I WAS privileged to be invited to attend Leaders’ Week in London at the start of this week.
Leaders’ week is a two day flagship sport business summit held at Chelsea FC and this year they kicked it off with a red carpet event focusing on women in sport.
There was a small contingent there from Scotland, flying the flag for Scottish women in sport, no more so than Sharon Martin who was invited to sing her anthem – Girl.
The song was really warmly received but nearly as much as her piper Ian, who spent most of the night having his pictures taken with sports stars, sponsors, media etc.
Also down for the event was Claire Nelson, the CEO of Netball Scotland.
Claire was named in the Leaders Under 40 awards early this year for her work with Netball Scotland and The Sirens and was down to receive her award.
Other organisations in her category were The International Paralympic Committee, The Romanian Football Federation, The Jockey Club, Florida Panthers, Chicago Sports Commission and Atlanta Hawks & Phillips Arena.
Claire was, and quite rightly so, extremely proud to be named amongst this prestigious list, putting Netball Scotland at the forefront of the agenda, once again.
Sponsored by Uefa, we had the pleasure to hear from three players from The Netherlands who were involved in the winning team at the final at the European Championship this year, as well as having an opportunity to have pictures taken with the trophy.
We also heard from golfer Charley Hull, who is one of the hopefuls determined to be in Scotland in 2019 for The Solheim Cup.
She spoke a little about the recent directive from the LPGA on a dress code for female players.
While she didn’t feel that affected her directly, she did think that golf had to become more original and promote a more athletic style, making the sport appear ‘cool’, as she felt it would attract many more participants to golf.
It was a great opportunity to network, with sponsors and media alike in attendance and all of them more than happy to chat about the amazing energy and success of women in sport currently.
SCOTTISH Women in Sport are using this momentum and will be launching a new project themselves on Tuesday, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for this.
We need your support for this initiative to ensure success and all it will take is a little of your time. So more to come on this on next week.
This new campaign is also wrapped up with a new look Scottish Women in Sport. Brand-Oath, who have taken SWiS on as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, have re-branded us with a new look including logo, website and social media. It is amazing what can be achieved with a little investment and a load of goodwill from those who believe in Scottish Women in Sport – thank-you!
THERE are just two days left to nominate your favourite for a SWiS Award. If you have someone that you feel deserves recognition please submit a nomination. It isn’t a lengthy process and it would be so good to get a wide variety of applicants in.
Seven out of eight categories will be judged by a panel, but the top award, the QTS Sportswomen of the Year, is judged by you. The top four nominees will be listed on our website and open for public vote on Monday October 9.
Tickets sales for this event have been really positive and it is looks like I will need to create a reserve list –a good problem to have.
Corrine Hutton from Finding Your Feet is our main speaker. This amazing women has overcome such a difficult time in her life after contracting acute pneumonia and septicaemia which forced surgeons to amputate both her hands and her legs below the knee. She recently completed a triathlon and puts us ‘couch potatoes’ and I am including myself in this, to shame. I am so looking forward to hearing her speak.
So if you intend to book tickets for our Annual Awards and Fund-raising dinner, better get a wiggle on as space is now limited.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here