The Good Teach Team Coach of the Year features four coaches who have been pivotal to their charges’ success.

This year’s category winner will be unveiled at the ILT Southland Sports Awards on June 7 at Ascot Park Hotel, along with six other categories and the coveted BDO Services to Sport acknowledgements.

Te Anau-based Shaun Cantwell is extensively involved in many aspects of sporting life in the Fiordland area and is respected nationally for his coaching knowledge, especially when it comes to athletics. Two of his athletes, Dwight Grieve and Sagar Khomeni, represented New Zealand and India, respectively, at the world mountain running championships in Spain, with Cantwell also attending as the New Zealand team’s coach and manager.

 

A member of the rugby coaching group at Southland Boys’ High School since 2011, Jason Dermody was at the helm as the school’s first XV secured its maiden Top Four national title and claimed the Moascar Cup for the first time. It was only the second time Southland Boys’ had qualified for the final in nine attempts and the first time a South Island school had won since 2006. Boys’ High’s campaign included a number of tight wins and the team had to show plenty of resilience after injuries to key players before the final against Westlake.

A significant contributor to the sport of cycling in Southland, including as a historian and commentator at events locally and nationally, Julian Ineson has been a key part of top ranked junior rider Marshall Erwood’s rise to the junior world track cycling championships and New Zealand under 23 road title.

Lance Smith’s impact on the local athletics scene continues to be instrumental. Athletes under his watch won a host of medals at both the New Zealand track and field and New Zealand secondary schools championship events and secured selection in New Zealand teams for the Oceania championships and Australian schools championships.

The ILT Southland Sports Awards are presented by Active Southland on behalf of the Southland Amateur Sports Trust and are New Zealand’s longest-running regional sports awards.

Article added: Friday 31 May 2024