Press Release
Footie tournament win for AHS and Scalloway
A recent football tournament run by the Council’s Active Schools section has helped to further the sport among young girls in the isles. Last month saw the climax to the “Bank of Scotland Soccer One” football championships at the Clickimin Leisure Centre, with teams from all over Shetland taking part.
Active Schools Co-ordinator James Johnston, who co-ordinated the event said,
“The Soccer One initiative has been very successful in creating secondary school teams across Shetland who have trained on a weekly basis prior to competitions. The growth in the number of girls playing has been particularly positive. We’ve even been able to make links with the Shetland Women’s Football team for those girls who want to take the sport further.
“The tournament has also led to more coaches getting involved in leading school teams. Through the fund, they have been able to access coaching courses at discounted rates”.
This latest tournament ran over three dates, so last month’s event was the nail-biting end to a competition that started in November last year. In the boys’ section, Anderson High School led the way from start to finish. However, it was much closer with the girls, as any one team from Scalloway, Sandwick, Anderson High School and Brae could have won right up to the final day. In the end, the Scalloway girls took the title by one point from Brae.
The event marks the end of the Bank of Scotland Soccer One funding. The scheme was developed by the Scottish Football Association and was designed to invest in secondary schools football over a three year period. In Shetland the funding has been used to help secondary school teams pay for transport to competitions, hire halls for training and supply teams with new equipment.
Despite the funding coming to an end, the Active Schools team are planning to keep secondary schools football in the school sports calendar next year.
Mr Johnston said “The programme was a real success and we were delighted by the enthusiasm shown by the kids taking part and the volunteer coaches. We’re now looking forward to carrying forward that momentum and are planning a new secondary schools football programme for 2011/12.”
