Friday 25th August 2023

Would you like to join the group that is the driving force for Student Tennis within student sport? We are looking to recruit individuals passionate about Tennis and growing the Scottish Tennis community.

Would you like to join the group that is the driving force for Student Tennis within student sport? We are looking to recruit individuals passionate about Tennis and growing the Scottish Tennis community.

Roles available (more information below):

  • Development Officer
  • Communications Officer

CV and Cover Letter to be sent to Sean Berthelsen on Sean@scottishstudentsport.com by October 2nd 2023

 


Development Officer

The Development Officer will work closely with SSS, Tennis Scotland and other relevant organisations to develop a concept for the development of the Scottish Student Tennis network and how the group can best interact with its members and Tennis Scotland.
You will communicate with student clubs to help promote any coaching and community engagement opportunities and collect feedback where appropriate.

Work with student clubs to identify barriers around accessing coaching courses. In addition, the individual will work to develop community outreach for student tennis clubs and how clubs can best engage with local community clubs.

As part of the Tennis Development Group, you will also work to create and deliver a development plan across a range of areas e.g. competitions, club development and publicity. You will help to set new policies for tennis and may be asked to lead on any specific projects being delivered at the time.

Overall, you will represent Tennis for students in Scotland.

See the full descriptor here.


Communications Officer

As the Communications Officer you will be responsible for organising and guiding the development group’s efforts to publicise itself, the sport and student activity (e.g. posting on social media channels).

Your other responsibilities are taking minutes from the Development Group Meetings, ensuring regular communication between the Development Group and clubs, promotion of club activities via the SS Tennis channels, and working with the SSS Communications Coordinator on the general promotion of Tennis. Furthermore, as a Development Group member you will work with the rest of the group to create and deliver a development plan across a range of areas beyond publicity: competition, workforce, club
development and inclusion.

You will help to set policy for SS Tennis and may be asked to lead on any specific projects being delivered at the time. Overall, you will represent the interests of all member institutions and student clubs to improve tennis for students in Scotland.

See the full descriptor here.


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Monday 5th June 2023

The final SSS Medal Table of the 2022/23 season is here!

The SSS Medal Table is a method for institutions to see how successful their student-athletes have been over the course of the SSS season.

The table includes all events in which SSS medals* have been awarded during the 2022/23 season.

All semester 1 and 2 events which took place have been added.

The table defaults to alphabetical but can be sorted by any of the column headings.

 

SSS Medal Table 2022/23

InstitutionGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Aberdeen University28241769
Abertay University4239
City of Glasgow College4228
Dumfries & Galloway College0011
Dundee University17112452
Edinburgh College1326
Edinburgh Napier University54211
Edinburgh University1049162257
Fife College2439
GCU127827
Glasgow University625763182
Heriot Watt University10151540
NESCol0101
New College Lanarkshire0101
QMU0213
RGU1081533
St Andrews University646247173
Stirling University42302698
Strathclyde University343836108
UHI80210
UWS551020
West College Scotland1001
Z-GUEST29282986

 

Last Updated: June 2023

*Also includes BUCS medals won at Scottish Conference Finals

Compare how your instution got on against the 2021-22 Medal Tracker!

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Monday 6th June 2022

The final SSS Medal Table of the 2021/22 season is here!

The SSS Medal Table is a method for institutions to see how successful their student-athletes have been over the course of the SSS season.

The table includes all events in which medals have been awarded during the 2021/22 season.

All semester 1 and 2 events which took place have been added.

The table defaults to alphabetical but can be sorted by any of the column headings.

 

SSS Medal Table 2021/22

InstitutionGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Abertay University43
411
Ayrshire College112
Borders College11
City of Glasgow College4217
Edinburgh College224
Edinburgh Napier University4217
Fife College1427
Glasgow Caledonian University96318
Heriot Watt University10111334
Queen Margaret University123
Robert Gordon University510722
Scotland's Rural College112
UHI51410
University of Aberdeen23361978
University of Dundee34212075
University of Edinburgh876652205
University of Glasgow466245153
University of St Andrews714138150
University of Stirling433731111
University of Strathclyde32333398
University of the West of Scotland116623
Z-Guest Entries12111538

 

Total Events: 73 (88% of planned activity)

Last Updated: June 2022

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Wednesday 4th May 2022

The University of St Andrews has been named ‘University Club of the year’ in the Tennis Scotland Awards and former Director of Tennis at St Andrews, Mike Aitken has deservedly won the prestigious lifetime achievement award! 

The University of St Andrews has been named ‘University Club of the year’ in the Tennis Scotland Awards and former Director of Tennis at St Andrews, Mike Aitken has deservedly won the prestigious lifetime achievement award!

