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Here are the details of the coaches and the work they have been doing over the past year to be nominated for the Notts Coach of the Year 2016,
As part of our build up to the Cricket Ireland Awards 2016, we will be doing articles on some of the categories for nominations for this year’s awards. First up is the Notts Coach of the Year Award nominees:
Rob O’Connor – Leinster

Rob was nominated for his positive influence in Leinster CC’s Women’s section this year. All 3 women’s teams made it into their cup finals. He is a coach who gives opportunities to developing players and encourages all players to become the best that they can be. While also commencing his Level 3 coaching certificate during 2016, he coached the Ireland U15 Girls side in their first ever appearance in the Malvern College Festival, as well as being involved in the coaching set up in the Super 3s tournaments, being an Ireland Women’s Chair of Selectors national selector and coaching the Leinster U15 Girls interprovincial squads. As the Lead Coach of The Dragons Super 3s Team, he coached the team to victory in the 2016 Super 3s Competition.

Chris Thomas – Munster

Chris offers outstanding dedication and input for Limerick CC and the Munster Cricket Union by working as a coach and administrator for youth cricket. Chris has been very prominent in the progression of youth cricket in the Mid-West and Munster through coaching within local national and secondary schools and clubs. From a Munster perspective Chris has worked hard to develop pathways by which youth cricketers within Munster can develop and achieve their full potential and recognition at club, provincial and international level. The improving performances of Munster youth teams and players in the Interprovincial Competitions and increased representation of Munster players in Irish National Training Squads is testament to this. Chris also takes a very active role in Coach Development, regularly mentoring coaches throughout the province whilst continually looking for opportunities to up-skill and develop his own coaching skills.

Ryan Eagleson – Northern

This year Ryan guided the Irish Under 19 Team to a series of impressive performances at the Under 19 World Cup, winning two matches and competing with Full Members like India and New Zealand Under 19s. This year Ryan also completed the coveted UKCC ECB Level 4 qualification, one of only a few people in Ireland to have such a high-level coaching qualification. Ryan also led up the Shapoorji Pallonji Cricket Ireland Academy, which saw three of it’s Academy players get selected for Senior International Squads – Josh Little, Leah Paul and Lorcan Tucker.

Mark Olphert – Northwest

Mark coaches at several different levels – he is assistant coach for the Northwest Academy & Northwest Under 17s, he combines this with other commitments at Union level. As well as this he also helps to oversee coaching at his club, Bready CC who are currently at the forefront of NW youth cricket with several representatives on NW and Irish panels. During 2016 Mark took time away from work to assist with the Northwest U17 Interpro team who played matches in Dublin, as well as this he took over as lead coach for the first tour run by the Northwest to a friendly competition in Sussex with the U17 side. Along with his wide coaching at squad level, Mark also offers help to players on a one to one basis within the Bready Indoor Centre and helps with developing player techniques and confidence building.

Aaron Hamilton – International

As the Head Coach for the Cricket Ireland Senior Women’s team, Aaron guided the Women to victory in the T20 Qualifying competition, beating a Full Member, Bangladesh, in the final in Thailand to reach the T20 World Cup in India this year. He also helped the Women seal two famous wins this summer as well, beating Bangladesh again and also South Africa too. Aaron has been instrumental in the further development of the Women’s game here in Ireland by supporting many programmes to help grow the game and assisting other coaches in their own develop as well.

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