Meeting of the Parliament 04 October 2018
The important thing is to grow the economy, but that is for another day.
Earlier, I mentioned my daughter, Vicky, who has succeeded even though those barriers were put in front of her. She has carried on pursuing her dreams of reaching the top in ice hockey, despite 6 am starts and 1 am finishes and often having to drive 360 miles a week to play for the Solway Sharks. We only had to travel to Dumfries, which was close for us, but others had to travel as far afield as Aberdeen. Vicky recently played in the Czech Republic and I could not be more proud of her, because she got there despite rurality being a major barrier. Her family were there to support her, but many families who have sons or daughters with equal ability have not been in that position. In some cases, it costs £60 a week just to play ice hockey.
Dumfries and Galloway has other female sports star success stories. There are too many to mention, but one is pentathlete Jo Muir from the Haugh of Urr. She has enjoyed success at the European championships and the World Cup in her discipline, progressing from being a junior world champion in 2013, to overcoming altitude to claim a top 20 finish in the world modern pentathlon championships in Mexico City only a few weeks ago. Her achievements were despite an initial lack of funding and sporting opportunities in Galloway. She is a terrific role model and we are all very proud of her.
The success stories are not just in athletics. Vicki Adams, a curler from Portpatrick, was part of a squad that won bronze at the Winter Olympics and has had gold medal success at the 2013 world championships and at the European championships in 2011 and 2017. We also have the fantastic Stewartry Sirens women’s rugby team.
A lack of role models is not a barrier to encouraging girls into sport in my constituency—we have them in abundance. For rural communities, it is about having the facilities and training opportunities that will allow our girls who wish to participate in sport to hone their skills. Progress continues to be slow, and there remains a concern that the money, both centrally and locally, is not being filtered through to rural communities, which need it most.
The commitment to increase women’s participation in sport in the SNP’s programme for government in 2017-18 was welcome, but as we celebrate this week, we must see a renewed focus on how best to achieve that and ensure that all areas of Scotland benefit. Sportscotland’s corporate plan has equalities and inclusion as one of three priorities for improvement and it recognises the exclusion that can be experienced in some parts of Scotland. One priority is a commitment to ensure that young people from our most deprived areas, as well as girls and young women, will have access to greater sporting opportunities. That commitment must also focus on rural Scotland, where there is a great need for parity. Facilities are not on the doorstep, unlike in many urban areas. Quite simply, we need—literally and metaphorically—the promise of a level playing field.
Sport can be a fantastic tool for bringing people together and my daughter Vicky has forged wonderful friendships through participating in ice hockey. The benefits cannot be overstated, which is why I am contacted regularly by constituents who want to see not only greater development of sporting facilities but better and clearer skills-development pathways. Those must be delivered where they are needed most. We need local authorities like Dumfries and Galloway to be in a position to lead by example. Only then will further female champions and happier and healthier constituents emerge in my constituency and, indeed, across Scotland.
15:59