Tenth Anniversary News Items

The Journey to Excellence

Ten years, five sports, one goal - excellence!

Ten Year Celebration - A Few Words by Ian Anderson

Guest Speaker John Stewart Prepares for the Iditarod

10 Year Anniversary Video

Ten Year Anniversary Ball and Raffle Winners

The Journey to Excellence...

Glasgow School of Sport opened its doors in August 1998. Seven pupils, two gymnasts and five hockey players, were the first to sign up with three additional sports following suit a year later bringing the sports compliment to five.

The Journey to Excellence so far has been action packed! (1.6 Mb)

• Athletics Journey (311 Kb)
• Badminton Journey (324 Kb)
• Gymnastics Journey (331 Kb)
• Hockey Journey (406 Kb)
• Swimming Journey (458 Kb)
• Strength and Conditioning Journey (344 Kb)

The approximate file download size of each document is included at the end of each hyperlink which are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the documents. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Website.

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Ten years, five sports, one goal - excellence!

What an incredible journey: from the kernel of an idea in the minds of a few forward-thinking people to a National Centre of sporting excellence.

The Glasgow School of Sport, working alongside clubs and coaches, is proud to lead its pupils in raising aspirations and pursuing dreams. Over ninety of its pupils have represented Scotland. Exceptional pupils have competed successfully at Youth level in Commonwealth and Olympic competition.

Over 300 pupils have had the opportunity to excel in sport and education. Over 140 pupils have qualified as sports leaders and coaches. 80% of sports graduates have gone on to higher or further education and all have pursued positive career destinations.

We are not only learning from the best in the world with exchange programmes in Australia and Russia, we are leading the way with scholarships for Malawian pupils and hosting enthusiastic visitors from many European countries.

It's our tenth anniversary and we proudly celebrate our success. At the same time, we continue to raise our sights and strive to meet our challenges.

With Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, the bar is raised even higher. Our pupils want to be there, competing for medals.

It is such a privilege to work with young people who are highly motivated to succeed in the competitive world of sport. Their ambition is fuelled by their dreams - and ours!

With the continued support from parents, guardians and our many partners in sport, education and business, integral to our success, the school will do its utmost to ensure that the greatest number of its pupils perform with excellence in the years to come.

A warm thank-you to the staff and coaching team for inspiring these qualities and nurturing pupils' talents. Bellahouston Academy has embraced the School of Sport in order to combine high performance sport with a quality education.

The School of Sport is generously provided by Glasgow City Council through Education Services and Culture and Sport Glasgow, with core funding from the Scottish Government. We are indebted to them for their continuing commitment and support.

Together we look forward to a bright future, building on our success in the first ten years.

Angela Porter
Director
Glasgow School of Sport

Ten Year Celebration - A Few Words by Ian Anderson

I am delighted to be able to write a few words to mark the Tenth Anniversary of The Glasgow School of Sport at Bellahouston Academy. In its ten years, the School of Sport has established itself as the leading centre for school-based sport anywhere in the country. This is no idle boast – it is supported by the achievements of the young people who have gone through the programme in the course of the last ten years. We also have the best team of High Performance Coaches gathered together on one site and the overall provision for our young people is of an extremely high standard.

In my four and a half years in post as Head Teacher of Bellahouston Academy, I have been hugely impressed by the determination and commitment of our Glasgow School of Sport pupils. From an initial cohort of 9 in 1999, a total of over 130 now enjoy the facility, which offers, we think, an excellent balance between the sporting and the academic.

There has never been a better time to be associated with sport in Scotland and the prospect of the Commonwealth Games in 2014 means that there is a very real prospect that some of those youngsters currently working with us at Bellahouston Academy will go on to represent Scotland in this very city. That is a tantalising prospect and one to which we all look forward with keen anticipation.

Finally, in celebrating ten years of success, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of the School of Sport’s Director, Angela Porter. It is due in no small measure to her immense hard work and dedication that we are able to celebrate these ten years of outstanding achievement and I look forward to the continuing development of this fantastic facility.

Ian Anderson
Head Teacher
Bellahouston Academy

School of Sport Backs Musher
Guest Speaker John Stewart Prepares for the “Iditarod -The Last Great Race”

Sled dog racer John Stewart was the guest speaker at the Glasgow School of Sport ten year anniversary ball held on 7 March 2009. At the age of 23 John combines the adventure sport of sled dog racing with a diving career and devotes all his time and energy into preparing for his next big challenge – this time it’s the Iditarod. If you’d like to learn more about sled dog racing or mushing or support John in his bid to race the Iditarod you can do so by visiting his website www.johnfortheiditarod.com.

John explains more.

“Since the age of six years old, I have dedicated my life to sled dog mushing from junior mushing all over the world to the long distance racing of The Yukon.

Now at 23 and a commercial diver in the North Sea, I set my sights on the biggest challenge mushing has to offer, the Iditarod! Held from the city of anchorage Alaska 1000 miles through some of the toughest sled dog terrain on the planet to the isolated village of Nome (see www.iditord.com).

I am seeking sponsorship to fund my journey to compete in this prestigious event with the help of four time champion musher Doug Swingley and my parents at the Cairngorm Sled Dog Centre (see www.sled-dogs.co.uk for more information). I am well prepared for this ardous experience.

The event has worldwide recognition and media coverage and truly is the most sought after endevourment of any musher. If you are interested in sponsoring me, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Stewartsledk9@aol.com or at my personal email address nugz2008@googlemail.com