How is this for a vision for Scottish sport?

A sideline where the parent encourages rather than screams abuse at officials or spouts negativity at a child. A dressing-room where a coach stresses the importance of maximising personal potential over the demands of the scoreboard. A playing field that remains alluring to a child, ensuring he or she stays on in sport, seeing it as an indispensable part of a full life.

It is, at least, an ambitious vision. It is one that has been conjured up by the Positive Coaching Scotland Scheme that seeks to change the sporting landscape in Scotland.

It is a programme that began in Scotland in April 2008 with the focus on transforming "the ethos and practice of youth sports in Scotland by shifting the focus from the scoreboard mentality towards a more positive sporting mentality".

The long-term goal? "To make Scotland a fitter, healthier, more confident and successful nation".

The scale of the hope is huge but the first steps towards its realisation have been positive. "We are getting there," says Grant Small, the programme manager of PCS. "We want to change the perception of the whole population so it is a work in progress. But substantial progress has been made. Perceptions have already been changed and that is a significant step forward."

PCS is supported by sportscotland, the Winning Scotland Foundation, the Scottish Football Association, Scottish Premier League and the Positive Coaching Alliance. It promotes the themes of respect, tolerance and responsibility espoused by the Scottish Government, most notably through the Scottish Communities League Cup. "We are trying to change perceptions, change a culture," says Small. "It is all right to want to win but it is surely important to want to improve yourself."

The scheme was first seen in America, where there was a concern at the large dropout of teenage children from sport. It was aimed at developing character as well as physical skills. Small is pleased at the results of the first dip into what could be described as difficult waters.

The scheme has been positively evaluated by an independent assessor at Napier University, Edinburgh. This was welcomed by Small but there is no surprise in his voice. The anecdotal evidence of a successful programme has been supported by statistical evidence. "The major factor that caused me to be pleasantly surprised was how the bigger football clubs bought into this," says Small. "I suspected it might have been a hard sell to them. But it was not. They were not close-minded."

The principles promoted are learning from mistakes, teaching respect and sportsmanship and the acceptance that winning is defined as success through effort. These may clash with the brutal reality of professional sport but they are crucial in keeping youngsters involved. They have been taken on board by professional coaches.

The most important aspect of the programme is to keep children playing sport. This has a variety of benefits, most particularly in physical and psychological health and reducing the burden on the state with the couch potato generation growing into the hospital bed generation. But in an era where the national football team is languishing at the bottom of a World Cup qualifying group, the impact at the highest level could also be profound.

"We want to keep the talent pool deep," Small says. "There are so many diversions but we want to keep children involved beyond the teenage years. Yes, this will improve Scotland as a nation in many ways but it will also give professional sport more candidates to choose from."

More than 60 workshops were attended by more than 600 players and 700 parents. The feedback was both revealing and encouraging. The key figures were that 96% of players found the information useful and 93% said they would now show more respect to their opponents, with 93% saying they would now show more respect to officials.

The impact on parents, too, was substantial with 92% saying they would show more respect to officials, 87% believing that the principles of Positive Coaching went beyond football and 79% feeling they should praise their children more often for positive performances. Interestingly, 87% of parents believed coaches put too much emphasis on winning. Through media outlets, workshops, DVDs and talks, the programme has reached 100,000 parents, 50,000 children, more than 3000 coaches and 800 teachers.

The conclusions of the report into PCS is that a "positive start" has been made but "research suggest that one-off interventions are sufficient for culture change". It adds: "These workshops need to be both repeated and expanded to continue to reinforce the messages."

The aim now is simple. Small says: "We have plans to roll this out nationwide and that is the next step – to make it more available."

Government funding is available and PCS marches on. The dream survives but the reality of a stronger, more successful Scottish sporting culture remains the target.