The head of the new £12million sports complex in Elgin believes it has the potential to unlock a generation of sporting talent in the north of Scotland.
Construction is under way on the Moray Sports Centre, and it is expected to open in May.
Now former tennis professional Carl Gavine has been appointed as the operations manager for the facility.
During his 30-year career, the Merseyside-native has coached talent in the US to national junior titles and hosted training camps for stars including former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero and grand slam winner David Ferrer.
And the 59-year-old believes the sports centre can unlock a wave of talent in the region.
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He said: “We want to make it a stand-out facility for Moray and the whole of the north of Scotland.
“It’s very hard in this area for sports like tennis. Where kids have access to indoor courts they can play for all 12 months but at the moment they can only play for six to eight months here.
“Andy Murray went to Spain and so many other British players have had to go to Florida so they can get the weather all year round just to play.
“We also want to make it somewhere people can come and just enjoy sports with friends or take their children to learn.”
During his career Mr Gavine worked extensively in North America in Florida, Puerto Rico and Antigua and was also the national tennis coach in Anguilla.
Construction began on the sports centre in May. This week, the external wall began to take shape while the finishing touches are made to the building’s roof.
Initially, the complex will comprise a gym, a sports hall with space for eight badminton courts, treatment rooms, conference space and a cafe.
Meanwhile, an application has been submitted to the Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis fund to help pay for four indoor courts.
Judy Murray has already offered her support to help build a network of coaches to support players eager to learn the sport.
Future construction phases for the centre, which is expected to support up to 100 jobs when fully operational, could include a running track, bike trail and artificial football pitches.
The Elgin Eagles basketball team is hopeful of making the complex a permanent home in order to drive initiatives to encourage youngsters to stay active.
Chairman Stuart McQuaker said: “We’ve moved through various halls and various sessions over the last few years which are increasing getting more and more expensive. At the moment we only get an hour a week at Elgin Academy.
“We’re quite excited about calling the new sports centre home. We’ve got a thriving junior section and want to try to turn it into a club night, anything to get more kids playing is fantastic.”
