The first year of Scottish FA & Edinburgh Napier University Coaching Course completed

Over 20 students have been able to complete their first year in the BSc (Hons) Football Coaching, Performance & Development course, which is a degree that was developed by the Scottish FA in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University.

In Scotland, this course is the first of its kind and it was designed by the university to add up practical experience and qualifications to create coaching professionals that are suited to modern football.

This was introduced to the world on 15 June 2020, and the first set of students will be concluding their first year on the four-year undergraduate programme along with a summer set of training sessions at Oriam, which lets the students gain experience by work with children and youth players from local clubs.

The students on the football coaching degree will have the chance to obtain Scottish FA and UEFA coach qualifications which are said to be included in the programme.

A Napier student, Liam Thomson talked about his first full year on the course, he highlighted the importance of progress on the Scottish FA and UEFA Coaching Pathways as one of the many appeals of the football-coaching degree.

“The first year of the course has been massively enjoyable and one in which I’ve taken a lot from,” Liam said via best online casino South Africa. “To be able to combine aspects of Sports Science and other sports-based topics with the University, as well as going through the Children’s Licence and UEFA C Licence with Scottish FA tutors has been a unique and great way to learn.

“With the view of moving up the coaching pathway, the tutors are taking the time to prepare us for those courses during our first year, meaning we’ve taken on a whole lot of information which I feel has already improved my coaching.”

Another student Marc Kelly added: “As my first year comes to an end, I couldn’t have envisioned it going any better, particularly given the circumstances with the pandemic. Napier and the Scottish FA have struck a great balance between online classes and in-person coaching, meaning I was able to easily grasp the theories we were learning in class as well as being able to put them to practice on the pitch.”

Scottish FA Head of Coach Education and Development Greig Patterson also reflected on their collaboration with Edinburgh Napier.

“The summer holiday sessions that we’ve managed to arrange over the last two weeks act as culmination of the students first year of studies with us in the Edinburgh Napier degree programme,” he said via slots online real money to the media.

“They’ve now all completed both the Scottish FA Children’s Coaching Licence and UEFA C Licence, as well as all other subjects and studies with the University, so they’ve been putting those new skills to good use over the past two weeks and working with children and youth players from local Edinburgh clubs.

“We’ve seen several, if not most, of the students come on leaps and bounds in the last year in their coaching, which is testament not only to themselves, but also the University staff and all the Scottish FA staff that have worked with them in the past academic year, which has been severely disrupted at times because of Covid-19 restrictions.

“As they enter their second year, they’ll start to undertake the UEFA B Licence alongside their University studies, and we hope to establish more opportunities for experiential learning for them with the likes of Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian and our own Scottish FA programmes. All-in-all we’re delighted in the progress that the students have made and the impact that they can start to have on the football landscape in Scotland. We look forward to continue to work with them, and also in welcoming a new student cohort to first year.”