John Sturgeon a good sport in taking on team role

John Sturgeon, 15, has been named among the 32-strong conference delivery team who will organise and deliver six conferences designed to inspire the next generation of leaders in sport.

With events in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen and Perth, hundreds of young people from local secondary schools will take part, with the conference delivery team leading on and presenting each conference.

The youngsters will decide the content and how best to deliver it for each event as they look for the opportunity to learn and develop as leaders in sport from their peers and predecessors.

Some of the country’s top athletes will also be in attendance to share their experiences, with Commonwealth medallists such as diver James Heatly, triathlete Marc Austin and swimmer Robbie Renwick attending in recent years.

Each year, two pupils from each secondary school in Scotland are chosen as Young Ambassadors to promote sport and motivate other young people to get involved in sport in their schools, clubs and local communities.

The project is a key element of sportscotland’s contribution to developing young people as leaders in sport.

Since the National Lottery-funded programme was launched in 2012, 3,500 Young Ambassadors have been selected and around 650 new Young Ambassadors attend the conferences each year.

John, a pupil at Beeslack Community High, is looking forward to getting started.

He said: “Hopefully we can help inspire the next generation of Young Ambassadors to take as many opportunities as they can.”

Stewart Harris, sportscotland chief executive, added: “Our Young Ambassadors conferences provide an excellent opportunity for pupils across the country who are passionate about sport to come together to make a difference.”