Last week at Lord's, five coaches from within Middlesex had their achievements recognised with awards in the annual Middlesex Coaching Awards, with their trophies presented to them at Lord's in the home dressing room.
Chair of the Middlesex Coaches Association, Rod Croucher, and Director of Participation, Kari Carswell, hosted the awards presentation, in the company of Middlesex CEO, Andrew Cornish, Chair of the Club's Membership Committee, Marilyn Smith, Director of Development, Angus Fraser, Director of Cricket, Alan Coleman, Club Coach, Rory Coutts, and BBC Test Match Special's, Jonathan Agnew.
The Awards recognise the efforts and achievements of those coaches in Middlesex who have gone above and beyond in their coaching roles in grassroots cricket.
Awards were presented in each of the following categories:
SPECIAL MIDDLESEX AWARD...
Presented to the person who has made a real difference in their role, has gone above and beyond in their efforts, and has been a real driving force in delivering their coaching role.
2023 Winner = Briony Brock of Shepherd's Bush Cricket Club.
An extract from her nomination citation read:
‘As Head of Girl’s Cricket Briony Brock has been the driving force behind the thriving girl's section of Shepherd's Bush Cricket Club and instrumental in developing a pathway for females from aged 5, all the way up to women's. 2023 was a turning point for the girl's cricket section growing from a handful of girls a couple of years ago to over 55 girls now.
Briony is focused on reducing barriers to cricket for girls, making it an inclusive and welcoming environment. She identified a concern amongst some of the older girls with playing in whites, and this year designed and helped source local female-run independent businesses to sponsor a new coloured kit with dark trousers. She ran a dedicated girls end of season awards event, presenting every girl with a personalised certificate - making sure every girl’s achievement, small or large, was recognised’.
YOUNG COACH OF THE YEAR...
Presented to the young person who is already making a difference and is already passing on their enthusiasm for the game and inspiring the next generation of players.
2023 Winner = Adi Banerjee of Headstone Manor Cricket Club
An extract from her nomination citation read:
‘Adi joined the club in 2019 at the age of 15, wanting to play cricket. During her summer holiday, she attended the club's training sessions on a regular basis to learn how to play the game. She worked hard at improving her game, but soon discovered that her talents lay in aspects of coaching as she signed up to join and run our all-stars training programme, and to coach teams at the club.
She started as a helper at the coaching sessions, doing the basics, taking the register, telling parents about the club events, junior matches, and training camps, and so on. Adi soon got her first assignment as an ECB ‘all-stars coach’, being given this responsibility to work with kids aged 6–8 years and their parents over 8 weeks.
Adi has moved on to coaching our Under 9s team once she qualified as an ECB Level 1 Coach. She is now a self-motivated coach who runs her sessions for juniors every Friday at the club and works with senior coaches during summer camps and matches.
She helped coach girls at this year’s London Youth Games and now has her heart set on achieving her ECB Level 2 qualification’.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION - SERVICES TO COACHING
Presented to the person who is the life and soul at their club, in their league, their county or at their school. They have dedicated a significant amount of time to coaching and have contributed to growing the game.
2023 winner = Jamie Endean, Stoke Newington Cricket Club
An extract from his nomination citation read:
‘Jamie has given years of dedication to grassroots and performance cricket within East London Boroughs. Always seen with a smile on his face, his affable manner and approach with the kids he coaches lead to amazing results, great teams and a wonderful set of cricketers coming out of both East London Boroughs and Stoke Newington’s U10 sides over the last 5-10 years.
Jamie will never miss a session/trial without a good reason. He is so committed to the East London Borough’s pathway that he will always offer to lend a hand to other coaches should they need help. He coaches for all the right reasons alongside a busy day job and a cricket-mad family and has had an immense impact on so many young children’s lives with his caring approach and excellent manner.
As well as his sterling work for East London Boroughs, he is the Chair of Stoke Newington CC – Jamie is everywhere at Hackney Marshes, all nights of the week, coaching Stoke Newington’s juniors, women’s’sides and even the men’s 1st XI to make sure everyone continues to improve and love their cricket’.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION - SERVICES TO COACH DEVELOPMENT
Presented to the individual or team of coach developers, club or local initiative who is going above and beyond to support the development of coaches in their county.
2023 Winner = Raj Nath of Middlesex Cricket
An extract from his nomination citation read:
‘The MCoA has been lucky to work with plenty of excellent colleagues at Middlesex Cricket over the years, but Raj has put in an immense effort in his minimal spare time to help our organisation continue to improve coach development over the last few years. This support has been alongside other Middlesex Cricket members of staff, but Raj has demonstrated a huge commitment, a cheerful, willing, and most helpful manner, and has gone above and beyond the call of duty, to broaden the coach development offering in Middlesex.
Meticulous in his planning and organisation, Raj has taken an active part in minuting and following up on the actions of MCoA meetings and facilitating appropriate introductions for us across the business to put events on. He spent some painstaking time helping to bring membership lists up to date and to cross-reference this data set with other lists, a manual and highly boring task that others might have refused, but in true Raj fashion he simply got on with the job.
MIDDLESEX COACH OF THE YEAR...
Presented to the coach who goes the extra mile and is a true coaching hero to their club, league, county, or school.
2023 Winner = Laura de Silva of Highgate Cricket Club
'Great female coaches are in short supply in Middlesex – Laura is a leading light in this department and her work has led to the development, expansion, and success of not only Highgate CC but of girls’ cricket within Middlesex more generally. Her commitment, passion, and energy are second to none and she has had an impact on many of the girls in the county across U15, 13 and 11 levels in particular.
Laura not only contributes to coaching but is actively involved in committees and giving back to cricket – she is the U11 CAG Girls Coach, runs the U12 Girls Area Programme, and is the East London Boroughs U12 Boys Lead Coach. Laura is so dedicated she organises extra sessions, and volunteers her time to deliver free 1-1 coaching to her players ahead of key games/milestones so that they feel relaxed and able to perform to the best of their ability’.
Middlesex Cricket would like to congratulate all five award winners on their well-deserved recognition and for making such a huge difference to the standards of coaching within Middlesex.
All award winners were photographed with their awards in the home dressing room at Lord's, shown below:
Briony Brock of Shepherd's Bush Cricket Club
Adi Banerjee of Headstone Manor Cricket Club
Jamie Endean, Stoke Newington Cricket Club
Raj Nath of Middlesex Cricket
Laura de Silva of Highgate Cricket Club
