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ESIS - Middlemiss takes on World University Games coaching role

A doubles bronze in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, and the first Scottish woman to  hold simultaneously the national singles, doubles and mixed titles - Middlemiss is now looking forward to her first major coaching role.
 
“This will be the first time I've done anything like this in coaching,” said Middlemiss, Administrator at the East of Scotland Institute of Sport.  

“I'm apprehensive but very excited.  Coaching at this type of event is where I'd like to go and this is a great opportunity for me.  Hopefully I'll do a good job and things might move from there.”
 
Before she left for the Bangkok Middlemiss spent time training the team of 10 at their base in Milton Keynes and organised last minute preparations at a holding camp this past five days in Singapore.  “We all clicked straight away, I've spent quite a bit of time with them all and the team is working well,” she said.
 
An international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years, the Summer Universiade consists of 12 compulsory sports - athletics, basketball , fencing, football, gymnastics, judo, swimming, diving, water polo, table tennis, tennis  and volleyball - and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country.  More than 7,000 competitors from over 150 countries took part in the 2005 event in Turkey.  
 
“It's a massive event and it's not far off simulating the Olympics,” said Middlemiss.  “We have the full opening ceremony, the village life and all the pressures.  It's a great opportunity for the players and the badminton is a high standard.
 
“It's a very tough standard and some of the countries, such as Thailand, will put in their best national players.    The British team has a chance of winning a medal - that's what we are going for.”