Year 12 pupil and College prefect Ruaridh Sheppard has been selected as a volunteer to work at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer. Ruaridh will work as a field of play team member at the Rugby Sevens competition.
Having attended an interview in Scotland last October, Ruaridh was one of the 15,000 'clyde-siders' chosen from over 45,000 applicants. This year, Ruaridh has made the trip north several times to attend role-specific and venue-specific training days. The highlight of the training was a question and answer session with Scotland international Chris Fusaro. Ruaridh asked Chris to name the toughest opposing flanker he had ever faced. His reply was Ireland’s Sean O’Brien, known as ‘The Tullow Tank’.
The Rugby Sevens is tournament is being held at Ibrox Stadium, the home of Rangers Football Club. Ruaridh will also be assisting at Glasgow Academy beforehand where all 16 international teams will be training. The competition has an intense format with all 45 games taking place over just two days on the 26th and 27th of July. On competition days Ruaridh will be undertaking various roles including escorting teams onto the pitch, being a ballboy and stewarding spectators.
Whilst volunteering Ruaridh will be staying with his colleagues at Carronvale house, headquarters of the Boys Brigade situated just outside the host city. Ruaridh was very pleased to collect his uniform last week and is looking forward to experiencing the games this summer.
Ruaridh will return to Scotland later in August as part of Shiplake College’s theatre company who are performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
