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Daily Record
7 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
West Lothian's new British Champion wasn't sure she'd run again after having steel rods inserted in her back
The 24-year-old Livingston AC athlete had surgery for scoliosis as a teenager British 1500m Champion Sarah Calvert has revealed that she wasn't sure if she would ever run again following an operation as a teenager for a serious back condition. The 24-year-old Livingston AC athlete has scoliosis – a condition where the spine curves abnormally to the side. She underwent surgery to alleviate it and had metal rods installed in her back. Sarah is now Women's British Champion at 1500m, after a stunning victory in Birmingham where she beat Laura Muir into second place by five-hundredths of a second. It's now been revealed that University of Edinburgh student Sarah didn't run or exercise for a year in her mid-teens following the surgery. At one stage in 2015, the former Linlithgow Academy pupil didn't know if she would run again or ever achieve even moderate age group success in athletics. 'When I was aged 15 I underwent surgery for scoliosis,' said Sarah. 'It was a really tough and scary time in my life. I had metal rods inserted in my back and, yes, they are still there. 'My family and I went through a lot at that time and I couldn't do any exercise at all for a year. 'I remember at the time thinking when will I get back to running again, will I even be able to improve my Personal Bests? 'I was thinking: will I ever run again? 'Then, getting back, it took so long to be fit. I never knew if I would win races again and get to the top in my age groups.' Time proved a great healer for Sarah and by 2017 she was winning medals at Scottish Schools events and Scottish Age Group Champs. Sarah is coached by Luke Gunn and is part of the University of Edinburgh endurance project in partnership with Scottish Athletics. Senior Scottish titles in recent years at 800m and 1500m at Grangemouth hinted at more to come and the past few weeks have seen her on the podium at the World Universities in Germany – the first Scot to do so in individual events since 1997 – and earn that British Champion title. Sarah continued: 'My injury history over the past years has probably all been connected to issues with my back. 'I have to work with that and I do try to forget about what happened (in 2015 with the surgery). It does not affect me now. 'Nevertheless I would not have expected to reach this level in the sport, to be honest. 'But I suppose the way to look at it is: If I could overcome that, then I can overcome anything else which may come my way. 'I have had Achilles injuries and so on but it has not been my spine again – so somehow, sometimes, I've been able to think positively.' Sarah revealed during an interview with BBC Scotland that her dreams of success pre-date her scoliosis diagnosis, and were nurtured by visits to Hampden for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Now she's targeting the Games when they return to the city next year. 'I've always had big dreams of going to major championships but I'm unsure if I ever really believed they were possible,' said Sarah. 'Now I have the belief that if I do keep training consistently then this could be possible. I feel like I could write these goals down and try to achieve them next year. 'The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow would be great because all my family and friends could come and watch me. It seems like something I don't want to miss out on. 'I remember going to watch Lynsey Sharp in the 800m [Glasgow 2014] when she won her silver medal and I was so excited. 'I was just a young girl at Livingston Athletics Club and this was my first taste of what it could be like and what I could achieve when I was older.'
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
£1m investment to 'give every Scottish child access to tennis'
A fresh £1m investment in tennis in Scottish schools aims to give every child the opportunity to try the sport for free as national bodies continue to work towards creating "a tennis centre of national significance".A £20m project, led by Sir Andy Murray's mother, Judy, to build a community multi-sport facility at Park of Keir was scrapped last year over planning issues and rising costs following local opposition to building on green belt the Lawn Tennis Association, Tennis Scotland, sportscotland and the Scottish Government aim to capitalise on what they say is "growing participation in Scotland" and "recognise the inspirational achievements" of the now retired Murray along with brother Jamie, Jacob Fearnley, Cameron Norrie, Maia Lumsden and Gordon Reid. The new funding, roughly equivalent to Tennis Scotland's entire annual budget, aims to increase the presence of LTA Youth Schools - the association's junior programme - in Scottish schools, with the current rate just over will be offered a package of support to pay for teacher training, equipment, and access to coaching."Meanwhile, all parties remain committed to working on securing the future for a tennis centre of national significance for Scotland and are continuing to discuss options for this," they Scotland Blane Dodds says the latest investment aims to give "every child in Scotland the opportunity to pick up a racket and try tennis"."Our participation figures show that there is a massive appetite for tennis in Scotland and this funding will help recognise the inspirational successes of many Scottish players on the global stage in recent years," he 280,000 children currently play tennis in Scotland every year - 40% of the population - with about half being girls, but 45% of children who have not played tennis before say they would like is estimated that, UK wide, 3.9m children (aged 4-15) play tennis, an increase of 6% from 2024, while 1.6m are playing each month - an increase of 8% during the past 12 months.
