SPORTS lecturers at Borders College are picking up the pace in a bid to improve their classroom performances.

Football instructor Stevie McLeish and rugby tutor Nikki Walker have both embarked on enhanced coaching qualifications.

And they hope their newly gained knowledge will benefit the young athletes on their courses.

Stevie, who already holds SFA and UEFA coaching licenses as well as an undergraduate degree in Applied Sports Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education, joined the likes of Craig Levein, Robbie Neilson and Neil Simpson to sit the SFA excellence qualification in Creating a Performance Environment.

The course runs over a full season and candidates are required to attend Hampden on a day release basis.

Stevie told us: "The focus of the course is on psychology, and looking at what you can do with the culture of your club or group to make it feel like a performance environment.

"It’s about creating a culture and making it clear to your players what is expected of them in terms of behaviour and performance.”

McLeish has already applied much of his newly acquired knowledge to his Football Programme for students at Borders College.

Not to be outdone, Rugby Programme Lecturer Nikki is working his way through a two-year UKCC level 4 Coaching qualification at Edinburgh Napier University.

The Hawick head coach believes this highest level coaching qualification, which equates to two-thirds of a Masters degree, will also benefit his students.

Walker said: “Completing this course alongside my coaching and college workloads is a challenge but I hope that it will give me a better understanding of coaching, as well as being a push towards professional coaching.

"Very few coaches in Scotland currently hold this qualification so it is a stand-out qualification to achieve.”

Amongst Nikki's coursemates are John Dalziel, Kenny Murray and Stevie Scott.