Hockey's Stott on the spot to pick up award

Published on Monday 14 December 2009 22:02

JUST days after Commonwealth Games Scotland announced hockey's inclusion in next year's 2010 Games in Delhi, Ross Stott extended Scottish Hockey's celebrations after the player was named as the Clydesdale Bank Athlete of the Month for December. Stott received the award in recognition of his impressive performance at the recent World Cup qualifier and also picked up £500 towards his training and competition costs.

Stott said: "This has been a complete but very welcome surprise to me. I had no idea I had been nominated and it is great to win the award and gain recognition for hockey from among so many worthy Commonwealth sportsmen and women."

The 21-year-old player regularly travels from his Dundee home to Bellahouston Park in Glasgow where he trains with Kelburne Hockey Club. The Scotland squad member, who hopes to be among the selected athletes bound for Delhi next year, said: "The additional funding will be very useful at a time when I am actively looking for work that can fit into my busy training and competition schedule, as my preparations and performances will be very important in the year ahead."

Stott's performance at the World Cup qualifying event hosted in Invercargill, New Zealand was integral to the team's third-place finish and he was named the man of the tournament by the Scotland team coaching staff.

"I scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot-out in that match (against China] and I wasn't keeping count before I lined up for the last penalty so I didn't know I was playing a crucial shot, but scoring that goal topped off a memorable tournament for us and a great team effort."

While recognising this year has been a huge learning curve after his first taste of major competition at seniors level at the Europeans earlier this year, Stott hopes his growing confidence and recent experiences will help him get more starts for Scotland.

"My primary aim is to get selected for Delhi but beyond that I would love to get a GB call-up for London 2012," he said.