Stott looking for emerging talent to shine at inter-district weekend

The inter-district weekend is always one looked forward to by many in the sport as it offers competitive matches and an insight into the future.

One very interested spectator on Saturday and Sunday at the Edinburgh University grounds will be Scottish Hockey’s youth performance manager, Dave Stott.

A man with a number of roles, Stott has just returned from a training weekend with the Scotland Under-21 ladies’ squad down south and is ready to switch his attention to players who could be involved at that level in a couple of years time.

He said: “I always look forward to this weekend because you get a chance to see players from all around the country that you may not have seen in the flesh before and it is also good to meet up with the various inter-district and national coaches to get their thoughts on how things are progressing.

“The two days are a real opportunity for the girls to show us what they can do and it is great to see how some of them raise their game when playing in a more pressured environment. Between the ages of 15 and 18 it is about the players getting as much experience as possible and from this weekend we will pick our regional development squads.”

Over 200 boys and girls throughout the country will be selected for regional development squads soon which will allow them to work in groups locally ahead of national selection in 2012.

There are five centres for these squads – the East, West, Tayside and Fife, the North and the Highlands – and they are made up of players from age 14 to 18.

For players who have perhaps missed out on selection for this weekend, their schools can still put them forward for talent ID days in the coming weeks from which other youngsters could still earn their place in a regional development squad.

Twelve months ago in the under-18 event, the West emerged triumphant.

Nina Dickson’s goal was the only one to separate the West and East in the final following two days of competition.

In the under-16 event, Jenni Polson of George Heriot’s notched two goals as the East defeated the West 3-2 in an exciting final.

The other scorer for the East in that match was Millie Brown (Fettes College), while Jenny Eadie and Danielle Gibson, from Hutchesons’ Grammar and the High School of Glasgow respectively, replied for the West.

The boys’ inter-district event was held a few weeks ago with the East managing to wrestle back the title from the West for the first time in three years in the under-16 event.

The East won the final at that age-grade 2-1, while the Midlands defeated the North 7-0 to emphatically take third place.

In the under-18 event, the West defeated the East 6-2, with the Midlands again finishing third.