East Lothian is one of the 32 Councils areas in Scotland. Rwanda gets first connected with people from East Lothian during the XXth Commonwealth Games through the “Support a Second Team Programme”, an initiative developed by the Local Organising Committee of the XXth Commonwealth Games hosted by the City Council of Glasgow in 2014 while East Lothian Council has hosted the Rwandan Commonwealth Games Team for pre-games training camp in July 2014.
Within this frame of work, five [5] representative from the city council of East Lothian are in visit in Rwanda from Monday, March 23rd until 31st March 2015. Their Delegation includes: Ed Hendrikson, Eamon John, Fergus Pringle, Tim Day and Andrew Baptie from sportscotland (National Agency for Sport).
The main purpose of their visit is to discuss with the Rwanda Commonwealth Games Association-here referred to the Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee on the reinforcement of the Memorandum of Understanding established and signed on 03rd April 2014. During their stay, the above will meet national sports federations; they will also visit the Nyanza Olympafrica Centre located in the Southern province of the country as well as the Rising Africa Cycling Centre based in Musanze [Northern part of Rwanda]. It is also scheduled that Fergus Pingle conduct a Rugby Training Course for Coaches.
Here below is a short biography of the members of the delegation from East Lothian:
Councillor Tim Day – East Lothian Council Cabinet Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing
Tim is Councillor for the North Berwick Coastal ward in East Lothian. He is also Cabinet spokesman for Community Wellbeing at East Lothian Council which includes Sport and Leisure. Since graduating with a degree in law from Napier University, Tim Day has worked in both the public and private sector before setting up and running his own property maintenance business.
Eamon John – East Lothian Council Sport, Countryside and Leisure Service Manager
Eamon has worked with East Lothian Council over the last two decades initially responsible for leading the then newly formed Sports Specific Development Team . Eamon has had a couple of management moves during his time with East Lothian and is now responsible for Sport, Countryside and Leisure Services in old money –‘ Parks and Recreation ‘. Eamon is a member of the VOCAL Executive and is currently Vice Chair. Eamon has also worked over many years with Scottish Rugby as a National Coach developing age – grade players and was also Scottish Rugby’s Coach of the Year in 2008 when he led Boroughmuir RFC to the Premiership Title.
Ed Hendrikson – East Lothian Council Principal Officer Sports Development
Ed is the manager of the Sports Development Team in East Lothian and has been in post for 3 years. He has the responsibility of leading a team of 10 sports specific Development Officers focusing on School Sport, Coach Education, Club Development, District Squads and Elite Player Development. He is also responsible for developing partnerships with a number of key agencies including national governing bodies and also for supporting sports facility developments in East Lothian. Ed graduated from Northumbria University in 2006 before progressing through the management structure at a Leisure trust in England and then on to East Lothian Council in 2012.
Fergus Pringle – East Lothian Council Rugby Development Officer
Fergus Pringle joined the East Lothian Sports Development team in Feb 2009. Having played professional rugby in South Africa for 5 years, he arrived in Scotland from South Africa at the end of 2003 and took up a role as Academy Manager of Hawick RFC while playing for them. In the summer of 2004 he signed for Edinburgh Rugby and spent the following four seasons at the club. In the summer of 2008 he ended his professional playing career after representing Scotland ‘A’ at the Churchhill Cup. His passion for the game led him into rugby development where he worked as the Development Officer for Lismore Rugby Club in Edinburgh. After a short spell at Lismore he has joined up with the Sports development team in East Lothian. Fergus is also a former head coach of Boroughmuir RFC who compete in the Scottish Premier 1. He is qualified to deliver Scottish Rugby formal Coach Education.
Andrew Baptie – sportscotland Partnership Manager
Andrew is a Partnership Manager at sportscotland, working with Local Authorities in the East of Scotland to manage sportscotland’s investment into shared school sport and club sport programmes. Having worked at sportscotland for 4 years, Andrew also has significant experience of working within coach and volunteer development programmes and systems. He previously worked for UK Sport in their International team as an International Relations Consultant in the lead up to the London Olympic Games. This role required Andrew to work with British Governing Bodies of sport in establishing stronger relationships with their international counterparts. In addition, he supported programmes such as International Inspiration, a 2012 international development programme. Andrew lives in Edinburgh.