In a second wave of shortlist announcements by UK Coaching, the pair are among 20 more finalists announced for next month’s prestigious UK Coaching Awards on 5 December 2019.
With over three million people coaching regularly in the UK, the Awards will celebrate the outstanding work a diverse array of coaches do in their community every day, enriching the lives of those around them and contributing to healthy and happy lifestyles.
Melanie Marshall, who coaches a group at Loughborough’s National Centre for Swimming, has followed a stellar career competing in the sport with success from the side of the pool. Well known for working with Adam Peaty since the age of twelve, Marshall who was also part of the Great Britain coaching team at the 2019 World Championships in South Korea, and supports the next generation of coaches through the England Talent Coaching Programmes is a finalist in the High Performance Coach of the Year award.
Speaking about her nomination, Marshall said:
“It’s a real honour to be nominated for the UK Coaching Awards, but it is recognition of all the hard work which goes behind the scenes from the entire staff team at British Swimming.
I’ve had the pleasure to work with some of the most talented swimmers of our generation, and it is their commitment to achieving their best which inspires me to coach.
I see how our athletes are
inspiring young people to take up swimming and being involved in the England
Talent Coaching programmes gives me an opportunity to see that first hand –
it’s great seeing children get so excited about the sport, have fun and aim
high.”
Head coach to four-time Paralympic gold medallist Bethany Firth, Nelson Lindsay is also recognised in the High Performance Coach of the Year category. In the past 12 months alone, Nelson has guided Firth to four golds at the 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships and two victories at the London 2019 World Para Swimming Championships.
Commenting on his nomination, Lindsay said:
“To hear I have been nominated for any coaching award, let alone one as prestigious as this, is very flattering, but I always feel slightly guilty because while I have the good fortune to work with an athlete, there are always others involved.
At this late stage in my career I appreciate more that coaching not only rewards with the vicarious excitement of a sporting performance achieved, but also the opportunities to work with so many wonderful young people. It is very much a source of satisfaction to me that so many of them when you meet them in later life look back on their sporting careers with pleasure and that so many of them have turned out so well in life.”
It was previously announced on 22nd October that City of Glasgow Swim Team coach Danielle Brayson had been shortlisted for the Talent Development Coach of the Year award.
The UK Coaching Awards on 5 December 2019 recognise and celebrate the work of people and organisations who are making a significant impact on Great Coaching. They shine a light on the role coaches play in transforming lives and inspiring an active nation. See more at www.ukcoaching.org/UKCoachingAwards