British Orienteering are glad to announce The Peter Palmer Coach of the Year Award Winner as Roger Goddard from Forth Valley Orienteers.

This award celebrates the varied roles played and the achievements made by coaches over the year.

Roger Goddard (Forth Valley Orienteers)

Roger has built and organised an enthusiastic team of coaches and parent helpers as well as regular junior attendees from the West area of Scotland. As the lead coach and organiser for the Scottish West Area Team (SWAT) he has kept morale and commitment alive through the hardest parts of lockdown in 2020/ 2021 using online sessions to engage youngsters when in-person meeting was impossible. He ensured the juniors were back out orienteering as soon as it was safe.

Team activities have included online planning sessions and online quizzes, day training sessions in a wide variety of terrain, and residential weekends often combining training and racing. The program in 2022 consisted of 10 in-person days of training and racing split over 4 residential weekends and further individual training days.

One of the many nominees said: “Roger encourages a strong team spirit that shows in the enthusiasm of the athletes and the mixing of juniors from different clubs and age ranges. He has also ensures that there is a strong group of coaches and parent helpers to spread the work and bring in a variety of approaches and skills.”

Congratulations to Roger on winning this award. You can learn more about the Forth Valley Orienteers via their website.