The Highland Perthshire Sports Trust has been set up and led by a group of former pupils of Breadalbane Academy. We hesitate to call ourselves ‘alumni’ and we doubt if many of our past teachers would have placed us in that category! …… nevertheless it has been a rewarding experience to have been able to put something back into our local school and hometown area.
Many experts in the field of sports development insist the ‘golden age’ for acquiring sports skills is 8-12 years of age. If by the age of twelve you have not acquired the fundamental skills of catching, running, jumping, etc AND if you have not been introduced to the basic technical skills involved in a sport then you are at a major disadvantage. This is particularly true of our major team sports.
‘Sod this for a game of soldiers ….’
When children move to Secondary School – S1 (Under 13) they are often faced with their first real taste of competitive sport either in school or club settings
If this results in a massive hammering from another team who have had several years experience behind them then this can naturally be a very negative experience. ‘Sod this for a game of soldiers …… ‘ or words to that effect can be the natural reaction and lead to many young people never playing the game again.
Sadly, too many children in this country leave Primary School to go to Secondary Education without the relevant skills and confidence to play sport.
