Sport Tayside and Renfrewshire Council have received some early Christmas cheer following the announcement of further support from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme. This investment totalling over £70,000 will aim to develop effective player pathways, enabling a range of sports to be led and supported by a planned and integrated approach.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to spread some festive cheer today with the announcement of £300,212 of funding through its Talented Athlete Programme (TAP). The sport of athletics is celebrating £139,520 of support which will be a welcome boost for those athletes currently in winter training but aspiring to reach the sunnier climes of Athens and the 2004 Olympics.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to announce its latest round of awards from the Sports Facilities Programme totalling over £1.5M bringing a touch of festive cheer to communities across Scotland.

Viewpark - home to Scotland’s local boxing hero and world titleholder Lawrence Murphy will be celebrating the official opening of Viewpark Sports Fitness & Boxing Club on Friday 12th December at Motherwell. Murphy, who regularly trains at the new facility, won the world middleweight title last month with in an incredible first round knock against reigning champ Wayne Elcock.

Some 78 years after leaving his home in Glasgow for the USA, Major League baseball star Bobby Thomson returned to Scotland this week to the Royal Museum, Edinburgh to take up his place in the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Known as ‘The Staten Island Scot’, Thomson is best remembered for hitting baseball’s most famous home run, now enshrined in history as the ‘shot heard round the world’.

sportscotland has announced their latest Junior Group awards totalling over £75,000 to both Fife Council and Activ-8 Grampian. This investment will go towards to creating sustainable sporting structures that will help to encourage youngsters in a range of priority sports to achieve their maximum potential at a regional level.

Central Sports Development Group and Edinburgh Leisure are delighted to receive awards totalling £51,927 from the sportscotland’s Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme. This investment reflects sportscotland’s ongoing commitment towards building sustainable sporting structures, helping to support the development of junior talent at a regional level. Working in partnership with governing bodies and key organisations will help to ensure that the best sporting opportunities are provided to Scotland’s future champions.

At sportscotland’s annual partners meeting in Perth this week the new sportscotland Lottery Fund strategy ‘Raising Our Game’ was presented. During the four years 2003/4-2006/7 an average of £25 million a year will be invested, which is more than the investment actually achieved during the previous four year funding period which averaged over £22million. However, this can only be achieved by managing a significant reduction in Lottery balances which are held in reserve, and in the light of the steep decline in income from Lottery ticket sales, this level of investment is unlikely to be sustained beyond 2007.

The Sporting Champions scheme sprang into life today when Commonwealth Games gymnastics gold medallist Steve Frew made the inaugural visit to Chryston High School in North Lanarkshire, where he was supported by Frank McAveety MSP, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport.

The neighbouring regions of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders are celebrating an award totalling £45,008 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme. This investment will go towards facilitating performance training and competition programmes for talented youngsters in a range of priority sports.

sportscotland is delighted to announce further support to the development of junior talent with an award totalling £79,135 to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) and the Scottish Canoe Association (SCA). The investment comes from the Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes in a range of sports with the opportunity, to participate in a co-ordinated programme of training and competition.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to announce funding of £45,850 to Shetland Islands Council to introduce the TOP Sport and TOP Play programmes into schools across the islands. With the continuing concern over the nation’s health, this scheme aims to assist primary schools and community organisations to increase the physical activity and skill levels of young people and encourage their involvement in sport. It also supports teachers in further developing physical education programmes.

The community of Possil are the latest recipients of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Social Inclusion Partnerships Programme (SIPs). The Possilpark Millennium Centre has received an award of £120,334 over three years to support the new post of centre manager.

Plans for the development of a regional network of multi-sport facilities across Scotland took another step forward this week when sportscotland issued the full briefing pack, detailing the application process to access money from the Scottish Executive and the Lottery Sports Fund to develop these facilities. This will be supported by a series of roadshows 1-3 October 2003, to give interested parties the opportunity to discuss the project requirements in detail.

sportscotland continued to demonstrate its commitment to developing junior talent with an award totalling £53,129 to the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and the Scottish Orienteering Association (SOA) for the fourth consecutive year. The support comes from the Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with the opportunity to participate in comprehensive training and competition programmes.