The 2022 award winners were announced on the 29th of April and highlighted Tennis success across Scotland. An excerpt from the awards announcement stated:

“This year, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award, reserved for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the sport over a prolonged period, has been awarded to Mike Aitken. As an advocate for participation in the Fife community, Mike served as Head Coach at St Andrews Tennis Club for 17 years, in addition to operating as Director of Tennis at the University of St Andrews between 2010-2021.

Displaying the legacy Mike has left at the institution, the University of St Andrews has also been named amongst this year’s winners, claiming the sought-after University of the Year award in the education category.”

The full list of winners can be seen here.

Scottish Student Sport would like to extend a huge congratulations to both Mike and the University of St Andrews Tennis club.

 

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Tuesday 1st March 2022

We had an absolutely fantastic showing of talent and sportsmanship this last weekend at the SSS Individual Tennis Championships.

Two female tennis players shaking hands after a match.

We had an absolutely fantastic showing of talent and sportsmanship this last weekend at the SSS Individual Tennis Championships. The University of St Andrews played host to forty-eight male and female tennis players from eight different Universities and they certainly put on a show!

There were some fantastic matches on Saturday, with at least five of them pushing, and even surpassing the two-hour mark. The highlight of the weekend has to have been the Women’s Singles semi-finals, with Beth Laybourne (St Andrews) and Kirsty Robertson (Stirling) on the court for more than three hours, a monumental effort from the pair that eventually saw Beth taking the hard-fought victory to progress her into the final.

A huge congratulations to Patrick Young (Stirling) who won the Men’s Singles Final against Gregor Stott (Strathclyde) and Beth Laybourne (St Andrews) who took the Women’s Singles title in her final against Alicia Gates (Robert Gordon University). The silverware went to Ross Lyon and Gregor Stott (both Strathclyde) for the Men’s Doubles and Marta Heinen and Kirsty Robertson (both Stirling) for the Women’s Doubles. A fantastic showing all round!

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to Referee Rick Gardner for all his help in hosting the competition, all volunteers who made the event possible and to the University of St Andrews for being such excellent hosts.

The full results can be found HERE  and a selection of photographs from the day can be found HERE and HERE.

What Did You Think? Let us know what you thought of the event by filling in our quick survey!

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Thursday 17th February 2022

Mixed Doubles Tennis is back and more exciting than ever!

This past weekend was huge for Student Tennis, with our first Mixed Doubles tournament in more than five years!

The University of Stirling played host to an excellent Mixed Doubles event for recreational student athletes from eight institutions across Scotland. Thirty-two students took to the court in their pairs and showed off some excellent Tennis. Fifty Mixed Doubles matches were played throughout the day and featured both great Tennis and good sportsmanship. In particular, the 1st pairing from RGU showed fantastic attitude and sportsmanship all day, even though the results didn’t quite go their way!

The weather may have been cold and miserable outside, but on the courts the action was absolutely on fire. The University of St Andrews pairing May – Ling Turner & Elson Chen Shin Yong fought their way through the field with clinical determination to take victory without losing a single match. A seriously impressive display and a well-deserved win for the University of St Andrews Tennis Club.

Overall, University of St Andrews’ May – Ling Turner & Elson Chen Shin Yong took first place, with Sean Owen & Georgia Hepke from the University of Strathclyde taking second place. After a strong display Heriot Watt University 1st team, consisting of Calum McDaid & Amber Edmiston, won the plate, with the University of Edinburgh’s Ben Baker & Eleanor Doyle following as the plate runner up.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the University of Stirling, the volunteers, and umpires for making this event possible, without your time and help we wouldn’t have been able to bring this excellent event back.

You can view the results here. 

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Wednesday 16th December 2020

Inspiration, innovation and collaboration at every corner. These were some of the key themes that emerged from the SSS 2020 Festive Gathering. Over 70 members tuned into the virtual gathering and were treated to thought-provoking discussion, high-quality guest speakers and plenty of Festive Fun! Read all about it here!

In a change to tradition and a fitting tribute to 2020, the SSS Festive Gathering was delivered virtually this year with over 70  members across the tribe tuning in to hear from a panel of world-class athletes and leaders in sport.

Whilst the virtual gathering was a first of its kind, the longstanding tradition of participants wearing festive jumpers remained true – with some fantastic outfits on show throughout the afternoon. None more so than panelist Robyn Love (pictured below) in what is undoubtedly a candidate for the most festive photo of the year.

After an energising welcome from SSS Chair Pete Burgon, a brief review of the year gone by and finances approved – our attendees were met by two equally inspiring and thought-provoking discussions from our special guests.

