Training starts for young Borders coaches

The year-long initiative involves the teenagers undertaking a structured programme of training and volunteering to develop their skills in leading and coaching sport.

Earlston High School hosted the first training courses for the young coaches.

Borders Sport and Leisure’s active schools coordinator, Paul Scott said: “It was great to see as many of our young coach programme candidates attending the opportunities on offer over the October holiday. It’s important for their development as aspiring young coaches and helps to equips them with the correct tools to make a lasting difference within their own community.”

Ewan Jackson, chief executive of Borders Sport and Leisure added: “Our young coach programme has had a fantastic impact over the last two years, so we are delighted to be able to run the programme for the third year with our highest ever intake of 33 students. To date this initiative has been extremely successful in developing the coaching skills of young people and previous candidates have between them amassed over 2000 hours of sports volunteering which has been of enormous benefits to their local communities.”

The Borders Sport and Leisure young coach programme was started in 2012. All nine secondary schools in the Borders are supporting the programme this year with candidates from each school participating.