Leading figure in Scottish volleyball.
Born: January 26, 1952 Died: November 9, 2013
Frances Doonan, who has died aged 61, made an outstanding contribution to the growth of Scottish volleyball, as a player - at club and international level - as Scotland team manager and as general secretary of the Scottish Volleyball Association (SVA).
A pupil at St Augustine's High in Edinburgh, she played for the school team under Great Britain and Scotland cap Ronnie Hamilton and helped them to become one of the most successful school sides in Scotland. She later helped set up Coatbridge women's team who went on to become the first Scottish side to play in European competition (against Slavia Bratislava) and played for the Telford club in Edinburgh who became Scotland's top club.
She won the first of 19 Scotland caps at the age of 19 against England at Meadowbank in 1971 and became ever present in the international side, playing in the first Spring Cup - the West European Championships - in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1976.
After her international playing days came to an end, she became Scotland team manager, a position she held for ten years. She was also hugely influential administratively, serving as general secretary of the Scottish Volleyball Association and on the executive committee.
Pete Buchan, Doonan's first club coach at Coatbridge, said that although Scottish volleyball meant a lot to Frances, she put back in much more through her direct contributions and positive influence.
Former Telford and Scotland men's captain Kenny Barton, the Great Britain volleyball performance director at last year's Olympic Games in London, also paid tribute to her. "Frances was quite simply a wonderful lady, a friend and a club mate who I have known and kept in touch with over the past 40 years," he said.
"She was a great source of advice and support to me both in my time at the SVA and in taking the role as programme manager of GB . I was in touch with her as recently as the end of October when she was staying as positive as she could saying 'Just got to go with the flow and stay positive. Enjoying the sunshine from the inside.'"
She organised a reunion of former players and colleagues called Old Kids On The Block at a hotel in Edinburgh last year and was still in regular touch with former team-mates.
According to Scottish Volleyball Association chief executive Margaret Ann Fleming, Doonan was one of the outstanding players of her generation, a person who loved her sport and the people she played with.
A former president of Edinburgh University Sports Union, away from sport, Doonan had a successful career working at a senior level in human resources for Johnson & Johnson, moving from Edinburgh to Windsor before retiring a few years ago.
She continued to work part-time as an MBA Graduate consultant and toured the leading business schools in the world, identifying, interviewing and recruiting. She was diagnosed with cancer last year and died in Edinburgh.
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