2017 Annual Awards - Club and School Coach of the Year Part 4

We now look at the last finalist for the Club and School Coach of the Year in preparation for the 2017 Annual Awards that will take place on 25th November, 6.30pm at JetPark in Auckland.

The nominations for the Club and School Coach of the Year are

• Nicol Bekker
• John Brown
• Adam Odering
• Keri & Krystal Rhodes
• Karen Roberts
• Jarrod van Driel
• Manu Yam

To be eligible for the Club and School Coach of the Year the coach must be working with junior or senior athletes in a club or school setting (this could include coaching individuals, junior programmes, beginner coaching, schools coaching and graded teams).

When deciding a judging panel considers the following:

• Coach development - number of modules attended and other learning opportunities taken
• Coach activity - number of hours coached and types of programmes / services offered
• Athlete outcomes - evidence of improving players / teams performances to achieve results
• Coach's impact - influence that the coach has had on participation / membership

The last finalist is Manu Yam. Manu is a member of the Belmont Park Racquets Club and coaches at Devonport Squash Club.

Manu's nomination read as follows:

PLANS ARE IN PLACE TO ADVANCE AND DEVELOP HIS PLAYERS

Every term Belmont has different junior squads targeting the following:

• Nippers (under 13s)
• Development Juniors (over 13’s - E grade above),
• Elite Juniors (C grade and above).

Once a junior has improved, they advance to the next level. Junior players are also encouraged to attend coaching modules and as a result are helping run the junior programmes at the club.

IS RESPECTED BY PLAYERS AND THE SQUAH COMMUNITY FOR HIS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND DELIVERY

The positive feedback we receive regularly from our parents regarding the different squads that Manu runs shows the respect that he commands within our club and community.

Members of our club admire him and his full schedule shows how popular he is with both junior and senior players. I spend quite a bit of time in different clubs either at interclub or supporting our players who are competing in tournaments and often when I meet someone for the first time and they ask me what club I belong to and when I mention Belmont their response is ‘you have Manu as your club coach don’t you’.

HAS MADE EFFECTS TO DEVELOP AND UPSKILL – ALIGNED TO CFD PROGRAMME

Manu has attended several coaching modules and attended the National Coaching conference this year in Hamilton. Manu has also attended several coaching seminars ran by GACU and Aktive and he has expressed interest in attending the high performance modules that will be available next year.

DISPLAYS QUALITIES OF DEDICATION AND COMMITMENT

Manu’s dedication to our club and to the game in general is beyond reproach. His workload is heavy yet he always has time to assist with any task. These include making draws and schedules for all of our tournaments, assisting with the sorting of interclub teams. He makes contact with all local schools who are interested in running squash programmes at our club. He assists our squash committee on how to run and promote programmes in the club and how we can attract new members to our club. He assists in looking for sponsors, funding for the elite juniors and other free junior programmes running in our club.

HAS MADE A MEASURABLE IMPROVEMENT TO THE PERFORMANCE TO THE CLUB AND PLAYERS

Whilst players have to be committed if they are wanting to improve whether it to be playing at the highest level or to just to be playing to enjoy the game of squash it is also a great coach that spends hours getting these players to achieve their individual goals. Belmont has 2 A1 junior players and 2 A2 players who are nearly A1 and another A2 master player who are all actively playing. Their top 2 interclub teams have won division titles and they have the National under 15 girl champion in the club. Manu’s coaching philosophy is not only limited to developing the squash side of the player but the attitude of players. Manu’s students are known to display good sportsmanship and attitudes on and off the court. Many of them are role models to the younger players. Manu is a person who just gives and gives.

WORKS COLLABORATIVELY WITH SQUASH AUCKLAND

Manu has this year worked with Squash Auckland as their northern regional coach. This is the first year Squash Auckland has run the Regional Coach Programme. Feedback from the parents whose children have been involved has been overwhelmingly positive and the programme has been a success due to the diligent and enthusiastic work of Manu with between 30-40 kids from the northern cluster of clubs attending monthly training camps. Many of the players have had noticeable increases in their grading points throughout the season which in turn encourages them to play more.

Manu has also been involved in drumming up interest for a number of coaching modules to be run at Belmont Park throughout the year to assist him with club coaching, and has set up have-a-go sessions for local schools. He has recently created a programme for the top U11 girls in Auckland to continue their development over the summer.

Manu also runs KiwiSport in schools and has taken the full Auckland Junior team training camps on a number of occasions. He was also the coach of the NZ World Junior Boys team this year in the test series in Tauranga where the team came first.

Congratulations Manu on being a finalist in the Club and School Coach of the Year Award.