Oban to reap rewards fr School of Shinty
Oban High’s School of Shinty was launched in September this year.
It follows the model of existing ‘Schools of’ rugby and dance that Oban High School already has in its junior years.
‘Through the hard work of several volunteers, we have finally been able to launch the School of Shinty at Oban High School,’ said Murray Hamilton, Principal Teacher of PE and Head of the School of Shinty programme.
‘With the backing and support of the Camanachd Association and the Macaulay Association, along with several clubs - Oban Camanachd, Oban Celtic, Taynuilt, Glenorchy and Oban Lorn Ladies - we have been able to offer this fantastic opportunity to our students.
‘It has been great to have the support of so many clubs, companies and organisations, from Oban Common Good Fund and the Camanachd Association to MacKenzie Welders, helping us get shinty goals for the class. This will be a great opportunity for our students, not only to get time to develop their shinty skills and understanding but also to embed the vision and value of Oban High School.’
Murray Hamilton continued: ‘This has been something we have been working towards for some time and it is great to finally roll out this initiative. We are fortunate that we have Colin Carswell on our staff who is able to lead the weekly coaching sessions and of course we are spoilt for expertise locally with so many successful teams on our doorstep.’
Colin Carswell has played senior seasons with Lochside Rovers and Taynuilt shinty clubs so he is well placed to deliver the weekly coaching sessions.
Colin is ably assisted by staff member and former shinty player David Ferguson in taking the players through a fitness programme that includes strength and conditioning alongside the playing aspect of the sport.
The project has been supported by Euan McMurdo, regional development officer for the Camanachd Association.
The players sign up to the School of Shinty at the start of the year. This is a commitment to participate in the weekly coaching during school time and the weekly after-school training which is run by local club coaches Les Kinvig, Stephen Campbell and Shelley McCuish.
The School of Shinty is open to boys and girls in S1 or S2 at Oban High School.
There are two Shinty Ambassadors this year - Jamie MacGillivray and Mairi Inglis - who have been a great help. They have helped to promote the sport and are a visible presence within the school.
‘We are hoping that after this pilot year, we will be able to grow the number of participants and the classes. This helps make the sessions more specific and we can focus on different aspects of the game or areas such as fitness or nutrition,’ explained Murray Hamilton.
Lead coach Colin Carswell said: ‘I am delighted to be involved with the delivery and planning of the School of Shinty. It is great to get out of the classroom once a week to work with the students. This is something I would have relished the opportunity to be a part of when I was in school.
‘The introduction of the Bulls v Sharks format is great and will help provide more competitive matches for the students,’ added Colin. ‘It follows the model rugby used and we had a really successful first match last week.
‘It was a competitive 4-4 draw and there was some great shinty on show.’
The players are split into two teams who compete for a cup over five or seven matches.
Murray Hamilton explained the idea behind the competition: ‘The Bulls v Sharks idea started when we first launched the School of Rugby. We needed a way to give all the players more game time and we found students bought into the idea of having their own teams within the school. So we make two team selections and will play five or seven matches throughout the year. We also have transfer windows if we need to even up the teams or move numbers around. The pupils really buy into that.’
Murray Hamilton added: ‘We have used the same idea for shinty this year, and football, so we now have a games week where all three sports compete for the respective trophies. This has been successful so far, but we hope to make it grow as the year goes on.
‘We still want to get more matches for our School of Shinty players and other school teams. It is a big challenge across all school sports. Given our geographical location and transport logistics, it can be difficult but working together with various associations and club coaches, we aim to provide more competitive matches across all ages.
‘We really hope this initiative will help the students on the shinty park and in the classroom. It is about taking the values of discipline, respect, resilience and that hard work ethic and applying that across the board. Hopefully this will help students to achieve their full potential on and off the field.’
A Macaulay Association spokesman confirmed its support saying: ‘The Macaulay Association is delighted to support Oban High’s School of Shinty as it creates another playing platform at a vital age in the development of youth players within the sport.’
The early signs are positive for the Oban High School of Shinty as they recently travelled to a youth festival with 21 players, whilst also hosting a festival with the same number of players taking part.
What next for Oban Celtic?
After securing a fifth place finish in the 2019 Mowi National Division, Oban Celtic assistant manager Les Kinvig gave an insight into what his side needs to do to break into the top four in 2020.
‘There are a number of areas we’d need to work on to do that,’ said Les Kinvig. ‘First of all, Dougie and I are still relatively new to the National Division but we gained a lot of knowledge over last season, understanding the opposition and where certain opposition players may be deployed.
‘You can have a player who usually features in attack but suddenly he switches to buckshee back either before or during a game and we’ll be wiser to things like that next year.
‘Improved player fitness is going to be very important.
‘We’ll get back to training two nights each week from the turn of the year, leading into the pre-season friendly matches.
‘We then want to step up our pre-season programme on last year, fitting in more friendlies, so that we are ready to hit the ground running when the season starts at the beginning of March.’
Les also highlighted the need for consistency saying: ‘We also need to put together a performance for the full 90 minutes. There were times last season, particularly the draws with Beauly, Glasgow Mid Argyll and Glenurquhart, where late goals cost us points. We have played really well for parts of matches but need to maintain that level of performance throughout the whole match.’
Youth shinty is an area Les knows well. ‘Oban Celtic are still a young team but these youngsters will be better for last year’s experience. William MacEwan, John Douglas, Jigme Jones and Innes MacDonald all came in last term and will no doubt feature next year. They are all a year older, albeit they will still only be 15 years next season. We’ll look to them to continue their development, but at the right pace.
‘A more settled side would also be a huge benefit and there are three main areas where we can achieve that: discipline, players making themselves available each week and injuries. Firstly, discipline was better last year and we have to keep that going and continue the improvement.
‘Secondly, player availability make such a difference.
‘The boys themselves would admit can that there were times last season where a bit more commitment would have seen us field a stronger team which would in turn have given us a better chance of winning. Thirdly, injuries are another factor. We lost Neil Carmichael, Michael MacKinnon, Peter Currie and Lewis Mcphee for periods with injury last season and they are all big players for us.
‘We know how we want to play shinty but getting our first choice team out on the pitch as often as we possibly can is key as it gives us the best chance of succeeding.’
Making best use of their squad is also something Oban Celtic are keen to develop. ‘We need to get to a stage where we prepare our players to play in different positions should the need arise,’ said Les Kinvig. ‘We’ll work on that with the players to ensure we have cover should injuries or suspensions arise.
‘We’ve had a year with the boys now so we have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t. Injuries and suspensions will happen over the course of the season so we want to have identified replacements for all positions in advance so that if anything unexpected arises, we are ready for it.’
One issue which needs to be solved sooner rather than later is the goalkeeping position. Iain MacFarlane is expected to be out for the season through injury. ‘Unfortunately Iain will be missing’, sighed Les Kinvig. He has a problem with both knees and we’d like to identify a replacement and get to work with that person before the pre-season starts.
‘Iain does a great job behind the scenes within the club, especially with the second team, and he’ll continue to be a good influence and not disappear completely but he’ll be a big loss on the field.’
There may be six weeks to go until pre-season fixtures get under way but Oban Celtic are already plotting how to continue their improvement next season.