Friday, 8 April 2011
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Active School Co-ordinators
Active Schools Coordinators in Scotland coordinate the engagement of children in an active lifestyle anything from hill-walking to rugby to aerobics to dance classes. The role of Active Schools Coordinators varies across Scotland some coordinators will work full time and cover a cluster of primary schools or perhaps a number of primary and a secondary school. Others will work part-time and cover one or two secondary schools.
Glasgow Active Schools is a partnership driven initiative between Sportscotland, Education Services, Culture and Sport Glasgow.
- 29 Active School Coordinators
- 2 Active School Additional Support for Learning Coordinators
- Active Schools Management Team
The network will be developed in a way that is consistent with the general ethos of Health Promoting Schools with the following specific objectives:
- To increase physical activity levels among school-aged children in general with a focus on girls and young women, young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, young people with physical and learning disabilities, and young people in areas of socio-economic disadvantage
- To improve motivation and attitude of children and young people to help increase achievements in all aspects of school and community life
- To increase levels of sports participation in both formal and informal community settings
- To increase numbers of young people acting as sports leaders, coaches and volunteers in both school and community settings.
Victoria Park City of Glasgow
As Athletics is my sport I thought I would write a blog on this area. As I know Glasgow does not do a lot to promote it. I compete regularly for the Kirkintilloch Olympians but I thought I would write about our main rivals Victoria Park City of Glasgow as they are the best team in Glasgow at the moment.
Victoria Park City Of Glasgow AC was formed from the merger of Victoria Park AAC and City Of Glasgow AC in January 2007 and is one of the premier athletic clubs in Scotland. From its base in north-west Glasgow, it has continually been at the forefront of Scottish athletics. The club has been fortunate to have an abundance of talented members at National and International level since the formation of Victoria Park in 1930 but VP-Glasgow prides itself on the wide and diverse spectrum of club members. Whether you just want to keep fit and enjoy the wide variety of activities or you want to fulfil your potential and compete at the highest level, VP-Glasgow has the coaches to make this possible.
Scotstoun stadium is where the train every Tuesday and Thursday. I feel that as there club is based in such a high quality stadium they are given the best opportunity in order to succeed as they have a coach for each base of a problem, meaning any injury or problem you are having with your running or racing technique they have someone stand buy in aid of help. No Club held such dominance in Scottish athletics for such a long period, and no Club could retain the position indefinitely. The chapter is now part of Scottish Athletics History, but the Club still hold a high place. Last Season the Club were top in both Divisions of the Scottish Track League. Today, the membership is one of the highest in the United Kingdom, and two-thirds are under nineteen. My club will be competing against these athletes this summer battling for top position of the league table.
After School Clubs
After School Clubs in Glasgow have been growing in number these clubs require the child to remain behind after school to take part in the club. With research I could not find a general count of after schools in Glasgow so I chose to focus on just one School and the amount of after school clubs there are. I contacted the school head teacher and asked what activities took place in the school as this is where I coach the running club every wednesday.
Chryston Primary School in North Lanarkshire has a number of different after school clubs ranging from high physical activity sport to clubs such as chess. Here are the list of activities that take place:
Football, Athletics, Chess, Basketball, Badminton, Gardening, Rugby, Hockey
Football, Athletics, Chess, Basketball, Badminton, Gardening, Rugby, Hockey
Glasgow's Great Scottish Run
The Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run has been named as a shortlisted finalist for the 'Sport Industry Awards 'Sport Participation Event of Year' following the record-breaking event in 2010. The Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run is Scotland 's largest mass participation sporting event attracting a record-breaking 23,386 participants in 2010. 2011 is going to be spectacular as it is hoping to be just as good if not better. Again this is another event I compete in regularly. The popularity of the race is due to the fantastic atmosphere, the fast courses in both half marathon and 10k and the cosmopolitan buzz of Glasgow.
As I mentioned before Glasgow Club is Scotland's largest health and fitness club with over 20 facilities across Glasgow, The Glasgow Club is the perfect training partner for the Great Scottish Run. With a massive range of facilities from health and fitness suites, to swimming pools and dance studios the Glasgow Club is the best way to keep in shape and get in a reasonable condition in order to compete successfully.
