SCA Performance Squads for 2020/21 - Announcement

Oct 23, 2020

By Jon Schofield, SCA Head of Performance and Pathways

It is with great pleasure that I can now announce the SCA Performance Squads in Slalom and Sprint for the 2020-2021 season.

As with everything else, this year’s process was impacted by the global pandemic which has had a devastating effect on the 2020 racing season. My heart goes out to all those athletes impacted but particularly those at the top year of their age categories who have missed out on that opportunity. It is to everyone’s credit for continuing to pursue and progress in the sport you love through these times and to the credit of those coaches and family members who have continued to support athletes despite such upheaval.

Throughout assessing the squad applicants we kept in consideration the first two principles detailed within the published application information:

Not to close the door on any athletes who may be looking to progress into the squad
To recognise that current squad athlete's have not had the chance to justify their continued inclusion in the squad

As such we were delighted to receive applications from current and prospective squad members and are now able to announce the outcomes of that process.

The Sprint Squad sees the addition of up and coming Glasgow Kayak Club paddler Mikolaj Osmola. Mikolaj impressed the Inclusion Panel with his continued progress and throughout 2020 as well as his high performance level which sets him up perfectly to join the squad. Under the expert care of coaches Adam Rzepinkski and Natasha Lawson he is in a great place to benefit from the level of challenge and competition involved with the performance squad as well as adding to what is already a strong group of young athletes.

In Slalom we can announce 4 successful full squad applicants as well as 4 athletes as official squad invites. The successful full squad applicants are Findlay McLean of Breadalbane CC/Strathallan CC, Ryan Mallon from CR CATS, Oscar Wyllie from Breadalbane CC and Irvine MacDonald from Strathallan. All four athletes have been progressing up the rankings in previous racing seasons and demonstrated a continued focus on their training throughout 2020 despite the lack of a racing calendar. Their applications showed a clear understanding of key athlete behaviour and will be a great addition to the performance squad.

The 4 applicants who have been included as official squad invites are Amber Maslen, Natasha Pottinger, Maddy Jennings and Fraser Glasgow. These applicants demonstrated a track record and commitment to training that the inclusion panel felt justified support despite the lack of any races to allow athletes to shoot for the achievement criteria as in normal years. These athletes will be managing their own training programmes and coaching but will be included in squad activities albeit at a lower level of subsidy to the full squad members for the 2020-2021 season.

Within the slalom squad we also noted the performance profile and previous season’s performance of 4 athletes justified special merit regarding flexibility of squad support to help them achieve their goals. This particularly applies in the case where athletes may have been aiming to transition on to World Class Programme Podium Potential support following the 2020 season. These athletes are Ailsa Gourlay, Lois Leaver, Sam Leaver and Vittorio Pezzaioli. As recent junior international competitors, age group champions and athletes with a performance profile that puts them close to Podium Potential programme inclusion they will be included in all squad activities but also be supported additionally depending on their performance requirements.

Please see the list below for the full SCA performance squad composition for 2020-2021 and I hope you join me in wishing them all the best, as well as all other Scottish paddlers, in their training and racing endeavours in 2021.

SCA PERFORMANCE SQUADS FOR 2020-2021

Sprint

Aida Shaikh Ali	Ksymena Sielicka
Aidan Leiper	Maksymilian Sielicki
Alexandra Armstrong	Matthew Kowal
Tony Thomas	Mikolaj Osmola
Ben Gallacher	Rachael Kneen
Findlay Lewis	Rory Dowling-Clarke
Finn Cadell	Skye Cadell
Hannah Clarkson
Iona Patrick
Jack Brockway
Kacper Sroka
Kristina Armstrong
Lydia Dowling-Clarke

Slalom

Full Squad	Official Invite
Ailsa Gourlay	Amber Maslen
Lois Leaver	Natasha Pottinger
Sam Leaver	Maddy Jennings
Vittorio Pezzaioli	Fraser Glasgow
Duncan Edwards
Ellen Peden
Findlay McLean
Irvine McDonald
Jack Kellett
Michael Denvir
Oscar Wyllie
Rebecca Ogilvie
Ryan Mallon
William Fotheringham