SSAA Championships

Following the last post on this subject I went back to the entry list for the Scottish Secondary Schools Championships where they list the entrants by school.The exact numbers for local schools that have provided club members in the recent past are: Clydebank High School, Dumbarton Academy, Our Lady and St Pat's, the Hermitage and Cleveden - NO entries; St Peter the Apostle High School has entered two boys in three events; Bearsden Academy has entered three athletes; Balfron High has entered five pupils, Douglas Academy eight and Boclair eleven. Given the numbers entered for the County Schools and the number of young athletes in the club there could probably have been more pupils entered. It might be that the schools do not have the man power in terms of teachers to enter more. Derek McGinley used to offer to enter teams from local high schools and the offer was taken up. It might really be a good idea to have a schools liaison officer - a retired committee member, a parent who has the inclination to make the contacts with the school or even someone with flexible working hours would be useful. But the future of the sport is not good with numbers like those quoted above representing local schools in the SSAA Championships.