Dyce shows the 'third way' ahead

THE tendency for gifted and ambitious young sports people to flee Scotland in search of better support and facilities has been well documented in the past. And, whether it is the case of Andy Murray moving to Barcelona or Andrew Lemoncello to the States, it tends to be interpreted as nothing less than an indictment of the Scottish system, or the lack of one.

Yet the success of Graeme Dyce, the 17- year old from Edinburgh, in the boys’ doubles at the Australian Open, proves that young athletes are not necessarily faced with an either/ or scenario. Dyce is neither a product of the Scottish system, nor of Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Florida – instead his success demonstrates that, as Tony Blair once said, there is a “ third way”. His mother, Linda, has been anxious to stress this, noting that the first phone call that came through, virtually as the umpire said “ game, set and match”, was from Mark Ritchie, the programme and services manager at the East of Scotland Institute of Sport.

She says that the support offered by the institute goes well beyond congratulatory phone calls. “ They haven’t forgotten about him because he’s based abroad,” says Dyce’s mother. “Quite the opposite.”

This “third way”, it seems, is to seek the best environment and structure abroad – if necessary – and combine that with the specialist support on offer back home. “ The support the young players get through the area institute network is phenomenal,” says Ellinore Lightbody, national coach at Tennis Scotland. “ Even though Graeme is based in the US there is regular contact with the institute staff. Neil Crosbie [ the East institute’s strength and conditioning coach] is going out to see him next month. The institute specialists, Tennis Scotland and Graeme’s coaches in Florida all liaise on a regular basis; and this happens with a lot of our young players.”

As well as supporting talented youngsters, Lightbody admits that the governing body has another priority. An opportunity now presents itself to market and promote the game to all those, especially youngsters, inspired by the exploits of Murray. The marketing isn’t a problem. “ A lot of our marketing is being done by Andy Murray,” notes Lightbody. The issue then becomes one of provision and accessibility. And Lightbody says that the only way to address this is through private investment.

“We need to make tennis more accessible,” says Lightbody. “We need to keep the courts up to standard so that we have good facilities, but we also need to make them more accessible. We’re working hard at the moment to go into schools and promote tennis. Certainly more people want to play. But what we really need is private investment. We’ve been punching above our weight recently but to keep that going I think the biggest thing we need is private investment.”

The irony is that Scottish firms such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Highland Spring are now pouring record sums of money into tennis. But it is paying for logos on Murray’s shirt rather than new tennis courts.

Ex-pats revel Down Under

FOR Scots based in Melbourne the past fortnight has brought with it a sense of dj vu. Kilts, Saltires, Scottish accents babbling excitedly - the Australian Open has induced in ex-pats a similar feel-good factor to that produced by last year's Commonwealth Games, but the Scottish flavour went well beyond Andy Murray, Graeme Dyce and the members of the Tartan Army who populated the Rod Laver Arena.

Indeed, if there were any accusations of a Scottish bias in the media reports from Australia then they could be well founded.

The official media team has an incredible number of Scots: John Lindsay as Australian Open spokesman and head of media at Tennis Australia; Colin Banks as the TV liaison man; and the official film crew, North 1 TV, boasting several more. "There were Scottish voices popping up all over the place and quite a few Saltires in the Rod Laver Arena," says Lindsay. "It's something I've never seen before in six years working here."

The only controversy that might have involved the Scots was a minor furore over an outbreak of "upskirting."

This, Lindsay explains, is the practice of aiming cameras or phones with cameras up skirts. Funnily enough, Scots in kilts weren't the main victims of this. "Scots in kilts have been aware of the phenomenon of 'upskirting' for years," notes Lindsay.

Rigby makes belated debut

WHEN Ian Thorpe announced his retirement at the age of 24 it offered further proof that swimming remains a young person's game. But striking a blow for the older swimmer is Dundee's Karen Rigby, who has had her selection confirmed for the Celtic Tri-Nations championships in Dublin next month.

Rigby is 22 and her career to date has been punctuated by hard luck stories and what-ifs, from bizarre to plain unlucky. "I was selected for the Scottish team for the British schools' championship in 2001," she recalls. "But that was the year of the foot and mouth outbreak so it was cancelled."

A year ago she achieved the qualifying time for the Scottish Commonwealth Games team, but just a little too late to be selected. So at 22 the 50m butterfly swimmer is preparing to make her Scotland debut. "I'm really thrilled," she says. "It's something I've always dreamed of." For Rigby the target beyond the Tri-Nations is the World Student Games in August, and then, although she begins work as a trainee chartered accountant next month, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"It's becoming more common nowadays [for swimmers] to reach their peak later on," says Rigby. "Mark Foster is in his 30s, Alison Sheppard really came into her own in her thirties." Rigby is likely to be advised that her age is no barrier - she is coached by Sheppard's husband, Gary Vandermeluen, the Tayside and Fife Institute of Sport's swim coach.