- The Convener (Michael McMahon):
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the ninth meeting in 2005 of the Public Petitions Committee. We have received no apologies for absence, but Jackie Baillie has said that she has to attend another committee meeting before she is able to join us.
The first new petition is PE849, from Kayleigh Boyd, on behalf of St Ronan's Primary School, calling for the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to establish a sports academy in the Scottish Borders. Kayleigh Boyd, who is a pupil at St Ronan's Primary School, is here to make a brief statement to the committee in support of the petition. She is accompanied by her fellow pupils Eilidh Hughes and Robbie Stoddart. Welcome to the committee. You have a couple of minutes to make a presentation to us, after which we will ask you some questions.
- Eilidh Hughes (St Ronan's Primary School):
Good morning. My name is Eilidh Hughes and with me are Robbie Stoddart and Kayleigh Boyd. We are primary 6 and 7 pupils at St Ronan's Primary School in Innerleithen. We thank you for having us here and we would like to present some ideas to you about the sports academy. Primaries 6 and 7 have been busy working on ideas. As I am speaking, Kayleigh will flick through our drawings.
A sports academy would be good, as sporting talent in Scotland is at a low. We would like young pupils to learn and progress at sport in the academy and become great sporting champions like Eric Liddell. The sports academy would provide sports education in pupils' chosen sports. It would also provide an academic education as normal. The age group for the sports academy would be 13 to 26. We think that children younger than 13 would not be able to cope with staying away from their families for so long a time.
I now hand over to Robbie, who will explain who, what and when about the academy.
- Robbie Stoddart (St Ronan's Primary School):
First, what? We think that there should be a sports academy with instructors in all sports to coach young sporting talent to the highest level in pupils' chosen sports. The academy should have the very best facilities in order to set those high standards. Here is a list of sports that we would like to include in our academy: football, tennis, rugby, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, equestrianism, canoeing, cycling, hockey, cricket and netball. We would also like to tell you what we think the letters of sports academy stand for.
- Kayleigh Boyd (St Ronan’s Primary School):
S is for sport; P is for performance; O is for Olympic champion; R is for respect; T is for talent; S is for spirit; A is for achievement; C is for confidence; A is for amazing; D is for determination; E is for encouragement; M is for magic; and Y is for young sportspeople.
- Robbie Stoddart:
Secondly, where? We think that the academy should be in the central Borders, as the Borders would be a great location for a sports academy, the biggest reason being the easy access from central places such as Edinburgh.
Thirdly, why? We should have a sports academy so that people can realise their own and others' sporting potential and so that more talent from this area can compete at the highest level. An academy would also attract more attention to the Borders sporting-wise. Our area would be a great training environment for young hopefuls.
- Kayleigh Boyd:
We hope that you have taken in all that we have said today and have given it a lot of thought and consideration. Thank you for listening to our speech. We are now ready for some questions.
- The Convener:
Thanks very much for your presentation. Given how good it was, I am sure that you are ready for questions.
- Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab):
I agree that the presentation was excellent. What gave you the idea of a sports academy?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
We feel that Scotland's image is poor and we would like standards to improve in order to give Scotland a name in sport.
- Helen Eadie:
Does anyone else want to say something about that?
- Robbie Stoddart:
I agree with Kayleigh.
- Helen Eadie:
How did you come up with the idea of bringing a public petition to the Scottish Parliament?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
Jenni Campbell came and helped us. She gave us the options of what we could do. We had a vote and the petition won.
- Helen Eadie:
Good. Well done.
- The Convener:
Petitions always win.
- John Scott (Ayr) (Con):
Where would you like to locate the sports academy? I presume that it would be in Innerleithen, or do you have somewhere else in mind?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
We were thinking more of Gala, because it is near the centre of the Borders. Netherdale is trying to do a project with the rugby and we are hoping to link in with that.
- John Scott:
Good. Have you done any research on the demand that there would be from the Borders people? It does not matter if you have not. Have you had expressions of interest from the rugby clubs or the soccer clubs, for example?
- Robbie Stoddart:
We have not done anything like that yet, but that is something that we could look into.
- John Scott:
What was the alternative way of getting the academy built? You considered approaching the Public Petitions Committee. What other approach did you consider? You said that you had a vote on it. What did you vote on?
- Eilidh Hughes:
We had the choice of a leaflet campaign or the petition. More people voted for a petition, so that is what we decided to do.
- John Scott:
That is great. Thanks very much. Good luck.
- Rosie Kane (Glasgow) (SSP):
Hi there. That was an excellent presentation and the petition is very good. Thanks very much for that. Can you imagine yourselves being at a sports academy and what that would mean for you personally?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
As Eilidh said, we thought that the academy could be for people who are between the ages of 13 and 26. Up in Perth, there is a rugby club that some Scotland rugby players help out with in the summer. We hope that there could be similar clubs when training is not happening.
- Eilidh Hughes:
As Kayleigh said, rugby clubs and football clubs could help young people to learn about the sport and get better at it, even when there is a holiday.
- Rosie Kane:
Robbie, can you see yourself at a sports academy? How would that benefit you?
- Robbie Stoddart:
It would let us concentrate on things like our diet, which would be good.
- Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (Ind):
Thank you very much for making such a good presentation. You mentioned that you envisaged that the academy would be residential. In other words, people would stay there to work on their sports. How would people get to go to the academy? Would they already have to be junior champions in their sport or could local authorities or schools put them forward for a place at the academy?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
We hoped that we could get former sportsmen or experienced sportsmen to act as scouts. They could go to Border games and watch the running or the football. They could pick out people to look into and just see how they got on.
