Lanarkshire youngsters take part in annual sports event

Oct 29 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

ALMOST 100 young people took part in Clydesdale Sports Council’s 26th annual School of Sport on October 17 and 18.

The event took place at sportscotland’s National Training Centre in Largs.

Joining the youngsters for the weekend were invited Scottish guest coaches in addition to four from Denmark – Jakob Thyssen and Amalie Mikkelsen (badminton) and Simone Kobborg Kristensen and Stefan Graversen (gymnastics).

This year’s programme featured the sports of athletics, badminton, football, golf and gymnastics, with youngsters from Biggar, Carluke, Carstairs, Forth, Law, Lanark and Carnwath taking part.

Seventeen talented athletes from Law and District AAC, aged 14-17, received 14 hours of tuition from club coach Pat Kelly and the athletics development group within South Lanarkshire.

They were joined by Law and District coach Alison Cameron, guest coach Tommy Boyle and South Lanarkshire Leisure’s athletics development officer Jim Goldie, alongside sprint coach Alasdair Barker.

Over the weekend, 16 badminton players from Lanark, Biggar, Carluke and Forth used eight courts and received an excellent programme of intensive coaching.

The sports council were grateful for assistance from Kathryn Brotherstone of Biggar Badminton Club and assistant coaches Lauren Watt from Carluke High School’s badminton club and Gemma Orr from Forth Sports Centre.

In football, Forth Community Boys’ Club accepted an invitation to take part and a squad of 17 players and three coaches used a floodlit all-weather pitch, a grass field and two all-weather floodlit five-a-side pitches.

Resident coach was Jim Denny, the former Rangers and Hearts footballer, who was assisted by coaches from Forth.

Hamilton Golf Club professional Derek Wright worked with a group of promising junior golfers from Lanark, Hollandbush and Carluke over the weekend.

Gymnasts from the Lanark and Carluke areas enjoyed two days of coaching and fun, which ended with a display for spectators taking part in other sports.

The Danes led the coaching, assisted by Fiona Laird and Hayley Barr, while visitors Kirsty and Gillian Martin from Carluke Leisure Centre and Lanark YMCA, respectively, also attended.