The Great Scottish Run includes a 10k race as well as a Half marathon. On the same day the organisers of this event also created The Junior Great Scottish run with the option to chose between a manageable 1.5k distance or a slightly more challenging 3k distance, it's a race that will suit of all levels of ability. Athletes who run for a club in both categories get a 20% discount. But Children especially benefit from this event as at school all children receive a YoungScot Card this gives the athletes a staggering 50% off the competing price giving the mums and dads an even cheaper price to pay for their children to race.
Holiday Clubs
Spring Football, Athletics ''Run, Jump, Throw'' Programme and also the Hockey Programme. These offer a first step to new sports the activities run for children aged three to fourteen.
As the Easter holidays are coming up soon Glasgow see this as an excellent opportunity to allow free swims in over sixty pools in Glasgow. This promotes the event itself as more children will be willing to try out swimming as they wont be too worried about the price. Also this in my opinion is a great way to help the children to keep fit over the holidays as their mum and dads will not need to fork out money every time their child wants to go as they will have unlimited access with their Young Scot Card.
Each council in Glasgow will have their own sports for example West Dunbartonshire specialises in football, athletics and hockey. I have had first hand experience at these sort of camps as when I was younger I went to athletics camps held in the kelvin hall from the age of nine till I was twelve. It only lasted one week of the holiday and I went to the early class from nine o'clock till twelve so the camp did not ruin my whole day or holiday as I was still able to go meet my friends or do other activities after.
These camps are not only run in the Easter holidays they are run as summer camps as well as this also, there is October week camps and Christmas holiday camps. Both October and Christmas are not as busy as there are a lot of other things to do in this time. It is an experience for the children to go along get fir, and make new friends. I see it as an opportunity for children to try new sports as if its held in a sports arena there will be lots of other sports. As when I went to the athletics camps we had a shot at basically every event, we were shown technique for each event and how to measure out run up for high jump, long jump, triple jump. Obviously the shot put and javelin were not real as it was an indoor track at the kelvin hall, so the javelin was foam to avoid any injury and the shot but was a small bean bag like object.
Commonwealth Games
The commonwealth games as you know is coming to Glasgow in 2014 this is the largest multi sport event Scotland has ever hosted. This promotes sport in Glasgow because it will make everyone aware of the importance of sport. They will see athletes some of which at a young age possibly encouragement for them if they see someone only a few years older than them competing and actually doing very well in the events it might inspire young athletes to pursue sport as a career. An example of this would be the young diver Tom Daley.
As discussed before Football is seen to be the most played sport in Glasgow. By the commonwealth coming here it opens a whole new perspective for different sports making the athlete more aware of the importance of different sports.
It will also increase opportunity for people to participate in different sports, as new facilitates will be in place for the event and will be kept for use after the games are over. As obviously venues such as the Kelvin hall are open at the moment to use for sports such as track athletics, badminton, basketball and boxing. But new venues will give people insight into new sports and more enthusiasm to try them out as new arenas are in place.
School Sport Week
School Sport week is an exciting initiative which will take place during June it will use the power of the Olympic and Paralympic games to inspire pupils across the country to take part in sport. The programme is closely aligned to the overall aims of Active Schools to give children the opportunity to get involved in sport. Last year they helped by linking Primary schools together and suggesting activities that could take place at the local high school. It is Scotland's biggest celebration of sport it is ran by Bank of Scotland in partnership with sportscotland. Thirteen schools from Glasgow took part in this event last year. The paralympic festival took place at scotstoun leisure centre with organisations such as Scottish Diasability Sport and Glasgow Active schools representatives.
The event includes excellent benefits as by taking part the school can encourage more young people to take part in sport and physical activity. It also gives the schools a chance to carry the Olympic torch through their community when the relay comes to their area. Also it gives them a chance to win tickets to these events. Many athletes helped promote the school sport week such as Simon Jackson who is a three time Paralympic medallist and Craig McLean who is a Olympic silver medallist.
I have chosen a clip that promotes Sport Week, The reason I choose this clip is due to the fact it shows top athletes which could be role models agreeing that events such as these promote sport in your local area.If you go on youtube and type in School Sports week and click on the first link
Facilities
Glasgow offers first class sports facilities which rival any other in the UL, there is a main of twenty nine centres which offer facilities and activities such as fitness classes, Swimming including flumes, steam room, sauna and spas. Also gyms, Sports halls, Tennis and Badminton courts, Running tracks and Pitches large enough for 5,7 and 11 a-side football.
