Falkirk long jumper, Jade Nimmo took a leap towards her dream of
competing for Scotland in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games after
joining the Central Institute of Sport this week.
Sixteen year old Nimmo has been an athlete for less than three years, taking the long jump 'seriously' for only half that time. Falkirk Stadium was the venue for her introduction to long jump, Willie Day was the coach who spotted her talents and kept her improving.
I've always been into sport and I did a lot of gymnastics and dancing before but I never knew I was good at long jump until I went along to the Falkirk Victoria Harriers, she said.
The hours of hard work began to pay off this summer when Nimmo competed for Great Britain on three separate occasions, one of them at the IAAF World Youth Championships in the Czech Republic.
At home, in the Scottish Closed Senior Championships, she jumped 6.13m to break the national under-17 age-group best set in 1980. A month later at the England Athletics under-20 Championships she set a new personal best of 6.14m.
Since November, Nimmo has been coached by Scottish record holder Darren Ritchie. Indentified by Scottish Athletics and sportscotland as an athlete who might have the potential to compete in the Delhi Commonwealth Games, Nimmo can now draw upon the support network of the Central Scotland Institute of Sport.
Scotland's Area Institutes of Sport network provides high performance expertise to Scotland's potential world class talent, supporting Scottish governing body-identified athletes as they progress along their sporting pathway. The Area Institutes of Sport work with partners to build greater success for Scottish sport. Its expert teams work together to deliver essential support services locally in sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, and career and lifestyle guidance.
Said Ritchie, Using my experiences as an Institute athlete, we are looking at the services the Central Institute provides and how they can enhance Jade's programme.
The immediate benefits are medical back up. With the type of training she has undergone and will undergo in her preparations for the coming years, this is crucial to allow her to recover from training and to prevent injury.
Jade is relatively young so we will be making sure she's aware of the performance factors in terms of nutrition and lifestyle support. The Central Institute will assist me in guiding Jade in that way.
Willie Day has done a good job in keeping her interested in the sport and taking her forward. She's only been involved for a couple of years and has excelled expectations this year. Whether she continues to do that, time will tell but she is a very talented individual.