Three North East nominees are hoping to achieve top spot in the national awards next month.

In February the Coach Core Awards will celebrate the best of their programmes across 2022, as well as highlighting their 10th year as a charitable programme.  

The Coach Core Awards bring together apprentices, graduated apprentices, their employers and learning coaches, as well as supporters and other partners, to celebrate and highlight everything that makes Coach Core special. 

The ceremony will by taking place at The Oval – Surrey County Cricket Club’s pitch – in London on February 8th, 12-2pm. The event will be livestreamed (for free) – If you’d like to watch, please check on the Coach Core social media channels at the time. 

During the event the following categories will be awarded: 

Apprentice 

• Chauncey Taylor 

• Hermione Paul 

• Lewis Ritchie 

• Ocean McDonald 

• Zain Khan 

Graduate of the Year 

• Ahsan Sakander 

• Aimee Wallace 

• Grace Kane 

Learning Coach 

• Arran Brookbanks 

• David Smith 

• Wasim Collins 

Mentor 

• Chris Wade 

• Emma Brown 

• Joel Lock 

Most Valuable Person 

• BMS Marketing & Communications Team 

• Dan Thomas 

• Jane Barr 

Employer 

• Hat-Trick 

• Leicester City in the Community 

• White Rose Rugby 

We’re extremely delighted to be cheering on our North East nominees - Lewis Ritchie, Emma Brown, Wasim Collins and Hat-Trick.  

Hat-Trick support young people to reach their full potential by providing opportunities to participate in positive activities that offer training, qualifications and leadership. They work across the city of Newcastle and the borough of Gateshead in areas of high deprivation. Hat Trick has been involved in the Coach Core programme in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear since its inception. They were one of the first organisations nationally to pilot the Level 3 apprenticeship and always go above and beyond to support their apprentices. Alongside the Coach Core programme, they also provide all their apprentices with a multitude of additional opportunities which not only enhance their apprenticeship experience but also provide them with skills that will benefit them on their pathway into employment.  

Jade Scott, Young Adult Development Manager at Rise said: “As the facilitator of the Coach Core programme for Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, we are delighted that Hat Trick has been shortlisted in so many of the Coach Core Awards categories for 2022. To have finalists in the Apprentice of the Year, Mentor of the Year and Employer of the Year categories highlights how much dedication they put into the programme.” 

We also caught up with Keith Parsons, Community Sport Manager at Hat-Trick who said: “Hat-Trick is deeply humbled to have been shortlisted for the employer of the year award from Coach Core. To be recognised for the quality of apprenticeship experience we offer young people from underserved communities means a lot to the whole staff team and helps to reinforce why we do what we do in Newcastle upon Tyne delivering community sport of the highest possible standards.” 

Not only have Hat-Trick been nominated for Employer of the Year, but they have also had Lewis and Emma nominated for Apprentice of the Year and Mentor of the Year respectively. This is such a fantastic achievement for both Lewis and Emma, it’s been great to see Lewis’s progress and development through the apprenticeship and to see Emma recognised for all her hard work mentoring the apprentices.  

Moreover, we’re equally delighted for Wasim to be nominated for Learning Coach of the Year. Wasim is a huge advocate of Coach Core in our area and is always willing to help however he can. During our consultation with the current apprentice’s last summer, one of the main highlights of the programme was the education days, which is a testament to what a great Learning Coach Wasim is. 

When we spoke to Wasim about the nomination, he said: “I am delighted to be nominated for Learning Coach of the year for 2022. To get recognition for the work you do is always an amazing feeling but there has been many supportive people along the journey to make this programme in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear a real hit with LTOs and young people. Lifetime, Coach Core and Rise have a great partnership going on up here and it’s clear to see. All of the people involved have made this nomination possible and I couldn’t be more grateful!” 

We would like to wish all nominees the best of luck! 

To find out more about Coach Core, visit -  Coach Core - Sports coaching apprenticeships for young people in the UK