Thank you for nominating me for a "Year of the Volunteer Award for Inspiration".

I am delighted and honoured to inform you I have been selected as one of the 2005 Award recipients.

To quote the letter: -
The YV05 Awards aim to celebrate and honour the amazing work carried out by volunteers in England.

Although I am honoured to receive this award I feel I must point out that I am one of a growing team of volunteers and coaches from Marske Badminton Club and Teesside Badminton Coaches Association who are responsible for the tremendous increase in Badminton development across the Tees Valley.
In particular I feel the coaching team at Marske Junior Badminton Club who work alongside me should be mentioned: -
Debbie Zipfell, Gareth Jones, and Steven Knights who work with the U11 group.
Andy & Leslie Barwick who work with the intermediate group.
Paul Hensby & Paul Young who work with the advanced group.
Supporting this group are a growing number of young players who have qualified as leaders or Level 1 coaches during the last 2 years.

These include Tom Newstead, Alex Scholes, Steph Barwick, Iain Defty, Ruth Wear & James Young (sorry if I missed anyone).

These young people represent the sustainability of the coaching structure we are building.

Looking at the Teesside Badminton Coaches Association, I must mention the work of Roger Cook who as a part time development officer puts more hours in each week than he did when he was employed full time in industry. Roger should be recognised as the driving force behind Badminton Development in the Tees Valley.

Tees Valley now boasts Clubmarked Junior Badminton Clubs at Marske, Westgate, Thornaby, Acklam, and Brierton with junior club sessions at David Lloyd Teesside, Ormesby and Stockton.

Only 1 person receives an award but in reality a host of people are responsible for the success achieved.

Thanks and Best Regards

Dave Knights
Marske Junior Badminton Club Development Officer