At a time when beach volleyball attention is focused on junior 
development, a new course had to emerge to allow more experienced players and coaches to gain a structure and direction in what to deliver to younger players. The content resulted from a literature review of selected beach volleyball resources, with FIVB e-book being heavily cited, from workshops that have been delivered here in Scotland and from the kind contributions and ideas of experienced coaches like Vaggelis Koutouleas, Colin Paterson and Audrey Cooper.
So with humility and some good weather, Summer 2015 marked the beginning of the pilot programme ‘Introduction to Beach Coaching’. It was delivered in Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen.
The main goals of the course are:
1. To improve the knowledge and competence of coaches, teachers and players
2. To present and discuss the recent trends of the modern beach volleyball game
3. To establish in as far as possible a unified and integrated content for training beach volleyball in Scotland
This practical course is a ‘bolt on’ to our already established formal coaching education, it compliments but not substitutes the coaching education pathway. It is therefore something ‘extra’ to allow the coaches and players to gain confidence in learning and teaching basic skills for beach volleyball. As one of the candidates described it “This course was practical/active, showing different skills and through participating in them one engages in a better understanding of it”.
The course was well received by 21 candidates in total across three different geographic areas – Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen. It was a pleasure to work with such passionate candidates. I thoroughly enjoyed delivering this course and felt closer to this special community of athletes and coaches. I want to thank each and every one of them for their input, their very generous feedback and for their help in making me realise the final format for this new award.