In a huge year for sport, the annual search for the very best coaches and volunteers in Wales is being championed by an Olympic gold medal winning coach.

Sport Wales today opened nominations for its 2012 Coach of the Year Awards, and are calling on the people of Wales to nominate their sporting heroes – from the grassroots to elite.

It is the chance on the calendar to champion and recognise people nationally who are often behind-the-scenes, but make sport in Wales tick.

And with the Olympic Games just a week away, the man who coached the British quartet to a gold medal in the 4x100m relay at Athens in 2004 is calling on the public to recognise those who make the difference in Welsh sport.

Steve Perks (pictured), Headteacher at Amman Valley School and a coach for Carmarthen Harriers, guided the team of Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener to gold ahead of the USA.

A former winner at the awards himself, he said:

“The amount of hours coaches put in, particularly as volunteers at the grassroots, is phenomenal. Awards like this are important because they give the recognition to coaches who are not always mentioned. It’s something I support in athletics and we always try and include the coach on any positive report we give on an athlete’s success. These people put in hours of work behind the scenes and need to be valued.

“As a coach I enjoy the contact and dialogue you have with different people as a coach. Particularly at the grassroots level I see many of the same young people on the track as I do in the classroom, and it’s great to see them and work with them in that different environment. I find it very rewarding.”

And what of his preparations for the 2004 relay gold?

“We started preparing for 2004 after the Olympics in 2000. We had a good squad – established sprinters and younger talent – and we made sure we blooded everyone into sessions until we had a core group of 8-12 athletes to interchange from plan A to plan B. It was a process that took a number of years to develop but had the best of endings.”

But it is not just about the elite. Sport Wales wants to recognise people at all levels – including volunteers, young people and coach educators.

For 2011, there are a number of categories you could nominate your coach or volunteer for. They are:

Community Coach of the Year
Sporting Partner/Organisation of the Year
Disability Sports Coach of the Year
Young Coach of the Year
Young Volunteer of the Year
Performance Development Coach of the Year
High Performance Coach of the Year
Volunteer of the Year
Coach Educator of the Year

The deadline for nominations is 5pm on Friday 21st September 2012.

The prestigious Sport Wales Coach of the Year accolade will be awarded to one of the category winners.

Last year, National Performance Manager for Disability Sport Wales Anthony Hughes was awarded the Coach of the Year accolade, along with the Coach to Disabled Sportspeople award, after leading the formation of the successful Academy programme, making Wales pound-for-pound one of the world’s most successful elite disability sporting nations.

Previous winners of the award include rugby coaches Paul John and Graham Henry, swim guru Dave Haller and cycling’s Shane Sutton.

Recognising the importance of volunteers at all levels of Welsh sport, Sport Wales has set a target to double the number of volunteers in the country by 2016 – from around 5% (110,000) to approx. 10% (250,000).

Chair of Sport Wales, Professor Laura McAllister explains:

“Coaches and volunteers are the lifeblood of Wales’s sporting success.

“People will want to follow their sporting heroes and we need an army of willing coaches and volunteers for that to happen.

“This is the public’s chance to show their appreciation for the people who put in hours and hours of work across the country.

“Potentially thousands of people may be volunteering for the first time at the Olympics and Paralympics and these are people we want to keep in sport.

“The recognition of some of our most dedicated people will, we hope, inspire them to keep up that commitment. And if others are inspired by the Games we would like to see them involved in sport as well.”

The winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Sport Wales National Centre, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on Wednesday 14th November 2012, 7pm.
To download or complete a nomination form online visit:
www.sportwales.org.uk/coachoftheyear or e-mail coachoftheyear@sportwales.org.uk. Or phone 0845 045 0904 for a nomination form.

More Information on the Categories:

Community Coach of the Year

This award recognises the outstanding contribution of a coach at a community club to getting more people starting, staying and/or succeeding in sport through high quality coaching.

Sporting Partner/Organisation of the Year

This award is for a Sport Wales funded partner that has made a significant contribution to the development of a coaching system and individual coaches in Wales.

Disability Sports Coach of the Year

This award recognises the outstanding contribution of a coach to getting more people with disabilities starting, staying and/or succeeding in sport through high quality coaching.

Young Coach of the Year

This award recognises the outstanding contribution of a coach to getting more people starting, staying and/or succeeding in sport through high quality coaching. For coaches aged 25 years or under.

Young Volunteer of the Year

This award is for an individual who devotes their time to support, develop or champion sport in their community. They give up their time to improve community life in any sporting situation – from officiating to washing the kit, driving the team bus preparing refreshments or even maintain the grounds. This award seeks to recognise someone who has been instrumental in recruiting other people to help out in sport to enable the club or sporting organisation grow. For volunteers aged 25 years or under.

Performance Development Coach of the Year

This award recognises the achievements of a coach in developing emerging and young performers in elite sport.

High Performance Coach of the Year

This award looks for evidence of a player centred approach leading to successful performance within sport at the highest level. Open to coaches coaching athletes at high performance level in their sport.

Volunteer of the Year

This award is for an individual who devotes their time to support, develop or champion sport in their community. They give up their time to improve community life in any sporting situation – from officiating to washing the kit, driving the team bus preparing refreshments or even maintain the grounds. This award seeks to recognise someone who has been instrumental in recruiting other people to help out in sport to enable the club or sporting organisation grow.

Coach Educator of the Year

This award is for an individual that has made a significant contribution to the development of coaches through mentoring of coaches and individual coach training and delivery of effective education programmes.