Young People's Sport Panel member, Chloe, grew up near Lochaber where shinty plays an important part in school and community life. She caught up with youth player and shinty ambassador, Ellie Paterson, to find out more about the part that shinty plays in her life and what the sport has to offer for youth players.
What got you into playing shinty?
"I was asked to play for my local primary school team at age 6 and from there I’ve not put my caman down. I’ve worked very hard to get to where I am now. At age 17 I now play for Lochaber Camanachd Club ladies second team, and I also coach Inverlochy Primary School and Fort William Shinty Club U14 girls.
What is shinty like to play? What is your favourite thing about the sport?
"Shinty can be very difficult to describe to someone who's never seen it before but it's a very fast paced, high intensity and physical sport to play. Every Sunday travelling around the country to contest with other teams and show off your talent and flair on the field.
"The best part about playing shinty is the opportunities it has given me, making new friends, gaining new skills and allowing me to coach others and even become a shinty ambassador for my high school."
What was a highlight from your time as shinty ambassador at your high school?
"The highlight of my time as shinty ambassador was the Lochaber High School 6s tournament which I organised and ran. I worked closely with the Camanachd Association, other Shinty Ambassadors in Scotland and my school PE department in order to get schools together to play shinty.
The day consisted of 5 schools coming together to compete to win silverware; the winners of the overall tournament was Kingussie A and closely running behind them was Lochaber A. The day was great fun and showed the wide range of young talent coming up through the shinty world.
Can you tell us about your recent big win?
"One of my own personal victories in shinty is recently I was lucky enough to be part of the Lochaber Camanachd Ladies second team North league cup winning squad. During this session we won 9 out of 10 games, scored many great goals and most importantly grew as a team and made many great memories together.
We worked hard throughout the season in order to secure our win and all this hard work finally paid off.
Do you have any advice for someone starting out playing the sport?
"One piece of advice I’d give to someone who wanted to start playing shinty is to just do it.
"Shinty is not just a sport but a community and everyone is welcome. Picking up a stick and going for a hit about can change your life."
"It offers great opportunities, a chance to make new friends and be part of a team. Playing a sport is great for your mental health and when you're part of a team there is always someone there to talk to when you're struggling and many great support networks are available. You don't need to be the best of the best to take part. It's all about having fun and staying active."
