Madras brothers called up for Scotland duty

For the past four years Colin Paterson, director of volleyball at the University of St Andrews, along with volunteer university students, have been coaching volleyball and beach volleyball at Madras.

This effort has now started to bear fruit with the first players representing Scotland at the Junior Home Nations Beach Volleyball Championships in Cardiff at the beginning of August.

Murray Paterson (S5) was selected by boys coach Jack McKeown in the original squad for 2019 after missing out last year due to injury.

Keir Paterson (S2) was named as a reserve but was called up at the last minute to replace another injured player.

The two brothers were asked to play together against much older boys and represented Scotland fantastically well, however after the first day were still to record a win, despite some great play and taking much older teams close.

Day two saw them play against a tall Northern Ireland team to progress in the tournament.

With some good ball control in poor weather conditions, the two Madras boys won the match 23-21, 11-21, 15-13 with dad, Colin, coaching from the sidelines.

A fantastic result at their first ever international competition.

The tournament was won by the Scotland A squad of Euan Fraser (Aberdeen), David Mexson (Ayrshire), Harris Ritchie (Edinburgh) and Yusef Butt (Aberdeen), beating a good English side in a quality final.

A spokesman for the coaching sessions has encouraged any other pupil interested on getting involved to do so. He said: “If anyone at Madras wants to get involved, S1-6 Volleyball has started straight after school at the Kilrymont Sports Hall and anyone can join in the beach volleyball club that runs from the West Sands in the summer months. Search for St Andrews Beach Volleyball Club on Facebook.”