Tyne RC coaches receive British Rowing award

The Junior coaching team from Tyne Rowing Club was this year’s recipient of the British Rowing Coaching Team of the Year award. We take a closer a look at the incredible impact that Tyne’s coaches have had on Juniors at the club.

[newsimage=0]The Tyne RC Junior coaching team consists of Amy Ward – a Community Sports Coach and the only paid member of Tyne’s coaching staff – alongside volunteer coaches Colin Percy, David Robinson, and John Mulholland.

The quartet received an unprecedented number of nominations from the Tyne Junior squad, with rowers and parents combining in praise of their club’s junior coaches.

Membership to Tyne RC’s Junior squad has more than tripled over the last two years, thanks in no small part to the tireless work of its dedicated team of coaches.

‘Amy Ward and David Robinson are a true inspiration for me,’ said one member of the Junior squad in their Coach of the Year nomination. ‘I am a Type 1 diabetic, and am insulin dependent. David and Amy take a deep interest in how to control it, not only during sessions, but in everyday life.

‘There have obviously been occasions when diabetes has hindered and completely stopped my performance, but both Amy and David have been there and were caring enough to sort it out. This is compassion I have not found in previous sports – the effort they have put in has changed my life.’

[newsimage=1]The level of commitment and compassion displayed by the Tyne RC Junior coaching team was a recurring theme throughout their nominations.

As well as securing good results in competition, the team’s dedication to making rowing as enjoyable and welcoming as possible has furnished a culture of responsibility and ownership amongst the Junior squads, as well as nurturing a real sense of belonging.

‘Tyne RC and the sport of rowing have had the most enormous impact on my daughter’s life in and out of the club,’ one of the junior squad’s parents wrote in their nomination.

‘Her coaches have shown Ellie that anything is possible when you have a lot of determination and self-belief, all things she lacked before she joined Tyne RC.

‘David, John [Mulholland], and Colin [Percy] give up an extraordinary amount of their free time, over and beyond the call of duty, to tirelessly coach and guide all the junior squad. This dedicated coaching team give up so much time and effort to impart their rowing knowledge and expertise in order to inspire these youngsters.’

The Newcastle-based rowing club has found real success attracting new Juniors to its ranks through its Explore Rowing-backed Learn to Row courses, as well as Indoor Rowing sessions at local schools.

[newsimage=2]However, it is the welcoming and tireless Junior coaches that have kept the existing Juniors in place, according to the mountain of Coach of the Year nomination forms sent to British Rowing HQ.

‘John has been integral to inspiring first time rowers,’ said another Tyne RC Junior. ‘His patience is boundless, he is always caring, and nothing is ever too much trouble.’

The Tyne RC Junior coaching team were presented with their Coaching Team of the Year Award at the 2011 Volunteer and Coach of the Year Awards lunch in November, by British Rowing Technical Co-ordinator and FISA Commissioner Rosie Mayglothling.

Their patient, caring coaching style has engendered obvious affection throughout their club, and the Junior squad looks set to continue its impressive growth thanks to the tireless efforts of Ward, Percy, Robinson, and Mulholland.

Winners at the 2011 Coach of the Year awards also included Jon Rooney (Oxford University Women’s BC), Caroline Turnbull (Weyfarers Rowing Club), Howard Marsh (Leicester RC and Loughborough Students RC), and Barrie Hanley (Cambois RC).