A Wheelchair Basketball coach from West Lothian has been shortlisted for the Community Coach of the Year for Children and Young People by UK Coaching, in recognition of their outstanding work coaching young people with disabilities.
The UK Coaching Awards is a national celebration event, regarded as the most prestigious within the coaching community and created to celebrate the remarkable contributions coaches make – from delivering high quality and technical coaching, to supporting participants both physically and mentally.
Tina Gordon has been passionate about coaching wheelchair basketball for over 30 years having coached at junior through to the senior competitive levels.
For the past eight years she has shifted her focus to coaching young people with physical disabilities under the age of 14.
Seeing how participation in wheelchair basketball brings out their confidence and helps the players become more independent outside of the basketball court, Tina reflected on her experience as “giving her great joy”.
Tina said: “I feel very humbled and proud to be nominated for the ‘Community Coach of the Year. Hearing that the young players (and their parents) at Lothian Phoenix had nominated me certainly was a surprize and one I’m very grateful for – normally it’s me nominating them for awards!
“I love coaching young people and to see them having fun with their pals, achieving their aspirations & dreams through playing wheelchair basketball, really energises me and fills me with such joy.
“Seeing young people with disabilities having fun with their pals, developing their confidence, and achieving their dreams, gives me such a buzz, I just love it!
“The most important thing for me as a coach is seeing how sport, and wheelchair basketball in particular, can positively enhance young people’s lives. To see so many smiling faces each week at training, and the pride on family members faces fills me with such joy – I feel I have an extended family myself!”
With previous award winners including Sarina Wiegman, Jane Figueiredo, Judy Murray, and Ben Stokes’ coaching chain, the awards celebrate the best of the UK’s Coaching workforce, the unforgettable moments they deliver, and the profound impact at every level of sport and activity.
UK Coaching’s CEO Mark Gannon congratulated Tina on the nomination, and reflected on the huge variety of coaching talent announced: “We are delighted to announce our finalists for the 2023 UK Coaching Awards.
“Across the board we have seen so much talent, passion and commitment amongst our amazing coaching workforce, and this year’s finalists represent the best of our nation’s coaches who do so much to support people through sport and physical activity.
“All of our finalists should be extremely proud of what they have been able to achieve and fully deserve this recognition. We are very much looking forward to celebrating together at our UK Coaching Awards ceremony, bringing together the coaches that are going above and beyond to deliver outstanding experiences and make a real difference in their community.”
The awards will be held on 5 December at the Queens Hotel in Leeds.
Find out more about this year’s finalists and the awards by heading to:
www.ukcoaching.org/uk-coaching-awards.
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