OVER 1000 coaches can still be trained in spite of the lockdown. 

The Scottish Football Association is using technology to continue its training programme for coaches, with 1100 people enrolled to become coaches.

According to Greig Paterson, the SFA's head of coach education and development, 693 people have booked on courses between March, 15 and August 31 at Level 1.

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A further 400 candidates are signed up to the UEFA A, B and Pro Licence courses.

Grieg claims the programmes were seeing an increase in people wanting to become qualified coaches.

He said: "Obviously it will be great when we can get back on the pitch but we’ve actually had an increase in number of people who are keen to booking online coach education courses and our objective is to satisfy that demands even after shutdown."

"Some things will have to be put on hold but I don’t want anyone to lose out or see their time go to waste, even though football is in shutdown. For example, everyone on the Pro Licence at the moment will have been preparing for a trip to Nyon, Switzerland from 4-7 May. Obviously this cannot happen now but these dates have been set aside for a while now, so we’ll look to deliver something else to those guys on or around those dates.

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"People like Pat Bonner and Dan Ashworth were already lined up for guest lectures down the line on the Pro Licence, so it could now be a case of having those sessions put in place online when we should have been in Nyon."

Payments for the courses have been slashed until the end of August and the SFA is now offering free resources for aspiring coaches, including a dedicated podcast. 

Grieg said: "That’s been one of the most important things I’ve tried to do. The easiest thing was to make sure the next payments our coaches are due to make are reduced in cost up until 31 August. We’re well aware that in these tough times people will not have the same disposable income."

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On the podcast, Grieg added: "This is an important learning tool to engage with those on the courses, and a wider audience, free of charge."

Anyone interested in coaching is encouraged to contact the SFA on this email address: coaching@scottishfa.co.uk

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