Two decades of supporting young people
From our formation in 2005 until 2024, we delivered a range of sport and physical activity programmes designed to build confidence and resilience in young people, and empower key adults with skills and training.
Find out about the impact of some of our programmes below.
Positive Coaching Scotland: 2007-2018
Delivered widely across clubs, local authorities and networks like Active Schools, PCS is a cultural change programme that normalised the personal development of children through sport.
It reached 30,000 coaches and parents and more than 400,000 children and young people.
The programme introduced the deliberate coaching of life skills in a sporting context, including:
- Valuing effort, learning and mastery over outcomes
- Understanding that winning is less about the scoreboard and more about personal and team performance
- Building young people’s confidence by providing supportive feedback, encouragement and praise of hard work and commitment.
- Viewing mistakes, failure and struggle as ‘teachable moments’ that can be applied in all areas of life.
- Focus on respect for rules, opponents, officials, teammates and yourself.
PCS laid the foundations for what are now core elements of our work, especially the use of growth mindset approaches, and recognising the power of supporting ‘key influencer’ adults in a child’s life.
- PCS continues to create impact through our partners in sport, sportscotland, Scottish FA and Scottish Rugby.
- Link to free training modules via sportscotland
Champions in Schools: 2008-2019
Champions in Schools was a role-model programme that connected Scotland’s young people with high-performing athletes who shared their personal journeys of effort, resilience and goal-setting.
Across three sessions during the school year, pupils met an athlete-champion who brought to life the importance of perseverance, healthy choices and a positive attitude—helping them see that success comes not from hard work and learning from setbacks.
Between visits, pupils completed “Champions Challenges” to put these lessons into action.
- The programme reached more than 17,000 pupils across Scotland, supported by over 200 elite athletes including Olympians, Commonwealth medallists, expeditionists and professional team sport players.
- 95% of parents said their children were more motivated and enthusiastic about school.
- Participants showed measurable improvements in ambition, perseverance and effort compared with peers.
- Teachers observed stronger goal-setting, greater confidence and a more positive attitude to learning across classrooms.
- 87% of pupils felt more able to overcome challenges.
- Athletes also benefited, gaining new confidence, reflection skills and a stronger sense of purpose through their engagement with young people
Champions in Schools further reinforced the importance of adults as crucial role models in a child’s life. It also gave us our first glimpse into the importance of building confidence in these adults through training and support.
On Our Marks: 2016-2024
On Our Marks was a community-driven programme that helped children and families in north Glasgow make physical activity a natural part of everyday life.
Delivered in partnership with ng homes, the project worked with local schools to build confidence among teachers, inspire pupils to be active, and engage parents through simple, home-based activities and ‘physical’ homework (e.g. hopping practice).
Through training, collaboration and community partnerships, On Our Marks helped schools embed a culture of movement, play and wellbeing.
The impact was clear:
- Teacher confidence soared, with 89% of staff saying they changed their teaching practice to include more physical activity.
- Teachers and pupils alike developed greater confidence, teamwork and resilience, with schools reporting stronger family connections and more active classrooms.
- 62% of children achieved the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity—a 51% increase from baseline.
- 55% of parents became more active themselves, and 67% said the activities helped them engage more with their children.
- 82% of families reported less screen time after using On Our Marks activities.
On Our Marks reinforced the symbiotic relationship between being physically active and positive health, wellbeing, confidence and education outcomes.
- See some of the On Our Marks activities at: www.onourmarks.com