Forget the myth about Scottish goalkeepers. After Craig Gordon was signed last summer by Sunderland for £9million, a British record transfer fee for a goalkeeper, Alistair McGregor will become the first Scottish goalkeeper to play in the Olympic Games since Veryan Pappin was a member of the Great Britain gold medal-winning hockey squad in Seoul in 1988.

McGregor, a PE teacher at a special needs school in Knossington, near Oakham, in Leicestershire, can only dream of the riches earned by professional footballers, but he was delighted when Gordon agreed to swap roles and try his luck between the posts on the water-based hockey facility in Loughborough.

Gordon, who was happy to lend support to his compatriot, said: “I'd always wanted to give it a go because the goals are that much smaller, but I have to admit I soon changed my mind. I have great admiration for these guys because the shots come in so hard. The speed of the ball from such close range makes it so difficult and I found it awkward with all the protective gear and the helmet.”

McGregor, 27, from Aberdeen, and Gordon, who was born in Edinburgh, confess to hero-worshipping Jim Leighton, the former Scotland goalkeeper, when they were growing up. Gordon also admits to a romantic link with hockey. His younger sister, Hazel, is dating Martin Johnson, the Grange defender, who has broken into the Scotland squad.

Facing the world's hardest hitters and most potent drag-flickers at penalty corners, McGregor will be required to save shots travelling at up to 90mph. Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, bowling at 100mph, but a batsman is 20 yards from the bowler, wields a bat twice the width of a hockey stick and has an uninterrupted view of the ball.

For Gordon, it proved a tough test. “The principle is the same - you've still got to keep the ball out - but I did keep wanting to use my hands to clear it,” the Scotland goalkeeper, 25, said.

McGregor said: “We can't catch the ball like the footballers can, and we use our feet a lot more. I thought Craig did fantastically well and was very agile for a big guy. The equipment is very cumbersome, but at least a hockey ball always stays hit, whereas the football can swerve around viciously.”

For McGregor, playing in Beijing will be the fulfilment of a boyhood dream. “I grew up watching the Olympics and have thought about it ever since I was a lad,” he said. “It was all a dream then, but now it's reality.”

He can also lay claim to being one of the few international goalkeepers to have scored a penalty (he found the target in a shoot-out against South Africa in the Under-21 World Cup in Hobart, Australia, in 2001), but he said that he will be happy to leave it to the experts in China.

Neither McGregor nor Gordon has any idea where the disparaging comments about Scottish goalkeepers come from, but they believe it is nonsense and probably originated in England in any case. McGregor thinks that the pair, and Gordon in particular, have helped to make the position fashionable. “Most kids want to be strikers, but goalkeepers have had a lot of publicity recently and more and more want to be goalkeepers because they realise it's a lot of fun,” he said.

Goalkeeping equipment has come a long way since Ian Taylor, below, and Veryan Pappin, his understudy, won the Olympic gold medal with Great Britain in Seoul in 1988.

Keeping appearances

Helmet: Taylor had an ice-hockey goalkeeper’s helmet, not moulded. Alistair McGregor’s helmet is constructed from a similar material, but it has been specially moulded for him.

Throat guard: Taylor’s was a plastic half-moon-shaped guard that hung off his chin strap. McGregor probably does not need one because his helmet is moulded far enough down.

Body padding: Taylor had the full ice-hockey goalkeeper chest pad, shoulder pads and arm guards all in one. This was probably heavy. McGregor has a high-density foam chest pad and shoulder caps. Very lightweight for high mobility.

Gloves: Taylor had ice-hockey gloves (first bought for the Los Angeles Games in 1984). McGregor has high-density foam gloves with no fingers; they are moulded round his hands.

Pads/kickers: Taylor had moon boots and cane and leather leg guards. Underneath he probably wore a moulded plastic studded football boot. McGregor has high-density foam, high-rebound pads and kickers and his shoes are an ordinary athletic shoe with a pimple sole.