TEAM Scotland's build-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast got under way in earnest yesterday with the launch of the Team Scotland Series, a ground-breaking collaboration which brings together 17 Scottish national championship events in 2017 across 12 Commonwealth Games sports. Beginning with this Saturday's Scottish Open Judo Championships, and ending with the Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships in December, the link aims to raise the profile and media coverage of these domestic national championships, with BBC Scotland having pledged to cover the series and live stream a selection of the events.
The project builds on the existing close working relationship between athletics, swimming and cycling, with both the indoor and outdoor national athletics championships included in the series. Many of the Series events also mark qualifying opportunities for Scotland’s athletes on route to Gold Coast 2018 and Bahamas 2017.
"The Team Scotland Series is a really exciting initiative which will see us working in partnership with sports governing bodies to highlight and promote the key competitions that are the bedrock of Scottish sport, as well as serving as important selection events for the Commonwealth Games and Youth Games," said Paul Bush OBE, the chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland. “Almost every athlete who competes for Team Scotland at the next Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and onwards to 2022 and beyond will have competed in their sport’s Scottish Championships on their path to international success, so when we are watching these events we are watching Team Scotland’s future stars in action.
“I am particularly delighted that BBC Scotland has recognised the important role that the Team Scotland Series will play in showcasing the best of Scottish sport and the build-up to Gold Coast 2018 and I would like to thank them for their support.”
“We’re pleased for athletics to be involved in the Team Scotland Series, linking the National Championships across a number of sports," said Mark Munro, the chief executive of Scottish Athletics. "Any opportunity to raise the media profile of Commonwealth Games sports in this country can only be a positive. If you look at Scotland track and field teams down the years then you will find those athletes have always come through the Scottish Seniors at some stage in their careers."
Excited that judo will get the 2017 series underway this weekend, Glasgow 2014 gold medallist and Team Scotland flag bearer Euan Burton said: "The Scottish Open has always played a part in the development of Scottish judo athletes. All our medallists from Team Scotland in Glasgow 2014 had utilised the event at some stage along their performance pathway. In all sports, that goal of competing in the Commonwealth Games is a progressive journey, which includes the key milestone of a Scottish Championships. The Team Scotland Series is a great way to highlight the importance of these events. I’m really proud that judo is the sport to kick it all off on Saturday."
The 2017 Team Scotland Series includes the following events:
14 January - Scottish Open Judo Championships
28 January - Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships
4 March - Scottish Table Tennis Championships
4 March - Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1 April - Boxing Scotland Elite Championship Finals
29 April - Hockey Scottish Cup
3 June - Scottish Netball Finals
1 June - Scottish Open Table Tennis Championships
30 June - Scottish Open Swimming Championships
14 July - Scottish 50m Shooting Championships
24-29 July - National Bowls Championships
20 August - Scottish Road Cycling Championships
26 August - Scottish Beach Volleyball Championships
26 August - Scottish Athletics Championships
September - Scottish National Bowls Championships
November - Scottish National Track Cycling Championships
9 December - Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here