Browse content similar to 01/05/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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If Hello and welcome to the May edition of Sport Nation. Summer is | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
almost year and the pace is hotting up as we move towards London 2012. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
There is 87 days and will start of the Olympic Games and we need some | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
of the Scots were hoping to make a big impression on the greater show | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
on earth. We are at the London Marathon with Freya Murray, | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
qualifying for the Olympic Games the top of the agenda. I am excited. | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
But it's been Olympic year as well, hopefully the timing will be right. | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
We meet the Scot who is walking tall and chasing a slam dunk | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
Olympic Games for Team GB. I want to fly the flag for Scotland. I | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
want to represent Scotland within the Team GB squad. Elsewhere we are | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
in the ring with a Highlander and Gary Cornish. I have never felt | :01:19. | :01:25. | |
anyone hit so hard on the pads. He has a vicious amateur natural power. | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
From days of glory to desolation, can Scottish squash bounce back to | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
success? We think we may be leading the world. In fact we know we are | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
leading the world. In an interview with the new man in charge of | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
Scottish athletics, can Stephen Maguire get the Scots back on track | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
in time for 2014? When you look at the 41 athletes from the | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
Commonwealth Games squad, where they are at in their athletics | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
Careers, I think there is immense opportunities. There are serious | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
talent. The big focus for all the elite athletes this summer is on | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
the Olympic Games and the London Marathon was a chance for some of | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
the best marathon runners in the world to chase qualification. Among | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
some of Scotland's Freya Murray and John can tell us the story of her | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
big day. After her London Marathon | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
performance, Freya Murray was back working as a structural Engineer in | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
Newcastle. Five days earlier she had tried to run herself into the | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
British Olympic team. She has represented Scotland | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
internationally at 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and dominated cross | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
country for years but she had never ever raised a marathon. Some had | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
given her no chance. When I was younger I enjoyed short distances. | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
Doing 800 metres and thinking 1,500 metres has a long way. Gradually | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
just moving up and moving up. I am really excited about the marathon. | :03:00. | :03:09. | |
But it being Olympic year as well, hopefully the timing will be right. | :03:09. | :03:19. | |
:03:19. | :03:20. | ||
The world's best gathered. It is about the Olympics as well. Para | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
Radcliffe and marry Ritchie have been pre-selected so there was one | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
place left. The main contenders were Louise Damen, Claire Hallissey, | :03:30. | :03:39. | |
Liz Yelling and myself. The air is Freya Murray. It was Louise Damen | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
who decided I am not sure the pacemaker is doing a good job. | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
Freya Murray has latched onto Louise Murray -- Louise Damen. | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
thought we would all latch on with the pace rigueur. When Louise White, | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
I knew I had to be first Brett. am confident that if she can run | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
well, if this was a ten-mile race, Freya Murray would be the first of | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
the British athletes. It is weird running for 26 miles and not | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
speaking to each other. You are so used to going for a Sunday run and | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
having a blether on the way. So to run that far and just be totally | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
focused and not speak to each other was quite weird. Freya Murray | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
running really well there and the more interesting thing for us is | :04:30. | :04:37. | |
about these two British athletes, can they run fast enough? | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
remember there was bagpipes are one point. It made me really think, | :04:43. | :04:52. | |
USOC it with a right away. -- you associate with that. And the water | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
station. It is interesting saying that. Just the way I slowed down, | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
get my bottle, picked it up. I have never done it in a race before, not | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
used to running carrying things. That is the point where Clare | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
starts to get away. Claire Hallissey is making the move. This | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
is that a significant.. I want to look back and seat F Freya Murray | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
who has run a fig -- how she still got the composure to stay in | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
contention. I was here and I was thinking, I cannot let them get | :05:27. | :05:35. | |
away. That is all its five seconds now. I think Freya Murray is at | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
