12 January 2011
Last night (Tuesday 11 January) Janice Hendrie received sportscotland’s Participation Coach of the Year 2010 award.
The award, given for helping young people engage with sport on a recreational basis, was presented by sportscotland’s partnership managers Iain Kennedy and Gemma Fay, during one of Janice’s routine coaching sessions with local youngsters in Ravenscraig Sports Centre, Greenock.
Having been a PE teacher for 33 years at Greenock’s Notre Dame High School, in addition to coaching athletics for 25 years, thousands of local youngsters, some from areas of high deprivation, have benefited from Janice’s commitment to youth sport.
Outside her PE duties, Janice has organized activities for young people of all levels in the weekends, holidays and after school. In addition to being heavily involved in junior athletic training and developing opportunities for disabled youngsters in the local area through sportscotland’s Active Schools programme.
For Janice the reward for her work remains the youngsters’ enthusiasm; “The greatest thrill is seeing kids achieve and being happy and smiling – and when I say achieve I don’t just mean winning medals. It’s about seeing them master something and get something out of athletics.”
“Coaching does help give young kids in the area healthy alternatives and I think that any activity that encourages kids to get involved can help keep them on the right path.”