It has been a very exciting summer in the world of sport, with the European Championships, The Scottish Open, then Wimbledon, and finally leading us through to the 2024 Paris Olympics Games. The Games has been another successful one for Team GB who finished with 65 medals beating their total from Tokyo by one.
As long-serving convener of the Cross Party Group on Sport at Holyrood, I was delighted to see the outstanding results from Scottish athletes. Scotland continues to punch far above our weight in terms of representation within Team GB and even at the regional level that I represent, Mid Scotland and Fife, local athletes were once again front and centre. Duncan Scott brought his total medal tally to eight and was subsequently crowned Scotland’s most successful Olympian. There was disappointment for Laura Muir who, despite not winning a medal, achieved a personal best performance running faster than she ever had before. And of course, how could we not mention the final match of one of the greatest sportsmen of his generation, Andy Murray, who despite leaving these games with no medals did supply us with a highly entertaining comeback match.
But we must take a moment to acknowledge the origins of these historic successes. The one thing each of these excellent athletes has in common - despite the wide variety of different sports in which they compete- is that at one time in their early life they will have been coached, supported, and quite likely had their talents identified by a sporting volunteer. Sporting volunteers are truly the unsung heroes of our national sporting success and it is because of them that we can keep performing so consistently well at the highest international level.
Over 200,000 adults volunteer in Scottish sport. To put into perspective just how fundamental their work is, that is one sixth of all volunteers across all sectors and the largest area of voluntary work overall. But behind this huge statistic are individuals who represent the best in our society; whose selflessness, dedication and willingness to give up their own time makes such an enormous difference to the lives of countless young people across our country.
It is our duty as politicians to ensure that we are supporting the incredible service these people provide and that the policy we enact reflects this. There is understandably considerable concern at the moment surrounding the falling numbers of volunteers and this is being fed back to me within the Sport Cross Party Group. Of course, some of this is for reasons out of direct control such as the cost of living. However, other issues are such as proposals to charge volunteers for PVG checks, the ever-growing frequency of sports facility closures, and simply not providing enough support to our current volunteers. We know that the work these people undertake is by no way free of expense. All of this has an impact most greatly on deprived communities who are disproportionately affected, and it is crucial that we are providing as much information as possible to ensure people know how to get involved and that this process is as simple as it can be.
I would like to finish this column by extending my gratitude to all those volunteers who I have the pleasure of meeting across Perth and Kinross and Scotland more widely. You know who you are, and you are a credit to your community.
