Capital Football Junior Coach of the Year Radha McGlashan talks tactics with her players. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
FOOTBALL
CHRIS COGDALE
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At just 22, Radha McGlashan is young for a coach, but her love for football and her desire to pass on her knowledge to young players has her in line to win a national junior coaching award.
McGlashan, who coaches two Douglas Villa junior teams, was one of 30 people nationwide nominated for the McDonald’s Junior Football Coach of the Year awards.
Winners from each of the six federations go forward for the national award.
McGlashan was at work at Masterton’s Pak’nSave supermarket on Wednesday when she found out she had won the Capital Federation award.
“The email popped up on my watch, and then I flicked on it so I could read the whole email. It was very overwhelming, and I was speechless. I was crying in the middle of work,” McGlashan said.
McGlashan coached the Douglas Villa 11th grade Titans, and 12th grade Hotshots teams, juggling her work shifts to fit in her coaching commitments, all the more meritorious given that she has no family connection with the teams.
Some of the attributes that factored into McGlashan winning the award were organising team-building events such as bowling and dinner; offering extra one-on-one training; helping childten get to and from training if their parents couldn’t take them; and promoting good manners and positivity on the field.
McGlashan’s love for football was nurtured from a young age by grandparents Dennis and Robyn Tapp, who ran school holiday coaching programmes for junior players.
“When I was about 14, my grandparents ran an academy, and I helped coach at that. I’d always been to their holiday programmes and participated when I was really young. When I got older, I started helping out more, and being like the bigger role model.”
As well as coaching, McGlashan still finds time to play and is a regular member of the Douglas Villa Drake side who played in the Wairarapa men’s division one.
The winner of the national award was to be named today, along with the People’s Choice Award.
