Helen's 2009 UK Coaching Awards Blog - Dec 09 - Press Releases - LIVING SPORT

Helen's 2009 UK Coaching Awards Blog - Dec 09

I was fortunate enough to be invited to represent LIVING SPORT at the UK Coaching Awards 2009 at Old Billingsgate, London on Tuesday 8th December 2009. I donned my glad rags and headed to the big smoke to hobnob with the celebs and industry big wigs. Not sure what to expect, I tentatively made my way into the lobby. The venue was fantastically laid out with a welcome champagne reception, a sense of occasion and excited anticipation in the air.

We took our seats for the evening and I was delighted to find I was sitting barely two yards from Dame Kelly Holmes, right in front of the stage. Resisting the urge to immediately rush over to her table and hug her, I remained cool and calm and introduced myself to the other people on my table instead.

Following dinner, Interim Chair of sports coach UK, Philip Kimberley, took the stage to welcome John Inverdale, the compare for the evening. Take That’s ‘Rule the World’ crashed on to the speaker system to accompany a video stream of sporting success – all of which would not be possible without the coaching and support staff behind the athletes.

The recognition of achievements and presentation of awards ensued with each category made up of worthy competitors. The first award of the evening was the ‘Coach Educator of the Year’ which went to Vinny Webb for his contribution to the development of coach education within the Rugby Football League. Following this came the ‘Coaching Intervention of the Year’ award, presented by Hope Powell and collected on behalf of Cricket’s Education Offer by England International Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent. The ‘Agency in Support of Coaching’ award went to Sportopps.com and ‘Governing Body of the Year’ went to the British Equestrian Federation. Head of Sports Development at the BEF, Suzanne Genery proved popular with the audience, giving John Inverdale some hearty banter as she collected the award.

Next on stage was World Triple Jump Champion, Phillips Odowu, to present a new award ‘The Coaching Chain: The Appreciation of Coaching Award’. This award recognizes the contributions made by coaches at each stage of an athlete’s development. Four of Phillips’ coaches were recognised. PE teacher Mr. Long, Coaches John Powell, John Herbert and Aston Moore.

The next award to be presented was ‘Young Coach of the Year’. An award that we had particular interest in as local Coach, Sam Buck, had been short-listed. Sam, who coaches Diving at Parkside Pool in Cambridge, has recently been awarded the Cambridge News Coach of the Year accolade at the LIVING SPORT Sports Awards. In a very competitive field, Sam was up against two very strong contenders. I was delighted when Sam’s name was read out as the overall winner of the UK Young Coach of the Year award. It was great to see Sam’s hard work and commitment being recognised on a national stage.

I caught up with Sam briefly once the ceremony had drawn to a close and congratulated him, he was understandably, thrilled with the award. He said, 'I am delighted to receive this award not only as recognition of my own achievements but also as a big thank you for all the support and efforts the rest of the Cambridge Dive Team have put in over the last 12 months. We are very much a united team that works together to make Cambridge the success it is.  It is an honour even to be nominated for such an award let alone to win. On a personal note, it gives me great confidence knowing I have the support of my peers and they believe in me as a coach. I hope my divers continue their success next year and beyond and I will be doing my best to help them achieve their goals.'

The remaining awards were presented without any high drama and Mark Lane who was awarded the High Performance Coach of the Year award for his work with the England Women’s Cricket squad, went on to win the overall UK Coach of the Year award.

At the end of the awards, I spotted Dame Kelly Holmes and was lucky enough to introduce myself and chat briefly about Sam’s achievement. Holmes said, 'it’s great that young coaches are being recognised for the work they are doing’ and hoped that Sam would have a great career in coaching, continuing his current successes.' We spoke about coaches in general and Holmes commented that young coaches are often able to build a great rapport with the participants as there is not necessarily such a big age gap. At this point I decided that you can have too much of a good thing and left Dame Holmes to the rest of her evening and the company of people whose names appear much higher up the hierarchy than mine.

It was an amazing evening that I enjoyed immensely and would love the opportunity to attend again next year, hopefully with as much local success as was the case this year. A fantastic event in recognition of the unsung heroes who help to propel our home grown talent to the International stage and help to get the masses off the sofa and into an active lifestyle.

Other winners were:

Children’s Coach of the Year – Stephen McCartney and John Fall: Multi-skills

Participation Coach of the Year – Sheila Perks MBE: Netball

Performance-Development Coach of the Year – Richard Boulton: Rowing

Lifetime Achievement Award - Brian Armstrong: Rowing

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