The Tartan Talent Pathway

What is the Tartan Talent Pathway?

The Tartan Talent Pathway is Scottish Volleyball’s cross-discipline Pathway for athletes of all ages seeking to represent Scotland now or in the future. We support athletes and staff on and off the court to become successful Volleyball members and members of wider Scottish society.

We work to develop physically mature, technically skilled, tactically aware athletes who embody our values and support a performance training environment. Coaches are supported to coach and develop athletes in-line with Scottish Volleyball’s long-term development plans and equip them to deliver this in their schools, clubs, and teams, as well as within the Tartan Talent Pathway

The Indoor Pathway begins each year in August and September with open Discover sessions followed by sessions at a range of levels from October to April. Whilst a small group will continue to train throughout the summer, all athletes will be encouraged to participate in the Tartan Talent Beach Pathway from May to September with a range of opportunities offered.

As we move forward, we aim to work with a wider range of athletes and staff to support everyone to grow and develop as we build out our Performance and National Team structures. We are also committed to improving our Athlete Support on and off the court, with all Pathway athletes receiving strength and conditioning support, sports psychology support, information on playing professionally and Volleyball scholarships, and other talks from experts in their field.

Indoor Tartan Talent Pathway - Season 25/26

Indoor Tartan Talent Pathway – season 2025-26

Session	Equivalent former session	Timing	Role
Discover	Regional	August/September 8 sessions over 6 dates	Open sessions to allow the entire Junior National Team and Tartan Talent coaching staff to identify talent and potential from returning and new athletes. There will be 8 of these sessions over 3 weekends.
Futures	NA	October – March 1 monthly	Support athletes not selected to the Academy to develop as athletes as well as their coaches. We will run monthly sessions around the country.
Academy	Development	October – March 1 monthly on average	Core group of 80 athletes training monthly across U18 and U20 age-groups. Athletes will come together on average once per month to train as an Academy group.
Team Alba	National	February – January Twice monthly on average	Smaller sub-group from the Academy of athletes eligible for the next SCA Age-Group (2009 or younger from now till January 2026 then 2008 and younger from February 2026) who will train together an average of twice per month on top of Academy sessions.