Scottish volleyball player Euan Duncan is ahead of schedule. For a player more accustomed to the near-empty sports halls of the third division of the Scottish League, playing an international match is a huge leap.

So huge, in fact, that no-one had managed it before. But Duncan found himself thrown in at the deep end as he made his Scotland debut against Northern Ireland in the Glasgow International Triangular tournament at the Kelvin Hall last month.

At just 16-years and two months old, the fifth year pupil at Prestwick Academy broke one record and set another by becoming the youngest male player to appear for Scotland at volleyball, and also the first from the third division.

Tommy Dowens, Scotland’s head coach, admits that Duncan was maybe given his chance ahead of time due to the fact that he has lost half-a-dozen players to the full-time Great Britain programme.

But he argues that Duncan has shown from an early age that he is able to take responsibility on board and, if all goes to plan, the off-setter will be joining the British team at some stage in the future.

The ultimate prize for Euan would be to play at the London Olympics in 2012 – the reason substantial funding has been invested in the sport here – and the opportunities ahead are not lost on such young shoulders.

He did not look out of place when he came on in the third set against Northern Ireland and helped Scotland to victory.

“It was nerve-wracking, but after I got my first service in I settled down,” he said.

“I’d been told by the coach in the changing room that if we were playing well, then he’d give me some court time.

“So I was sitting on the bench and knew that after we went two sets up, I’d have a chance of getting my first cap.

“The game’s so much faster. In the third division, it’s quite slow but this was at a whole different level.

“The players in the team had just told me beforehand to relax and play my normal game.

“They told me not to do anything different and just to play the way I always played and that was sound advice.

“I played a lot of football and played junior football for South Ayr but I gave that up at the start of 2007 to concentrate on volleyball.

“It was a difficult decision at the time but I think it was the right one. There is now a lot of money being invested in British volleyball and I want to try and make it into the Great Britain team and take it from there.

“There are a lot more opportunities now in volleyball and I want to be able to pursue it full time.
“I’ve only been playing for four-and-a-half years after taking it up at lunchtimes and after school.”

Much of his progress is down to his coach, John Orr, who spotted his potential and provided the encouragement and support for him to reach his current level.

“It was clear that Euan had good co-ordination, posture, rhythm and game sense, and that with greater involvement in the sport could he develop that potential. He also fits the typical physical profile of a volleyball player being 6’4 tall,” Orr outlines.

“The news of the 2012 Olympics and the progress that Euan was making in volleyball at school brought about a change.

“The progress he has made in the last nine months has been huge. He is one of these players who is able to take in information, process it and then produce it on court. This applies to technical as well as tactical aspects of the game.

“A major factor in his development this year was the inclusion of volleyball for the first time at the UK School Games.

“This provided a focus for him to work towards as he very clearly wanted to represent Scotland.

“Euan was selected for the Scotland North/West UK School Games squad. The showpiece event left a huge impression on Euan and the experience only increased his desire to make it to the Senior Scotland Squad and as a result his effort to improve. This is clearly possible because of his ability and his age. “

Scotland coach Tommy Dowens echoed: “He’s in the squad on merit. He has a fantastic attitude to the game and he’s one of a group of about five or six players we’ve been looking at.

“The situation has been forced on us in a way because of losing players to the British programme but there’s no point in identifying talent if you don’t have the courage to play them.”
 
RM
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picture by Michael McConville

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