First up, the Road to Tokyo panel, where SSS Head of Competitions Chris Purdie, was joined by three athletes whose experiences through student sport had helped shape their career path and their journey to next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Neah Evans (Cycling), Megan Gaffney (Rugby) and Robyn Love (Wheelchair Basketball) discussed how their positive student sport experiences helped them reach where they are today. From balancing the workload of their studies with the pressure of performing in their sport and also trying to keep up a social life in the process, the panelists spoke honestly and fondly of their student days.

All three touched upon the huge sacrifices required to make it at the top level and acknowledged the vital support they received from their institutions and staff during their time at University. This support has been vital to them and many other young athletes looking to achieve their potential while also studying and preparing for their future.

The panel discussed the importance of resilience and “bounce-back ability” that the challenges of Coronavirus and lockdown caused before previewing what promises to be a jam-packed and exciting year of sport in 2021.

All three have very real and promising hopes of competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games and everyone at SSS wishes Megan, Robyn and Neah every success for 2021 and beyond.

Following this inspirational panel, the next section was packed full of ambition, innovation and collaboration at every corner: An Audience with Jan Paterson.

Jan is currently Managing Director Sport for Neom, delivering a bold new vision of future living. Neom is being designed as a global city for global citizens and Jan’s role is to engrain sport and physical activity in the lives of residents. In the future city, citizens will never be more than 8 minutes from a sports facility and physical activity will be an integral part of the curriculum.

Jan herself is a pioneer and her experiences in leadership roles were a great learning opportunity for our audience. She spoke of the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people, and the significance of bottom-up team building. We also heard some great stories of her times at the World University Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.

To round off the day and in true 2020 style, the SSS Tribe were treated to a Zoom Quiz of the Year courtesy of Pete Burgon. This gave everyone a chance to show off their best Christmas jumpers, share some “funny” Christmas jokes and engage in some much needed festive cheer.

We would like to wish everyone a restful festive break and we look forward to seeing you all in 2021.

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Wednesday 9th September 2020

Check out the highlights from our first-ever virtual Chair Development Day and meet your new and returning SSS Sports Chairs!

Last Sunday (6th September 2020) Scottish Student Sport hosted the first-ever virtual Chair Development Day! A total of 35 volunteers across 28 of our sports engaged in a zoom-based training day designed to equip them with all the necessary tools to tackle the upcoming 2020/21 season.

Throughout the day, the eager volunteers were treated to a series of different workshops delivered by the SSS staff touching upon a little bit of everything and anything. Including; introductions to the staff team, planning the return to play for student sport, how to encourage growth and participation levels within their sport, student mental health, all things social media and communications,  and engaging discussion surrounding where student sport fits in the wider student landscape.

In another first, the workshop was opened up to include not only sports chairs themselves but also other members of each sports development committees. This enabled vice-chairs and other officers to learn, engage and contribute to the conversation around planning for the next 12 months and beyond!

Despite not being able to meet in person, in true SSS fashion, everyone on the call grasped the opportunity to get to know each other, collaborate with one another and share best practice. We can’t wait to see some of your fantastic ideas in action. We hope all our volunteers found the day beneficial and are feel better prepared to grasp their unique opportunity and tackle season 2020/21!

Meet your sports chairs and find out what they made of the day!  🎥👇

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Tuesday 30th June 2020

The SSS AGM took place virtually on Thursday 11th June 2020. Did you miss it? Catch up on everything you need to know here!

The 2020 SSS AGM took place on Thursday 11th June via Zoom webinar in what was the first (but perhaps not the last…?) of its kind for the SSS Tribe. Over 50 members from 16 institutions were able to tune in and whilst something was lost in the two-way face-to-face interaction, we also gained in some respects and the Chair is to be congratulated for bringing it all to a close within 62 minutes. Please click here for the official AGM minutes.

The meeting allowed for a bittersweet look back at the unusual year, which until mid-March had been going like a train, with a bumper year in terms of club activity at an institutional level, and event entries nationally. This appetite will surely stand us all in good stead as the subsequent lockdown begins to lift.

The AGM endorsed a sober but pragmatic approach to the 20-21 Academic Year in terms of SSS’ planned activities and finances, and approved a one-year plan that can get the organisation safely to next summer whilst still being well placed to deliver across every part of the business.

Some notable features of the revised plan include:

  • Carrying as little risk as possible, with modest aims around event entries
  • Shelving of all non-essential costs
  • Budgeting for a significant deficit on the year, equal to the current level of our non-fixed reserves
  • Offering up to a 25% discount on membership fees for those who need it

This will mean less room for manoeuvre and the cessation of some aspects, including our Special Projects Fund, but gives us a solid footing for what is a most unpredictable year. It also allows for the full staff team to remain in place throughout, so as to be best placed to provide a strong service to the members.

