Like everybody else over the last week, memories of the Queen have come flooding back to me.
In my case, it was meeting her at a Buckingham Palace garden party after the Sochi Olympics when we won bronze.
I’d be lying if I remember the exact details of our conversation but I do recall being very aware of looking for the signs that she was ready to politely move on to speak to the next person.
I think switching her handbag from one arm to the other was one of them!
It was a real thrill – and so was reading a tweet with her congratulations after we won gold and hearing that the band played We Are The Champions outside the palace after our win in the final at Beijing!
A day @evemuirhead will never forget.
The Olympic champion received her OBE and MBE yesterday 🎖️🙌 pic.twitter.com/OQd9J7dZ7w
— Team GB (@TeamGB) June 9, 2022
I received my MBE and OBE from the new King a couple of months ago, which is a pretty cool thing to be able to say.
He’d certainly done his homework and it was interesting to hear him chat about the curling that took place on the loch at Balmoral back in the day.
Scotland can be proud of the way we marked the Queen’s death and so can the sporting world.
Hearing that a 13-year-old boy has played a first team game of football in Northern Ireland made me feel uncomfortable.
It started me thinking about my own early days curling.
I won four world junior titles but the first of those wasn’t until I was 17.
I only started curling at nine and at 13 I would have still just been involved in the sport at junior level with no desire to be fast-tracked.
There are a few things that concern me about Christopher Atherton breaking the record to become the youngest senior footballer in the UK.
Glenavon's Christopher Atherton has become the youngest senior footballer in the UK ever at 13 years and 329 days old 👏 pic.twitter.com/dmtKNoFD7j
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 14, 2022
The media and public attention that is now on him is one.
Kids should be allowed to be kids at that age.
But that’s not actually the biggest issue.
If you’ve got the right support around you, it could be OK – the likes of swimming and gymnastics have a tradition of athletes reaching the top of their sport very young.
It’s the physical side of it that is the big alarm bell for me.
That’s in terms of him getting hurt in a contact sport while his body isn’t even close to being fully developed.
And also for the problems it creates for opposition players.
Treating him the same as any other player is easier said than done.
It’s only natural that men will wonder whether they should be holding back in challenges.
The best thing for Christopher – and others – would be if he was to slip back into the development side of football for a year or two when hopefully he’ll be mentally and physically ready to become a star.
The big Davis Cup ties in Glasgow when Andy Murray was at his peak were real ‘I was there’ occasions.
The atmosphere at the Emirates Arena was electric.
But the organisers scored a big own goal with their scheduling to have Andy stepping on court after 10pm the other night and not finishing until after one in the morning.
For some kids (and adults for that matter) that will be the one opportunity they get to see him play.
But some of them were forced to leave early for understandable reasons.
It was totally avoidable.
I loved leading out my old pipe band at the Pitlochry Highland Games at the weekend.
The sun shone and the venue was packed.
It was a real privilege to lead out Pitlochry and Blair Atholl Pipe Band at Pitlochry Highland games!
I played with the band for many years and was such a fun day / night seeing so many old faces again! Thank you 🥰
Congratulations on winning the Grade 3 contest 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/NW4y4yme7r— Eve Muirhead OBE (@evemuirhead) September 11, 2022
So many traditions get lost over time but it’s brilliant that Highland Games aren’t one of them.
I can’t think of many better ways for a local community to get together.
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