It is with a heavy heart I announce Craig Faill’s decision to step down as Head Coach of the Scotland Senior Women’s National Team Programme. It has been a grand road that Craig and the national team have travelled with his vision, dreams and the passion to create an International volleyball team.
Back in 2011, the Scotland Senior Women’s National Team was in the position of not having qualified for the CEV Small Countries Division Final since 2007. When taking this role Craig had the courage to set a worthy goal: to move the Senior Women’s National Team Programme further down the path towards success in the Small Countries Division Final in 2013.
Craig’s drive, ambition and passion for the sport has undoubtedly taken this team forward. He wholeheartedly put in a great deal of time and effort to make sure the squad was ready to play, often under difficult circumstances. His meticulous planning was outstanding and aimed for the following:
Step 1 by 2013 to qualify for the final of the European small countries division. Completed.
Step 2 by 2015 to finish in the 2 of the European Small countries Division. Completed.
He is responsible for creating a new ethos within the national team with science embedded within his programme; strength and conditioning, nutrition and sport psychology all coming together to consolidate performance. Craig led the team to bronze in the 2013 and silver in the 2015 CEV Small Countries Division Finals – that is an amazing achievement. Sometimes numbers speaks for themselves: over a 4 year period he improved Scotland’s world ranking from 111th to 86th.
CEO Margaret Ann Fleming summed it up completely for me when she said “Craig has been an outstanding ambassador for coaching and Scottish Volleyball. Respected by his peers and other International coaches, for his professionalism, experience and knowledge, Craig shall be sadly missed in this role within the Association.”
It is the job of the next national team coach to live up to their predecessors’ dreams; sometimes to fulfil them, sometimes to disappoint, or indeed outshine them. Thanks Craig for having the courage to set the performance level of women’s volleyball in Scotland to a new height, for setting the vision for the future and for your wholehearted devotion to Scottish Volleyball.
Ioannis Panayiotakis
Coaching Manager
