A CRICKET coach from Warrington has been shortlisted for a national award by UK Coaching, in recognition of his work supporting the local community to engage with the sport more closely.
Tom Jones has been the Junior Cricket Coaching Lead at his local club Warrington Sports Club for over 10 years, with a continual focus on creating a cricket environment where young people thrive, develop, enjoy the game and make lifelong friends. Leading on a fully inclusive environment, Jones launched girls cricket opportunities at the club, recruiting women onto junior leadership team, and has supported LGBGT+ players to create a culture where everyone is welcome and valued.
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.
Bringing the game to new communities, Tom has also worked to build relationships with local Chinese community in Warrington, to introduce cricket and community-based activities. On their nomination, Tom said: “I could not be prouder. The work that I do to create and host a podcast show which shines a light on junior cricket coaching is something I am very passionate about and feel very privileged to do. After all, for many of us it was as a child where we first fell in love with sport.
“Cricket is a game that provides so much enjoyment for everyone wherever you are from, whatever your background and whatever part of the community you represent, and I simply take this approach into my coaching and create an environment in which I hope everyone feels safe and can be the best version of themselves.
“In my work with the local Chinese community group, I have created a programme which gives children aged 8-18 the opportunity to try numerous cricketing activities for the first time with an emphasis on fun and participation. Now I have been introduced to representatives of the Chinese Women’s Cricket Association and we are looking at developing opportunities to grow the sport in this area.
“I firmly believe that coaching plays a massively important role in supporting people in all aspects of their lives.”
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 Tom on their 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.
