Johnson Wins National Volunteer Coach of the Year Award
Palmerston North’s Helen Johnson, coach of Special Olympics basketball, swimming, golf, skiing, cycling and athletics has won the General award at the National Wattie’s Volunteer Coach of the Year Awards.
A national judging panel, led by Ross Bond, Senior Advisor for Sport and Recreation New Zealand’s CoachForce programme, selected Helen from four other finalists out of a general pool of 3,800 nominated volunteer coaches.
The awards ceremony, held in Auckland on Friday evening (November 7), produced the Manawatu region’s second National Winner in as many years, after Bridget Percy of the Pahiatua Bush Hockey club won in 2007.
Helen says it’s a great feeling to be the National Volunteer Coach of the Year.
“I was pretty numb there for a while, until I got back to the hotel, and then I couldn’t sleep! It was a really exciting evening, and it was great to meet all the other wonderful volunteer coaches, and to hear their stories”.
Helen was also impressed by the guest speaker, former Silver Fern Bernice Mene, who gave a motivational speech.
Helen began coaching eight years go when she took her 13 year old daughter, Keri Anne, to a Special Olympics swimming programme. Back then Helen didn’t swim herself, so she took lessons in 2002 and the next year was head coach of 16 swimmers. Since then her team of swimmers has grown to 50.
The organiser of Manawatu’s regional Wattie’s Volunteer Coach of the Awards, Ben Valentine, from Sport Manawatu, says; “This just shows the class, dedication, commitment and talent of volunteer coaches in our region. Sport Manawatu organise these awards to celebrate the hard work of volunteer coaches in our region, so it’s fantastic to see this recognised at a national level.”
“This isn’t just a win for Helen, or for Special Olympics, but for every single volunteer coach in the Manawatu region,” says Ben.
Helen walks away with $3,000 towards coaching development or equipment, along with a years’ supply of Wattie’s canned product. The other category winners on the night were Frances MacKay of Burnside High School, Christchurch, in the student category, and Val Cooney of Rotorua in the Lifetime category.