The awards highlight the huge importance of coaches and the role they play in encouraging participation, development and excellence in sport. There are seven categories, allowing the contribution of coaches to be acknowledged and recognised, from grassroots right through to high performance level. One award category also recognises excellent coaching projects and their impact.
Showing their commitment to coaches and support for the awards, coaches Kate Carpenter from Netball, Neil Doak from Rugby, Gary Hamilton from football, Paddy Tally and Oisin McConville from GAA, joined rugby star Stephen Ferris and Sport Northern Ireland in calling on the public to nominate coaches and coaching organisations who have made a big impact on sport over the last 12 months.
Chief Executive of Sport Northern Ireland, Antoinette McKeown, sees the Awards as an excellent opportunity to recognise the dedication of our local coaches:
"Sport Northern Ireland is delighted to be launching the 2014 Coaching Awards, to give much needed recognition to our workforce of highly committed coaches. It has been an exciting 12 months for sport and the success of our local athletes and teams owes a huge amount to the dedication, enthusiasm, expertise and experience of coaches working behind the scenes. I am urging everyone to submit their nominations by Monday 7th July to recognise our fantastic coaches and coaching organisations!"
To nominate a coach or project, please visit www.sportni.net/coachingawards for guidance information and nomination forms for all award categories. All completed forms must be returned via email or post by 4.00pm on Monday 7th July 2014.