AN Ardrossan teenager will head south to take part in the 2018 School Games as part of the Wheelchair Basketball Squad.

David Hird, 17, will head to the national multi-sport event for the UK’s most talented school-age athletes taking place at Loughborough University from August 30 to September 2.

David, who was a student at Carluke High School and will be starting at Kilmarnock College in September, competes for Glasgow Rocks and will form part of the Scotland squad at the School Games. Ross already has an impressive track record and competed at the School Games 12 months ago.

Over 1,400 athletes will compete across 11 sports at the School Games, five of which include disability disciplines. This year the School Games has introduced four new sports (canoeing and rowing, laser run, netball and triathlon). The event will give many young people, across a variety of different sports, an experience of high-level competition in a multi-sport environment similar to an Olympic or Paralympic Games.

David will be following in the footsteps of some of Britain’s biggest sporting stars who have competed at the event before going on to senior international success. Previous competitors include Paralympic champions Hannah Cockroft, Ellie Simmonds and Jonnie Peacock, Olympic champion Adam Peaty, heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson and sprinter Adam Gemili.

At the event David will experience the excitement of competing at the highest level. He will live in a dedicated Athletes’ Village on the Loughborough University campus, take part in a School Games ceremony and perform in front of huge crowds of spectators.

“The School Games National Finals provide a great opportunity for talented young athletes like David,” says Ali Oliver, Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Sport Trust. “Competitors get a real taste of what it’s like to be part of a world-class sporting event at the amazing sporting venues of Loughborough University, and the event is a great way to see our future sporting champions in action today.”