way, while extra Lottery funding of £1m a year will mean that the successful School Sport Co-ordinator Programme can be extended from one to two days a week. The extra funding will also help to create a sports component in each of the 48 Social Inclusion Partnerships throughout Scotland, building on the important contribution sport is already making in helping to create more socially inclusive communities.
"Finally, this year’s review of Scotland’s national sporting strategy, Sport 21, recognised that although we have made many advances, there is still work to be done. With the right programmes in place, I am confident that 2001 will be a year where people in Scotland will have less and less excuse not to be more active, more often."
Among the Highlights of 2000 are:
- Over 50 new and upgraded quality sports facilities have opened their doors to the public including: the Glasgow Green Football Development Centre; Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow, a new grass sports pitch for the community of Shiskine on the Isle of Arran and the new National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh.
- 74 new School Sport Co-ordinators have been appointed over the past year with the help of over £1/2m of Lottery funding, with the results of studies so far showing a 65 per cent increase in participation levels among young people in the schools studied.
- 14 Major sporting events have taken place in Scotland with the help of over £810,000 of Lottery funding from sportscotland. These include the BAA Airport Youth Games held in June in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the Commonwealth Youth Games in August in Edinburgh and the World Blind Golf Championships held at Dalmahoy, near Edinburgh, in September, and the Gymnastics World Cup in Glasgow in November. Plus with the assistance of sportscotland Scotland is making a bid to host the 2009 Ryder Cup.
- The wealth of coaching talent in Scotland was celebrated at sportscotland’s Coach of the Year awards, won this year by a man who a month later became the first full time National Coach for Golf, Ian Rae. Rae is one of 8 full time national coaches appointed this year in sports also including triathlon, cricket, cycling, tennis, volleyball and athletics.