Election focus: The Olympics and Commonwealth Games have focused minds, but the future will be shaped by what happens at grassroots level.

Football and golf, both of which had been proscribed by royal decree, curling, horse-racing, and archery (practice of which had been protected from the first two, also by royal decree) were the only games in town back in 1707. But 300 years on, with independence an election issue, the profile of sport in Scotland is very different.

Contemporary literature identified few sporting celebrities or champions before the union, save, perhaps, for the Bonnie Earl o' Moray: "a braw gallant who played at the ba'". He was murdered, then celebrated in song.

Sports heroes today are high-profile folk icons. Some are millionaires. They, and many who are less wealthy but often more worthy, are being used to promote agendas that until recently were not perceived as sport-related. The need for integrated policies embracing sport, education and health has never been greater. The 2012 London Olympics and, with luck, the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will present singular opportunities and challenges.

Sport will have its biggest role in the nation's life. The UK Treasury has earmarked more than £600m for elite performance to 2012. There is Scottish cross-party backing for the 2014 bid. So at both UK and Scottish level, more funds are earmarked for sport than ever before.

Add the desire for more physical education on the curriculum, the potential conflicts that this aspiration triggers in schools being rebuilt under the private finance initiative, loss of recreational space, and acknowledged links between lack of exercise, obesity, escalating NHS costs and lengthening hospital waiting lists. It all equates to sport, in its widest definition, assuming its highest profile ever.

We want the best for our children. We recognise sport as a significant contributor to quality of life and general wellbeing. In an increasingly stressful world, the classical notion of mens sana in corpore sano (healthy mind in a healthy body) first aired by Thales, father of Greek philosophy and science, more than 2500 years ago, may never have been more relevant.

Recreation's increasing accessibility to the Baby Boomers of the post-war era is doubtless why this generation neither believes itself, nor feels or regards itself, as anything like as "old" as did their parents at the corresponding age.

So, at last, sport and recreation have become a political issue, perhaps one that rates a higher profile than bronze-medal position behind tourism and culture, as it does in the current Scottish cabinet structure. The Australian model, which has helped inform Scottish thinking, ranks that country's sports minister, with a single portfolio, fourth in the cabinet. If Scotland wishes to be perceived as a nation that takes sport seriously, we could consider doing likewise. We have already adopted an Australian model to launch EventScotland, which aims to promote Scotland as a world-class events destination by 2015.

That organisation has already secured the 2014 Ryder Cup and this year's Sudirman Cup World Team Badminton and World Mountain Biking Championships. It is helping bankroll Glasgow's Commonwealth bid, and is exploring possibilities for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. It has already generated more than £300m for the national economy around some 100 events. So sport is now also an acknowledged economic force.

It is being used by government agencies to address issues in social inclusion, drugs and vandalism, because it can dilute the consequences and save money. On the back of promoting increased physical activity, it is used to address issues of lifestyle choice, better eating and nutrition.

Because of the purdah pending the election, sportscotland is banned from contributing to the debate. However, no such constraint applies to the Scottish Sports Association, whose remit is to advise the quango. It is independent and represents 52 sports, from the football mainstream to more obscure minority pursuits such as croquet.

Chris Robison, who is a former international athlete and Scottish champion, is their policy director.

"One of our biggest issues is school sport and everything to do with it," says Robison. "There's a generation which lacks physical literacy, because of the watering down of physical education in the curriculum. It's being addressed by the Active Schools programme, which attempts to build links to clubs, but too many kids leave school and sever links with sport."

He acknowledges that sport legislation is becoming increasingly prescriptive, and that this is necessary. But I put it to him that coaches face a new UK certification that will cause many of them to retire. Potential new coaches may baulk at the costs of qualification. With this, and additional demands covering child protection, some clubs and even sports may implode.

"We have to embrace those changes," he insists. "But politicians must realise that grass-root infrastructure needs support. If we hope to be in a position to take advantage of the 2012 legacy, and hopefully 2014, that investment needs to begin. The lead-in time starts now.

"There's lots of talk about new facilities, and that's welcome, but it would be more cost-beneficial to ensure better access to existing school and community facilities. If we are truly to be a sporting nation, politicians need to talk to us, and Cosla the group representing Scottish local authorities, and try to understand the subtleties. Some of it is an easy fix. I see the good and bad side of PFI. Some of the contracts written have guaranteed better access to schools than before."

Equally, he acknowledges that some PFI schools cannot even afford to hire their own pitches, and must travel elsewhere. Some, though operating with improved facilities, have reduced capacity. Some schools no longer have swimming pool access, and the sport is now off the curriculum. So is athletics, in some instances where blaes has been replaced.

More must be done to encourage former internationalists into coaching, to which former Olympic curling champion Rhona Martin has just transferred, or as school sport co-ordinators, like her rival Kelly Woods and long course duathlon champion Catriona Morrison.

