ECB Coach Awards 2022

Winners of the ECB Coach Awards 2022 were recognised in an Awards Ceremony at Kent Cricket’s annual Volunteers’ Day on Tuesday 27th September. The winners enjoyed a day’s hospitality at The Spitfire Ground and watched day 2 of Kent vs Somerset in the LV=County Championship.

Kent Coaches Association submitted our winners to the ECB to judge the national finalists and subsequent winners. The three national finalists from each category will be invited to attend the ECB Coach Awards dinner where the national winners will be announced.

This year’s winners for Kent were:

Young Coach of the Year- Charlie Monk, Bexleyheath Cricket Club

At just 19, Charlie has had a huge impact on cricket at Bexleyheath Cricket Club this year and helped inspire hundreds of players.

As well as taking on the coaching and management of three of the junior sides throughout the year, Charlie has set up the first ever girls only side at Bexleyheath and helped them to enter their first competitions.

On top of this he also assists his peers by taking fielding sessions for the adult sides, and is passing on his experience and knowledge to help develop other young coaches by mentoring young leaders at the club that assist with competitions and coaching the younger age groups.

He is incredibly helpful and absolutely dedicated to coaching young people, inspiring them to play and give back to cricket, a real role model for others in the club.

Coach Of the Year- Kayleigh Gallagher, Hayes Cricket Club

Kayleigh is an integral part of Hayes (Kent) Cricket Club, proactively leading both the All Stars and Dynamos programmes. She has also followed this up by planning and leading Under 11 softball coaching sessions and ‘transition to hard ball’ programmes, to encourage children to remain involved in the game and the Club.

Her hard work and enthusiasm are infectious, and this helps open up both the club and cricket to new boys and girls, of all ages. She has also recently become involved in driving disability cricket within Kent, supporting existing programmes and bringing disability cricket to the Club – drawing on her skills and experience as a teacher in a disability setting.

Over the years, Kayleigh has been involved in both playing and supporting the development of the Women’s side at Hayes and has occasionally represented the men’s teams. She also helps run Holiday and Summer Camps for Children of all ages, looking to take part in cricket and/or learn more about the game, opening cricket to wider audiences for the benefit of the Club.  Ultimately, the children love her supportive, fun and outgoing personality and take a great deal of enjoyment from taking part in all that she does.

Outstanding Contribution- Services to Coaching- Phillip Relf

Phil has been an inspiration to many young players and coaches in Kent. His work at Canterbury Academy with the Cricket teams and the Courses that he has developed, have not only benefitted his players, but hundreds of others in clubs around the county through developing young coaches.

His programmes help to develop players and take them to the next level with his enthusiasm and efforts. This season the Academy first team have lost just one match, won 2 Kent Cups and got to the U17 National Cup Final, a great achievement for a state secondary school. Thanks to his efforts the team have gelled admirably and played for each other and the Academy.

He is an outstanding coach and mentor to many young players.

Outstanding Contribution- Services to Coach Education- Richard O’Sullivan

Richard has been a driving force for cricket in Bexley and throughout Kent for over 40 years and has had an impact on a huge number of coaches throughout that time.

He has been a dedicated member of the Coach Development team in the county, delivering high quality courses to new coaches for decades.

Through his work, he not only inspires thousands of children in schools to play cricket, but also enables them to continue their cricket careers into coaching with a constant conveyer belt of young talented coaches coming through his programmes.

Even if you haven’t been tutored by him personally he will have had some effect on your coaching….. he features in numerous videos that can be found in iCoachCricket, demonstrating activities you may use at your club and has been a feature of videos during Level 1 and Level 2 courses in the past.