Aberdeen has set the benchmark for indoor sports facilities

Sports Journalist

Wednesday 5 September 2012

It was business as usual yesterday at the Aberdeen Sports Village, one of the north-east's biggest success stories, and, let us hope, a template for other communities in Scotland.Even before the start of the Olympic and Paralympic fervour, the Village had developed into a thriving hub for all manner of competitors, from every age group and background, and encompassing the full gamut of abilities from keep-fit 40somethings to world-class talents such as Hannah Miley and Kim Little.

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Neil Drysdale

This facility might as well have the slogan "Dreams Nurtured Here" emblazoned across the entrance, because the ASV, which was created in a symbiotic partnership among sportscotland, Aberdeen University and Aberdeen City Council, has sparked the imagination of tens of thousands of people in the Granite City.

Since it was opened in 2009 by Denis Law, more than 1.7m visitors have come through the door and used the myriad sporting amenities on offer: football, rugby, track-and-field athletics, hockey, the martial arts, squash and other racquet games, and a wide range of other pastimes.The Scottish rugby squad have trained here, as have the Samoans and the Cameroon Olympic squad; amid the chill winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11, Aberdeen FC's players were regular attendees, grateful to escape the ravages of frost and snow which blanketed the whole country for weeks.As Kenny Gunnyeon, the ASV's business development manager, said: "The more of these type of villages that we have, the better it will be for the nation's health. When we came up with the idea of the Village, it was simply the realisation of a necessity in the area. But, in the last three years, it has certainly proved a major success and shown the potential of these type of initiatives." His words reflect the wisdom of those who established the facility, but they also leave one wondering why the rest of Scotland has been so slow to grasp the positive effects of investing in these multi-purpose indoor venues. After all, it can't be a coincidence that the ASV has been the catalyst for a transformation in attitudes within Aberdeen and, where once there was apathy and/or paltry participation figures in many sports, the next generation of wannabe Tim Baillies, Katherine Graingers, David Florences and Neil Fachies are working with an unstinting commitment to realise their ambition of excelling in Glasgow 2014, Rio 2016 and beyond.At the Hydrasun Athletics Academy, for instance, which operates at the ASV, under the steely gaze of head coach, Eddie McKenna, gifted teenagers such as Zoey Clark are breaking records, gaining GB recognition, gradually, inexorably, climbing up the rankings, and benefiting from the Village's impact.A decade ago, would the 17-year-old have been as keen to fling herself into the fray if she was being asked to train on grotty old surfaces with the rain and sleet scudding down on her back? Thankfully, it is not something Zoey and her contemporaries have to worry about. On the contrary, they have 21st-century resources, both on and off the track, to boost them in their quest for Olympic selection.Obviously, these large-scale projects don't come cheap, but £28m doesn't seem an excessive amount to pay to transform the climate of a whole region. And if the Village can orchestrate such a metamorphosis in Aberdeen, why isn't there the political will and determination to build other facilities throughout Scotland, in towns and cities such as Inverness, Dundee, Perth, Ayr, Stirling, Dumfries, Hawick, Oban, Linlithgow and in Glasgow and Edinburgh?As matters stand, our MPs and MSPs are quick enough to burst out of the blocks when a Scottish or British competitor strikes gold at the Games – or, in George Osborne's case, present Paralympic medals to a chorus of boos – but most of these same individuals remain remarkably tardy in acknowledging the link between health and sport, and duly providing the nation's youngsters, in particular, with the modern amenities which might tempt them away from Playstations and XBoxes into an active lifestyle.Flexibility and forward thinking have been the key in Aberdeen and the sight of groups, ranging from school pupils to those in their 70s and 80s, working together in the same environment has surely highlighted the way in which the likes of the ASV can break down barriers and encourage inclusivity.Nobody is pretending these places are a panacea, nor even that their existence guarantees Olympic successes. But, when one looks at the damage wrought by what has been a thoroughly miserable summer, allied to the knowledge that the vast majority of Scotland's outdoor sporting premises will be closed from October to March – almost half of every year – it appears barking that nobody is joining the dots and saying: "Hang on, this doesn't make sense."We are, after all, talking about Scotland, not the Costa del Sol.

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Aberdeen has set the benchmark for indoor sports facilities

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