striking distance. That gap appears to be closing. It is not that big. | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
And those too much pulling well clear of Louise Damen. It is | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
annoying watching it. I remember thinking on how, if I can just | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
close the gap. Then I will pick it up. But once the gap was open, it | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
was open and that was that. Here is clear coming to the finish. I am | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
not that far behind! Claire Hallissey was the first Brit home | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
and she was selected for the team. Freya was an agonising 26 seconds | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
behind. That is just one second for every mile, or even just | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
inexperience at the water stations. On the one hand I am really pleased | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
I made my debut. It pits may eight on the all-time list in the UK. | :06:32. | :06:42. | |
They would have been nicer to have been 26 seconds quicker. | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
I am staying positive and there is still a 5,000 metres and 10,000 | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
metres. I am going to try and qualify for one of them. No | :06:51. | :06:58. | |
reserves have been officially named yet, but you cannot be sure. Maybe | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
if someone else trips up, then I can go. I would never wish illness | :07:02. | :07:10. | |
or injury on anybody. Basketball, like many sports is | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
really suited to those who are very told. All, it is. Think about | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
people like Michael Jordan and Corby bright and Britain's own Luol | :07:21. | :07:31. | |
:07:31. | :07:51. | ||
Deng. Here is a new name, Kieron Achara. | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
This is Manresa, population 77,000, about an hour's drive from | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
Barcelona. It is on the heart of Catalonia but we do not have to | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
look too far you to find a little slice of Scotland. Actually, make | :08:04. | :08:12. | |
that a pretty big lump of Scotland. Because at six at 10 and 17 stones, | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
Kieron Achara is anything but little. He plays for the Spanish | :08:16. | :08:22. | |
club Assignia Manresa in the League second only in quality to the NBA. | :08:22. | :08:29. | |
And he is a popular member of the team. He he is a legend. Kieron is | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
also in the provisional Team GB squad for the London Olympics. | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
is an experience that you want to be part. Being in the squad, you | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
have got that feeling of I am so close but at the same time a good | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
ended any second family. Hopefully I will make it. But there is little | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
doubt where his heart lies. He has got a sweet have to. I am very | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
proud of where I come from and when I grew up. It has moulded me into | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
the man I am today. My first experience playing for the Scottish | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
national team in Ireland when I was 16 years old, it was the proudest | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
moment for me as a basketball player. That said his Scottish this | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
can sometimes pose problems. No one has a clue what I am saying FI | :09:16. | :09:24. | |
speak with my Stirling twang. My accent is the hardest to | :09:24. | :09:34. | |
:09:34. | :09:36. | ||
understand... Funny it is more difficult. Sometimes he just looks. | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
Keegan has played for the last they could in the States and Italy. -- | :09:40. | :09:47. | |
Kieron has played. I say I live out a masochist, I do not have any | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
personal belongings other than close because I know I have to pack | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
up and leave. That is a little stressful at times, not knowing | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
where I am going to be next year. At the same time I try and soak up | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
all the culture in all the places I have lived. Learn as much as I can | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
- the language, the cuisine. Meet as many people as I have. I feel | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
very blessed to have done what I have done. This is his first year | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
here and he is enjoying the lifestyle. All these chairs are out, | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
people are sitting here until 11 o'clock at night and socialising. I | :10:25. | :10:33. | |
wish there was more of that in Scotland. This is one of the | :10:33. | :10:41. | |
sponsors. He is also learning Spanish but that does not always | :10:41. | :10:48. | |
help. It is in Catalan like everything here. Sometimes if | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
you're lucky you can ask for a menu in Spanish. I am going t e the | :10:54. | :11:04. | |
:11:04. | :11:13. | ||
salad! Basketball is a part of life here. Kids playing every day, | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
coming in with their parents. Here you get a little bit carried away, | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
signing autographs. People in your time, coming out and shouting and a | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
man asking for a photograph. When I go back to Scotland, it is just, | :11:30. | :11:36. | |
bouquet Kieron. It is humbling, it is nice to go home and get away | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
from the hall basketball thing. Just to be the tall Scottish person. | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
-- from the whole Scottish -- whole basketball. I think the fact that I | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
am Scottish, been in Catalonia, the relate a lot to the Scots way of | :11:55. | :12:03. | |
life. The whole looking for their freedom. I think they have accepted | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