For more information about our plans for 20-21, please don’t hesitate to contact stew@scottishstudentsport.com

With the finances dealt with the AGM was then able to confirm the line-up of volunteer officers and appointments that will help to shape SSS’ work over the next twelve months. Across all of our committees we are blessed to have the most capable and enthused individuals in place and each of them comes into office with the thanks and optimistic expectations of the wider membership. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the new SSS Executive, Development, and Competitions Committees for season 2020/21.

The departing volunteers – and particularly the sabbatical students leaving office – exit with a huge vote of thanks from all at SSS. We all appreciate that the year has ended in strange circumstances for you all, but we know that you have all the traits and tools you need to make a really positive transition, and we hope you’ll retain a long and positive engagement with the Tribe.

 

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Monday 29th June 2020

The CHANGES: Train the Trainer programme is designed to up-skill staff in the network to deliver awareness workshops to clubs in an attempt to tackle the challenge of initiation and hazing activity within student sport. Read more about the partnership, and the work done so far.

As of August 2019, the SSS and CHANGES partnership, led by Professor Moira Lafferty (University of Chester) and her colleague Dr. Caroline Wakefield (Liverpool Hope University), continue to work towards a joint aim of making student sport safe and inclusive for all. Together we are continuing to work towards the commitments set out in the partnership agreement alongside the CHANGES trainers, Development Committee, and Equality Steering Group.

So far the partnership has hosted two Train the Trainer programmes which has led to the upskilling of 17 student sports staff across five regions of Scotland. In February this year, SSS invited the trainers to a CHANGES networking and planning workshop to discuss the journey so far and future steps. Amongst other things, the trainers made it clear a third train the trainer programme was required to reach the target of training all student sports clubs in Scotland.

Train the Trainer Course

The third Train the Trainer will take place on Friday 23rd October in Edinburgh. The deadline for signing up is Monday 19th October at 12:00. Professor Lafferty’s research highlights the advantages of having external staff deliver the CHANGES workshops to student clubs. The overall aim is to be in a position where we have developed a large enough workforce so that institutions are able to support one another to train up all our 614 clubs in the network.

Please note that we are mindful of the challenges Covid-19 may bring with delivering this course. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep up to date with public health guidelines so that we can take all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of those involved.

📲Sign up here for the next CHANGES: Train the Trainer course.

Michael Webster from the University of Edinburgh, participated in the training last year and from that, co-delivered a workshop to over thirty sports club members.

He said: “The Train the Trainer course was engaging, informative and eye-opening. The effects of hazing and negative group events can be catastrophic, so to have the ability to deliver workshops with the aim of positively influencing the culture of student sports clubs, feels incredibly impactful, and fulfilling on a personal level.”

“The tools and techniques from the course have allowed me to frame conversations around looking to the future, creating new traditions, and utilising team-building techniques to create inclusive, positive, and safe welcome activities.”

The current list of available trainers can found below and will be updated after the October Training.

Tayside, Fife, and Grampian Regional Trainers;

Eamonn Laird, University of Dundee – e.y.laird@dundee.ac.uk

Ellen Morrissey, Robert Gordon University – e.morrissey@rgu.ac.uk

Claire Scott, University of St. Andrews – cls25@st-andrews.ac.uk

South East Regional Trainers;

Fraser Reynolds, Edinburgh Napier University – f.reynolds@napier.ac.uk

Craig Bodel, University of Stirling – craig.bodel@stir.ac.uk

Amy Beattie, University of Stirling – amy.beattie1@stir.ac.uk

Michael Webster, University of Edinburgh – michael.webster@ed.ac.uk 

Bethany Lawrie, University of Edinburgh – Bethany.Lawrie@ed.ac.uk

Catherine Wilson, Heriot-Watt University – catherine.wilson@hw.ac.uk

West Regional Trainers;

Iain Christie, the University of the West of Scotland – iain.christie@uws.ac.uk

Seona McKenzie, University of Strathclyde – seona.mckenzie@strath.ac.uk

Jamie Taylor, University of Glasgow – Jamie.Taylor@glasgow.ac.uk

Scottish Student Sport Staff;

Gavin Rittoo, Scottish Student Sport – gavin@scottishstudentsport.com

Nicola Scott, Scottish Student Sport – nicola@scottishstudentsport.com

Megan Richardson, Scottish Student Sport – megan@scottishstudentsport.com

Neil Rankin, Scottish Student Sport – neil@scottishstudentsport.com

 

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