Team Scotland is pleased to confirm the appointment of its media and medical staff, to provide first class specialist support, to the athletes competing at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.

Katriona Bush will head up the media and communications team for her fifth successive Commonwealth Games. She was also Chief Press Attaché for Team GB at Rio 2016. She will be joined for Team Scotland 2018 by four media officers, including Stuart Mackenzie and Lorna Campbell, who were part of the media team in Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014  Both have extensive experience working within the international sports sponsorship and communications sector, with SSE and H+K Strategies respectively.

Michael James, Scotland team and performance rugby media manager at Scottish Rugby has been appointed for his first Commonwealth Games and will bring a wealth of experience from the world of professional sport, including the Rugby World Cup, RBS 6 Nations and HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Other new faces include Pete Matthews, PR Officer for sport at Loughborough University, who has experience with a number of Commonwealth Games sports and is an athletics specialist, working with British Athletics as a media officer at major international events. Whilst for this summer’s Commonwealth Youth Games, Cameron McLay from Basketball Scotland has been appointed to his first multi-sport Games role.

Both Games will be supported by Commonwealth Games Scotland’s Digital Media Officer, Gillian Cooke, a former international long jumper and Bobsleigh World Champion, who also worked with Team Scotland at Glasgow 2014 as online news editor.

Team Scotland is also pleased to announce the selection of its medical team for Gold Coast 2018 and Bahamas 2017, after an extensive selection process.

The doctors are a highly experienced group of sport and exercise medicine physicians with a depth of knowledge from working with Scotland and Britain’s best athletes over a number of years. Their current roles include medical support to the sportscotland Institute of Sport, NHS Scotland and the Ministry of Defence, with extensive travel and multi-sport Games experience, having supported Team Scotland at Commonwealth Games and Team GB at Olympic Summer and Winter Games, since 2006.

The team, will be led by Dr Niall Elliott for a third successive Commonwealth Games, and who was Chief Medical Officer for Rio 2016.  He will be supported by Dr Alastair Nicol, Dr Carrie McCrea-Routray, Dr Steve Boyce and Dr Michelle Jeffrey. Dr McCrea-Routray will also act as Team Doctor for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Youth Games in July.

Sports and exercise medicine physicians work as part of a wider clinical support team, ensuring the athletes health and wellbeing is maintained in the build-up and during the Games. This support forms part of the normal clinical care for performance sport in Scotland via the sportscotland Institute of Sport and continues seamlessly into the Games environment.

The work of the sports and exercise medicine physicians will be complemented by an outstanding physiotherapy team, led by Head Physiotherapist, Stephen Mutch and his deputy, Mandy More.

The group comprises employees of the sportscotland Institute of Sport in addition to governing bodies of sport and from private practices across the UK. There is a stimulating mix of newcomers to Commonwealth Games and physiotherapists with previous multi-sport experience from Commonwealth, Olympic and World University Games.

The physiotherapists appointed are: David Brandie, Linda Hardy, Maggie Hendry, Louise Imrie, Beenish Kamal, Luke Smith, Jon Twynham, Sarah Watt and Kenny Watt (no relation). Additionally, Mandy More will be physio lead for Team Scotland alongside Jon Twynham and Sarah Watt for the Youth Games.

Their selection owes as much to their problem-solving and personalities as well as their obvious expertise. Their skill-mix and ability will serve the eighteen sports professionally with energy, humour and creativity.

Across both medical and media teams, work will now begin to best align and allocate individuals to professionally support all the sports participating in the Gold Coast 2018 and Bahamas 2017 Games.

Jon Doig, Team Scotland Chef de Mission for Gold Coast 2018 said: “I am delighted we have been able to secure the services of such a hugely experienced team of media and medical specialists, ready to support our athletes in the Bahamas this summer and at Gold Coast 2018 in April next year.

“Both groups of specialists play a key role in supporting our athletes, be it ensuring that they get to the start line in the best possible shape, or helping to promote their achievements up to and at the Games themselves.

“We now have all elements of our team staff in place, with our General Team Management and Sport Team Managers appointed for both Games. We look forward with great anticipation to announcing the athletes selected for the Commonwealth Youth Games later this month and for Gold Coast 2018, starting in October.”