School golf drive underway

Published 24 Feb 2010 15:44 0 Comments

A DRIVE to give more primary school children in the Borders the opportunity to play golf intensified this month when PE teachers from schools as far afield as Peebles and Eyemouth were trained to deliver the national junior golf programme, clubgolf's introductory game.

Training of these staff builds on strong foundations. In 2009 over 700 Primary 5 children in the Borders played golf at school through firstclubgolf, which employs modified equipment, is taught by school staff and supported by Active Schools Co-ordinators to give children an enjoyable introduction to the game.

Last year 10 Borders Clubs - Duns, Eyemouth, Hawick, Innerleithen, Kelso, Melrose, Minto, St Boswells, Torwoodlee and West Linton - delivered the next stage of the programme.

The bar rises twofold this year. The numbers of children being introduced to first clubgolf has been set at 80% of the P5 roll (960 children) and more clubs and volunteer coaches will be needed to ensure they can progress.

"Ultimately we will have full roll out of firstclubgolf in Borders schools," said clubgolf's East of Scotland Regional Manager, Laura Rushby. "To reach 80% this year we have come up with a plan to invest in equipment and train more school staff.

"Active Schools and clubgolf have split the costs of 22 bags of firstclubgolf equipment and the Active Schools team has invested in 27 firstclubgolf resource packs so every school in the Borders now has access to equipment through their Active Schools Co-ordinator.

"We organised today's training to ensure PE specialists are fully prepared to go back to their schools and deliver to their P5s."

The response from Borders schools has been positive. Now that they have a equipment and staff trained to coach, the onus is on them to deliver.

"There are now no excuses for schools not to deliver firstclubgolf," said Laura. "We have exit routes in the form of golf clubs signed up in every cluster. We have provided equipment for every school to use, we have trained schools staff to deliverer. And cross-curricular resources are available to cover just about everything from designing a mini golf course to doing golf related maths."

Active Schools is an integral part of clubgolf's schools programme. Active Schools Co-ordinators will continue training P5 teachers and supporting the programmes in schools as well as recruiting more volunteers to deliver in the schools.

"In the past the training was for staff who are interested in delivering golf," said Suzy Hamilton, Active Schools Co-ordinator for the Hawick cluster, who took part in last week's PE Specialists clubgolf training course.

"But this year there has been a shift towards involving PE staff that have regular access to kids in PE time trained so they can get involved in the programme.

"The response from schools has been good. A lot of staff think it's difficult to coach golf but when you show them how to use the fun equipment they realise it can be quite straightforward. Once they know about it they like it because it is fun and different."

"Once they know about it they like it because it is fun and different. There is still some education to be done."

More education, or at least more spreading of the word, is also needed in Borders golf clubs. A staggering 960 local children are set to experience golf for the first time this spring, and many of them will develop a taste for the game that could lead to lifelong participation.

In times of struggling club memberships and ageing memberships, 2010 will provide the best opportunity to reverse those trends.

"More clubs came on board last year and people are starting to realise that golf is more available for children in the community. But we still need more clubs and Pro's to get involved and more volunteers to become trained coaches so that we can give these children every opportunity to play and enjoy golf in the Borders"

For more information about clubgolf and how it can benefit your school or club visit: www.clubgolfscotland.com

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