John White, Scotland’s number one men’s squash player, is celebrating this week following an award of £10,000 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund Talented Athlete Programme (TAP). It is a further boost to the Nottingham based athlete who started the new season with a victory over Canada’s Commonwealth champion, Jonathan Power at the English Open in Sheffield last month.

The place of traditional Scottish sports and games in the 21st century will be the focus of a seminar at Scotstoun Leisure Centre, Glasgow on Saturday 20 September. Chaired by Des McNulty, MSP the seminar, supported by sportscotland and Glasgow City Council, aims to encourage agencies and individuals to unite in order to discuss how to increase public awareness of traditional sports and raise participation levels amongst all age groups.

Muirkirk Village, one of the “eastern gateways to Ayrshire”, is celebrating the opening of a new leisure facility at Pagan Walk, Muirkirk. Supported by an award of £54,224 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Sports Facilities Programme, the multi-purpose playing area marks an important step forward for the Muirkirk Enterprise Group, who have been active in developing range of projects to regenerate the community through sport and recreation.

Following Scotland’s best ever medal success by the judo squad in last year’s Commonwealth Games, the sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to announce its continued commitment to developing the excellence end of the sport in Scotland by investing over £127,000 from the Talented Athlete Programme (TAP).

The community of Kilwinning, ‘the crossroads of Ayrshire’, is approaching Autumn with reason to celebrate as the sportscotland Lottery Fund announces further investment of nearly £250,000 from its Sports Facilities and Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) Programmes to develop sport in the area.

The Shetland Isles is not traditionally known as a hotbed of golf. However a group of nine youngsters from Shetland are determined to buck the trend and are visiting the National Golf Academy at Drumoig in Fife this week as part of the ‘clubgolf’ initiative, which aims to encourage more youngsters to take up the sport.

Moray Council will join forces with Strathlene Buckie Golf Club in driving Scotland’s junior golf programme forward, with the opening of a new training facility at Buckie. Supported by an award of £64,983 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Sports Facilities Programme, Strathlene Buckie is one of the growing number of clubs to have established a formal partnership with the “clubgolf” programme.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to announce a further investment of over £160,000 towards four projects through its Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) programme. This brings sportscotland’s total investment in the SIPs scheme to £1,686,744 since the programme was launched in June 2002.

With temperatures set to soar again across Scotland this week there was cool news for the Aberdeen curling fraternity with an award of £800,000 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund Sports Facilities Programme towards the construction of a new regional curling facility. As part of his summer tour, Frank McAveety MSP, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport visited Aberdeen today to meet with 2002 world champion skip, Jackie Lockhart and members of the project group who accepted the award on behalf of local curlers.

sportscotland Lottery Fund is pleased to announce the latest round of sports facilities awards which brings the total Lottery investment in Scottish sport to a landmark figure of £200m. In recognition of this, the First Minister Jack McConnell MSP will visit Annan near Dumfries today to make the official announcement and see how Lottery support will benefit sporting facilities for the local community.

Youngsters across Scotland are set to benefit from a range of sport based out of school hours learning opportunities (OSHL) thanks to a new partnership between sportscotland and the New Opportunities Fund.

Amateur Boxing Limited Scotland (ABS) together with RSAC Motorsport have welcomed another year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes in a range of sports with the opportunity to participate in a co-ordinated programme of training and competition.

Lochgelly United AFC and Lochgelly Albert Colts are delighted to announce the completion of a new football pavilion at Launcherhead Park. This local project will provide Lochgelly and its surrounding communities with a more a suitable sports and training facility to encourage further participation and promote the benefits of club membership.

Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association (ASRA) are celebrating the arrival of five new international standard competition boats and equipment supported by an award of £32,154 from sportscotland Lottery Fund Sports Facilities Programme. To mark the occasion, the club will be hosting a launching ceremony at the Aberdeen Schools Asset Boathouse, West Aberdeen, which will be conducted by Grant Duncan, Project Manager, sportscotland, together with a representative from one of the club’s major sponsors.

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) and sportscotland are pleased to announce the appointment of Gavin MacLeod as the first Chief Executive for SDS, who will take up his new position at sportscotland HQ Edinburgh, in September this year. This exciting new post has been made possible following additional funding of £600,000 from the Scottish Executive, which has enabled sportscotland to establish an endowment fund for SDS.

