01/05/2012 Sport Nation


01/05/2012

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If Hello and welcome to the May edition of Sport Nation. Summer is

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almost year and the pace is hotting up as we move towards London 2012.

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There is 87 days and will start of the Olympic Games and we need some

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of the Scots were hoping to make a big impression on the greater show

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on earth. We are at the London Marathon with Freya Murray,

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qualifying for the Olympic Games the top of the agenda. I am excited.

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But it's been Olympic year as well, hopefully the timing will be right.

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We meet the Scot who is walking tall and chasing a slam dunk

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Olympic Games for Team GB. I want to fly the flag for Scotland. I

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want to represent Scotland within the Team GB squad. Elsewhere we are

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in the ring with a Highlander and Gary Cornish. I have never felt

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anyone hit so hard on the pads. He has a vicious amateur natural power.

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From days of glory to desolation, can Scottish squash bounce back to

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success? We think we may be leading the world. In fact we know we are

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leading the world. In an interview with the new man in charge of

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Scottish athletics, can Stephen Maguire get the Scots back on track

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in time for 2014? When you look at the 41 athletes from the

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Commonwealth Games squad, where they are at in their athletics

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Careers, I think there is immense opportunities. There are serious

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talent. The big focus for all the elite athletes this summer is on

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the Olympic Games and the London Marathon was a chance for some of

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the best marathon runners in the world to chase qualification. Among

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some of Scotland's Freya Murray and John can tell us the story of her

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big day. After her London Marathon

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performance, Freya Murray was back working as a structural Engineer in

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Newcastle. Five days earlier she had tried to run herself into the

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British Olympic team. She has represented Scotland

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internationally at 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and dominated cross

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country for years but she had never ever raised a marathon. Some had

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given her no chance. When I was younger I enjoyed short distances.

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Doing 800 metres and thinking 1,500 metres has a long way. Gradually

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just moving up and moving up. I am really excited about the marathon.

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But it being Olympic year as well, hopefully the timing will be right.

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The world's best gathered. It is about the Olympics as well. Para

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Radcliffe and marry Ritchie have been pre-selected so there was one

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place left. The main contenders were Louise Damen, Claire Hallissey,

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Liz Yelling and myself. The air is Freya Murray. It was Louise Damen

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who decided I am not sure the pacemaker is doing a good job.

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Freya Murray has latched onto Louise Murray -- Louise Damen.

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thought we would all latch on with the pace rigueur. When Louise White,

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I knew I had to be first Brett. am confident that if she can run

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well, if this was a ten-mile race, Freya Murray would be the first of

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the British athletes. It is weird running for 26 miles and not

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speaking to each other. You are so used to going for a Sunday run and

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having a blether on the way. So to run that far and just be totally

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focused and not speak to each other was quite weird. Freya Murray

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running really well there and the more interesting thing for us is

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about these two British athletes, can they run fast enough?

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remember there was bagpipes are one point. It made me really think,

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USOC it with a right away. -- you associate with that. And the water

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station. It is interesting saying that. Just the way I slowed down,

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get my bottle, picked it up. I have never done it in a race before, not

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used to running carrying things. That is the point where Clare

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starts to get away. Claire Hallissey is making the move. This

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is that a significant.. I want to look back and seat F Freya Murray

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who has run a fig -- how she still got the composure to stay in

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contention. I was here and I was thinking, I cannot let them get

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away. That is all its five seconds now. I think Freya Murray is at

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striking distance. That gap appears to be closing. It is not that big.

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And those too much pulling well clear of Louise Damen. It is

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annoying watching it. I remember thinking on how, if I can just

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close the gap. Then I will pick it up. But once the gap was open, it

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was open and that was that. Here is clear coming to the finish. I am

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not that far behind! Claire Hallissey was the first Brit home

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and she was selected for the team. Freya was an agonising 26 seconds

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behind. That is just one second for every mile, or even just

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inexperience at the water stations. On the one hand I am really pleased

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I made my debut. It pits may eight on the all-time list in the UK.

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They would have been nicer to have been 26 seconds quicker.

