Calum MacLeod: Portrait of young man in a hurry

Picture by Donald MacLeod

Representing your country can merely be a dream for many young sports people. However, for young prodigies such as Calum MacLeod with that extra talent, their determination pays off and their sporting goals are achieved, as highlighted in a new documentary on the BBC Alba channel (available on Sky 168) on Monday March 8 at 9pm.

Cothrom Spòrs: A Sporting Chance profiles three young Scottish sports stars as they compete at the top in their very different chosen fields - cricket, women’s rugby and wheelchair tennis - and discovers what sets them apart from the pack.

Gaelic-speaking Calum MacLeod, from Stepps, Glasgow, is a professional cricketer for Warwickshire, who has played for Scotland - and last summer was 12th man for England when they won the Ashes! He has spent the last nine months working to remodel his bowling action which was called into question after an Intercontinental Cup match in Aberdeen last season.

The 21-year-old, from a sports-daft family - all of whom speak Gaelic - says he never lost his focus, despite many cold winter nights of training and outlines the sacrifices he had to make with his schoolwork. “You need a bit of ability, but the majority of it is hard work. The top players train harder than most and that’s what gets them to the top.”

Proud parents Donald and Morag supported Calum tirelessly, driving him to matches around the UK, and Calum attributes much of his success to this.

Morag says it was all worth it when he got his first professional contract for Warwickshire in 2006: “I was so chuffed for him because he worked so hard. He gave up a lot of things that normal teenagers do when he was training three nights a week. We put time into it, too, and didn’t go on holidays in the summer, but the feeling that he’d got what he wanted was fantastic.”

Parental support has also been vital for Gordon Reid, 18, from Helensburgh, who was named by the Daily Telegraph as one of its ‘Ten to Watch for 2012’. The budding tennis player suffered a serious spinal condition at the age of 12 which left him unable to run. Despite this, the plucky teenager adapted his racket skills and learned to play tennis from a wheelchair.

The final young prodigy featured in the programme is rugby player Alison MacDonald, from Carnach, North Uist. Alison plays for Royal High Corstophine Cougars in Edinburgh and has been capped twice for Scotland. The 26-year-old has a tough schedule juggling her changing shifts as a Lothian and Borders police officer with her training commitments.

Cothrom Spòrs: A Sporting Chance offers a rare insight into young sport starts and how they cope with the strenuous training regimes and the determination required to take them to the top.