The picturesque village of Terregles near Dumfries is celebrating the redevelopment of the athletic and football pavilion at the Terregles Athletic Youth and Amateur Football Club. The new pavilion will give the community wider access to the facility and enable more of them to participate in outdoor sports.

sportscotland in partnership with Scottish Swimming and the Tayside and Fife Area Institute of Sport are pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Vandermeulen as the Tayside and Fife high performance swimming coach. This new post, jointly funded by an award of £80,000 over four years from the sportscotland Lottery Fund and additional funding from the Tayside and Fife Area Institute of Sport and Scottish Swimming, has been introduced to lead and direct the development of the performance swimming programme within Tayside and Fife and will be based at the University of Dundee.

Sports Minister Frank McAveety today welcomed the next step forward in implementing the Executive’s plans for a regional network of multi-sports facilities. sportscotland issued details of the application process to access money from the Scottish Executive and the Lottery Sports Fund to develop these facilities. This follows up the launch of the national and regional sports facilities strategy in March 2003.

Kilgraston School in Perthshire will host the BP National Player Development Camp starting on Sunday 13 July supported by the Camanachd Association and sportscotland. The weeklong programme will involve 65 of shinty’s finest U16 players and aims to enhance and develop their skills in the game.

The BP Tourfest Cricket Coaching Days will hit off next week (Monday 7 July 2003) aimed at promoting the sport of cricket to young people across Scotland.

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has been awarded £40,000, from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme for the seventh consecutive year. The initiative behind the scheme is to provide talented young athletes with a comprehensive training programme to further develop their skills and to enhance levels of performance.

sportscotland, Scotland’s national sports development agency, has recently published new design guidance entitled ‘Secondary School Sports Facilities: Designing for School and Community Use’. This document, the latest in a series of technical digests, aims to help local authorities provide quality school sports facilities, suitable for both school and wider community use. It has been produced with the help of many practitioners and experts in the field of physical education and school sport, and in consultation with all the key agencies in this field.

The BP Scottish Hockey Participation Camps summer programme is about to start with the St Leonards camp next weekend (Saturday 5th July 2003). Once again the four summer camps have been full a month before the final closing date. 200 children will receive the opportunity to learn more about hockey, develop their hockey skills and hopefully generate the desire to continue with hockey in the future.

Scottish Squash in partnership with sportscotland are pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Frank as their new National Performance Director. The post has been funded by an award of £234,510 over four years from sportscotland Lottery Fund’s National Coach Support Programme, which provides financial support to a limited number of recognised governing bodies of sport for the employment of full-time national coaches to develop and improve elite performances.

Today, Frank McAveety MSP, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport announced an award of just over £16M from the sportscotland Lottery Fund to the Scottish Institute of Sport. This investment will ensure the Institute remains firmly anchored at the pinnacle of sportscotland’s Achieving Excellence structure for the next four years, helping athletes to achieve on the world stage.

The Royal Navy will this year host the Player Development Camp for Scotland’s most talented girls in rugby. Working in partnership with sportscotland, players will travel from as far a field as Arran, Hawick and Caithness to participate in the performance camp, where they will be given the opportunity to develop their individual and team skills. Coaches include former Scotland star Denise Fairbairn and current international player of the year Clare Muir.

With the athletics season underway, Scottish Athletics Ltd have welcomed their fourth year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

sportscotland in partnership with Scottish Swimming are pleased to announce the appointment of Tim Jones (former coach to City of Edinburgh) as the sport's new Performance Manager. This is the first appointment of its kind and is an illustration of the new flexible funding approach being adopted by sportscotland's Achieving Excellence team, designed to meet the changing needs of governing bodies capable of delivering success on the world stage.

As part of the "Clubgolf" programme, funded by sportscotland, Edinburgh Has appointed a junior golf development manager to encourage primary-aged Pupils to try out the sport. Sheila Lamb (29) who takes up the post this week From Niddrie Mill Primary School, has been playing the sport herself since the age of eight. Her ambitious remit is to develop the programme across the East of Scotland - including Edinburgh, East and Mid Lothian as well as The Borders

sportscotland, with partners BADMINTONscotland and Aberdeenshire Council, are delighted to be celebrating the national launch of the TOP Sport badminton programme this Thursday. Developed with support from both Activ-8 Badminton and Bank of Scotland, key features of TOP Sport Badminton include:

The community of Newington are celebrating the completion of a £360,000 project to transform the Newington Leisure Centre into a state-of-the-art facility, which will be formally opened by the Chairman of Annandale & Eskdale Sports & Leisure Trust (AESLT) Ernie Turpie.

