Salary: £24 – £28k

Tennis Scotland is seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Marketing and Communications Officer to lead on the marketing and communication needs of the organisation and achieve the mission and targets within the Tennis Scotland strategy.

View the detailed job description and person specification

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a track record of managing social media channels, website editing, ensuring consistent and high quality communication support for the office, tournaments and events promotion, supporting the organisation’s relationship with the press and delivering graphic design support to all staff as well as having a real passion for achieving the mission of ‘More People Playing Tennis More Often’.

For more information please see the Tennis Scotland website here.

 

World No.1 Gordon Reid begins his Australian Open men’s singles title defence against Joachim Gerard of Belgium in a rematch of last year’s final when the first wheelchair tennis Grand Slam of 2017 gets underway at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.

With four Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme lining up for the men’s, women’s and quad singles and doubles events this year in Melbourne, Alfie Hewett will make his Australian Open debut against world No.2 Stephane Houdet of France, while Lucy Shuker faces her doubles partner Marjolein Buis of the Netherlands.

The four-way quad singles round-robin begins with world No.3 Andy Lapthorne playing his doubles partner, the USA’s world No.2 David Wagner.

Reid has reached the semi-finals and final, respectively, in his first two men’s singles events of the year at the Sydney Open Super Series and the ITF 2 Melbourne Open. Most recently he finished runner-up to Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina on Saturday at the Melbourne Open. Reid bowed out against British No. 2 Hewett in the semi-finals in Sydney but then beat Hewett in the semi -finals last week.

“I had a disappointing start to this Australian trip, but managed to up my level in Melbourne in difficult conditions. So I arrive at Melbourne Park in a good place ready to defend my title ,” said Reid, who wo his first Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne 12 months ago before going on to win the inaugural men’s singles title at Wimbledon.

“It is obviously a different situation than I’ve ever been in before, coming to a Grand Slam as defending champion. But seeing the courts here brings back great memories and gets me excited to start competing here again.”

After reaching his first Super Series singles final in Sydney, having beaten Reid for the very first time, Hewett is relishing his debut at Melbourne Park against Houdet.

“It’s been a pretty positive start to 2017 for me after beating Gordon to reach my first Super Series final in Sydney and then going to three sets with him at the Melbourne Open. So after doing that against the world No.1 I’m really excited to be at the Australian Open for the first time and I’m looking for another big performance against the world No.2 on Wednesday,” said Hewett.

World No.8 Shuker is set to begin her eighth Australian Open against Buis after reaching successive women’s singles quarter-finals so far this year in which she has had close results against world No. 6 Diede de Groot and world No.2 Yui Kamiji.

“I feel like I’ve been playing some pretty good tennis out here in Australia in the first two tournaments of the year. I pushed Diede in Sydney, going to a final set tie-break, and had chances in the match against Yui in Melbourne, so I’m looking forward to my eighth Australian Open,” said Shuker.

“The last time I played here with Marjolein in doubles we made the final, so I’m looking forward to playing together again after facing each other on Wednesday.”

Lapthorne began 2017 by defeating Wagner in his very first match of the year in Sydney two weeks ago, before finishing runner-up in a four-way round robin featuring the same three players he will face this week. While Lapthorne will hope to repeat that result on Wednesday he then goes on to face Australians Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson. The top two players at the end of the round-robin will meet again in the final.

Former US Open quad singles champion Lapthorne also pairs up with Wagner in a bid to win their third Australian Open quad singles title together.  He is also a former two-time quad doubles champion in Melbourne with fellow Brit Peter Norfolk.

“I’m excited to be going after title number five in doubles, which would be very special, and looking to try and go one better than my past attempts in singles here,” said Lapthorne.

There is the possibility of two Brits being in the men’s doubles final, with Reid and Gerard set to play the Australian-Dutch combination of Ben Weekes and Maikel Scheffers in their semi-final. Hewett and Fernandez will play French top seeds Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in the other semi-final.

Shuker and Buis will take on Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in their quest to reach a second Australian Open women’s doubles final after finishing runners-up to the same partnership in 2013.

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

Scottish Rowing is the Governing Body for rowing in Scotland.  It promotes participation in rowing by both men and women, at every age and level of ability from novice to elite.  Scottish Rowing is now seeking to appoint a Director with responsibility for Corporate Governance to join its voluntary Board of Directors.  This is an exciting opportunity for the right person to get involved in shaping the future of rowing in Scotland.

The Board meets up to eight times each year including the AGM and planning days.  The successful candidate should also expect to commit up to 2-3 hours per month for communication with the Chief Operating Officer and other staff as required.

The post is accountable to the membership of Scottish Rowing through the Board of Directors, with a direct report to the President of Scottish Rowing as required.

The term of office for this post is three years.

For more information please see the following attachments:

Director of Corporate Governance Job Description

Director Application Form

Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

Double Paralympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist John Robertson passed away in the Borders General Hospital on 21^st December, age 75. The crematorium was packed with representatives from the Lothian Fire Service where he worked for over 40 years. Members from Tweedbank Art Club, friends and fellow Paralympians also attended in significant numbers.

