REgionAl Coach Training project.

Background The idea for Regional Coach Network Project (REACT) was born out of necessity to provide a more equal opportunities for football coaches in Baltic Region. Prior the project, coaches from smaller towns had limited access to sports specific educational opportunities, facing multiple resource barriers like time and expense for travel. Development of network and e-platform was lead by Baltic Football School and supported by three regional partners: FC Elva, VIA/Valmiera FC, and Siauliai FA. Objectives Key objective of project was to promote education in and through sport. It envisaged exchange of best practices amongst coaches and development of online e-platform that would be free to use and could be accessed on demand, anytime and anyplace to provide opportunities for continuous education that is relevant to the specific individual. The project set out to minimise the barriers that exist for football functionaries in smaller Baltic Regions to develop themselves as professionals. Implementation Coaching network that had been established during the course of the project acted as the core element of the developed e-platform. As coaches in each of the regions showed different wants and needs, project partners structured the platform on bottom-up approach which meant truly listening to their needs and adjusting accordingly. The e-platform also allowed to reduce the barier of time and place given that content was to be accessed on-demand anytime and anyplace. Achievements Besides functioning as a coaching network, the e-platform was developed to be open to broader society to further foster the exchange of knowledge. This function not only allowed coaches who couldn`t attend seminars to consume the content but also resulted in over 36`000 pageviews within the e-platform. The success of the project can also be judged by the interest shown from over 2600 unique users who have viewed platform`s content and Baltic Football Federations who have used the platform.