me as one of the Rhone. I really enjoy being here. -- one of their | :12:09. | :12:19. | |
:12:19. | :12:20. | ||
own. Hopefully I will make it. I want to | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
fly the flag for Scotland. I want to represent Scotland within their | :12:26. | :12:36. | |
:12:36. | :12:46. | ||
GB squad. Now over the years Scottish boxing | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
has produced some great British and world champions, but never at heavy | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
weight. Could that be about to change? One writer in Inverness is | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
being tipped to rewrite the history books. And Phil Goodlad has been to | :13:00. | :13:10. | |
:13:10. | :13:13. | ||
meet the man the collar Highlander. -- the call that. | :13:13. | :13:23. | |
:13:23. | :13:28. | ||
Tartan and whisky is not all of the Highlands produce. Gary Cornish has | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
a hunger. At 25, the heavy weight has embarked on a journey with one | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
aim in mind. Everybody that goes into boxing dreams of being a | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
champion, so I am no different from any of the boxer. To achieve that | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
aim, he dedicates himself six days a week to a punishing training egg | :13:48. | :13:58. | |
:13:58. | :14:05. | ||
so -- training regime. It is number six on the routine. | :14:05. | :14:15. | |
:14:15. | :14:18. | ||
The hardest part is keeping your strength up. So after all that you | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
would think Gary would go on to rest, right? Think again. Gary | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
Cornish is a professional boxer but first and foremost he is a joiner | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
to trade. We build quite a lot of houses an extensions so there is a | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
lot of lifting so why implement that into my training. In future I | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
could just stick to the boxing. the ring, Gary's potential was | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
quickly spotted. His trainer Laurie Redfern used to be a pro himself | :14:48. | :14:57. | |
and believes Gary has star The Russian brothers have dominated | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
in the world for a long time. Being tall and having a good jab and | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
moving and Gary has that. Gary is the same height and has all the | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
attributes that you want to be a heavy weight champion. At six foot | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
seven and 17-and-a-half stone, Gary the Highlander Cornish has a major | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
obstacle in his way. It's been difficult to get heavier guys to | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
spar, but professional partners will have to be lined up and have | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
been, and that's travelling. They'll come to him or he'll travel | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
to them. Hard work and a struggle, because a lot of the boys are | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
smaller, so struggle to hold a punch, but no we have Paul. He's | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
helping me a lot. After a day's work, Gary is back in the gym. | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
box because I love the sport. Once you get in the ring you get a | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
hunger and you want to do it more and more. Boxing isn't Gary's own | :15:59. | :16:09. | |
:16:09. | :16:10. | ||
pleasure. This is my pet. What is that? Crickets. You can sit and | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
watch them forever, you know. not just bearded dragons with the | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
ferocious appetite. He needs around 4,000 calories a day. It starts | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
with four eggs in the morning and is quickly followed by the first of | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
his high-energy snacks. Lunch is chicken pasta and bread, with a big | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
bowl of porridge for tea. The main meal is at 10pm, before a protein | :16:34. | :16:40. | |
shake at bedtime. I don't need to tell you about some of the great | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
names Ken Buchanan and Jim Watt, but all fighting at lower divisions | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
than heavyweight and that's a division we've not had much success | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
in down the years. It's a question of numbers. If you don't have | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
enough heavy boys to work, the chances of one breaking through | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
when you have so few coming through is remote. Gary rounds off the | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
day's training with a session in the pool. 14 hours after he went | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
for his early morning run. It's good to come here after training | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
and cool down and loosen up. It takes all the tension out of your | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
legs. You don't worry you might burn out? Not yet. Maybe when I'm a | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
bit older I'll slow down, but just young just now, so keep on pushing | :17:25. | :17:32. | |
myself. Gary is determined to do just that, to create Scottish | :17:32. | :17:39. | |
boxing history. The joiner from Inverness, with the heavyweight | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
dream. I've never felt anybody hit quite so hard on the pads. He has a | :17:43. | :17:51. | |
vicious amount of natural power. be a British champion and be | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
Scotland's first-ever champion is going to be something in itself. | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
You dream of it, but I guess I - you're only as good as your last | :18:01. | :18:11. | |
:18:11. | :18:13. | ||
fight. I don't like to get ahead of myself. There aren't many sports | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
where Scotland's been able to boast Commonwealth champions and world | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
