PICTURES: Children enjoy schools out summer activities at East Caithness campus in Wick
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Hundreds of youngsters enjoyed a range of sporting activities over the summer holidays at a series of Wick coaching events.
High Life Highland (HLH) active schools teamed up with SSEN Transmission and BAM – who donated £1200 – to provide the summer programme, which was free to attend.
Around 550 school children joined in the fun sessions, which included football, basketball, badminton and dodgeball, at the East Caithness Community Facility.
Gary McDonald, Wick active schools coordinator, said: “The Wick HLH schools out programme for 2022 has been a great success with so many young people attending all the activities.
"There were so many young and talented participants learning, competing, interacting and making friends along the way. Without the support of SSEN Transmission/BAM making their kind donation to HLH the sessions would not have been as well attended.
“I was so proud of the young leaders and coaches I have worked with over the past year. Although I am on the side-lines majority of the time, it is amazing to see these young adults reach their full potential. They have all flourished, developed, matured and enhanced their skills along the way and I am extremely happy to see so many volunteers looking to help the community.
"I will be losing a few coaches along the way as they are off to develop their own pathway and I am always looking to recruit, retain and train new volunteers.”
One of those coaches leaving is Molly Miller from Bilbster, who was awarded Wick Active Schools volunteer of the year.
Mr McDonald said that Molly was an ideal candidate for the award due to her exceptional leadership skills, ability to adapt, knowledge of coaching, rapport with young people and her indispensable time volunteering.
He added: “Sadly, Molly will be leaving us to study law in Edinburgh but has no doubt improved her interpersonal skills and built her confidence during her two years with us. Wick Active Schools wishes Molly all the best in her future endeavours."
Andrew Henderson, SSEN Transmission construction manager, said: “We’re delighted that the donation from ourselves and BAM has helped support so many young people to get involved in such a wide and varied programme of activities this year. As guests in the area it’s really important to us that we support the community in which we are working, and we’re so pleased that we’ve been able to get involved and support such a brilliant initiative.”