Hansard

I congratulate Tom McCabe on bringing forward the matter for debate. I was unfamiliar with Hamilton International Sports Trust, but I have enjoyed hearing about its work and achievements. I commend the trust for its efforts.

My comments on young people in sport will be more general. Most people have their first experience of sport at school. Despite widespread agreement that we need to improve the participation of young people in sport when they are at school because of the major role that sport plays in improving health, motivation and achievement among young people across the social spectrum, there are difficulties and concerns about, for example, the shortage of trained physical education teachers and there are difficulties in accessing swimming pools and playing fields. We cannot ignore such issues. A lack of facilities and infrastructure at an early stage in life will seriously impact on the potential of our young high achievers.

If we really want to nurture young people towards competing at the highest levels, we need to establish an unbroken chain of sporting opportunity from school to club. We must also develop links between schools and universities and colleges; up to 60 per cent of young people now go straight from school into further or higher education. We also need links from those establishments to clubs. We lose talented athletes at all those stages, so there should be better co-operation between local authorities, sports clubs, sports councils and sport's governing bodies. They all have pivotal roles to play, and have specific obligations to promote sport and excellence in young people.

Nutrition is an aspect of sporting performance that I think is grossly neglected. Everybody would acknowledge that sporting youngsters need a healthy and nutritious diet. Some major sporting agencies, including Sport England and the English national football team, are sponsored by multinational confectionery companies and their products, including Jaffa Cakes and Mars bars. Most recently, we have heard that McDonald's has become sponsor of the Scottish Football Association. Such a level of sponsorship certainly brings in much-needed revenue to sport—I do not decry that—but for youngsters without an adequate knowledge of the proper nutritional fuel that is needed for sporting excellence, that sponsorship perhaps sends out the wrong kind of message.

It is accepted that, to excel at any sport, athletes need strength. If athletes do not know how to fuel their bodies properly for training and sport, they will lack the strength to achieve their full potential. We in Scotland are notorious for our very poor diet. For athletes at the elite end of the spectrum it is imperative that they get adequate nutritional and dietary guidance and support. In reality, however, very few do. There seemed to be a shortage of such advice even for our athletes at last year's Commonwealth games in Manchester.

Many athletes receive tuition and supplement their training regime privately. However, they are required to seek out that tuition and to fund it at their own expense. The new regulations in the food supplements directive might make that more difficult. Some people are not madly enthusiastic about any pills, even vitamin and mineral pills, but elite athletes cannot get all that they need from food and so must rely on supplements for optimum performance.

I would like nutrition to be given priority. There should be a programme of awareness raising and there should be much more discussion, involving everyone from children through to the sporting agencies and governing bodies. Knowing how to build a healthy body correctly is everyone's responsibility. Only in that way can we meaningfully support sporting excellence.