Honesty is best policy for coach
Strathaven’s Michael McCreadie will be cheering on best friend Aileen Neilson from the warmth of a TV studio this week.
However, he insists he won’t be afraid to deliver an icy blast when it comes to commentating on Team GB’s wheelchair curling matches.
The 72-year-old, a stalwart of the sport, will be part of Channel 4’s London-based Paralympics team and will provide top analysis, having won silver with Team GB at the 2006 Games in Toronto.
And Michael, who has been Aileen’s personal coach ahead of the Games, said:“I will be rooting for Aileen and the team 100 per cent, but I will have to be honest.
“If there’s anything that’s not quite right, I will comment because you’ve got to inform the viewers about what’s happened and why it’s happened.
“I will praise good shots, but if it’s not the right shot I will not hold back in saying Aileen won’t be happy with that shot from her player or a shot she’s made herself.”
Michael has been involved in seven summer and winter Paralympic Games during his career, taking part in wheelchair basketball, bowls and, most recently, curling.
A highly decorated athlete, he won two Paralympic bronze medals in the 1976 Games before hitting the ice in 2006 to take silver in curling.
Latterly, he has turned his hand to coaching and he has led both bowls and curling teams to medal success at world championships.
Michael first met Aileen in 2004 when she joined Braehead Curling Club and he has immense pride in the progress she has made.
He added:“Seeing the development of Aileen coming in as a beginner, to skipping Scotland and now Great Britain at her third Paralympics, being part of that has been great.
“It would be nice to go out [to Pyeongchang] and support her, but how I see it, she’s at her work and I think it’s important for me not to be in the way.
“I understand that, having gone through it myself over the last 20 to 30 years.
“I’m sure all the work Aileen and the team has put in will pay dividends.”