Coach Amanda is aspiring leader
Amanda Hiddleston was celebrating winning a national award on Friday night when she was named as the Aspiring Leader award winner at the sportscotland Year of Young People Awards.
The 18 year-old coaches at Shell Twilight Basketball in Stirling, an initiative delivered by Scottish Sports Futures in conjunction with Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities and Shell, and the project has grown into a national programme which provides free basketball sessions in a safe setting.
Since joining as a player, Amanda quickly became a role model for the other players and has since become a Twilight Young Ambassador with her work leading on to her doing an incredible 500 hours of voluntary work with Active Stirling and Active Schools last year.
The dedication of the former Stirling High pupil, who is now in the first year of a sports studies degree at Stirling University has not gone unnoticed as she claimed one of 10 awards at the inspirational event at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on Friday.
She said:“It was a big surprise because I didn’t expect so much recognition for a job I love doing anyway.
“It was a shock to win; there was some really tough competition I was up against. Everyone is really deserving because they are all doing great work. It was a really nice way to round off last year because a lot has happened and I feel I’ve achieved a lot.”
Stirling’s Shell Twilight Basketball had three more finalists at the awards night - Dylan McCormick was nominated in the Best Newcomer category while Vincent Connelly and Duncan Watson were nominated in the Community Champion of the Year category.
SSF is a charity which has changed lives through sport. Over the past 17 years its work has supported communities where people are vulnerable or at risk and its local and national programmes provide tailored pathways to positive destinations, enabling young people to fulfil their potential and widening opportunities for all.