The community of the picturesque island of Burray in the Orkney Islands will be holding a grand opening fun day this weekend to mark the completion of the Burray Community Association Millennium project to redevelop their community hall and park.

The Scottish Croquet Association (SCA) are celebrating the opening of the National Croquet Centre at the Meadows Croquet Club today, which will provide a central venue capable of hosting first class events.

Two new senior posts in Scottish sport were confirmed this week with the appointment of chief executives for Netball Scotland and Scottish Gymnastics. The posts, which are partnerships between the governing body and sportscotland, are part of the continuing drive to assist national governing bodies of sport in the professionalisation of their infrastructures, creating a positive impetus for the sport’s future development.

Today, the Scottish Hockey Union (SHU) has become one of the first beneficiaries of sportscotland’s commitment to achieving a central target of Scotland's national strategy for sport - seeing 250 Scots become medallists on the world stage by 2007.

The third annual BP National Schools Football Day will take place at the Almondvale Stadium, Livingston on Sunday 1 June, with 14 primary aged teams participating in a small sided festival of friendly games and 14 secondary school teams taking part in a tournament based 7-a-side competition, with each team having won their regional competition to progress to this stage.

Nithsdale Amateur Rowing Club in Dumfries welcomes Dr Elaine Murray MSP to its naming ceremony today to celebrate the arrival of six new boats that will enable the club to increase participation in rowing by teachers and pupils of four local secondary schools.

Former British Lion and Scotland legend Roy Laidlaw will be at Moffat Rugby Football Club (RFC) today to unveil a wooden sculpture of a ram, the club’s mascot, to officially open a new changing pavilion at its ground in Holm Park.

Nearly 1000 young sports enthusiasts from City of Edinburgh and the seven surrounding local authorities took part in the 2003 BAA Edinburgh Airport Youth Games, held in the city on Friday 23 May.

HRH The Princess Royal, President of the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) will be at West Fenton Farm, North Berwick today to unveil a plaque to officially open the Muirfield Group’s new indoor riding arena.

Caledonian Football Club is celebrating today the opening of a new community pavilion supported by an award of £290,450 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund sports facilities programme.

The 2003 Scottish Disability Sport Conference ‘Making it Happen’ sponsored by Royal Mail through the Ready Willing and Able for Sport Programme is being held today (Tuesday 20 May 2002) at the Dewar’s Centre, Perth. With 2003 being the European Year of Disabled People, Scottish Disability Sport are looking forward to a successful conference to help make a difference for Scottish disabled athletes in the future.

sportscotland welcomes the announcement today that the British Government has given its wholehearted support to a London Olympic bid for 2012.

In Edinburgh tomorrow (14 May), 26 of Scotland’s governing bodies of sport will gather with colleagues from the university and skills sectors to consider the recommendations of the Coaching Task Force and discuss in particular, how the introduction of a UK-wide national coaching certificate and licensing scheme will benefit sport in Scotland.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund are delighted to announce an award of £75,000 for the 2003 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William. This is the second year the event which will take place over the June Bank Holiday weekend. This event is one of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series, which takes place over several international events and is the most prestigious mountain bike competition in the world. The introduction of Cross Country on the new ‘Witch’s Trail’ course in 2003 will make Fort William the first -ever triple World Cup in the UK.

The 10th BP U15 Inter District Tournament for netball will take place at Bell's Sports Centre, Perth on 10th and 11th May from 10am. Approximately 200 girls from seven districts across Scotland will compete over the weekend.

In January 16-year-old Nicole Arthur from Falkirk became the World Junior Girls Slalom Water Skiing Champion. Despite having to ski through the winter on the cold waters of her regular training site on the Black Loch, Nicole went on to beat girls two years her senior in the 30-degree heat in Chile. It was a great moment for this young student in what promises to be a very successful career. Today Nicole is celebrating again, following her second award from the sportscotland Lottery Fund Talented Athlete Programme (TAP). This year, her award has risen to £7,500. Nicole is also a member of the Central Institute of Sport.

