Volleyball club are real success
clubs in France and Finland had done it successfully.
“Kids start at Baby Volley from P1 to P4 then it goes up the ages, creating a pathway into their senior teams.
“They now have 120 kids. If you build the bottom of the pyramid strong, you’ll have more success at the top.
“It means I can tell my story to them and they can see a real example of someone who played sport at school like them, who joined a Scottish club like them and who played in the Olympics. It can happen.
“It’s nice to be able to bring the story up with young kids and my ambition is for them to have the same chance I had.”
Beattie’s experience came through Mearns Cast le High School and the Su Ragazzi club in Glasgow.
She played professionally in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Italy and Slovenia but now hopes to take a Scotland team to the beach volleyball title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But in her day job she’s buoyed by the growth of her sport in Scotland.
She said: “City of Edinburgh are trying to prevent an environment, which happens in many spor t s , where 18-year- olds head off to uni and they are lost to the sport.
“They’re doing a programme to get them qualified as UKCC coaches, through funding they get from sportscotland, then they’re fed into the system to run the junior development.
“As a club they’re doing what we’re trying to achieve as an association and we see the value of the school-to-club link to ensure there are no gaps in the pathway.” Visit our website www. sundaymailsportsawards. co.uk or write to us at Sunday Mail & sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards, One Central Quay, Glasgow, G3 8DA, telling us why your nominee deserves recognition. The deadline is October 3, 2016. To order or for tickets enquiri sponso es, rship 0141 309 please 4906 call or Michele email . trinitym Aaen@ irror.com