SIR, It was interesting to see some important issues about sport in Peebles raised by a reader in last week’s letters. The topics the reader raised are very pertinent and ones which I, as the founder and coach at Peebles Netball, have wrestled with for many years. The reader covered issues of opportunity for sport for girls, inclusivity in sport, funding for sport, selection processes, and criticised Peebles Netball on all of these counts, concluding that Peebles Netball does not deserve to receive Big Lottery or any other public funding. From my perspective, nine years ago girls in Peebles had one main choice of sport on reaching high school – hockey. Their love of netball, nurtured through all primary schools in Tweeddale was ignored at high school with no pathway to continue their netball experience. There was no adult netball played here, no junior club, nothing. Seeing my netball-loving daughters go through this process triggered me (like this reader) to ask questions. I was given sporting opportunities and choice at their age and I felt they should have the same chances as I had.

My reaction to the situation was to try to do something constructive to address the concerns I had. My efforts since 2006, along with the incredible input from a range of volunteers over the years, have meant that, step by step, we been able to provide for more and more girls and women to take part in the game at a wide range of abilities. The battles we have faced along the way, and are still facing, have been immense and I, as an unpaid volunteer, with a full time job and family to care for, have many a time thought about walking away. Logistics are against us. Court time has been like gold dust. If we had taken in the 50 girls each year who wish to join us, along with all the boys who were also interested - we would now have around 600 junior players to fit into a few hours of the court time we have each week, and that does not even cater for the adult and senior citizen interest which I constantly get enquiries over.

The recent decision by BSLT to close the Gytes on weekend afternoons has been a huge blow to us, taking out a vast amount of potential court time.

Another major barrier is lack of coaches. I am currently the only qualified netball coach in this area, coaching 80 netballers a week in a variety of different squads, plus leading a recreational session. Until more people become qualified coaches we have a barrier to further development along the lines requested by the reader. Peebles Netball has run many sessions for would-be coaches and its doors are always open to mentoring opportunities. Through huge investment of our time and effort we have managed, unpaid, to develop netball across the Borders, establishing three other junior clubs and mentoring adults in these clubs to become coaches and umpires. Adults in Peebles have not come forward to become coaches, possibly due to the very limited anti-social hours of court time we have had in the past. None of the volunteers within Peebles Netball is paid to develop netball, none of us is trained in sports development, we do not work for BSLT nor do we have control over which sports are played in the high school, yet the burden has fallen on volunteer parents like me to take this on in the best way we can. The Awards for All grant is a huge step forward for us and represents all that we are about – opening up netball opportunities as widely as we can within the severe restraints that we operate. The main part of the grant is towards establishing a new community of adult netballers in our area. Through this we envisage finding new coaches, new umpires, people who are willing to play their part in helping to open up opportunities for women and girls in sport.

Using the grant we now have between 30 to 40 women returning to the court to train weekly and play competitive netball. With the award we have been able to start a weekly recreational session for women returners and teenagers aged 14 years and upwards, whatever their ability. The grant is also going towards setting up a club for primary seven girls, open to all abilities, and this will be commencing in the near future. The reader will not appreciate the work which has been done behind the scenes over the past eight years to secure funding for children unable to pay for kit, shoes, subs, and so on, to make sure they are able to play on the same terms as others. No child playing for Peebles Netball has ever lost out due to lack of parental income, one of the central pillars of our inclusive approach. The headline news is always the success of our teams, but the better news is that from nothing in 2006, we now have in 2014 a range of opportunities for girls in this area to play netball. The club selects as many girls as it can take in logistically each year. Take in too many and we get complaints from parents that their child is not getting enough time on the court. Girls who do not make these teams are given support, information and encouragement to join our sister club, the Tweeddale Tigers, open to all girls from S1 to S3. We then offer girls the pathway to our new competitive adult teams and our new recreational session. This is a massive success story in Peebles, built on the willingness of a few unpaid volunteers, through relentless drive and determination against the odds in a rural area.

Peebles has become a major centre for netball in Scotland, leading the way on opening up the sport to girls, working against the trend seen elsewhere in which teenage girls drop out of sport, and offering a range of opportunities for players of all ages and standards. We were recognised by the Big Lottery as highly inclusive in our proposed plans and providing physical activity opportunities for girls in a rural area with otherwise limited provision. The funds have enabled us to provide for any girl who wishes to continue to play after primary school – a legacy which I could have only dreamt about when I took my first tentative step into coaching to remedy a situation I felt strongly about eight years ago.

The reader made criticisms over our apparently exclusive and “narrow-minded” approach in which they allege we tell children their presence is not welcome and turn people into haters of the game. The reader’s comments have made me think about our eight year journey and ethos, and made me prouder than ever of what has been achieved.

I am, etc.

Linda Nicholson Founder of and coach at Peebles Netball