Top coach warns Scottish athletics to stop 'celebrating mediocrity'

Published on Tuesday 6 October 2009 22:54

ATHLETICS in Scotland is guilty of celebrating mediocrity, one of the country's most successful coaches claimed yesterday.

Stuart Hogg, who coached Yvonne Murray to a Commonwealth Games gold medal and now coaches a trio of leading Scottish athletes, believes too much is made of minor successes. He is convinced that young Scots have the talent to compete on the world stage, and that their coaches do not do enough to help them develop.

"We're quite a parochial nation," Hogg said. "Over the last few years I've seen Scottish athletics celebrate mediocrity and once you do that you've got a problem. Coaches need to learn more about their events, and look beyond Hadrian's Wall, and beyond the English Channel, to wherever new ideas are coming from. We've got the talent at under-17 level, but we don't bring it through. We need to change the culture, because it's evident that we're going down the way."

Hogg, 69, worked as an architect in Glenrothes, and has always done his coaching on a voluntary basis. As well as being coach to Scots hurdlers Eilidh Child and Allan Scott and to Scots sprinter Nick Smith, he coaches Ireland's Paul Hession, who reached the semi-finals of this year's world championships in Berlin.

While he remains dedicated to the sport, he admits he is unable to feel optimistic about the near future, including next year's Commonwealth Games. "We're talking about getting 30 athletes in the Scotland team for next year's games in Delhi. We've got only seven this season who have met the criteria. I think 12 have done it once, but the Commonwealth Games Council have said you've got to do it twice, and only seven have.

"That's the reality. It's not negative, it's the reality, and the sooner we wake up to reality, the better chance we have of improving.

"Too many people say 'Ooh, we've won a medal', when they should be looking at the performances instead. There was one race, for example, when a Scot won a silver medal. There were only three runners to start with, and one of them dropped out, so in fact our athlete was second out of two – and, as it turned out, in a poor time."

Hogg was speaking at the launch of the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award 2009 at Wishaw Sports Arena. BBC viewers in each of the nations and regions across the UK have the chance to nominate their own unsung hero, and the overall winner will be announced at the Sports Personality of the Year award in December. He was there because Murray-Mooney, as she is now called, has nominated him in recognition of his contribution to athletics in Scotland.

Now living in Motherwell, Murray-Mooney works as a senior athletics development and events officer for North Lanarkshire Leisure.

"Stuart is passionate about athletics and wants to help as much as he can," she said. "I work at the grass roots and at the elite level and we do have a lot of talented kids coming through.

"We've just set up five junior clubs in North Lanarkshire. We have an influx of children now and we have to nurture them. I wouldn't say we're celebrating mediocrity. We're trying to change attitudes and get athletes to think beyond the Scottish team.

"My first aim was to get into the Scottish team, then into the Great Britain team. Then it was to get on to the podium. It's about changing mind sets.

"I'm very fortunate that I can now pass on my experience to the next generation – and all of us here are very fortunate that Stuart has come along and helped our athletes. He was very much part of my success and was instrumental in helping me win all my medals."