The clubs are dotted around Glasgow, the main clubs are:
- Barlia football centre
- Glasgow Green Football Centre
Glasgow Club Bellahouston
Scotstoun's swimming pool - Glasgow Club Gorbals
- Glasgow Club Castlemilk -
- Glasgow Club Haghill
- Glasgow Club Castlemilk pool
- Glasgow Club Holyrood
- Glasgow Club Donald Dewar
- Ibrox Football Centre
- Glasgow Club Drumchapel pool
- Glasgow Club John Paul
- Glasgow Club Drymoyre
- Glasgow Club Kelvin Hall
- Glasgow Club Easterhouse
Glasgow Club Knightswood Pool
Logo for most of the mentioned centres - Glasgow Club Easterhouse pool
- Lochend Football centre
- Glasgow Club Maryhill
- Glasgow Club North Woodside
- Glasgow Club Milton
- Glasgow Club Pollock
- National Badminton Academy
- Peterson Park Football Centre
- Glasgow Club Nethercraigs
- Glasgow Club Scotstoun
- Glasgow Club Springburn
- Springburn Football centre
- Glasgow Club Yoker
- Glasgow Club Tollcross
- Stepford Football Centre
- Glasgow Club whitehill Pool
- Tory Glen regional Football Centre
The womens 10k
The women's 10k is held Sunday the 8th of May in Bellahouston Park. If you enter the Great Scottish Run at the same time you save 30% discount of the price as a whole on each event.
Many women choose to enter as part of a team though you can compete individually. Entering as a team encourages team spirit and will aid to encouragement as all will be supporting each other throughout the six and a half mile race course.
There are three team challenges each year these are:
Corporate and Community Challenge - Runners include companys, charites and community groups.
Family challenge - Basically what it says on the tin. Just family teams in this category
Scottish Athletics Team Challenge - This is only runners in teams which have a Scottish Athletics number. Basically runners who already compete for a club.
Teams consist at a minimum of four competitors per team, although there is an unlimited supply of runners allowed in each team. Finishing position is calculated on the top four runners in your team. The earlier you apply for entry to the race the better as the cheaper the race will be. This years race is about a months time away.
Featured on the website are many training programmes in which athletes can use in order to get the best from performance as training is key. There are four programmes Beginners, Intermediate, Experienced and Elite. You choose which category you feel you fall into as each programme will be in order to produce a certain time. Here you will see the race map that is provided on the website, It states clearly both the start and finish of event, this will give runners assurance of the distance they will be competing on the day.Promoting Sport in Glasgow in general
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| Above Scotstoun Lesuire Centre |
Glasgow is Scotland's sporting capital its renowned for the quality of its Sporting facilities and athlete coaching programmes. These World Class arenas include The National Badminton Centre situated in Scotstoun and the fifty metre swimming pool held at Glasgow Club Tollcross.
The main sport which Is promoted throughout Glasgow in my opinion is Football as there is almost at least one astroturf pitch at every community in Glasgow. Due to this I feel that football is over promoted as the amount of effort spent promoting just this one sport could be used to promote others. As just alone there are nine major football centres dotted around Glasgow itself these include one in Barlia, Glasgow Green, Greenfield, Ibrox, Lochend, Peterson Park, Springburn, Stepford and finally one in Tory Glen. If you look around your local community you will see there is at least one sport centre near by all of which will have a swimming pool and a couple of halls in which to either hold badminton competitions, or table tennis etc. As well as there being a huge number of centres designated to football there is also a great number of football pitches that could at to this count. These pitches can be found in Bengal Street, Blairdardie, Budhill, Carmunnock, Cathlin, Glenconner, James Lyndsey, King George V, Knightswood, Mount vernan, Nethercraig, Netherpollock, North Kehiesside, Peterson Park, Preisthill and also Temple.Although Football is the most promoted Glasgow do promote other sports a good variety. The main sports Glasgow promote are Athletics, Badminton, basketball, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Netball, Rugby union, Swimming, Table tennis, Tennis itself and Volleyball.
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