ALASDAIR CALLED UP FOR SCOTLAND U16 RUGBY LEAGUE SQUAD
Alasdair McKechnie, Year 11 student at Richmond School, recently received news he had been chosen to represent Scotland in the U16 Rugby League squad. He will be competing in the Four Nations tournament later on in the summer, with matches against England, Wales and Ireland.
We caught up with Alasdair to find out a little bit more about his rugby playing history and how he came to be selected for the U16 Scotland squad.
RS: Tell us about your rugby playing history, Alasdair – when did you start and how did you progress?
A: Age 6. We had just moved to Catterick from Suffolk and my dad took me and Finlay, my older brother, along to Catterick Crusaders RLFC to get us to let off some steam. Catterick Crusaders RLFC are the local community rugby league team and my dad was and still is a coach there. I’ve always been physically quite big for my age, so I took to rugby well – to start with I often trained with a higher age group than my age. Crusaders are also a good team – we’ve won cups, trophies and tournaments – it’s good playing in a team with a bit of a reputation for being hard to beat! I play half back for Catterick Crusaders and also play for Darlington Mowden Park RFC U16s. I’ve also played rugby for Richmond School since I joined, apart from a bit of time off for an injury.
RS: How much time off is ‘a bit’?!
A: 16 months out of all sports. About 3 months off school.
RS: Not insignificant then! Tell us about the injury and how you recovered.
A: It was the first game of the season back in Year 9. It was a complicated, messy knee injury that wasn’t picked up properly to start with. An X ray missed it, but eventually an MRI scan found that I’d badly dislocated my kneecap and chipped the end of my femur. The bone chips had managed to get behind my knee cap. I had to have a surgery called an MPFL reconstruction. They took a bit of my hamstring tendon and replaced the ligament that keeps my kneecap in place with it. They also had to get rid of the bone chips.
To start with, my leg was completely immobilised. I couldn’t go to school or go anywhere at all. I played a lot of computer games. And did all the work I got from school, of course! Eventually I returned to school but I couldn’t play any sport until well into Year 10. As soon as I started again, I broke my nose and wrist in two separate incidents – no, I’m not injury prone! Eventually I got back to my best at U16 level with the Crusaders and Mowden.
RS: So actually, your recovery has been quite recent – how did you manage to get into the U16 Scotland squad?
‘A: Well, my time out of the game with injury was a bit of an issue. I wasn’t available for the initial Scotland trials and people didn’t really know about me as a player. My dad contacted the Scotland team and they invited me along to a training session at Peffermill Playing Fields at the University of Edinburgh. I impressed them at the training session which is where I earned my place in the squad, I’ve definitely proven myself since then.’
RS: It certainly sounds like you’ve earned your place. What about the future – what’s next?
‘A: We have training sessions coming up with the squad then it’s the Four Nations tournament in June and July where we play England, Ireland and Wales. There are also my GCSEs! I’m predicted to do well in them, actually – my time off in year 9 hasn’t affected me, apart from my German vocab, possibly! It’s then my intention to come back to Richmond Sixth Form College for my A levels.’
RS: We look forward to hearing how the tournament goes! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Alasdair – all the best for your upcoming GCSEs and I’m sure we’ll be catching up with you again when you join Richmond Sixth Form College next year!
Note: There’s an excellent animation of the MPFL reconstruction surgery at this link, if you like that sort of thing!