Commonwealth Games Scotland

About CGS

Achieve Programme

In 2010 Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) developed a new initiative with support from sportscotland, to enhance the winning opportunities of Scottish athletes and coaches on the world stage and in particular to help more Scottish athletes compete with distinction at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In July 2010 with exactly four years to go to the start of the Glasgow Games, CGS announced the names of 30 athletes, 16 coaches and 10 mentors selected for the Achieve 2014 programme.

The programme was created to offer a number of talented athletes and coaches from sports on the Glasgow 2014 programme the opportunity to gain critical knowledge and experience of a multi-sport environment, to assist their own preparations for medal success in Glasgow and beyond.

The athletes selected ranged from 15-28 years old and include Scottish and British junior and age group champions as well as a number of juniors starting to compete successfully in senior international competition. A few of the athletes just missed out on selection for Delhi 2010 and clearly demonstrated their potential for future success.

The project which cost in the region of £144,000 included an award of £20,000 from sportscotland. The national agency for sport also provided expertise to support the programme, with Commonwealth Games gold medallist, World Champion and Olympian in Judo, Graeme Randall MBE appointed as the Achieve 2014 Director and a number of other staff members appointed as mentors.

Post Games studies and reports on athlete success at multi-sport Games have consistently highlighted that the environment experienced is significantly different to that which most athletes and staff encounter at their own single sport championships. However with prior multi-sport Games experience, team members are better able to cope with this unique environment and are more likely to perform and deliver to their full potential.

Sending development athletes to the Games in the past has often proved to be a negative experience, with athletes unprepared for the big step-up. Raising the Games selections standards has helped improve results over the last two Games, with young athletes now getting a less pressured initial multi-sport experience via the successful Commonwealth Youth Games established by Scotland in 2000. The Achieve programme builds on this concept as a bridge to a full Games experience.

Achieve 2014 offered the selected athletes and coaches the opportunity to travel to the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games for a five or six day learning experience. Each team member observed their own or similar sport in competition as well as visiting the Games Village to see how their Team Scotland counterparts live and train. They completed specific learning tasks, daily event logs and, upon return, completed a brief report on their personal experiences throughout the whole event.

Assigned to each Achieve 2014 team member was an athlete or coach mentor, who worked closely with them prior to, during and after the 2010 Games to ensure the time spent in Delhi was utilised to achieve a robust, performance related outcome.

The programme is now being evaluated, and the findings will be used to consider whether a similar programme will run again in the future.