Schools & Education

BBC Sportsound on the road

Pupils across Scotland coached by stars

This year we continued working in partnership with BBC Scotland to raise the profile of sport across the country.

We took the BBC Scotland Sportsound programme “on the road” working with sportscotland gold school sport award primary and secondary schools to deliver memorable sporting experiences to pupils across Scotland.

At each event around 50 pupils were coached by professional coaches and athletes, handpicked by the BBC Sportsound team. They shared their experience in sport and their top coaching tips with pupils and for many pupils provided a once in a lifetime chance to meet some of Scotland’s top athletes. The coaching session was followed by a live broadcast of the BBC Sportsound radio show from the school, giving pupils a chance to get involved in the programme by asking the panel questions live on air.

We kicked our 2018 series off in February, by visiting Edinburgh’s Broomhouse Primary School for a rugby show in the midst of the six nations tournament. We were joined by Ross Ford, hooker for both Edinburgh and Scotland and one of Scotland’s most capped players and Scottish rugby union player Tom Brown, as well as Edinburgh Rugby’s Community Coach Ruaridh Pye who shared some tips and hints with pupils to encourage them to take up rugby and gave pupils a strong sense of the opportunity for sport in the local community.

In April we visited Portree Primary on the Isle of Skye (the first time the radio show has been broadcast off the mainland!) for a football event accompanied by former Rangers and Scotland player Lee McCulloch and former Hearts player Robbie Neilson who spent the morning coaching football and developing pupils’ skills. Lee McCulloch said:

I found the whole day really positive an it was great to work with such a keen and talented group of young footballers.

September took us to Clepington Primary in Dundee as the city was celebrating the opening of the V&A museum, where Scotland international and Glasgow City player Leanne Crichton plus former Scotland striker and Dundee player Kenny Miller coached football and answered plenty of questions about best techniques, favourite moments in their careers and pre-games rituals.
November was a busy month on the road as we visited two schools. First up, we headed north to Fortrose Academy where pupils enjoyed real star treatment with coaching from former Motherwell & Celtic striker Scott McDonald, former Scotland striker Billy Dodds and Inverness Manager John Robertson, who told us “It’s been a brilliant experience to get involved in coaching the pupils at Fortrose Academy and I’ve seen plenty of talent which is great”.

Next up was Castlehead High School in Paisley where the coaching session was provided by another talented group; Leanne Crichton, St Mirren players Anton Ferdinand and Jordan Kirkpatrick plus Scott McDonald. The live radio show was a great success generating topical questions and plenty of audience involvement. After a great day in Paisley, Leanne told us:

I loved coaching at Castlehead High School, pupils really made the most of this new coaching experience and their love of football is obvious. Bringing BBC Sportsound to schools makes it easier for young people to get involved and it is a really positive experience to be involved with.
Teaming up with the BBC Scotland Sportsound team has been an excellent way to raise the profile of sport and provide new sporting opportunities for young people and we hope to continue with new locations in 2019. Look out for sportscotland and BBC Sportsound on the road, in could be coming to a town near you!

To see more pictures from Sportsound on the road, view the Flickr gallery below