The Scouting Network has promoted its own "Scouting Awareness" courses to both the professional and grassroots game, together with those on courses at universities and colleges. With no officially accredited scouting course in existence, we have redesigned our own course to fill the void. It has successfully been run over the past three years for our own scouts, and will now be open to those who wish to improve their current skills or who would like to know more about the changing face of scouting.

We are keen to expand upon our experiences and reputation within the scouting arena, looking to shape the way the role has changed over the past decade in terms of technology, formats and expectations of clubs within their own player recruitment process.

Over the years The Scouting Network has used ex-managers, coaches and players to support its own scouting operation, and even those with plenty of experience within the professional game have found the courses we run to be highly beneficial. It has always surprised us scouting is one of the few areas of the game which still has no formal qualification, and as a result we have now decided to fill that gap by launching these courses, with the ultimate aim of bringing the governing bodies on board in support and eventual recognition.

The courses will be planned on three levels:

• Scouting Awareness for Professionals. This will be a detailed course for people who are or have been involved in the professional game. The course wont be used for teaching how to identify talent, but how to organise reports, breakdown the areas of both individual player and team assessments. It will be a mixture of classroom based theory and practical projects, leading to a certificate of completion.
• Scouting Awareness for Education. This module is designed for Universities and Colleges to become an integral part of Sports Management courses. It would follow a similar structure, with feedback on practical assignments as well as classroom theory.
• Scouting Awareness for beginners. We constantly receive phone calls and e-mails from individuals outside the professional game who want to learn about how to scout either players or opponents. This course will meet their needs, beginning with one day of theory followed by three practical assignments producing two player assessments and one team assessment. Again there will be feedback and help, before students achieve a certificate of completion.

The first beginner's course has already been sold out, with others close to selling out. These courses will be run regionally and will begin once sufficient numbers have been attained.

If anyone wishing to apply for one of the above courses, then please forward an e-mail to