Seconds are in the race for promotion

A basketball coach who has run sessions for young people in Raploch to help them get involved with the sport has been nominated for a national award.

Former Stirling High School pupil Amanda Hiddleston (pictured) has been put forward as one of the finalists for the Young Coach of the Year catepory at the Scottish Sports Futures Awards for 2020.

The 20 year-old, now at Stirling University, has been an ambassador for the Shell Twlight Basketball for the last three years with the Twilight sessions in Raploch offering a chance for youngsters the chance to enjoy a quality physical activity session in a safe environment.

She has also helped deliver mental health workshops in the Twilight sessions, before taking them to more than 200 schools of young basketball players from across Scotland

And Amanda’s determination in providing support and guidance for the young people she coaches was recognised with the awards nomination.

She said:“I just love and enjoy what I do because of the buzz of seeing young people smiling and having fun. I really enjoy being able to get alongside people and support them to be the best person they can be.

“Being able to see the difference I have had on a young person is so difficult to describe, it fills me with great joy.

“The sense of just knowing you have helped someone make a positive change is an unbelievable feeling. More importantly just seeing a young person with a smile of their face makes everything I do worth it.”

The awards, presented by Sportscotland, will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on February 28, with a total of 10 awards being given out on the night, which showcases the commitment of young people involved with sport all over the country.

Bridge of Allan Sports Club men’s seconds moved into the third and final East Squash League Division 2 promotion place with a 3-2 defeat of Heriot Watt University seconds that has left skipper Robin Bairner with promotion firmly in his sights.

A battling performance saw victories for Sabine Mackenzie, Martin Jack and Andy Wilkinson at numbers five, four and three respectively, saved the day and put the Birds and the Bees sponsored side firmly on course for their second promotion to Division 1 in three seasons.

Skipper Robin (pictured right) said: “With both myself and Andy Meldrum losing at the top of the order it was all about the tail end coming good for us and they dug really deep to help us get a massive win.

“It’s a huge plus to be able to call on the likes of Sabine Mackenzie when injury and unavailability hit, and she came through 3-0 in impressive fashion.

“On top of that Andy Wilkinson has moved up from the thirds now he is fully fit and was impressive at No.3 in winning a tight four setter while Martin Jack is Mr Consistent playing at No 4 and never lets you down.

“Given the first-half of the campaign we had with a variety of selection headaches, we did well to stay in touch with the promotion chasers.”

“I really hope we can come on strong as we go into the home straight and return to the top tier.”

Meanwhile the first team moved back into fourth place in the Division 1 with a fine 4-1 victory over ESC 3.

There were wins for Fergus Richards, Kyle Pnman, skipper Iain Logan and Roddy Campbell and a 302 losss for Chris Turlik, the first banked a valuable 17 point haul which has them just behind Watsonians in the battle for third place.

In Edinburgh the rampant ladies team continued their charge towards the East Ladies Division 1 title with a 5-0 thrashing of Waverley which took them 18 points clear at the top and extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches.

Captain Sabine Mackenzie, who returned to the fray with a fine 3-1 victory, said: “Young Anna Halliday came in at No 2 after her impressive second placed finish at the Scottish Under-15 championships and recorded a fine 3-0 win that was, for me, the performance of the night.

“It was also great to welcome Karen Robertson back in at four and, also to give our latest recruit Catriona Smith a debut.”

Elsewhere in Division 3, the thirds crushed Grange 3 to leapfrog their capital opponents and go second .

Skipper Bert Mitchell, a 3-1 victor, said: “This was a massive win for us and there were a number of hugely impressive performances.

“Colin Fawkes was superb in winning 3-0 while Marty Sanchez really started to show some signs of the old magic in a straight-sets win.

“Wins for Jamie Campbell and Gordon Marshall, who blew a two-game lead and match ball in the third to turn it round to win 15-9 in the fifth means we second placed in our control and the next target is to clinch outright promotion ASAP.”

In the Crieff and District Leagues the fourths hammered Perth 2, 5-0 at the Bells Centre and head to Kinross tomorrow (Thursday).