Judy Murray urged children to learn valuable life lessons from Team GB’s exceptional success at the Rio Olympics.
The mother of gold medal-winning tennis star Andy Murray was in Aberdeen on a drive to help youngsters realise their career ambitions.
But she warned yesterday that the chance to capitalise on Britain’s record medal haul for an overseas Games would be very short.
Pupils from Aberdeen’s Harlaw, Bridge of Don, Banff and Mackie academies took part in sessions with the ex-Federation Cup captain at Aberdeen Sports Village.
Murray’s mum pointed to Mo Farah’s recovery from a fall to win the 10,000 metres as a powerful inspiration.
She said: “It’s like ‘Jeez, the guy fell’. How often do kids fail at something or something goes wrong for them and they just quit?
“If you are going to be successful, you have to have staying power, you have to have resilience. You have to have fight and determination.
“Once you can do something well, challenge yourself to go to the next stage.
“Even if you never play sport, it can inspire you to watch and there are lots of things you can learn from watching sport in terms of the discipline, the routine.
“We have a huge medal haul and everyone is very excited about it, but the key is to capitalise on that and make sure that there are local facilities and engaging people.”
The event was organised by Developing the Young Workforce in North East Scotland and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.