Sporting Youth

CELEBRATING LOCHABER’S SPORTING YOUTH

Welcome to Lochaber Sporting Association’s Wall of Fame, where – amongst others – you can read about some of the successful applicants to the LSA Youth Support Fund.  We hope to follow these amazing youngsters over the next few years – and who knows, we might yet see them in the Commonwealth Games, or the Olympics, or playing for Scotland…good luck to all of them!

MALLAIG AND DISTRICT CANOE CLUB

A group of six Mallaig and District Canoe Club Junior kayakers will head for Glenmore Lodge near Aviemore this summer for a weekend of training and river kayaking.  Winter Wednesday evenings have seen them honing their skills in Mallaig swimming pool with the help of some of the Club coaches.  Once the weather improves and the evenings get longer they will be out on Loch Morar for the next training sessions, so they will be ready to pit themselves against some sterner stuff in July. Last summer all the group achieved their BCU 2 star awards, in white water and open boats, and are now working towards the 3 star award, which can be undertaken as either a white water, sea kayak or open boat award.  The Juniors are very grateful to Sportlochaber for the £50 contributions awarded to help to pay for the trip. Other fundraising so far has been a bag packing day.  It’s great for our Juniors to be able to benefit from these experiences and they have a huge amount of fun together.  The Club offers pool sessions to any High School age pupil during the winter months in Mallaig pool and organises outdoor activities whenever possible, coach and funding permitting.

JEREMY VICKERS

Jeremy Vickers, 22, recently travelled down to Staffordshire to take place in the British Strongman Competition 2010.

We are very proud of him, as he came 6th in the Under 90 kilos section.

Jeremy says:  “It was a great experience and I hope to take part again next year!”

(The Sportlochaber Youth Support Fund awarded Jeremy £100 towards his travel expenses)

BETH MACDONALD

Beth is at Lochaber High School where she is studying to sit her higher/int2s. Along with football she also plays shinty and badminton. Beth was selected to go for football trials for Celtic F.C and Scotland girls in September 2008. These trails were successful and from here on she continued to play football. A year later Beth was asked to go for trials at Dingwall for Ross County under 19 girls, as well as the Scotland team. She was successful in both these trials and now plays for County girls. Beth hopes to get through the next stage in her Scotland trials (June 2010) for the under 19’s. Targets for the future are to reach the Scotland ladies’ team and then take a step into women’s football in America or England.

JAMIE EDMONDSON

Although he is only just 9 years old Jamie is working hard at becoming a strong, confident mountain biker. With some Scottish Cross Country series wins under his belt last year, Jamie has secured sponsorship from bike manufacturer Kona under their Grassroots Scheme. He currently rides for the Wolfpax Mountain Bike Club which is based at Wolf Trax at Laggan although he will be travelling all over Scotland this year to take part in races. His two passions at the moment are downhill and learning tricks but he is also perfecting his cross country technique to be a serious challenge to similar aged competitive bikers. Jamie’s ambition is to ride in the Olympics one day (hopefully by the time he is old enough Downhill will be a recognised Olympic sport)

BEN MILLER

Ben Miller joined the Great Britain Talent Team in October 2009.  He rode his first season whilst playing football and impressed on a regional level in Scotland. Since joining the talent team Ben has moved forward in all areas and is now turning into a good all round bike rider, which is exactly what the Olympic Talent Coaches are looking for. Ben would love to race in the Commonwealth games representing his home country in Glasgow in 2014. To get there Ben will be in the running to represent Great Britain at a couple of international Mountain Bike races this year.  From there he will look to get onto the Olympic Development Programme which works with our Junior riders. As part of that programme he will have the chance to go and race at World Cups and other major events. Ben’s 2010 season is currently getting underway with the Scottish Cross Country races.

HELEN NELSON

Helen is at Kinlochleven High School where she is currently studying for her standard grades. Along with skiing she enjoys all sports including shinty, sailing and mountain biking. Helen was selected for the full Scottish Alpine Ski Team in October 2009 after training with them in Tignes. Just after Christmas she went to Oppdal in Noway for training and FIS races in Slalom and Giant Slalom. During Feb she’ll be training and racing at weekends in Scotland and making the most of the excellent Scottish conditions.  She’s a member of the team representing Scotland at The World Schools Skiing Champs in Italy in early March and then she’s away again at the end of March/April racing and training in Meribel and Courcheval in France. She will be competing in the Scottish and British Champs at the end of the season.

LACHLAN VEITCH

I am 11 years old and Scottish by birth, however I spent the first 10 years of my life in the French Alps, where I learned to ski.   I have been race training for 4 years now, having progressed through all the basic levels of Alpine skiing.  I have competed at local and regional level in 3 ski disciplines…..Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super GS.   In 2008, prior to leaving France I finished 7th on the FFS (Federation Francais de Ski) ratings for my region out of 400 other junior ski racers.  Last year, my first back in Scotland, I joined the Scottish Ski Club and attended race training at the Cainrgorms.
I will be training for 6 weeks in Chamonix with the British Ski Academy, during which time I will be participating in Alpine race training and competing in various races. If successful, I will hopefully go on to compete in the British Championships in Courchevel at Easter.

January 2011:

We are pleased to have been able to support Lachlan Veitch for another year of his hair-raising skiing.

If you are interested in following his progress, click here.

KIRSTY DELANEY

Kirsty started playing squash when she was 11 when Brian Ball started a Junior Club at Lochaber Squash Club. Both he and Warren Cameron continued her coaching, as well as Kirsty going up to Inverness Squash and Tennis Club on a regular basis. In 2009, at the age of 14, she won the Lochaber Squash Club Ladies Championship. Also in 2009, Kirsty was picked to play for the Highlands and Islands Under 17 Team,
who came second (by a narrow margin) to Grampian in the Inter-Regionals in November 2009.
Kirsty says, “Unfortunately for me, squash is not an Olympic sport, but hopefully this will change in years to come!  My goal for now is to win some games at Junior Championship level.”