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I am staying positive and there is still a 5,000 metres and 10,000

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metres. I am going to try and qualify for one of them. No

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reserves have been officially named yet, but you cannot be sure. Maybe

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if someone else trips up, then I can go. I would never wish illness

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or injury on anybody. Basketball, like many sports is

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really suited to those who are very told. All, it is. Think about

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people like Michael Jordan and Corby bright and Britain's own Luol

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Deng. Here is a new name, Kieron Achara.

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This is Manresa, population 77,000, about an hour's drive from

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Barcelona. It is on the heart of Catalonia but we do not have to

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look too far you to find a little slice of Scotland. Actually, make

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that a pretty big lump of Scotland. Because at six at 10 and 17 stones,

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Kieron Achara is anything but little. He plays for the Spanish

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club Assignia Manresa in the League second only in quality to the NBA.

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And he is a popular member of the team. He he is a legend. Kieron is

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also in the provisional Team GB squad for the London Olympics.

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is an experience that you want to be part. Being in the squad, you

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have got that feeling of I am so close but at the same time a good

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ended any second family. Hopefully I will make it. But there is little

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doubt where his heart lies. He has got a sweet have to. I am very

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proud of where I come from and when I grew up. It has moulded me into

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the man I am today. My first experience playing for the Scottish

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national team in Ireland when I was 16 years old, it was the proudest

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moment for me as a basketball player. That said his Scottish this

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can sometimes pose problems. No one has a clue what I am saying FI

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speak with my Stirling twang. My accent is the hardest to

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understand... Funny it is more difficult. Sometimes he just looks.

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Keegan has played for the last they could in the States and Italy. --

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Kieron has played. I say I live out a masochist, I do not have any

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personal belongings other than close because I know I have to pack

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up and leave. That is a little stressful at times, not knowing

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where I am going to be next year. At the same time I try and soak up

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all the culture in all the places I have lived. Learn as much as I can

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- the language, the cuisine. Meet as many people as I have. I feel

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very blessed to have done what I have done. This is his first year

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here and he is enjoying the lifestyle. All these chairs are out,

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people are sitting here until 11 o'clock at night and socialising. I

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wish there was more of that in Scotland. This is one of the

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sponsors. He is also learning Spanish but that does not always

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help. It is in Catalan like everything here. Sometimes if

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you're lucky you can ask for a menu in Spanish. I am going t e the

:10:54.:11:04.
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salad! Basketball is a part of life here. Kids playing every day,

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coming in with their parents. Here you get a little bit carried away,

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signing autographs. People in your time, coming out and shouting and a

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man asking for a photograph. When I go back to Scotland, it is just,

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bouquet Kieron. It is humbling, it is nice to go home and get away

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from the hall basketball thing. Just to be the tall Scottish person.

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-- from the whole Scottish -- whole basketball. I think the fact that I

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am Scottish, been in Catalonia, the relate a lot to the Scots way of

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life. The whole looking for their freedom. I think they have accepted

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me as one of the Rhone. I really enjoy being here. -- one of their

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own. Hopefully I will make it. I want to

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fly the flag for Scotland. I want to represent Scotland within their

:12:26.:12:36.
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GB squad. Now over the years Scottish boxing

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has produced some great British and world champions, but never at heavy

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weight. Could that be about to change? One writer in Inverness is

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being tipped to rewrite the history books. And Phil Goodlad has been to

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meet the man the collar Highlander. -- the call that.

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Tartan and whisky is not all of the Highlands produce. Gary Cornish has

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a hunger. At 25, the heavy weight has embarked on a journey with one

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aim in mind. Everybody that goes into boxing dreams of being a

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champion, so I am no different from any of the boxer. To achieve that

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aim, he dedicates himself six days a week to a punishing training egg

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so -- training regime. It is number six on the routine.

