Coach of the Month

The purpose of this award is to recognise the valuable work provided by coaches in our sporting community.  The award is open to all coaches.

Notes

  • Nominations to be received by 5pm on the 25th of each month. Send entries to Mike Walsh, Sport Wellington, PO Box 24 148 Manners St, Wellington 6142 or fax to (04) 801 8976 or fill in the online nomination form. The winner will be recognised by Sport Wellington.
  • Any coach in the greater Wellington region is eligible.
  • The winner will receive a Coaches Pack supplied by Sport Wellington. All nominees will be "thanked" for their services as a coach by Sport Wellington.
  • The winner will be selected by a panel of three sporting experts. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Nomination form

Recent winners

The August Coach of the Month is Frank Rees who led the Northern United Rugby team to success by winning the Jubilee Cup which represents club rugby supremacy in the Wellington region. North's also won the Swindale Shield, the first round competition for all 12 teams. Like all volunteer coaches he is an "unsung hero" who has given numerous hours, energy and passion to ensure his club and team are the best in the region. Frank's communication skills, sport specific knowledge, planning and personality have all contributed to the success of the 2010 club champions.

Pero Cameron is the July Coach of the Month for guiding the Exodus Saints to the National Basketball League title. This was an outstanding achievement in his first year as a fulltime coach in the national league. Pero's knowledge, skill and superb leadership were attributes that were instilled into his athletes, individually and collectively, to becoming a champion team.

The Coach of the Month for June is John Manuel who coaches rugby at Naenae College. John has setup a school Rugby Academy to assist and support coaches in all areas of coaching including mentoring. The Academy also assists in developing the students into better rugby athletes through sport specific and generic activities which includes weekend training camps, elite motivational speakers, specialist coaching, and Code of Conduct for on/off field demeanor. The Academy slogan is "Pride, Passion and Performance" and has made a huge impact on everyone involved and has increased the number of teams at the college including a girls team.

Vanessa Donaldson is the Coach of the Month for May. Vanessa is a parent at Plateau Primary School and works tirelessly to co-ordinate all the school netball teams. The multi-talented coach conducts planning meetings, distributes uniforms as well as coaching one of the school teams.

Vanessa has been fulfilling these roles for many years, she does such a brilliant job that the school could not succeed without her contribution. She is also a part-time teacher so any spare time is devoted to the students in the sporting arena. Her wonderful and positive personality assists in developing the strengths and confidence of the students.

The April Coach of the Month is Rhys Pettett (far right) who coached the Newlands College Boys Softball Team which recently won the National Secondary Schools Championship in Hastings. He created a totally focused successful team with an amazing team spirit which was reflective in their skill level as they were unbeaten in 10 games. Rhys had excellent rapport with all team members who have enormous respect for their coach.


Kath Delahunty is the Coach of the Month for March. Kath has organised all the Touch and Miniball teams and coached for many years at Sacred Heart Primary School, Petone. She gives endless hours for practise at lunch times and games after school. Kath's enthusiasm with the students is infectious and her skills as a coach outstanding and this has seen the increased number of Touch teams each year. Kath's positive attitude well and truly supports and displays the healthy and active school vision.

The February Coach of the Month is Davey Forbes who is the strength & conditioning coach for Matt Steven who won the recent Junior World OK Dinghy championships.Davey was responsible for getting Matt into peak physical condition for the international event, his sport specific programmes and commitment assisted immensely in the World title success.


The January Coach of the Month is Plaxton Mendoza who coached the Hutt Valley Under 15 Girls representative Softball team at the North Island championship in Palmerston North. The team won the 4 day event with an impressive display and beat the highly fancied Auckland team in a close and exciting Final. The planning and preparation for the event was excellent focusing on team unity and the skills required for the tactics that were implemented. At the conclusion of the final Plaxton was named as the coach of the North Island tournament team.

The Coach of the Month for December is Thomas Makea who coached and prepared the Wellington Men's representative Softball team to win the National Fastpitch Provincial championship in Christchurch. This was a great achievement, as early in the season Wellington were struggling to field a team however due to Thomas's outstanding leadership skills and experiences as a high performance athlete he assembled a group of youth and experience to mould them into a champion team.


 

The November Coach of the Month is Ricki Herbert who guided the All Whites to success over Bahrain in the Football World Cup qualifying games. Ricki, an Evans Bay resident, was instrumental in planning the World Cup campaign for the past two years and now joins an elite group in representing his country at this prestigious event as an athlete (1982) and as a coach (2010).

 


 

 

The October Coach of the Month is Rob Pilitati who coaches Netball at Newlands Intermediate School.

Rob has had an outstanding season with this young group of girls who have made excellent progress collectively and individually. As a team they were undefeated in the Northern Suburbs Year 7A grade, were promoted to the Year 8A league competition and won that competition too. They also won the Year 7 Springtime tournament in Levin competing against teams from other regions.

Six players were selected for the Northern Suburbs Representative team, as Rob says "They are a brilliant team with amazing futures."


Simon George and Craig Hopkins are the Coach of the Month for September. They are the co-coaches of the Olympic Football Club which won the prestigious Chatham Cup, something the club has strived to achieve for the past 50 years.

Both have worked extremely hard for the past nine months developing the Olympic team into a focused and determined group, with a record of 25 undefeated League and Cup games.

They have contributed a huge number of hours pre-season and in-season plus extra trainings to ensure that all the team were prepared mentally and physically to achieve their ultimate objective of winning Football New Zealand’s top competition.