Airdrie Harriers stalwart James McMenemy was awarded development coach of the year at the Scottish Athletic Awards last week – then insisted the credit for the accolade shouldn’t lie with him.
The 50-year-old instead heaped praise on the talented crop of youngsters at the club and stressed it is they who are the real winners.
Modest McMenemy picked up the award at a glittering ceremony in the Glasgow Hilton on October 10, where he was presented with the award by Scottish Athletics’ honorary president and former First Minister Jack McConnell.
The prize comes after a season which included coaching club starlet Brodie Young to his first senior title at the Scottish Championships at Grangemouth in August.
The 18-year-old made it back-to-back title wins there, having won the under-17 category at last edition of the event in 2019.
McMenemy, a medical engineer, volunteers countless hours at the club every week to help nurture young talent, but he insisted the prize is one that will be shared by all involved at the Harriers.
He told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “The whole award is based on Airdrie Harriers the club. There’s a few kids there that I’m very lucky to be working with, and who have won Scottish medals as well as achieving podium finishes at big events.
“Realistically, it’s not really me. It’s all down to the weans, their talent and the club supporting that.
“It’s nice, but I genuinely don’t look at it as me who has won it.
“The backbone of the club is nothing to do with me and there’s been heaps of people before me.
“I’ve done nothing special in my opinion, I’ve just been very lucky to work with talented athletes.
“I turn up a lot and let the kids grow, that’s about it.”
His connection to the club goes back some 14 years when he first took his daughter along, but his official role as a coach started in 2014.
Along the way there have been many talented teens come through, but he did single out champion Young for his performances, particularly after fighting back from illness a few years ago to claim gold at Grangemouth earlier this year.
McMenemy, who pipped Ross Cairns of Inverness Harriers and Willie Sharp of Falkirk Victoria Harriers to claim the prize, explained: “I’ve got some absolutely outstanding athletes I work with, Scottish champions past and present on the track and on the field, so there’s a broad base of talent there.
“Brodie Young has been a standout and ran times that are way up there for his age.
“His achievements this year have been absolutely exceptional, especially since he’s come back from basically a bout of pneumonia about a year-and-a-half ago.
“He was hospitalised, they took about six pints of fluid from his chest, so he was very ill, but that young laddie put in an incredible amount of hard work to come back from that and he’s been exceptional.
“He’s an absolutely outstanding boy and part of a great group here who all enjoy themselves and work hard.
“I’m hoping other kids can do the very same here.”
McMenemy hopes Brodie Young won’t be the last young athlete to come through and claim a senior title for the club.
But he admits, while the club is bursting with potential, the onus is on them to put in the hard yards.
He added: “Looking at the kids going through the club, I’ve noticed a few who can compete at a very high level.
“But, in truth, you have no idea how high a child can genuinely reach.
“I know a lot of people can get a feeling they will go somewhere, but for me that’s not right.
“If a wean really wants to go for it, they need to put the effort in. It won’t just fall in their lap.
“I’ve been really lucky that our kids are really hard workers, so it’s great to have kids operating at that level.
“There is quite a few of them at national level, Scottish schools level and Brodie is the one who has stepped up to a UK level.
“But that’s the step the other kids want to make and there’s kids underneath that with great coaches.
“They are of a certain age at the moment where they just need to enjoy it and then as they start going towards their teens, then they’ll need to make a choice whether to make a real good crack at it.
“But I would say at Airdrie Harriers there is a real number of kids who are exceptionally talented and the talent pool in the area is outstanding.”
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