Thursday 25 November 1999

As internationally renowned squash stars Peter Nicol and Martin Heath prepare to battle it out in the 1999 British Open Squash Championships, sportscotland Lottery Fund  today announced its support of a new Squash Academy to help foster the next generation of outstanding young talent.

An award of £14,000 to Scottish Squash will help to finance a structured programme of professional training and competition for an elite squad of young athletes, comprising the most promising junior squash players in Scotland.  The programme is directed at helping the youngsters to progress to the highest levels of junior, and, ultimately, adult squash.

Based at the National Competition and Training Centre for Squash at Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University, the development programme is designed to cater for the individual requirements of the athletes.  Numbers will be limited to around eight athletes who will receive training and evaluation programmes at Heriot Watt and in a series of stipulated tournaments in the UK and abroad.  Support from various specialists in conditioning, nutrition and sports science will also be provided.

The Academy will also help the young players to prepare for selection for the Youth Millennium Commonwealth Games, taking place in August 2000 and part-funded by an award of £100,000 from sportscotland Lottery Fund.

Norman Brydon, of Scottish Squash, said:  “This innovation will allow the national centre of excellence to further increase the return, in terms of producing high class players, on the original ground-breaking investment made by sportscotland, Heriot Watt University and the Foundation for Sports and the Arts in the National Competition and Training Centre for Squash.  The concept of the Squash Academy now forms a fundamental element of our strategy for the pursuit of excellence.”

Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said:  “Through its Lottery Fund, sportscotland has so far invested over £1.1m in the development of squash in Scotland.  As well as awards to talented athletes and local sports facilities, sportscotland has contributed £345,000 towards the creation of a new Regional Squash Centre in Newlands, Glasgow, and over £83,000 to Britain’s premier squash event, the 1999 British Open Squash Championships, being held in Aberdeen from 2-11 December 1999.

“This latest award, towards an innovative new Squash Academy, will offer the services that our talented young athletes both deserve and also require if they are to compete at an international level.

“Squash is a popular sport in Scotland and one in which we have achieved success in recent years.  Giving aspiring young talent the opportunity to access similar services to elite adult athletes is essential if we want to build on that success, raise the profile of squash in Scotland and create a new generation of sporting achievers.”

• sportscotland has so far awarded over £100m to all aspects of Scottish sport, including talented athletes, sports facilities, national coaches and school sports co-ordinators.