Top Line-up of Finalists Announced

Squash NZ are pleased to announce the finalists for the National Coaching Awards, the Club of the Year Award and the Volunteer of the Year Award. All winners will be announced at the Squash NZ Awards Ceremony on Friday 28 November at the Remuera Rackets, Auckland.

National Coaching Awards

The Coaching Advisory Panel were pleased with the quantity and quality of nominations this year with over 35 nominations received, an increase from last year. Squash NZ Chief Executive Director Jim O'Grady said "it's fantastic to see so many great nominations and to see our Coach Development Framework in action. Coaches put a lot of time and effort into our sport and these awards are a great opportunity to recognise them."

The finalists for each Coaching Award category are listed below (in alphabetical order).  

New Coach of the Year

• Sy Baker (Wellington)
• Sally Stantiall (Central)
• Alan Stern (Central)

Club and School Coach of the Year

• Christine Maud (Auckland)
• Nic Dann (Canterbury)
• Graeme Randolph (BOP)
• Ricardo Stanley (Auckland)
• Jarrod van Driel (Auckland)

Performance Coach of the Year

• Mark Gribben (Otago)
• Nick Mita (Wellington)
• Kashif Shuja (Central)
• Robbie Wyatt (BOP)

Club of the Year

The Club of the Year Award is run in collaboration with the District Associations. Districts open up nominations locally and their winners automatically became finalists for the National Award. This year nine of the eleven Districts took part in the national award, giving their clubs the opportunity to be recognised at a national level.

The Club of the Year nominations were also of a very high calibre and it’s great to see so many good things going on at clubs around the country. A judging panel member said "It was extremely difficult to judge this year - there are so many fantastic things going on at our clubs, from big city clubs to small rural clubs, and simply reading the nominations was very warming. All of the nominees should be very proud of their achievements.”

The four finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

• Alexandra SC (Otago)
• Devoy Squash & Fitness Centre (Bay of Plenty)
• Mana SC (Wellington)
• Squash City Invercargill (Southland)

The other nominees for the national awards were:

• Havelock North SC (Eastern)
• Marlborough SC (Canterbury)
• Oamaru Squash & Badminton (Midlands)
• Royal Oak Rackets (Auckland)
• Te Awamutu SC (Waikato)

Volunteer of the Year

This year Squash New Zealand, in collaboration with the Districts, has run a national Volunteer of the Year award. Districts opened up nominations locally and their winners automatically became finalists for the National Award. Squash New Zealand is pleased to announce the following finalists (in alphabetical order):

• Ian Taylor (Devoy Squash & Fitness, Bay of Plenty)
• Josie Fenwicke (The Thorndon Club, Wellington)
• Michelle MacGibbon (Belmont Park Rackets, Auckland)
• Keith Smith (Timaru SRC, Midlands)

The other nominees for the national awards were:

• Colleen Parkhill-Burke (Squash City Invercargill, Southland)
• Don Denniston (Otago SC, Otago)
• Racheal Bell (Te Awamutu SC, Waikato)
• Susan O'Connell (Waimea SC, Canterbury)
• Wayne Kempton (Hawkes Bay SRC, Eastern)

Pennie O’Connor, Squash NZ Development Director said “reading through the nominations is very humbling – there are so many amazing people throughout the country who are just so passionate about our sport and go above and beyond to make it happen in their local community. We are very proud of our volunteers in squash and are looking forward to announcing the winner at the Awards Ceremony”.

Congratulations to all shortlisted finalists and thank you to all those who took the time to nominate their club, volunteers and/or coaches. For more information about the awards, please click here.