- Campbell Martin:
In other words, you hope that someone could spot a child's potential to be good and put them forward on that basis.
- Kayleigh Boyd:
Yes.
- Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP):
Thank you for your excellent presentation, which you must have put a great deal of work into. My question follows up on Campbell Martin's. You mentioned that the academy would be for 13 to 26-year-olds, that it would be residential and that people would scout for potential athletic excellence. You have referred to a range of sports, not just rugby and football. Would it be a good idea if people who were champions in school sports, such as the 100m or the long jump, could be admitted to the academy? How would the residential arrangements work?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
When they go to university, people pay the university to have a flat, for example. Perhaps the sports academy could pay for students to stay in a hotel or somewhere and they would pay the sports academy.
- Ms White:
You mentioned that you intended that the academy would link up with Netherdale. If the academy is built in Gala, do you envisage that there would be residential accommodation on site?
- Robbie Stoddart:
As there is already a university at Netherdale, I think that we could perhaps put people in accommodation there.
- John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD):
Good morning. You look so professional and so charming that I am sure that you will manage to charm the birds out of the trees. It is a great honour to the Parliament and to you that you have chosen to present your petition to the Parliament. That speaks volumes not only about you, but about the Parliament's accessibility. I am sure that we all welcome that.
My question is simple. Your petition is presented in such a professional manner that I am sure that it will achieve the degree of success for which you had hoped. You make a plea on behalf of all potential athletes and other sportspeople. What sports do you participate in? I invite Robbie to answer first.
- Robbie Stoddart:
I do a bit of running and a lot of mountain biking and I play football and rugby.
- Kayleigh Boyd:
I used to play for the Borders girls football team. I play netball and am going to start hockey. I have also played in a rugby team.
- John Farquhar Munro:
I think that I saw that Eilidh has a sports injury. What sport do you participate in, Eilidh?
- Eilidh Hughes:
I play netball, like Kayleigh. I have joined a hockey club and I sometimes play football as well.
- John Farquhar Munro:
You have done an excellent job. We are pleased to see you and I am sure that your school colleagues will be proud of the presentation that you made this morning. Thank you for coming.
- The Convener:
We are joined this morning by Christine Grahame and Chris Ballance. I ask them whether they want to ask the students anything or make any comments.
- Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP):
I have a question for the petitioners. Do you know that Heriot-Watt University and Borders College are going to build on the site that you mentioned? Have you thought of contacting the heads of Heriot-Watt University in the Borders and Borders College about your idea while they are developing the site?
- Eilidh Hughes:
We have not done that yet, but it is a good idea, so we could look into doing it.
- Christine Grahame:
It is a serious point, because they are going to build residential units.
How would students at the academy of sport do their school lessons?
- Eilidh Hughes:
It would be a mixture of sports education and academic education so that students could receive an academic education as well. For one lesson, they might do maths and then they could do a lesson of football, for example.
- Kayleigh Boyd:
We could ask the schools to give the students a set amount of work to get through each day or week. If they did that, the students would know what they would have to do each week and would not fall behind.
- Robbie Stoddart:
That is a good idea because in high school—where we live, anyway—the pupils already have a timetable and periods to work to.
- Christine Grahame:
Thank you and well done.
- Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green):
Congratulations to the petitioners and their class. Ought Scotland's sporting achievements to be better at the moment and would a sports academy help them? The same goes for the health of young people: could it be better and could a sports academy help in that?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
Yes. At least we are good at curling, but we could be better at football, rugby and the sports that Robbie mentioned. We are quite an important country, but our sporting image is not very big, so we hope to build on it.
- Eilidh Hughes:
As Kayleigh said, we want to build on our sporting image with a sporting academy. Our champions are good at their sports, but they are not practised enough, if you see what I mean, so a sports academy would help them to practise and get better at their sports.
- Robbie Stoddart:
A lot of people who could be good with a lot of practice go unrecognised, so the sports academy could help with that as well.
- The Convener:
In my area in North Lanarkshire, we have a sports comprehensive, Braidhurst High School. It is a school that specialises in sports and, if students from other schools are good at sports, they can go to the sports comprehensive and get additional teaching in the sports that they are good at. Is there any school like that in the Borders at the moment?
- Kayleigh Boyd:
Not that I am aware of.
- The Convener:
I wondered whether that was the case.
I ask committee members for suggestions on what to do with the petition.
- Helen Eadie:
I suggest that we contact the Scottish Executive and, perhaps, sportscotland to ask for their views on the petition.
- The Convener:
Do members have any other suggestions?
- Rosie Kane:
If we were to send the petition to another committee, would it be the Enterprise and Culture Committee?
- The Convener:
It probably would, but we will have to wait and see what the Executive's response is before we send the petition to another committee to consider.
- Ms White:
To pick up on what Christine Grahame said, would it be worth while writing to Borders College and Heriot-Watt University?
- The Convener:
Do you mean to see what their plans are?
- Ms White:
Yes.
- The Convener:
That would not do any harm.
- John Scott:
Given Scotland's memorable win last night over the Barbarians, for a bit of fun it might be nice to contact the Scottish Rugby Union to see whether it has a view.
- The Convener:
We are contacting sportscotland, but given that the petitioners mention rugby as a focal point for the academy, I see no harm in finding out what options are available for the proposal that Christine Grahame has brought to our attention. Do members agree that we do that?
Members indicated agreement.
- The Convener:
Thanks all of you for coming this morning and well done again for your presentation. Once we receive responses from the people whom we write to, we will let you know what they tell us.