Hearts today welcomes the news that two of the club's academy coaching staff have been awarded the highest children's qualification possible within the Scottish FA's coach education structure.

Community development manager Alan White, who also works with the club's Academy and U11s coach John Lawson both successfully completed the Scottish FA's Advanced Children's Licence at Toryglen Regional Football Centre in Glasgow over 16 days between October and December 2009. This award makes them currently part of an elite group of coaches in Scotland who now hold the qualification.

The intensive Advanced Children's Licence course is designed for coaches working with young players (5 to 11 years) and provides a recognised qualification for adults working in children's football.

The content of the course involved practical as well as theoretical components focusing on all aspects of children's development.

In an effort to ensure that talented young players are given every opportunity to fulfil their potential, the course covered topics such as, Developing Technique and the Creative Player, Physical Preparation for Young Players, Talent Identification, Developing a Training Session, Coaching in the Game, Acquisition of Skill, Child Psychology and Protecting Young People and Vulnerable Adults.

Hearts academy director John Murray commented: "We are delighted that both John and Alan have both achieved this important qualification. Both coaches already have an extensive coaching repertoire for this specific age group and going by their own feedback the course has developed their coaching knowledge further in addition to complimenting their existing skills.

"There is an ongoing effort to constantly evaluate and improve our coaching programmes to offer the best provision to young players making their way through the Hearts structure. Having both coaches achieve this important and sought after qualification is a vital and valuable development in the overall process."

On receipt of his award Alan White said: "Having over the years completed other licence courses for various age groups, this was by far the most challenging course I have been on as we often had to devise new practices from scratch to suit the needs of talented young players - there wasn't always a book or coaching manual you could turn to.

"The real test I found was ensuring that the planning of the sessions really tested and challenged the youngsters who could clearly play, but at the same time ensure that we weren't trying to coach them as 'mini-adults', and that can sometimes be a fine line."

Neil Mackintosh, the Scottish FA's head of youth development enthused: "We are delighted that a large number of pro-clubs have embraced the development of this new advanced licence having seen it fully subscribed for the three courses we have run to date.

"We are confident that the course will prove to be a very useful tool not just for elite clubs but for coaches working with young players in the recreational game upwards."

Hearts has a proven track record of producing players via its academy system even before the development of the Hearts Football Academy five years ago.

Players such as Gary Naysmith, Craig Gordon, Christophe Berra, Gary Locke, and current starts like Andrew Driver, Lee Wallace and Gary Glen have all successfully made their mark on the professional game.

Picture: John Murray presents Alan White with his Advanced Children's Licence at Tynecastle Stadium.