Scotland's young hockey stars celebrate sportscotland investment
Wednesday 28 February 2007
Julia Bracewell OBE Chair, sportscotland was joined by some of Scotland’s best young hockey players to announce sportscotland’s annual investment of £637,000 in the Scottish Hockey Union (SHU) for 2007.
This investment, of which £429,000 is from the sportscotland Lottery fund, will go towards medal success, coaching, volunteering, player improvement and club development.
Eight of Scotland’s young hockey stars have recently returned from great success at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, where they represented Team GB. The women’s team, which included Nikki Kidd, Becky Merchant and Laura Bartlett, beat Australia 4-2 in the final to win gold while the men, Michael Christie, Iain Scholefield, Gordon McIntyre, Andrew Sinclair and Kenny Bain, just missed out on gold medals after losing 7-6 to the hosts on penalties.
Sports Minister Patricia Ferguson said: “Today’s investment will help the Scottish Hockey Union to develop the grass roots of the sport in Scotland and increase participation levels.
“It will also be used to help the country’s best athletes and support their progression, as they work towards medal achievement at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, and selection for Team GB at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.”
Scotland is increasingly well represented in hockey at Great Britain U21 level with at least 20 percent of each squad being Scottish. That figure rises to over 25 percent for the senior teams.
The SHU pride themselves on their coaching network of full-time and volunteer coaches which is backed up by umpires, officials and volunteers throughout the country and they strive to ensure that all hockey players have a clear pathway from grassroots to Olympic level. This approach has continued to drive the sport forward resulting in over 30,000 people playing hockey on a weekly basis and increased representation at GB level.
Scotland is also well represented on the world stage in terms of officials. The highest level for umpires is the World Panel and of the 28 umpires on the list, four are Scots. Only Australia has higher representation with five umpires. These umpires are selected for hockey’s top events including the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.
Julia Bracewell OBE, Chair, sportscotland said: “It is our aspiration to ensure that an increasing number of Scots are selected to represent Team GB across all sports. Scottish Hockey is currently reaping the rewards of their hard work and it is fantastic to have more Scottish players competing at the highest level.
“Hockey is an extremely popular sport in Scotland and this funding will support the game from grass roots to elite ensuring its continued success.”
Brent Deans, Chief Executive, Scottish Hockey Union said: ”Scottish players make a significant contribution to the performance of the GB teams at both senior and U21 level. Working with the Institute of Sport network and Scotland’s clubs and schools we have developed comprehensive programmes for talented players from U16 to senior level, both outdoor and indoor. This partnership working enables us to give players the opportunity to play and develop their game to the highest level.
Without funding from sportscotland and other key agencies, Scottish players would not be able to achieve this level of success.”