Updated Coaching & Youth Development Policy

Present: K Armstrong, J Hynd, P Maude, G Glen, R Woods, F Larg and R Marshall.

Apologies: S Clerkin, M Weed, R McPherson and G Clark

I would like to thank all those who attended for an interesting and productive meeting. There were many topics covered and each was dealt with in an organised and productive manner.

Child protection

There is a vast array of information available for those who wish copies, the overall consensus was that each individual who may be involved with children or vulnerable adults will be required to have a SCRO (Scottish Criminal Records Office) check carried out. The initial level will be for those who are volunteering for the coaching courses. It was agreed that myself (Ken Armstrong) would be the SFCA SCRO Officer, to co-ordinate the checks for the SFCA and the clubs. I will also be required to be checked. As I will be holding the relevant confidential information supplied by SCRO. Initially there may be a fee of £10 for each check done, the funding of this may have to come from the clubs or individuals concerned, in the latter stages of the system these fees may well be dropped by the Scottish Executive. However they are still discussing what will happen and a decision will be made hopefully by the end of July 01.

There will be in the future a need for all members who deal with or have sole charge of children or vulnerable adults to be checked but this will be dealt with at a later stage, we have to start somewhere so we shall start with the coaches and work from there.

There will be a few minor changes to the policy, where it states that we are looking for one coach from fife and one from the Edinburgh area, it will now read one coach from North East (north of the Forth Estuary) and one from South East (south of the Forth Estuary). There will also be an additional section regarding child protection.

It was decided that we should approach the `Award for All` fund for the initial set-up costs and course fees for the potential coaches.

We are looking for nominations from the clubs for members wishing to become coaches, with these nominations aware of the SCRO checks and also the deadline date of the SFCA AGM as the cut off for nominations. Once the SCRO checks have been returned the nominated members will be asked for a detailed expense forecast for attending the course. This will mainly be for travelling expenses. Other expenses will be sorted by the SFCA for the application.

Junior Round Robin

It was agreed by those clubs present at the meeting, that the junior round robin suggested at last years initial meeting would be held this year. The format of the round robin would be one of four matches, with ADAC, CSCAC and SQCAC all choosing one venue and the last a mutually agreed neutral venue.

There will be no lower age limit but the upper age limit will be under 18 years of age on the day of the first match. However each junior must be able to fish totally unaided and with no external assistance.

The round robin would also be available for any other clubs who wish to enter and involve juniors. The round robin will be run along the lines of an individual league where each junior entering each match would end up with points awarded for their final position in the match. The winner would be the individual junior with the most points at the end of all the round robin matches. It is expected that a trophy of some description or prize would be awarded to the top 3 places.

After the success of last years match we look forward to the continued efforts and expansion of this match. There was strong support and agreement from those present that the match should be held each and every year from now on.

This year the Scottish Junior Championships will be Sat 8^th September 2001. The venue has still to be arranged, as Gordon was not available at the meeting to let us know where CSCAC planned to hold the match. The format will be the same as last year.

Advertising will be more proactive and extended to the local and national press, unlike last year where time restraints limited publicity.

Scottish Coal

The SFCA has been approached via Sportscotland about a new facility, which Scottish Coal is intending to create. The SFCA welcome such a venture and will assist and advise where applicable. Consequently we will investigate Scottish Coals` proposals and advise when we have more information.

There was a point raised about the future of disabled angling within Scotland, there are possible implications on a commercial basis in regards to access (wheelchair) and discrimination against those who have disabilities. We shall keep a close eye on the developments in England and advise as soon as there is more substantial information.