Former Scotland captain and Dundee United star Christian Dailly believes handing Scottish youngsters the chance to compete in track and field at Hampden is brilliant for the legacy effect of Glasgow 2014.
The Scottish Schools Athletics Association have brokered agreement with the Commonwealth Games organisers and the national stadium to hold their 2014 secondary schools event at Hampden next June.
It is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for youngsters aged between 12 and 18 and such is the expected demand that a qualifying event at Grangemouth is planned for the younger age groups (mainly first and second year secondary pupils).
Courier columnist Dailly pulled on a Scotland shirt on 67 occasions and captained his country a dozen times and, now an athletics coach himself, is thrilled by the whole concept.
“I think that is a wonderful idea and great credit to those involved in driving that,” he said.
“That will be a huge carrot for the youngsters involved. The ones at secondary school at whatever stage this particular year have been handed a great incentive.
“The Commonwealths are the big goal next summer and with things like a schools event and perhaps even a Diamond League then what a time it could be; a real purple patch for participants, clubs and the public.
“You just hope that it acts as a catalyst and more and more people want to get involved and those within the sport are able to welcome them in. Improved performance at the top will then filter down to those around the country.
“Kids in first and second year at Scottish secondary schools will be looking to Hampden and I believe that will take people into athletics clubs because to have a chance of getting there they are going to have to train. A qualifying event is sensible and I think the whole idea is inspired.
“Athletics in Scotland is going in the right direction. I think that is apparent and even the way scottishathletics is set-up, in my opinion, looks geared for the future.”
The SSAA have set aside a Friday and Saturday in June for the Hampden event with two younger age groups meeting earlier in the month at Grangemouth on June 7 (around the traditional time of these events).
Scottishathletics will take their own Senior Champs to Kilmarnock a couple of weeks after the Glasgow 2014 closing ceremony at Hampden.
Dailly, who regularly attends coach education sessions north of the border but is based in Essex, is enthused about the immediate future and also feels the likes of Eilidh Child, Eilish McColgan and Chris O’Hare all of whom were at the World Championships in Moscow won’t be fazed by Hampden.
“It is hard for me to put into words but Hampden is a special place,” added Dailly, in the scottishathletics quarterly magazine PB.
“I would say that the thing I miss the most from football of any kind in fact, the only thing I miss is playing for Scotland. And playing for Scotland at Hampden in particular.
“It was special. It is that simple. If I look back on my career then the decision to stop playing when I knew I could still run and still play was really based upon the fact that I was no longer at the level to represent Scotland. That’s probably what made me walk away.
“Hampden is one of the most enjoyable stadiums to play at. There was always something riding on the games because it is international action and that’s the nature of it.
“I relished that and even though the crowd isn’t as close to the pitch as in some tighter set-up stadia, the atmosphere was still very good.
“When you get to the level these athletes are, you tend to find they will have adapted to the idea that they are competing only for a matter of seconds or a short number of minutes.
“Elite athletes should be able to use Hampden as an extra spur. I hope they will be more likely to get a kick from it rather than choke.”