PERHAPS the most noticeable feature of this year's nominations for Ten to Watch is the male exclusivity of the crop. This should not be misinterpreted.
When similar exercises were undertaken in November to identify a band of Scots who will light up the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the majority of the hot tips were female.
In 2008, many Scotswomen of proven international class will continue
to prosper: Kirsty Balfour and Caitlin McClatchey in swimming, Catriona Matthew in golf, Julie Fleeting in football, Katherine Grainger in rowing. But the class of 2008 at breakthrough level happens to be a male-dominated sphere.
The Six Nations and Celtic's Champions League date with Barcelona are the first key dates on the calendar but the Beijing Olympics dominates the international scene and many Scots promise to feature prominently. Grainger and Chris Hoy have conquered the rings before but our swimmers – Balfour, McClatchey and Kris Gilchrist enjoy the highest world rankings – will be intriguing to watch.
Elsewhere, Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren will hope to transfer their World Cup- winning form to Europe's defence of the Ryder Cup in Louisville in September. Scotland's cricketers will contest the first one-day international against England, in Edinburgh on 18 August. And we'll all be glued to the tennis to see how the Murrays get on.
Here are ten vessels of promise for the next 12 months . . .
1
Steven Naismith
FootballIf his meteoric progress so far is anything to go by, 2008 should be the year when the man twice named Young Player of the Year becomes a grown-up fixture of the Scottish football scene.
Moving from Kilmarnock to Rangers for £1 million in the final minutes of the summer transfer window, the fair-haired forward has shown the patience typically required of an Old Firm newcomer plucked from the provinces, and Walter Smith is now ready to unleash him, having started him in all five league matches in December.
Naismith has also been given a taste of the big time with three appearances off the bench in the Champions League, including a run-out at the Nou Camp, and gained his solitary Scotland cap under Smith when the national side won 2-0 in the Faroe Islands.
The 21-year-old from Irvine seems to have leapfrogged Chris Burke in the popularity stakes at Ibrox, but with his preference for playing up front, he and the wide man could yet forge an attractive alliance for club and country. In fact, a former Kilmarnock buddy, Kris Boyd, has suffered most from Naismith's inclusion in Smith's title-chasing blueprint.
2
Chris Hoy
CyclingAn Olympic champion with seven world titles to his name might think he has bypassed the "one to watch" stage, but Hoy is effectively back at the genesis of his career as he seeks to win Olympic gold in his new event, the complicated keirin.
The 31-year-old, who will also compete in his third team sprint for Great Britain in Beijing, has shown limitless versatility in body-swerving the setback of the 1km time trial's removal from the Olympic programme. This was the cycling equivalent of telling Justin Gatlin he could not come back and defend the 100 metres.
This autumn the irrepressible Hoy, who has promised to try to continue competing until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, has won the first two keirins of the World Cup series, the second triumph coming, pointedly, on the new Beijing circuit.
Manchester's world championships in March, where he will be defending titles in the keirin and the 1km time-trial, should allow one of Scotland's greatest Olympians to solidify his claims ahead of the August summit in China.
3
Nick de Luca
Rugby unionOnly a year-and-a-half ago Edinburgh allowed their apprentice centre to switch to Border Reivers in search of regular first XV rugby. De Luca's stock has risen so fast since that it would be a surprise if he didn't feature for Scotland in this year's Six Nations. The former Edinburgh Academy pupil with the Italian heritage will turn 24 on 1 February and he has shaken off multiple setbacks to emerge as Scottish rugby's most eye-catching runner after being moulded into an outside-centre.
Earlier this month he gave Brian O'Driscoll, the world's leading centre, a torrid time as Edinburgh skinned Leinster 29-10 in the Heineken Cup.
4
Craig McEwan
BoxingThis is one career that will be hard for Scots to track in person, but the 25-year-old's link-up with Golden Boy Promotions, the guardians of Oscar de la Hoya, will keep us informed of developments from his new base in the Hollywood Hills.
The 6ft 1in middleweight, a southpaw, has won his first nine fights since turning pro with six knockouts, flitting between the MGM Grand and a Tucson casino as he seeks to do justice to the raw talent first spied at Clovenstone in his native Edinburgh.