number ones, but squash is one of those sports. Over the years, fewer | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
and fewer people have been taking up the game and that's a worry to | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
Scottish squash. They say it's time to get back to people bashing a | :18:29. | :18:39. | |
:18:39. | :18:41. | ||
British squash is 150 years old, but nobody's absolutely sure how it | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
started. The home of the association is that people who | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
never held a racquet will be tempted to venture for a 40-minute | :18:50. | :19:00. | |
:19:00. | :19:08. | ||
session. I I think -- I think I can do with a drink. The 1970s, the | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
days of strikes, Slade, Saturday Night Fever and squash. Because it | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
was back then that the popularity of the sport in this country was at | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
its height. No, the numbers of people playing in Scotland have | :19:22. | :19:28. | |
dropped to around one sixth of what they once were. That makes this | :19:28. | :19:35. | |
man's job all the more challenging. The game of squash is traditionally | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
a big sport in Scotland and we have produced a lot of very good players | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
over the years. I suppose on the back of the big boom in the sport | :19:43. | :19:51. | |
over the 1970s and 80s. In fact, now we are in the programmes we are | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
getting the kids of the players who started then. I'm not concerned | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
about the quality that we do get. The issue is we only get the odd | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
one, so in terms of our talent pool it's a very, very narrow pool. The | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
difficulty for me then is when we play representative events where we | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
are a team and we need a result and we don't have the numbers to be as | :20:11. | :20:17. | |
strong as a lot of the other countries in the world. Squash is | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
not an easy sport for beginners to get the hang of and that's one | :20:20. | :20:27. | |
reason why people have turned to other pursuits. Alan klein makes it | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
look effortless, but he's the best player in the country. It's always | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
been known as physical chess, because it's really physical. You | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
have to be fast, agile on the court and some the matches go on for a | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
long time and the difference between squash and tennis is a lot | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
more intensity and there are not as many breaks and going pretty much | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
non-stop and you need strength and endurance, speed obviously and | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
there's just so much aspects of physicalness, but also technical | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
ability and to be able to play shots to the front, so it's not | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
just physical, you have to be really good with the racquet. | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
are other factors too. Rebound sports like squash and racquet ball | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
they are not widely known. Facilities are difficult to access. | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
They are in private clubs largely and building new facilities is | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
extraordinarily difficult. Scottish squash is rolling out a new weapon | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
to take the sport around the country. What we have here is the | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
world's first mobile racquet wall as we're calling it. You can use it | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
for squash and racquet ball. It's actually made of the same material | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
as a competition squash court. We have some of the Scottish squad, | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
doing some of the training on it today. This is the first time it's | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
been fired in anger, a concept that the head coach and myself came up | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
with. The objective trying to be to take squash into areas where there | :21:55. | :22:02. | |
are no courts. It's a really simple concept, but it means we can take | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
the sport to the Shetlands, Orkneys, to the various sports halls out in | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
the Hebrides and take it anywhere in the country. Rather than | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
focusing on places where there might be courts available. What we | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
would love to have is more competition for the regional | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
development squads that we have. We would love to see more children | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
playing. Squash has been an add altogether sport and we would like | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
to see more children playing squash. We are currently putting walls into | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
several schools in Glasgow. And introduce to schools possibly for | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
the first time and we think we might lead the world here. In fact, | :22:40. | :22:50. | |
:22:50. | :22:53. | ||
we know we're leading the world here. The potential is unlimited. | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
It's getting it accessible to others and getting enjoyment, | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
because it's good fun. I would hope that it wouldn't keep declining, | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
but we have to wait and see. We are determined to get more people | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
bashing that ball against that wall. Give us the resources and players | :23:08. | :23:18. | |
:23:18. | :23:32. | ||
and I think we can turn out a few Scotland's record on the athletics | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