BBC News
03-03-2025
- BBC News
Teacher's life ruined after he was falsely branded a paedophile
Mark had been a teacher for years when he was wrongly accused of being a paedophile by a allegation spread quickly – and he says the "catastrophic" impact affected every area of his no wrongdoing being found, the school suggested that Mark – whose name we have changed to protect his identity – should go says he has not slept through the night once since then and has considered taking his own life. He also went off sick with told BBC Scotland News that the worst thing was not the accusation but the lack of support and consistency from his headteacher and council employers."A pupil called me a paedophile, and I felt the school's reaction to that was unbalanced," he says."Then another pupil called me a paedophile, and another. Within a short space of time it was an epidemic."He says that through a combination of social media and word of mouth things escalated quickly and got out of control. "The impact was catastrophic, absolutely catastrophic," he says."I felt cast aside and devalued… There is not a corner of my life that has not been affected."Mark says policies need to come into the 21st Century to understand how pupils can use digital media to "weaponise their attacks on teachers".He is not the only teacher to have been targeted by unfounded allegations of this NASUWT teaching union carried out a survey in which 500 of its members responded to questions about behaviour in schools over the last 12 80% said they had experienced verbal abuse, and a similar number thought violent and abusive behaviour had teachers said they had been assaulted, bitten, spat on, had fireworks thrown at them and had their cars said they, like Mark, had wrongly been accused of being paedophiles by 45% of the teachers said they had considered leaving teaching in the past 12 months and 63% had experienced stress. Last summer, the Scottish government published a national action plan on behaviour in schools amid rising concerns about violence in the union says most councils have not even discussed the action plan with government voiced concern at the findings of the survey and promised to work with councils to raise awareness of the action plan - and drive improvements in published by the government in 2023 found an increase in violent incidents in schools. The Scottish Summary of Behaviour in Scottish Schools found a significant increase in teachers reporting difficult McCready, the NASUWT national executive member for Scotland, said teacher stress levels were becoming unmanageable in the schools where they felt said swearing and bad behaviour had become accepted and normalised without any consequences in some teachers described conditions as "like being in the frontline of war". So what is the solution?Mr McCready believes that the school where he has taught for 20 years, St Andrews RC Secondary in the east end of Glasgow, is an example of best Andrews is renowned for its strong and consistent policies on behaviour, and for high teacher John McGhee says that having values which are adopted by absolutely everyone in the school is key, alongside training for staff and a consistent, supportive approach by McGhee says he is clear that actions have consequences and that pupils need to understand that their behaviour can lead to them being removed temporarily from the class."A teacher will have stepped through a number of consequences and warnings before it gets to that stage," he says"If it's got to the point where a teacher is unable to continue in a class and needs to seek support they would come to a head teacher or a depute head and we would remove that child from the class to have a conversation with them about what's behind all of this."Mr McGhee says that child would have to get themself back into the class - and would not be able to return without an apology."They can't just walk back in without some form of restoration of the situation."One of our school values is forgiveness. We've got to live and we've got to breathe it."Then young people need to understand that forgiveness can be sought - but there has to be something on the side of forgiveness about them saying sorry." Pupils and staff tell us the school is strict. Every child is expected to wear the uniform – including a blazer - and no mobile phones are allowed in captain Ayomide says pupils have to put their phones away in a separate place when they come into class to make sure everyone is focusing."It stops those issues arising where the teacher is saying over and over: 'Get off your phone'."It has really helped a lot, not just in education and behaviour but also forming better relationships with our peers and with our teachers."Another pupil, Lucy, says she thinks the uniform helps."When everybody's dressed the same, no-one's different, it just helps the bullying aspect. Everyone is the same." 'Completely unacceptable' The Scottish government said violence and abusive behaviour were "completely unacceptable" in schools, and that Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth was concerned by the survey's findingsIt added that the national behaviour action plan was a response to growing concerns from teachers and parents about behaviour.A progress update on the plan is expected in the coming weeksThe spokesperson said ministers would work with councils "in our continued joint efforts to raise awareness of the national action plan, and, importantly, to ensure the plan drives the improvements we all want to see in Scotland's schools".Council umbrella body Cosla said local authorities took the issue of safety in schools extremely Tony Buchanan said the first stage of the action plan was focused on setting expectations and clarifying approaches, which had involved new Scottish government guidance across a range of subjects. "Schools and local authorities will be considering this guidance in the weeks and months ahead," he said.