Emerging from Wester Hailes, McEwan fought 376 amateur bouts and represented Scotland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where he won a bronze medal. He couldn't repeat the feat in Melbourne four years later but soon he was making a living out of the Wild Card gym under the famed tutelage of Freddie Roach.
Several times since relocating, he has endured the frustration of opponents pulling out of fights. The suspicion is that McEwan's reputation precedes him.
5
Ross McCormack
FootballThe forward began his career at Rangers, where he scored twice in 11 appearances, eight of them off the bench. After four months on loan at Doncaster he signed for Motherwell in the summer of 2006 and, under Mark McGhee (who has likened him to Kaka in terms of the role he plays for the Steelmen), has been a beacon of their revival and is hotly tipped to succeed Naismith as young player of the year in May. To a club plunged into mourning, the Kaka of Lanarkshire offers hope for 2008.
6
Kris Gilchrist
SwimmingThe City of Edinburgh beanpole is only about the sixth best-known swimmer in Scotland but one performance in 2007 proved that his Olympic credentials are no less enticing than those of world silver-medallist Kirsty Balfour or Commonwealth Games queen Caitlin McClatchey.
In Chiba, Japan, in August, Gilchrist set a new Commonwealth record for the 200 metres breaststroke with the fifth-fastest time ever: 2mins 10.32secs. Ian Edmond's four-year-old British standard went up in smoke.
City of Edinburgh coach Fred Vergnoux believes 24-year-old Gilchrist is the most naturally talented swimmer of his high-performing crop, which includes Balfour and Gregor Tait. An Olympic medal is certainly not beyond him if he performs to his best.
7
Calum MacLeod
CricketWhen Scottish cricketers break the mould and garner two-year contracts from professional counties, it tends to mean they are a little bit special. On his 19th birthday in November, MacLeod was offered terms by Warwickshire director of cricket Ashley Giles, having impressed in a series of rookie trials at Edgbaston last summer.
The young seam bowler first made the papers when he was made Glasgow's young sportsman of the year in 2004 after representing Scottish age-group teams at both cricket and hockey. Living in North Lanarkshire, he played for Drumpellier as a youngster, then moved to Uddingston after sessions with the Warwickshire Academy accelerated his development. Last summer he was a regular 12th man for the Bears and made his international debut in the Intercontinental Cup, while starring for Scotland under-19s.
Giles recently implied that he was a prototype England player. Scotland, of course, would prefer it if he became a seasoned professional who could help his native country perform better at World Cups.
8
John Barclay
Rugby unionGlasgow have so much confidence in their back-row forwards, Barclay and Johnnie Beattie, they recently signed both until 2010. Dollar Academy product Barclay, 21, was presented with a baptism of fire last autumn when Scotland coach Frank Hadden assigned him a debut in the World Cup defeat against New Zealand, with Richie McCaw an opposite number of incomparable credentials. An openside flanker, he is the latest to come off a slick production line at the back of the scrum.
9
Euan Burton
JudoAnother intriguing prospect for Beijing, the Edinburgh judo player won bronze medals at the European and world championships in 2007 and is adamant he can fulfil his ambition of Olympic gold.
On top of training under the progressive Billy Cusack in Leith, the 28-year-old has been put on a diverse programme by British Olympic elite performance director Sir Clive Woodward. Burton, an asthma sufferer, missed out on the Athens Olympics by the thinnest possible margin but qualified for Beijing by dint of his world bronze in Rio.
10
Craig Lee
GolfThe 30-year-old from Stirling has followed the footsteps of Paul Lawrie and others in graduating from the Tartan Tour straight into golf's second most rarefied arena.
When Lee began his European Tour career in South Africa last month he opened up with a 68 that saw him nestle one shot off the lead; the unknown Scot finished with a share of 18th place and a cheque for £8,300 – a welcome sum for a player who has no sponsor and almost quit the game three years ago to emigrate to Tasmania.
Lee, who runs the Golf Swing Centre in his hometown, earned his card in November after surviving the marathon qualifying school at San Roque.
The full article contains 1606 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
