A trio of Stirling coaches ranging from the top level of Olympic competition to those working at the grassroots have been recognised for their work at an awards ceremony.
The prizes were dished out at the sportscotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering (COV) Awards 2024 – representing the contribution of coaches across all fields in Scotland.
Among those picking up awards were University of Stirling swimming performance coaches, Steven Tigg and Brad Hay, who picked up the prize for High Performance Coach of the Year for their efforts training up a cohort for Team GB’s swimming squad in Paris.
Alongside them was Neil Russell from Stirling, who was named Disability Coach of the Year for his work as founder and coach of the ‘Adaptive Riders Collective’ (ARC).
ARC aims to bring together a fractured and dispersed community of adaptive cyclists and makes use of Neil’s own experience of living with a disability.
Through his own experience, he recognised the barriers that many individuals with disabilities face in accessing sports, particularly in a specialised field like off-road cycling.
Through ARC, Neil has successfully removed significant barriers to participation, one of which is the cost of specialised equipment by securing off-road adaptive cycles, making them available to those who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to experience the benefits of mountain biking.
Neil said: “I started doing something that I really loved. I have a background in education and I was a swimming teacher.
“I wanted to use those skills that I had built up to help get other people out doing the thing I loved which was getting out into nature on a hand cycle.
“I try to build a relationship with each individual that comes along and don’t treat them as a single group, getting to understand them better allows you to help them get the most out of each session.”
Meanwhile, the swimming programme led by Bradley and Steven sent a record seven Stirling swimmers to the Olympics this year – including Duncan Scott, who claimed two more medals in the pool .
Brad’s guidance was instrumental in the impressive Olympic debut of Angharad Evans in Paris where she secured a sixth place finish. He also steered Keanna MacInnes to a new Scottish record and two semi-final appearances in her first Games.