The Scottish FA are delighted to welcome Aidan Spalding as a new Performance Analyst, following his successful completion on the Scottish FA and Edinburgh Napier University Football Coaching, Performance and Development Honours Degree, driven by the Coach Education department.
This course is designed to give candidates who have a genuine understanding of the game, an important introduction in elevating standards within a coaching environment.
Aidan collected the first ever ‘Golden Boot’ trophy for being an outstanding student, as voted for by his fellow students and staff in relation to academic and 'on-pitch' work, and he joins the Scottish FA after spending a year with Hamilton Academical in their analysis department - a role he stepped in to after his studies.
Spalding, who began coaching at 16, progressed through the ranks from his local club, Westerton United, moving on to Greenock Morton and then St Mirren where he had his first taste as an analyst.
Whilst completing his Scottish FA and Edinburgh Napier University course, Aidan began an internship at the Scottish FA, and upon successfully achieving his degree, he stepped in to a full-time role with Hamilton before recently returning to the association as a Performance Analyst.
His new role will see his work spread out between Scotland’s youth and senior international squads, in both the men's and women's game.
Aidan Spalding, Scottish FA Performance Analyst: “I always had an interest in the analysis side of things, but this was enhanced when I begun the course and I saw the enthusiasm from my tutor Ian Donnelly (Coach Education & Development Manager, Scottish FA), who gave us a strong insight into the pathway in working towards a first team environment.
"Seeing the impact the analysis team can have on training, teams, and managers, really motivated me and I was able to take key learnings from the course, and implement these at academy level, then to first team level with Hamilton last year.
"The Scottish FA and Edinburgh Napier University course was a perfect opportunity for myself to achieve the natural progression within performance analysis, and I grabbed the chance to gain the degree with both hands.
"This course was thoroughly enjoyable down to the fact that it was football related every day, and we learned about every aspect of football whether that was analysis, sports science, or psychology, and the candidates all shared the same passion for football which meant we became a tight knit group.
"I started on a Women’s Under-17’s camp, while also working with various age groups within the men’s squads, now up to the men’s first team set up, so it has been good for my development working up through the pathway.
"One of the key things I’ve took from the course and been able to implement is the ability to work efficiently under strict time constraints. Obviously, camps are 10-12 days maximum, and we need to turn things around quite quick, so it’s important to be on the ball.
"I’ve learned a lot in my day-to-day responsibilities, whether that’s tagging games, organising training videos for players and the manager to watch, even meetings with coaches - this has all came from the skills I developed on the course.
"I would recommend anyone with a passion for football to sign up to the course, as you will be given a platform to learn a wide range of skills within a football coaching or analysis background that you may have never thought was important before.
Completing this degree has given me the opportunity to now work full-time at the Scottish FA, which I am delighted about.”
Anyone who is interested in this course can find more information here.
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