London 2012 is less than five years away with a possible Commonwealth Games in Glasgow two years later. Although these high profile events might seems like a long distance away, for future Scottish sports stars they are at the forefront of their minds.

What are Scotland’s chances of representation at the Olympics? Can we expect success from the Scots participating in London? The answers to both questions are extremely positive, if the University of Stirling athletics team are anything to go by.

Aided by outstanding Scottish Institute of Sport facilities in swimming, golf, and tennis, the Stirling campus is the ideal setting for producing top class elite athletes. However, this month’s In The Winning Zone Team of the Month do not benefit from the top-of-the-range academy facilities at the University. In fact, up until recently, volunteer coaches and team members have coached them.

This has not halted the desire for victory within the team however. And the team recently retained their title as the Number One Scottish university for athletics.

Consisting of approximately 40 elite and leisure athletes, around two thirds male and one third female, the Stirling University Athletics Team are gearing up to what looks to be an exciting outdoor season. With recent victories in the Scottish Universities Outdoor Championships and the Spring Cup competition between Stirling and St Andrews, the trophy cabinet in the Gannochy Sports Centre will need an extension.

The team is led by Neil Gray, a president with his own high standards and personal goals. For him, winning is the only option, and victory is commonplace within his team. First came the Spring Cup, regarded as a warm-up for the beginning of the outdoor season.  It is billed as a “friendly match”, but Stirling emerged as clear victors with an overwhelming score of 114-76. This meet is not just for elite performers though; while the Stirling team incorporates one or two top-level athletes the vast number are “leisure” members.

“The Spring Cup was a great team effort, there were only one or two elite athletes there,” says Neil Gray. “It was a more of a friendly match with every athlete taking part in officiating as well, which created a good atmosphere. It was also a good chance for the leisure members to get some practice in before the Scottish Universities’ Championships.”

And it’s time for the big one. Stirling took a somewhat sparse team, dented by a number of last minute call-offs, to the Scottish Universities’ own mini Olympics at Grangemouth on the April 21.

“The team performed out of their skins at Grangemouth,” says club captain Ian Greep. This is an understatement. Fighting off strong competition from bigger Edinburgh and Glasgow teams, Stirling put in an outstanding performance to win outright, with three events still to go. In both the male and female categories, Stirling dominated both the track and field events.

John Carr, current number one triple jumper in Scotland, competed and won in the triple and long jump events, while indicating impressive performances in the 4x100m relay team and the 100m.

Carr, aged 19, misses out by only six days to qualify for junior competition. However, Carr has a philosophy of positive thinking, and is looking to the future: “It sometimes gets to me that I could be competing at a higher level but it mostly just increases my desire to improve and catch up with the athletes ahead of me,” he says.

Realistically, junior or senior, Carr would scroll his name in a permanent marker upon any competition leader board. Unfortunately, at a recent meet Carr missed out on breaking the Scottish Under-20s record of 15.63 metres in the triple jump due to a ‘wind affected jump’ of 15.65. But, again, this only encourages Carr to persist in training and improve. He has his sights set for the future, enthusiastically commenting, “My goal is the 2012 Olympics. I’m a young athlete at the moment but hopefully I will peak around the right time for the Games.”

Carr is by no means the only elite athlete within the club. The team boasts supreme track talent in the form of Kris Robertson. Also 19, Robertson won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in Beijing for his participation in the 4x400m relay team. Robertson holds the same positive winning mentality, which is ringing throughout the team, underlined when he says, “Lance Armstrong has inspired me. He’s confident, but he’s got a right to be confident, and I feel that you have to be like that in sport: you have to believe you can do it”. It would come as no surprise to see Robertson taking to the track in 2012.

Furthermore, Stirling boasts the sporting talents of Jayne Nisbet, current number one senior high jumper in Scotland. Comfortably winning the event at Grangemouth with a height of 1.70 metres, she brought back another gold medal to add to the collection. Having recently secured her qualifying height for the European Junior Championships, there is no doubt that we will see more of Nisbet in the future.

But why are Stirling University flying higher than the rest of the Scottish universities when it comes to athletics? There are different opinions. Ian Greep believes it is the excellent facilities at Stirling which attracts top sporting talent from across the country, while Neil Gray believes it is down to coaching.
 
“As president, my two main aims at the start of the year were to bring in paid coaches to the club and to retain our title at the Scottish Universities Outdoor Championships. I have reached these two goals with time still to progress in the season so I’m happy.”

The team have been lucky in the past to be coached by volunteer coach Brian Bullen. Recently rewarded at the Stirling University Sports Union Ball with the Volunteer of the Year Award, Bullen has been a constant trainer and enthusiast within the Stirling Athletics team for some time now, coaching these athletes on a weekly basis and helping to mould them into the athletes they are today. Newly introduced track and field coaches, Charlie Senior and Eric Simpson, have also been an added advantage for the team this season.

So, what’s next for the Athletics Team? “The BUSA [British Universities Sports Association] outdoor championships take place down in Bedford on May 5th, and, as the best in Scotland, we should have a decent chance down there,” says an excited John Carr. This team, packed with enthusiasm and top athletes, will certainly face stern competition against the best universities in Britain at Bedford but they have every reason to relish the challenge.

Gray cites the tight-knit team spirit when he comments, “Athletics is an individual sport, but here at Stirling people are running for the team as well as themselves.” And, with this in mind, the Stirling University Athletics Team will take to the track in Bedford with the ultimate goal of taking part in the Olympic Games in London at the back of all their minds.

And if these young Scottish athletes continue to perform at the highest level, Scottish success in London in 2012 may not just be a dream or a goal. It could become reality.

IC

© Copyright In The Winning Zone, MMVII, All Rights Reserved