Volunteer Coach of the Year award accepted on the run

1/10/2008

Ryan Martin (1995-98) barely had time to slow down to win the Otago Volunteer Coach of the Year award last week.

Such is his dedication to sport, both playing and coaching, the Outram School teacher has little time free.
Ryan is the coaching coordinator for junior rugby at the West Taieri Rugby Football Club, coaches basketball at the Outram club, administers and coaches touch, and helps out with the West Taieri Netball Club.

Ryan Martin

He also finds time to play three modules of touch, and have a game of social basketball every week.
Ryan was also persuaded to play another season of premier rugby for Pirates this year, and the halfback did well enough to win the player-of-the-year award for his side.

The 28 year old said he was trying to wind down the playing side of sport and put more focus on coaching.

‘‘But a few people told me you are a short time playing, a long time coaching, so I thought, ‘why not keep playing?’’’ he said.

He also had the role of being a sports parent, with his daughter, Courtney (9), taking up basketball.
‘‘Being on the sideline when you’re a parent can be pretty tough. But it’s given me a different perspective on how parents feel when you make selection changes and other stuff.’’

He had previously coached at a school in Papatoetoe in South Auckland and then Rosebank Primary School in Balclutha.
Captain of the Otago Boys’ High School First XV in 1998, which shared the national secondary school’s title with Rotorua Boys’ and which included current All Black captain Richie McCaw, Ryan said he set high standards in his coaching, and seeing the development in teams and people was the biggest buzz in coaching.
‘‘It’s great to see teams come together and move forward. You can see it affect people in so many other ways than sport. They can become better people and improve in their school work.’’

He said in the long term he would love to get involved in professional coaching, but for now he would be busy on the sports field, and he rarely got an afternoon off.
Boxing coach Bruce Bond (1961-63) was presented with a lifetime coaching award, after more than 35 years as a trainer.

The Wattie’s national volunteer coach award will be announced in November.