Summer Programme Keeps Primary Pupils From Ardross and Evanton Active

The recent Active Schools Summer Programme of events held for primary pupils in Ardross and Evanton proved a great success with 100 young participants taking part in the four exciting activities on offer - archery, cheerleading, a cycle challenge and ultimate Frizbee.

Active School Co-ordinator based at Alness Academy, Wilma Kelt said:  “These sessions have been a great chance for young primary aged pupils to try out completely different sports and we are really pleased how well all the activities were received with the young people keen to learn new skills.  I would like to thank all the tutors and the participants for making these busy sessions such a success and we look forward to being able to continue offering new sporting opportunities throughout the year.”

 The cheerleading sessions were led by Debbie MacDonald, a young volunteer local to the area.   Debbies skill and tuition gave the girls a flavour of cheerleading and at the end of the sessions all of them said they would like to be involved in further classes.

The Northshore Cycle Challenge, delivered by Mark Sharples of Healthways, went down really well as local children came along to test their cycle skills on the see-saws, ramps and limbo bars.  Mark said:  “It is great to see that the young peoples confidence on their bikes is raised very quickly during just one a session of this exciting activity.” 
 
There was a good attendance at both Kiltearn and Ardross for Archery. Very few of the participants had tried this sport before so this was a welcome new activity for them to try under the guidance of Dawn Fraser, Active Schools Coordinator for the Dingwall Cluster.  

Another great success in both Evanton and Ardross were the Ultimate Frisbee sessions delivered by the Highland Fling Ultimate Frisbee Team.  Ultimate Frisbee is a non-contact sport played on the same principles as Netball.   There is a major focus on playing with a good spirit – playing to enjoy the game and the sportsmanship amongst friends and visitors. 

The Highland Fling Ultimate Frisbee Team are the only team in the Highlands playing this sport and have members who have taken the sport further south to develop in other areas of Scotland.  They have competed internationally, meeting up with teams from many other corners of the globe so the Active Schools team were delighted that the group were willing to give up their time to coach primary aged children.  

A group of ten children in Ardross were given some basic training skills and then formed 2 teams and played a great game.  They picked up the principles of Frisbee very quickly and enjoyed it so much they have requested further sessions of this.  

In Evanton the children were out in force when, after two full sessions of Cycle Challenge, participants stayed on for a lesson in Ultimate Frisbee.  Anyone passing by would have seen a busy playing field with lots of happy, laughing children tossing Frisbees back and fore to each other.  From P1 – P7, all mastered the basic skills in throwing and catching.  After their training session, the P4 – P7 children formed teams and played some exciting Ultimate Frisbee while the younger children continued to play easier Frisbee games.   

Active Schools, in partnership with the Highland Fling Team plan to hold a Saturday event sometime during the next term, where local primary schools will be invited to come along and learn how to play Frisbee.