UK School Games – Thursday 01 Sept 2011
The next leg of our UK School Games journey was the first day of 
the competition where each of the four Scotland squads played one match each. Every player glowed as the official protocol to introduce their team and announce the starting six onto court took place, an honourable first Scottish Cap for many. As expected, the first day saw some nerves in the young athletes, which began to subside as they settled into their games. Scores and comments from the Head Coaches below.
Tonight the athletes had the privilege of taking part in the opening ceremony where they paraded onto stage and were once again in the limelight in front of an impressive crowd at the Motorpoint Arena. Encouraging words were heard in a specially prepared video clip from Lord Sebastian Coe who was unable to be there as he is attending the Athletics World Championships in Daegu, Sth Korea, however gold medal sprinter Jason Gardener was there in person to offer some motivational words to his audience. Next on stage was an appearance by the inspirational double Paralympic gold medal swimmer Ellie Symonds MBE who achieved her dream in Beijing 2008 at only 13 years of age. Then in keeping with the Olympic style experience, volunteers, officials and athletes undertook oaths and pledges. Entertainment was provided by local school singers and their band who gave a fabulous performance, and then followed Cirque Bejou with an awesome display of stunts and acrobatics! It was then back to the athlete village for a good nights rest before day 2 of the competition which is detailed at the foot of this article.
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Heather Darling
SVA Head of Delegation
Girls: Scotland East v Northern Ireland
0 – 2 (11-25, 18-25)
“We have come to the tournament with a very inexperienced team, and gained valuable knowledge from being on court in such a pressurised environment. We are looking forward to taking massive steps forward throughout the tournament” Vince Krawczyk, Head Coach, Scotland East Girls
Boys: Scotland West v Northern Ireland
2 – 0 (25-17, 25-23)
“The learning just goes on…. We started brightly and dominated Northern Ireland in an error strewn first set. In the second set, we took the opportunity to run our bench while maintaining mental toughness to ultimately take the set” John French, Head Coach, Scotland West Boys
Scotland East v England North
0 – 2 (23-25, 23-25)
“It was good to get to 23 -23 in both sets, but hopefully the players will learn about what
is required to close out the set in these situations and take that on board for the rest of
the competition’ Ian Brownlee, Head Coach, Scotland East Boys
Scotland West v England South
0 -2 (12-25, 18-25)
“After an exciting and positive start, the team hit a shaky serve receive phase which served to be a great learning opportunity for them. The good thing was that we could give more of the players an opportunity. The team recovered well from that experience and competed well in the second set, and that confidence leaves us looking forward to the rest of the tournament” Jess Reid, Head Coach, Scotland West Girls
Scotland Schedule Day 2 – Friday 2nd September:
09.55 – Scotland East v England South girls
11.20 – Scotland East v Scotland West boys
12.45 – Scotland East v England North girls
14.10 – Scotland West v Wales girls
15.35 – Scotland East v Wales boys
17.00 – Scotland West v England Central boys
18.25 – Scotland East v Scotland West girls