It is good to have former world judo champion and PE teacher Graeme Randall in elite coaching. World and Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy and his team mate Craig Maclean will have much to offer when they retire. But for grass roots clubs to remain viable, coaches and volunteers are needed in their thousands.

Meaningful roles for world-class performers represents progress, in contrast with earlier generations. Legends such as Lachie Stewart, Jim Alder, Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty, Commonwealth medallists in 1970, were not asked to become coaches. Nor was 1976 Olympic swim champion David Wilkie. The 1980 Olympic 100m champion, Alan Wells, bemoaned his lack of involvement for years. That has only recently been addressed.

Dick McTaggart, the 1952 Olympic lightweight boxing champion, was an exception. He was Scottish national boxing coach for 12 years. "I'd two PE lessons a week at school in Dundee, and we had swimming occasionally," he reflects. "I also played football and basketball at school. I was in a boxing club from the age of nine, but it wasn't available in school. There were hundreds of boxing clubs then. Now most are gone.

"I think there should be more PE in schools, and more sports facilities. There is still the same need to get kids off the streets. Politicians helping? Don't get me started. I doubt if I will vote. It's all broken promises. The whole lot of them, whatever the party."

Details of the Scottish spending review for the next three years are due to be announced in October. Most of the work will already have been done by civil servants, but how that money is channelled could change subject to May 3.

It is encouraging that sport is at last high on the political agenda, but it should be valued for its own sake. Glasgow was investing heavily in grass-roots development long before sport became a political football.

Yet nationally it remains a fear that post-2012 and 2014, sport funding will disappear whence it came.

These days there's something for everyone'

Rhona Martin delivered the so-called stone of destiny that kept Britons riveted to their TV screens as she led a Scottish quartet to Olympic curling gold in 2002.

Martin now has a new destiny.

She has taken a full-time coaching job with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. She is also an apprentice high-performance coach working with the Scottish Instutute of Sport (and is head curling coach at the west-area institute). Former world judo champion Graeme Randall has already graduated through this apprentice-coach programme.

Martin's new role suggests an end to her international career. "But there's no decision on that yet," she says. "I will need to see how the new job works out."

Like many other elite competitors, she is already helping change the face of sport. Over the past two years she has visited schools as part of sportscotland's Sporting Champions initiative. The most recent was last week. "I've been to about 30 schools in two years," says Martin. "Some 60 more visits, by various athletes, are planned by the end of June."

Launched in 2003, with Commonwealth gymnastics gold medallist Steve Frew as the inaugural role model, Sporting Champions is part of sportscotland's Active Schools Programme, which uses school sport co-ordinators as a central plank of the Scottish Executive's Physical Activity Strategy.

Sporting Champions focuses on participation, not excellence, and mirrors a similar programme in England. "It's a bit like a sports day, with something for everyone, of every ability," says Martin, the mother of two teenage children. "There are so many more sports available, compared to when I was at Park School in Glasgow and those who struggled were left behind. We hope if we can get kids to be active, they will stay active.

"When I was at Park, we'd a double period of PE per week. Only if you were good at a sport, like hockey, would you be asked back after school.

"I think it is fabulous there are more activities available now, and that there's a drive for more curriculum PE. But it is not good if they are reducing facilities under PFI initiatives. That's catch-22."

What the parties say

LABOUR Expand Active Schools provision and have more competitive sport in schools. Every child will have the opportunity of free swimming lessons. Expand professional coaching structure to all sports. Invest £10m in 10 years to renew football infrastructure and, with the SFA, create a national development fund.

SNP
Push for Scottish Olympic team, and expand centres of sporting excellence. Money for sports clubs to improve facilities, in exchange for community involvement and public health focus. Exercise prescribed by doctors. Two hours' weekly PE in schools. Promote activities such as walking, cycling and playing. Abolish sportscotland.

CONSERVATIVE
Encouragement for headteachers having more autonomy to expand extra-curricular activities and links to outside sports clubs. It is up to individuals to take regular exercise, with a "more personalised message" on public health delivered by schools to young pupils and by GPs to others.

LIB DEM
Party has pledged a £271m boost for activities for young people in Scotland. Every child will be entitled to two weeks of outdoor activity and receive one hour of physical activity every day, with 1000 extra coaches to make it happen. Rates relief for sports clubs, and full support to Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid.

GREEN
Work to enable all people to participate equally in sport. Fight against loss of green spaces. Support the Active Schools Programme, and community owned/ managed clubs.

SSP
Wants senior football clubs to distribute a portion of their seats, free, to pensioners and benefit claimants. Free football coaching schools in local communities. Coaching and training facilities to allow Scottish athletes to compete at world-class levels.

SOLIDARITY
End PFI deals for schools, as local sports groups often can't afford the charges for using school sports grounds. Supports Glasgow's bid for the Commonwealth Games but believes cost should be met by the Executive.

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