A trio of Scotland and Glasgow Warriors players kicked-off their ‘December to remember’ today (Wednesday 3 December) with a sporting challenge with a difference.
Dan Parks, Max Evans and Thom Evans went to Hillhead High School to drum up support for their action packed month of rugby – which includes a double-header against Gloucester in the Heineken Cup before back-to-back Glasgow v Edinburgh 1872 Cup derbies at Firhill and Murrayfield – to settle a score with school pupil Sean Doherty, the current Scottish U17 table tennis champion, after they lost out to the youngster at a training game earlier this year in his build-up for Commonwealth selection.
Sean is one of the school’s young ambassadors working with the Youthsport Trust alongside fellow pupil Erin McQuarrie – Commonwealth netball hopeful – to promote sport to youngsters in Glasgow.
Willie Wight, Hillhead High School’s head teacher welcomed the rematch and knew the whole school would be behind their star player.
He said today: “There was great excitement about the match and, not that I’m biased, but my money was always on Sean. This is a wonderful way to promote sport – we are extremely proud of Sean and all his achievements.
“We really are very grateful to Glasgow Warriors and to Dan, Max and Thom for taking time out of their busy training schedules to visit the school.”
Having lost out to Doherty in a previous match, Scotland and Glasgow Warriors’ wing, Thom Evans, said: “It’s great to meet someone so young and yet so focussed on their dream to play for their country and so keen to encourage others at his school to get into sport and be active.
“We know how much difference a home support can make to a player’s performance on the rugby pitch, which is why we hope the school and the city will come and cheer us in our home matches against Gloucester and in the Edinburgh derby on the 27th of December, however, with the whole school behind him, Sean again offered a pretty formidable challenge and convincingly won the table tennis match.”

This article was originally posted on 2-Dec-2009, 18:47 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 2-Dec-2009, 18:49.