How to become a volunteer coach with St Mirren Youth Football Club
Volunteering your time in grassroots football is a big commitment and responsibility, especially in light of Child Protection and Mental Health & Wellbeing. We need a lot of different skill-sets with our volunteers – good communication skills, good interpersonal and social skills, as well as good organisational skills. The Club are always looking for support for people to become Team Secretary’s, First Aiders, Coaches and Team Helpers.
You may already have what we need – however ask yourself:
“What can I give to St Mirren Youth Football Club”?
Get Qualified for Coaching
If you want to volunteer to help the Club or be part of our community of qualified coaches then the best place to start is at ScottishFALive.co.uk. You may already have a Coach ID, if so pass on your details to the Club Registration Officer, who can add you to the Club Register and get the ball rolling. If not, please follow the instructions below.
How to begin
1. Register a Coach ID account at ScottishFALive.co.uk – remember, if you already have one, PLEASE DO NOT Create A New Account – try and recover it by using the Update Your Account link.
If you need to Create A New Account, please check the links to: What does this mean for me? – What do I need to do? – Help – for additional support such as a User Guide, a Video Guide and FAQs. Register a new Coach ID here at: https://www.scottishfalive.co.uk/scottishfa/coaches/register.cfm
Creating a Coach ID Account means you will provide your personal information, e.g. – First & Last Names, Address, Postcode, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, email address & at least one telephone contact number into the Scottish FA Live system.
2. You then need to verify your account by reacting to the email the system sends to you – please take note of the email address you use to create the Coach ID as this will be your Username – and take note of the Password the system generates for you.
3. You must Complete your free Child Wellbeing in Scottish Football eLearning Course.
4. You must Complete your free Mental Health in Scottish Football eLearning Course. Find out more.
5. You will need to provide proof of these modules certificates and two references to the Club for the Scottish Youth FA. Speak with the Club PVG Rep’s, who will send you a template for your referees to then email copies to the Club.
6. When you have completed all of the stages above, the Club PVG Rep’s will need to know if you have an existing PVG. Speak with them, who after a short interview will decide if you are to be added to the Club Register.
7. When added to the Club Register – you will receive an email asking you to authenticate your connection to the Club.
8. You then need to go into your Coach ID ‘My Details’ section and sign-off your Declarations.
9. Once this is done, speak with the Club PVG Rep’s, who after seeing three proofs of your identity, will organise your football related PVG – which is an online process. Any existing PVGs are cross referenced with the new football related one.
10. The next stage will be you checking for an email from Disclosure Scotland asking you to complete your application by following a link to confirm your details. You have fourteen days to complete this task – so check your ‘junk’ mail folders regularly. If this is done correctly you should receive your PVG Certificate within a month.
However only when the Scottish Youth FA receive a copy of your certificate and everything matches up, will they ‘approve’ you for ‘regulated work with young people’. Once approved, you are able to volunteer within the Club.
Scottish FA Coach Education
Typically, all volunteers start off as Team Helpers. If you are keen to ‘coach’ you may want to acquire some Scottish FA Coach Education courses and register for an Introduction to Coaching Course*
*Payment is made by YOU for Coach Education courses and can be claimed back via your Team Funds, if available.
To be kept up to speed by the Coach Education department, please ensure your contact information is up to date on Scottish FA Live. You are really only considered a ‘Coach’ by the football authorities when you have completed a Level 1.2 course on the Children’s Pathway. If you desire to coach at Youth and Adult standard, you will require a Level 1.3 qualification on that pathway.
Further information, including how courses are delivered with costs costs can be found here.
