Chris Chalk, Scotland's junior gymnastics champion from Blairlogie, has received a boost to his long term aim of competing in the Commonwealth Games by being selected for the Central Scotland Institute of Sport this month.
The 16 year old started gymnastics as a five year old and admits to having to work very hard at juggling the diverse and complex demands of six separate pieces of the Men's Artistic competition.
Says his coach, Andrew Webb, His favourite piece is the pommel, a very difficult piece that he works hard at, and he has some talent for it.
With the sport of gymnastics being included in the Area Institutes of Sport network last autumn, Scotland's top gymnasts can now draw from a wider pool of high performance expertise.
The Area Institutes of Sport's expert teams work together to deliver essential support services locally in sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, and career and lifestyle guidance.
I like to think it's a chance to supplement what he's doing, said Mr Webb. To see if there are any issues that we've not been aware of, either with sports psychology or physiology.
Chris has been a member of Falkirk Boys Gymnastics Club for over a year but he originally attended the Alloa Gymnastics Club. He is still training at both to get as much training times as possible, and goes to Glasgow as well. It's very much his full time out of school occupation.
Chalk will be competing for Scotland at Belfast this weekend in the Celtic Cup (he finished fourth in this event last year), followed by the London Open at the start of next month.