Netball Scotland are celebrating their first year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is delighted to announce funding of over £160,000 to projects throughout Scotland designed to tackle social inclusion. The new funds will go to both new and existing projects and demonstrate our commitment to improving access to healthy lifestyle choices, to enhancing sporting opportunities and helping communities develop themselves through sport, physical recreation and healthy lifestyle activities.

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Scotland are celebrating their fourth consecutive year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

In light of recent media speculation, sportscotland wishes to clarify its position in regard to the funding of Scottish Cricket.

Today, Olympic curling champion Rhona Martin and cycling world champion Chris Hoy, teamed up with the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Dr Elaine Murray, to give the thumbs up to Scotland's national strategy for sport 'Sport 21: 2003-2007 Shaping Scotland's Future'.

The Central Sports Development Group and Gael Force Ten are celebrating their third consecutive year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

JudoScotland welcome their third year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

The Scottish Cyclists Union (SCU) have welcomed their fourth year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

As Scotland's National Football team prepares to fly out to Germany for their first match in the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship qualifiers, they are celebrating the announcement of £91,000 investment from the sportscotland Lottery Fund through two programmes.

A regional network of state of the art multi sport training facilities is at the heart of an ambitious sports facilities strategy launched today by the Scottish Executive.

Details of an additional £1.65 million for sport was announced today at the launch of the Sporting Champions Scheme for Scotland.

The community of Drumchapel are celebrating the opening of the £4.2M Donald Dewar Leisure Centre. After consultation with local residents it was decided to name the facility after the late First Minister whose constituency included the new centre.

The Scottish Equestrian Association (S.E.A) is celebrating their third year of funding following a maximum award of £40,000 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which allows talented young athletes to follow a comprehensive training and competition programme.

Scottish Swimming and Scottish Fencing are celebrating today their fifth year of funding from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

Wheelchair curlers throughout Scotland will converge on Aberfoyle later this month to take part in the sport's inaugural National Championships sponsored by Royal Mail.

The Annual BP S1 Festival Finals will take place at the Institute of Sport and Exercise, Dundee University, Dundee on Sunday 16 March, with ten first year secondary school basketball teams from across Scotland competing. Teams have competed in mini tournaments organised by one school in each section, with the winner of each mini tournament going through to the Sunday's finals.

The pretty village of Fintry nestled along the Endrick Water is celebrating new changing accommodation and building upgrade at the Fintry Sport and Recreation Club, which were both constructed with the support of £50,000 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund.

The sixth annual BP National First Shinty Festival will take place at the Nevis Centre, Fort William on Saturday 15 March, with 16 primary aged teams from across Scotland competing for the title of national champions.

The Scottish Volleyball Association have welcomed a third year of funding following an award of £29,220 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which allows talented young athletes to follow a comprehensive training and competition programme.

Newtonhill, a small but rapidly expanding coastal village in Aberdeenshire is celebrating the completion of a new £720,000 arts and leisure centre which was constructed with the support of £107,500 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund is today announcing two new awards, worth over £220,000, under the Sports Facilities Programme:

Over 350 youngsters from all over Scotland took part in the BP Tourfest Flying Start Long Course day at the National Swimming Academy in Stirling on Sunday 24 February 2003.

Hoping to build on the Scottish boxing medal successes at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester last year, Amateur Boxing Scotland Ltd (ABS) are delighted to announce Dr John McKay as the new National Boxing Coach.

Scottish Disability Sport, Gymnastics and Triathlon are celebrating the announcement of nearly £120,000 from the sportscotland Lottery Fund's Junior Groups Programme, which provides talented young athletes with a comprehensive training and competition programme.

The sportscotland Lottery Fund has awarded over £76,000 to 20 Scottish golfers from the Talented Athlete Programme (TAP), which provides individual financial support to Scotland's top performers and athletes.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and First Minister Jack McConnell, MSP have joined forces to launch one of the country's most ambitious projects to encourage youngsters to play golf.

Two new appointments to the Board of sportscotland have been announced.

Following the successful passing of the Land Reform Bill through the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland commended the process and welcomed the benefits that it will undoubtedly bring to users of the countryside.