Young rugby star to train at the barre

A NINE-year-old rugby star has won a prestigious training position with Scottish Ballet.

Hamish Gornall, from Dunblane, Perthshire, is the captain and fleet-footed winger with top Scots rugby outfit Stirling County on Saturday afternoons.

However, his quick feet and the fine balance that bamboozle his young opponents on the rugby pitch are honed twice every week at his local ballet schools in Dunblane and Gleneagles.

Now, Hamish, who took up dancing three years ago after watching his sister dance on stage, has been rewarded with a place on Scottish Ballet's junior associate programme.

Hamish, who passed a tough audition, will in August begin the two-year course, which sees young novices being taught by the company's dancers.

The primary four pupil at St Mary's Primary, in Dunblane, said he couldn't choose between rugby and ballet.

"I love playing rugby with all my team mates at Stirling County and winning medals all over the country," he said.

"But I also love dancing and leaping across the stage, which is really good fun."

Natalie Garry, who teaches Hamish at Gleneagles, said:

"Hamish is a very talented young man. He really is a future talent for Scotland."