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The hardest part is keeping your strength up. So after all that you

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would think Gary would go on to rest, right? Think again. Gary

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Cornish is a professional boxer but first and foremost he is a joiner

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to trade. We build quite a lot of houses an extensions so there is a

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lot of lifting so why implement that into my training. In future I

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could just stick to the boxing. the ring, Gary's potential was

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quickly spotted. His trainer Laurie Redfern used to be a pro himself

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and believes Gary has star The Russian brothers have dominated

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in the world for a long time. Being tall and having a good jab and

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moving and Gary has that. Gary is the same height and has all the

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attributes that you want to be a heavy weight champion. At six foot

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seven and 17-and-a-half stone, Gary the Highlander Cornish has a major

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obstacle in his way. It's been difficult to get heavier guys to

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spar, but professional partners will have to be lined up and have

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been, and that's travelling. They'll come to him or he'll travel

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to them. Hard work and a struggle, because a lot of the boys are

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smaller, so struggle to hold a punch, but no we have Paul. He's

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helping me a lot. After a day's work, Gary is back in the gym.

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box because I love the sport. Once you get in the ring you get a

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hunger and you want to do it more and more. Boxing isn't Gary's own

:15:59.:16:09.
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pleasure. This is my pet. What is that? Crickets. You can sit and

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watch them forever, you know. not just bearded dragons with the

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ferocious appetite. He needs around 4,000 calories a day. It starts

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with four eggs in the morning and is quickly followed by the first of

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his high-energy snacks. Lunch is chicken pasta and bread, with a big

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bowl of porridge for tea. The main meal is at 10pm, before a protein

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shake at bedtime. I don't need to tell you about some of the great

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names Ken Buchanan and Jim Watt, but all fighting at lower divisions

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than heavyweight and that's a division we've not had much success

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in down the years. It's a question of numbers. If you don't have

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enough heavy boys to work, the chances of one breaking through

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when you have so few coming through is remote. Gary rounds off the

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day's training with a session in the pool. 14 hours after he went

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for his early morning run. It's good to come here after training

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and cool down and loosen up. It takes all the tension out of your

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legs. You don't worry you might burn out? Not yet. Maybe when I'm a

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bit older I'll slow down, but just young just now, so keep on pushing

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myself. Gary is determined to do just that, to create Scottish

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boxing history. The joiner from Inverness, with the heavyweight

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dream. I've never felt anybody hit quite so hard on the pads. He has a

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vicious amount of natural power. be a British champion and be

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Scotland's first-ever champion is going to be something in itself.

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You dream of it, but I guess I - you're only as good as your last

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fight. I don't like to get ahead of myself. There aren't many sports

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where Scotland's been able to boast Commonwealth champions and world

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number ones, but squash is one of those sports. Over the years, fewer

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and fewer people have been taking up the game and that's a worry to

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Scottish squash. They say it's time to get back to people bashing a

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British squash is 150 years old, but nobody's absolutely sure how it

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started. The home of the association is that people who

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never held a racquet will be tempted to venture for a 40-minute

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session. I I think -- I think I can do with a drink. The 1970s, the

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days of strikes, Slade, Saturday Night Fever and squash. Because it

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was back then that the popularity of the sport in this country was at

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its height. No, the numbers of people playing in Scotland have

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dropped to around one sixth of what they once were. That makes this

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man's job all the more challenging. The game of squash is traditionally

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a big sport in Scotland and we have produced a lot of very good players

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over the years. I suppose on the back of the big boom in the sport

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over the 1970s and 80s. In fact, now we are in the programmes we are

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getting the kids of the players who started then. I'm not concerned

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about the quality that we do get. The issue is we only get the odd

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one, so in terms of our talent pool it's a very, very narrow pool. The

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difficulty for me then is when we play representative events where we

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are a team and we need a result and we don't have the numbers to be as

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strong as a lot of the other countries in the world. Squash is

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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

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look effortless, but he's the best player in the country. It's always

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been known as physical chess, because it's really physical. You

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have to be fast, agile on the court and some the matches go on for a

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long time and the difference between squash and tennis is a lot

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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

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ability and to be able to play shots to the front, so it's not

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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

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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

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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

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as a competition squash court. We have some of the Scottish squad,

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doing some of the training on it today. This is the first time it's

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been fired in anger, a concept that the head coach and myself came up

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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

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the sport to the Shetlands, Orkneys, to the various sports halls out in

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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.

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