track has been disappointing in recent years and behind the scenes | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
the picture has also been less than impressive. That's because two | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
national coaches were appointed and left in quick suck success, so will | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
it be third time lucky We went to meet Stephen Maguire, the new | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
director of coaching. This is the man who will lead the charge to | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
Glasgow 2014. Stephen Maguire has coached the Irish sprinter Jason | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Smith to double Beijing paralympic golds, so what's next for the man | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
from Northern Ireland? Well, Scottish Athletics enjoyed great | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
success in Edinburgh in 1970 and 86, the last times the Commonwealth | :24:12. | :24:22. | |
:24:22. | :24:28. | ||
Can this be repeated under his watch for Glasgow 2014? In the last | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
Commonwealth Games Scotland one two medals. Can things be much better | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
than that? Yeah. How much? Give us a ballpark? More than two is what | :24:38. | :24:43. | |
people are saying. I would agree with that. I'm not in long enough | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
to be honest. That's to really determine what could happen. I | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
don't know the programmes that the athletes have and I know the | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
influence from the Scottish Institute of Sport is good and it | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
can probably be better and I think the input from a lot of things can | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
be lit better. If we have got people qualifying, then my job is | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
to get them up to semi-finals. The people who you earmark for them get | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
them into finals. People who you think will be fifth get them up | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
into third and the people around the ballpark of medals then they | :25:19. | :25:29. | |
:25:29. | :25:31. | ||
have a challenge. 18 months ago and before the Delhi Commonwealth Games, | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
Lawrie Primo was the head in athletics. Anything that we do with | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
the younger generation will be geared to 2014 and one of the first | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
thing is to set targets and work our way backwards, so we'll look at | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
2014 and if this is our target where do we need to be in 2013, 12 | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
and 11? We are doing everything we can to create good performances in | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
2014. Since that interview he has left the position, followed months | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
later by the Australian acting head coach Steve Ripon, so has all of | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
this had an impact on expectation for Glasgow 2014? In terms of | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
impact in Glasgow, it's a short- term target. Let's be very honest | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
about that. I'm realistic. Glasgow's a short-term target. Rio, | :26:20. | :26:27. | |
medium-term? 2018, medium to long. What did you think of the talent | :26:27. | :26:36. | |
base here in Scotland? If you were to look at world rankings you would | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
say that there's nothing earth- shattering, but if you dig below | :26:39. | :26:45. | |
and look at the 41 athletes in the squad the age profile, where | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
they're at in their careers, I think there's immense opportunities. | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
I think there's serious talent. There have been encouraging signs, | :26:54. | :27:00. | |
not least long jumper Jade, who broke the oldest Scottish record in | :27:00. | :27:08. | |
the books a few weeks ago. She broke the 1973 record. We need to | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
manage the athletes. It's one of the things I don't want to do, to | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
try to develop a control and that that we actually know what they are | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
doing and if there's gaps in the coaching, then it's my job to skill | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
the coaches. It's my job to continue to ensure that the | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
Scottish coaches are benchmarked against the best in the world. | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
problem that there has been recently is that the two national | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
coaches, albeit one was acting, but they left sooner than was expected. | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
Are you confident now that Stephen is going to be here for the | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
longhaul? As confident as I can be. I think we've taken a very mature, | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
timely recruitment process. I've had many a dialogue with Stephen | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
before, during and after the actual appointment. In that time we and he | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
have been very open and honest with each other about the commitment. | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
I've said this is an eight-year job. I'm looking for someone to do that | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
with it. I'm going to meet road blocks and I'm going to meet people | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
who don't agree with what I'm saying. I'll be having | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
conversations like this, with them. I'm not - they're probably the | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
first people I'll meet and I'll have the phone on and the e-mail | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
will be on and they know where I am and I would encourage people to | :28:24. | :28:31. | |
communicate. That's it for tonight's programme. We hope that | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
you enjoyed the show. We are back Tuesday, 5th June for another | :28:35. | :28:38. |