High Powered Panel Confirmed for Coach Awards

MEDIA RELEASE
12 August, 2004

High Powered Judging Panel Confirmed for Volunteer Coach Awards

With only two weeks to go, the search continues for New Zealand’s most deserving Volunteer Coach of the Year. The judges for the national awards have now been chosen and in the coming months they have the hard task of deciding who will be named Wattie’s Baked Beans Volunteer Coach of the Year for 2004!

The judging panel is chaired by Mike McHugh, coaching consultant SPARC (Sport and Recreation New Zealand), who is also assistant coach to the NZ Tall Ferns, and made up of world cup winning former Black Sox coach Don Tricker, former Silver Ferns Bernice Mene and Waimarama Taumaunu, sports dietitian Jeni Pearce and Wattie’s General Manager of Marketing Mike Pretty.

Mike McHugh recognises the tough job the judges have ahead of them as the nominations show just how dedicated volunteer coaches are.

“It has been very humbling reading some of the entries to date. The time, effort and passion that these extraordinary people put into coaching teams really is being acknowledged and I hope that in the next few weeks we see more well-deserved nominations come in.

So far, some 100 entries have been received. At SPARC we estimate there are 70,000 volunteer coaches in New Zealand, so there must be lots more out there who are contributing immensely to their community, but have yet to be nominated” says Mike McHugh.

The 17 regions across New Zealand represented by Regional Sports Trusts will judge nominees from their area and select a regional winner during September and October. Those 17 regional winners will then be considered by the judging panel which will award one overall national winner and two runners up. The national awards will be made early next year at the SPARC coaching conference in Wellington.

The Wattie’s Baked Beans Volunteer Coach of the Year awards close on August 26th. So there’s still time to nominate a volunteer coach in your region, school or club. Visit www.watties.co.nz or www.sparc.co.nz to download an entry form.

ENDS

Released by Network PR (Simone Bell & Kim Vettori) on behalf of Heinz Wattie’s Ltd and Sport and Recreation New Zealand

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