Junior talent scores with Lottery funding
Wednesday 17 October 2001
As the Scotland rugby team prepares to do battle with the All Blacks in November at Murrayfield, the young rugby talent of the future are celebrating the sportscotland Lottery Fund announcement of more funding to help nurture sporting stars of the future.
The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) has received a second maximum award of £40,000 made through the Fund’s Junior Groups Programme, which aims to help young people to progress to senior, national and ultimately, international level through more training and taking part in competition programmes.
The first award was used to set up the Scottish Rugby Academy to support and develop national age-grade players. This year’s funding will enable the work of the Academy to continue concentrating primarily on 80 national age-grade players in the under 17, u18, u19 and u21 squads.
The programme focuses on strength and conditioning training for the squad members, such as individualised fitness programmes and attending supervised fitness sessions twice a week.
In addition, this year’s programme includes two new features, a Scottish Institute of Sport dietician who will work with the players to promote a healthy diet and a pilot scheme of specialised sessions on the practical skills front row forward play.
Roy Laidlaw, Elite Squad Co-ordinator for the SRU, said: “The Scottish Rugby Academy is a very important part of our three-pronged approach to nurturing the players who we want to play and win for Scotland at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.
“The Academy sits alongside our pathway programme and the Scottish Institute of Sport, all designed to enhance the quality of rugby players being produced in Scotland.”
Ron Sutherland, Manager of Development Funding at SRU, added: “We are extremely appreciative of the sportscotland Lottery Fund’s provision of this further £40,000. This is vital to the programme’s success, enabling the Union to continue backing the Scottish Rugby Academy financially.”
Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said: “These awards will support the young, enthusiastic rugby talent in Scotland. The practical benefits include enabling them to receive quality coaching and training and compete at their highest level, all which help players to reach their best potential.
“sportscotland’s vision to bring a greater range of sporting opportunities to Scotland and continue to support and encourage management of the young sports stars of tomorrow is crucial for the future. By nurturing players at grass roots level, we are building a foundation to extend the number of athletes who can represent our country on the world stage. ”
- To date the sportscotland Lottery Fund has awarded £2,753,534 to Junior Groups Programmes.
- Junior Groups Programmes provide support to groups of talented young people participating in a co-ordinated programme of coaching and competitive events over a minimum period of six months.
- Those eligible to apply for support are governing bodies of sport through the National Programme and local authorities through the Regional Programme.
- Applications for the following costs are considered for funding: facility hire, coaching fees, accommodation, travel, equipment and competition entry fees.