2010 Annual report - Scottish Football Association

02 on the field:
Live it, Play it, Love it
02 on the field
Physical Literacy
What is Physical Literacy? It is about
good basic movement patterns and
the fundamental skills of running,
jumping, throwing, catching and
kicking. The Scottish FA is keen to
ensure that our young people
have a chance to acquire these
at the correct age. To this end we
have entered a partnership with
Clackmannanshire Council to run a
pilot scheme in the area using three
new secondary schools as hubs for the
programme. Fifty four young people
were selected to participate in the first
pilot, which will run for three years. This
year, our Club Development Officers
will be running another six pilots using
different models of delivery so that
we can evaluate the effectiveness of
each in the coming years.
Academy Programmes
The Scottish FA has been running a
very effective school-based Academy
Programme in Falkirk and Edinburgh
for the last three years. Our partners
at the professional clubs are keen to
work together and we would look
to increase the number of projects
in conjunction with the clubs, where
appropriate. At present Falkirk, Hearts
and Hibernian will be working with us
at the Football Academies at Graham
High School and Broughton High
School.
UEFA Study Visits
Over the last year, the Scottish FA has
been an active participant in the
UEFA-funded Study Visit Programme.
We have hosted nine countries who
visited Scotland to look at our best
practice. Delegates from Lithuania,
Bulgaria, Moldova, Spain, Macedonia,
Finland, Romania, Bosnia and Turkey
were all delighted with their visits and
garnered plenty of new information.
The Scottish FA also sent groups to
Holland and Greece to look at the
Dutch template for Coach Education
and Greek Youth Development.
Disability Football
A strategic and developmental
framework for disability football has
been created in partnership with
Scottish Disability Sport (SDS), the
national governing and co-ordinating
body for disability sport.
The Scottish FA’s breadth of work
within the area of disability football
has culminated in the association
gaining a Foundation Level certificate
within the Equality Standard for Sport,
thus ensuring continued mainstream
funding from Government agencies.
At international level, the Scottish
FA won the bid to host the 2010
CPISRA (Cerebral Palsy International
Sports & Recreation Association)
European Championships at Toryglen
Regional Football Centre. This was
achieved in partnership with SDS,
eventscotland, sportscotland, Culture
and Sport Glasgow, Glasgow City
Marketing Bureau and UK Sport. The
championships will take place in
August, with Scotland competing
against nine visiting nations.
The Scottish Learning Disability
under-19 team won bronze at the
2009 Home Nations Championships
in Dublin and the introduction of a
national schools league for players
with learning disabilities will help the
development of the game.
In order to support both the
players and coaches within these
programmes the Scottish FA has
conceived a specific Coaching
Footballers with Disabilities Certificate.
The six-hour course is available to all
interested parties aged 16 and over.
We have also launched two
deaf-specific coach education
courses and will be the first football
association to have a British Sign
Language interpreter imbedded with
in its mainstream DVDs.
The creation of a five-year disability
development plan next year will
continue the Scottish FA’s effort in
developing football opportunities for
those with disabilities.
Girls/Women’s football
The Girls and Women’s leagues have
implemented a major structural
change to the football calendar.
Embracing the need for summer
football, all leagues now run from
March to November.
This represents a significant
development and one that is likely
to be adopted elsewhere. In a year
of rapid development, the Scottish
Women’s Football League has also
integrated their administrative and
organisational wings into the
Scottish FA.
In addition, a National Women’s
Football Academy has been
established at the University of Stirling.
The programme, linking in Forth
Valley College, allows the country’s
most talented female players to
study their choice of degree while
benefitting from a football and sports
science programme.
Three regional football academies
for women have also been formed
in partnership with the higher and
further education sectors:
South East Region - Edinburgh
University/Heriot Watt University/
Telford College
East Region – Dundee University/
University of Abertay/Dundee
College
North Region – University of
Aberdeen/The Robert Gordon
University and Aberdeen College
One hundred girls attended
the under-15 national camp at
Tulliallan National Police Training
College in June, with the focus on
developing technique and lifestyle
management. Eighty-four parents
also attended a workshop delivered
by Positive Coaching Scotland to
promote positive touchline behaviour
and explore how parents can best
support their daughters. A mentoring
scheme was also implemented for 40
young coaches.
Investment from CashBack for
Communities has encouraged girls
and women’s clubs to train
more often, with 600 additional
coaching sessions involving
7000 more players.
more female
players
SCOTTISH FA
SCOTTISH FA
14 ANNUAL REVIEW 2010
ANNUAL REVIEW 2010 15