Unsung heroes

SPOTY

I watched SPOTY – the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year – at the weekend and was especially struck by the genuine warmth of so many of the tributes to parents, coaches and ‘significant others’ by the athletes. It is clear that to be a top-level sportsman or woman requires immense hard work and dedication, usually at great personal cost. It is also clear that without someone cheering you on from the ‘sidelines’ – those to whom St Paul refers as ‘the cloud of witnesses’ – it is very unlikely that you will achieve greatness.

I cannot pretend to reaching anything near greatness as a sports person – I leave this to my children and grandchildren – but I do want to record my thanks to several ‘significant others’, in addition to my family, who have encouraged me over the years to stretch up beyond myself.  No matter what we are occupied with, we need those who will notice, speak up and inspire us.

Significant encouragers

The first people to influence me in sport were, of course, my parents. I could swim, apparently, before I could walk and would frighten those watching such a small ‘shrimp’ as I tended to swim underwater all the time. They also introduced me to golf as a youngster – which I hated at first but my parents allowed me space to stop playing and then to come back to the game with a passion in my teens.  I am now re-visiting this sport in semi-retirement!

The next person who comes to mind was a teacher at my Prep School when I was 12 years old. His name was John England (although it was a Scottish school!), and he had been watching me play rugby. I was a gangly youngster who tended to play second row even though I had more speed and agility than bulk and brawn. Mr England said to me one day, ‘Keep playing hard and fairly and you’ll gain your colours’.  The very next day, I remember, I played my heart out in a match (which we lost), scored a try and was subsequently indeed awarded ‘colours’ – special socks and badge, as I recall, but which meant a massive amount in my context and among my peers. This same schoolteacher, the following term, said: ‘I think you could win the school cross-country race’. I didn’t in fact – I came third overall – but it made me realise that I could rise above the ‘pack’ and it gave me a love for running throughout my teenage years and at my (‘Public’) secondary school I was coached by a Scottish commonwealth athlete, Fergus Murray, who even got me into a senior event, aged 18 years, at Meadowbank Stadium. (It was the 400m – my best event – and I came a comfortable 8th, and last, but it did have two current Scottish athletes in the race!)

At my secondary school in Edinburgh, it was my first boarding Housemaster, Charles Whittle, who encouraged me to embrace all types of sport including hockey, basketball and cricket. Mr Whittle was on the touchline in all Scottish weathers, dressed in tweeds with his gun dogs at his heels, urging on the ‘men’ in his House. My second housemaster, David McMurray, introduced me to that cunning game of croquet – which I went on to play at College and University –  but the moment I remember most was a comment in my final year, aged 18 years, towards the end of athletic Sports Day. There was only one event to go – the inter-House 6 x 220 yards relay. At this point our House was lying fractionally second in the House Cup. Mr McMurray, knowing I was on the last leg of the relay, said that if I could come in the top three then we would win overall. Somehow his words inspired: taking over the baton in third place and behind, on paper, two better sprinters, I somehow managed second place and so gained the accolade of winning the overall championship.

A ‘cloud of witnesses’

These are all personal anecdotes – and there are more from University and later in life – but the point I want to stress here is that it doesn’t take much to encourage someone and hence to show you believe in them. A well-chosen word or comment, an unexpected card or letter, a friendly smile and acknowledgement can work wonders no matter the age of the recipient. Try it today!