Greens support calls for a review of requirements made of amateur sports coaches

Greens support to a petition to the Scottish Parliament asking for a review of vetting schemes for public sport facilities to make it easier for people to volunteer.

The petition was submitted by the ASAP Scotland, a Glasgow based sports coaching charity which helps volunteers get involved in sport.

Stephen Koeppolinger of ASAP Scotland says:

"If one of our volunteers, who all have police checks and insurance, want to facilitate a game of basket ball or tennis or football at a venue run by an organisation such as Culture and Sport Glasgow they will be required to have a level 2 coaching certificate. The time this takes, let alone the cost involved, is too much for a huge proportion of potential volunteers. I come from the USA and there are no such restrictions there, it seems crazy we are so risk averse here and it gets in the way of our children's and teenagers' access to sports."

Councillor Kieran Wild says:

"This is an important petition that challenges these unnecessary barriers that are stopping so many adults from facilitating teenagers and children taking part in sport. It's not simply the financial cost of doing these training courses but the time involved in doing them is a huge barrier for many. If the equivalent of governing body level 2 coaching certificate is not required in the USA, perhaps the most litigious country in the world, we need to look again at how we do things here."

Notes

The petition can be read and signed here:

http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=366