Groundbreaking camp for Scotland Women

This weekend (Sunday 15 November) the Scotland Women squad head to Valladolid in Spain for a ten-day training camp which will form the backbone of their build-up to next year’s 6 Nations tournament.The 37-strong playing squad includes players from across the country, from the Borders to Auchterarder to Ayr, and includes a mix of experience and youth, involving ten players from the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academies.This will be the most intense training camp, in terms of time, with the largest squad – 37 players and 13 coaching and management – assembled in the Scotland women’s game and will include monitoring, skills and conditioning sessions, building towards a friendly against the Spanish national women’s team.The camp is a major feature of the early part of Scottish Rugby’s long-term strategic plan for the women’s game, which kicked off with the appointment of Sheila Begbie MBE as Head of Women’s and Girls’ Rugby and Shade Munro as Head Coach. The camp has received significant funding through Erasmus+, a programme established by the European Commission that allows students and employees to experience cultural and work exchanges throughout Europe, through vocational and educational training. The focus of this trip is to allow all the participants to improve their coaching skills through working with the Spanish Rugby Union coaches and all participants are putting their UKCC Level 1 qualifications into practise by taking part in coaching sessions at the Valladolid Rugby Club.Munro, with assistant coaches Peter Jericevich and Graeme Young, will be working with local Spanish coaches to share best practice and promote the women’s game throughout the ten-day camp alongside the intense schedule mapped out for the Scotland Women squad.Sheila Begbie MBE said: “This is fantastic opportunity for our squad, both players and management team, to learn and improve in all areas of the game in what will be the most important training camp ever undertaken in the women’s game in Scotland.”An immense amount of hard work has gone on to make this camp happen and I’m very grateful to those colleagues in our backroom team for all their efforts in this regard.”Thirty-seven players and thirteen members of the wider coaching team will be able to spend a unique amount of time working together to build performance and this will be an invaluable opportunity for us and our Spanish counterparts to share and learn from each other.”The squad will congregate on Sunday morning at BT Murrayfield prior to departing for Madrid that afternoon. There is an opportunity at this time for media colleagues to speak to a coach and player and those wishing to avail themselves are asked to contact [email protected] in the first instance.There will be updates from the squad throughout the camp and various media opportunities may be available, on request.Scotland Women Squad15-25 November 2015ForwardsKatie Dougan* (RHC Cougars / Edinburgh University)Lindsey Smith (Hillhead Jordanhill)Heather Lockhart (Hillhead Jordanhill)Debbie Falconer (Stirling County / Stirling University)Lana Skeldon * (Hillhead Jordanhill)Sarah Quick (Murrayfield Wanderers)Emma Wassell * (Murrayfield Wanderers)Fiona Sim (Saracens)Jennifer Johnston (Hillhead Jordanhill)Catriona Syme (Murrayfield Wanderers)Deborah McCormack (Richmond)Anna Stodter (Saracens)Lucy Park * (Murrayfield Wanderers)Jemma Forsyth (Hillhead Jordanhill)Karen Dunbar (RHC Cougars)Jade Konkel * (Hillhead Jordanhill)Tracy Balmer (Worcester)Kirsty Reid (Community School Of Auchterarder)Nicola Howat (Howe of Fife/University of Edinburgh)Siobhan McMillan (Cartha Queens Park) BacksJennifer Maxwell (Leeds Beckett University / Lichfield)Nicola Halfpenny (Melrose)Lisa Martin*  (Murrayfield Wanderers)Claire Bain (RHC Cougars)Lisa Thomson* (Melrose / Edinburgh University) [photo]Rhona Lloyd (Murrayfield Wanderers / Edinburgh University)Lauren Harris (Eccles)Eilidh Sinclair* (Murrayfield Wanderers)Chloe Rollie* (Murrayfield Wanderers)Fionidi Parker (DMP Sharks / Northumbria University)Emily Irving (Ayr)Abigail Evans (Hillhead Jordanhill)Sarah Law * (Murrayfield Wanderers / Edinburgh University)Jayne Paterson (RHC Cougars)Ellie Wilson (Murrayfield Wanderers / Lismore)Megan Gaffney (Hillhead Jordanhill)Rachel Shankland (Stirling County)