John was born in Tranent and had a cycling accident in 1959 when he was 16, which left him with a spinal paralysis.  While in Edenhall Hospital he tried all sports focussing on weightlifting, archery, fencing, table tennis and shooting but later on in his exceptional sporting career he turned his attention to bowls and curling. Not surprisingly, like so many Scottish wheelchair athletes of the time, John turned his hand to basketball when the occasion arose.

For many years this very talented sportsman was a regular in the Scottish team at the National Stoke Mandeville Games. Quality Team Scotland performances led to the call up for Team GB for the International Stoke Mandeville Games. John was a Team Scotland member at the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Perth Australia in 1962, Kingston Jamaica in 1966, Edinburgh in 1970 and Dunedin New Zealand in 1974.

John met his wife Val at the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Australia and they were both called up for Team GB for their first Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. Val is a member of the Scottish Disability Sport Hall of Fame and as well as Tokyo, she excelled in Israel in 1968 and Toronto in 1976. John did not make the team for Canada but he travelled in support of his wife.

By this time John and Val were fully committed to bowls and developing a strong bowls community in and around Edinburgh. Innovative bowling ramps were developed at the Thistle Foundation offering green access to participant with severe mobility challenges. John’s skills as a bowler were improving by the day as he launched himself wholeheartedly into all disciplines of the sport. John became a member of East Lothian Indoor, Portobello Indoor and Jessfield Outdoor Bowling Club. John was made an honorary member of Jessfield BC in 1996.

Selection for Team GB for the Paralympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 inevitably followed and John finished a very creditable 5^th in singles. John was then selected for the IPC World Championships in 1998 where he secured 3^rd place in pairs and 5^th in singles. John’s finest hour was the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 where he joined forces with Ivan Prior and David Heddle to win the first gold medal for Team Scotland in front of the First Minister and many other passionate Scots in torrential rain. A very special day for an amazing Scottish bowls triple.

In the history of the Scottish disability sports movement that performance by skip David Heddle from Fraserburgh, Ivan Prior from Glasgow and John Robertson was up there with the very best that our Paralympians over the years have had to offer. The hairs still rise on the back of my neck when I spot that iconic image of the three Manchester gold medallists that proudly hangs in Caledonia House. Bob Dick was the Team Scotland Bowls Manager at the time and he has many stories to tell about that gold medal match and the performances of John and the others .

Over 50 years ago a performance disability sports movement was established in Scotland that embraced a squad of exceptionally talented all round wheelchair sportsmen and women like John Robertson. Those men and women established our nation as an international force in performance disability sport and laid the foundations for the many pan disability Scottish performances that followed from 1984 onwards.

John was a powerful and eloquent man with a wonderful sense of humour.  He was also a talented musician and a leading light in a Folk Group formed by patients at Edenhall that entertained in pubs and clubs in the 60s and 70s. John and others like him fought the good fight during those early years on issues around equality and access to sporting provision.  John had a vision of inclusion in the 80s and 90s that was progressive, relevant and appropriate for our times.

John and Val settled in Melrose and continued to develop their sporting interests through wheelchair curling. John Robertson was a larger than life character who has left his mark in Scottish sport. He will be remembered as a fierce all round sportsman who took full advantage of his many talents across a wide range of activities.

SDS Vice President Jean Stone MBE attended John’s funeral along with another iconic all round Scottish sportsman of the time, John Clark. Jean was a key player in the development of the Scottish sports movement in the early years and remembers John with great fondness. “John enjoyed life to the full and always had a twinkle in his eye. In an unsettling kind of way however, you never knew what he was going to say or do next”.

I became involved with SSAD (now SDS) in 1975 and I was in awe of all those “big men” who reigned supreme in disability sport throughout the 60s and 70s. Even as they sat in their wheelchairs they appeared to tower over me. I had to win their respect and although there were only a few years between us I often had to answer to “son”. When I was first called by my first name I knew I had earned their respect. John and others taught me so much, particularly at Tulliallan training weekends. I shall always be grateful. John Robertson is a legend in Scottish sport. Athletes, coaches and volunteers who have followed on in the 70s, 80’s, 90s and beyond owe so much to John and his colleagues for laying the foundations for our great movement.

Richard Brickley MBE

Greig Taylor has been appointed as Head Coach of the Scotland Cerebral Palsy national team in advance of the IFCPF World Championships in Argentina this September. Greig has been involved with the squad for 10 years, working as assistant coach for the last five major competitions under Andy Smith who has moved on to coach England.

Having previously worked for Manchester City in China and with SDS and the Scottish FA as Assistant Disability Officer, Greig also acted as Head Coach to the Scottish Cerebral Palsy squad at the 2015 Under-19 World Championships in Nottingham when the Scots finished in fourth place.

Scotland are currently ranked ninth in the IFCPF world rankings and Greig will lead the Scottish team to the IFCPF CP Football World Championships, in the Province of San Luis, Argentina from the 4^th – 24^th September. Scotland have been to the World Championships on four occasions and three Scottish players competed for ParalympicsGB at the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The Scottish team are currently looking to recruit new players ahead of the World Championships in Argentina. If you know players who have cerebral palsy, stroke, an acquired brain injury, hypertonica, ataxia, athetosis, diplegia or hemiplegia, please contact david.mcardle@scottishfa.co.uk for the chance to represent Scotland on the international stage.