D&G COACHING AWARDS: WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The Dumfries and Galloway Coaching Awards in partnership with SportScotland provide the opportunity to thank coaches for their dedication to their chosen sport and recognise their achievements. The aim of the awards is to celebrate and raise the profile of the fantastic work being done within Dumfries and Galloway and recognise the contribution and value of these coaches and volunteers.

The sporting community across Dumfries and Galloway including Sport Council’s and Clubs were asked to promote the awards. Subsequently, the awards attracted a good number and standard of nominations from across Dumfries and Galloway and provided the panel of judges with some real debate when selecting winners.

This year there were 9 Coaching Award winners in the following categories: Young Person’s Coaching of the Year; Community Coach of the Year; Development Coach of the Year; Performance Coach of the Year; Young Coach of the Year; Disability Coach of the Year, Event Volunteer, Young Volunteer of the Year (Under 25 years) and Volunteer of the Year (over 25 years). All category winners detailed below.

All regional award winners have been automatically entered into the SportScotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering Awards 2014 with a further chance for entry into the UK coaching awards later in the year.

These awards show what committed coaches and volunteers we are fortunate to have within Dumfries and Galloway and these awards help to raise their profile showing how valuable they are to clubs, schools and sport in our area. Two swimming coaches from Dumfries won the awards for their recognition as detailed below for their outstanding achievements.  Councillor Ted Thompson said “I would like to congratulate both Terri and Anthony for all their hard work, dedication and commitment   over the last year on receiving these prestigious awards. It is a testament to their commitment that Terri does this on a voluntary basis and Anthony goes way beyond the call of duty in promoting these activities.”

ANTHONY RYAN

DEVELOPMENT COACH OF THE YEAR WINNER

Anthony is the Assistant Coach at Dumfries Amateur Swimming Club, working closely with the Head Coach he supervises a team of volunteer coaches across 4 squads.  Anthony’s role is central to the day to day activity – he directly coaches two squads – Intermediate 1 and 2 Gold and acts as mentor for the junior volunteer coaches. Anthony organises and runs DASC’s monthly Mini Meets, identifies which swimmers enter regional/national competitions and has introduced the Clyde Coast Mini League Team training programme aimed at the younger end of the club.  At weekends he accompanies his swimmers to competitive meets all over the country and he never misses an early morning training session.  Anthony implements a swimmer centred approach in all that he does – he is passionate about his sport and can identify with his young athletes (having retired from competitive swimming relatively recently).

All his sessions adhere to the club’s LTAD programme and follow Positive Coaching Scotland principles – he is inspiring swimmers to enjoy their sport and achieve great results.

Through his Talent ID selection work his coaching contribution has helped DASC to become one of the top 6 swimming clubs in Scotland.  Anthony has introduced many new Junior members to the club as they progress their swimming from a ‘life skill’ to a competitive sport.  His dedication as a coach has had a major impact on the competitive success levels of the intermediate squads.  Anthony developed a Clyde Coast Squad, with specialised training sessions, camps and practices – this lead to DASC putting forward one of the most exceptional teams of 8 – 11year olds that the club has ever produced.

Anthony is a warm, enthusiastic and inspiring coach.  His swimmer orientated approach has created a happy, successful and united group of club swimmers.  Whether poolside giving a team talk, joining swimmers in a game of football or in the water demonstrating a swimming skill – Anthony has gained the trust and respect of all his swimmers and peer coaches – he helps each individual achieve their best through fun, varied and challenging training plans.

 TERRI JOHNSTON

YOUNG COACH OF THE YEAR WINNER

Terri’s main swimming coaching role is to teach and develop the Intermediate Bronze Squad (age 8 -11).  This can be a particularly difficult stage for young swimmers as at this level training starts to become more challenging – the start of a young swimmer’s competitive swimming career.  Terri’s greatest achievement is inspiring her children to love their sport.  Terri’s children are becoming proficient in all 4 strokes and their skill levels are increasing. Every child in her team has seen their personal best times improve.

Alongside her main role as a volunteer Intermediate Coach – when not working as a DG One Lifeguard or at college – Terri helps out with coaching other squads whenever she can.

Terri has made a big difference to developing DASC’s young swimmers as they embark upon their swimming careers.  She nurtures and encourages her swimmers as they take swimming from a life skill to a sport – this is evidenced by DASC’s youngest swimmers achieving more competitive success in 2013/2014 season than ever before.

Terri has progressed through DASC from being a swimmer to volunteer coach to becoming an indispensable member of the coaching team at DASC where Terri’s young swimmers in the 8-11 year old category make a huge contribution towards the team’s success at competitions.

Terri is constantly thinking of innovative ways to develop her swimmers and identified the need and delivered a dive camp to improve her young swimmer’s competitive skills.  The camp was a great success and massively increased the diving confidence levels of DASC’s younger swimmers.