TWO local sports coaches have won major honours from Wigan Sports Council.

Annalisa Coop of Howe Bridge Aces Swimming Club has won the prestigious Coach of the Year award while Mavis Bent of Tyldesley Swimming and Water Polo Club receives a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards, now in their third year, are devised to raise the profile of those local coaches who make an invaluable contribution to the development of sport within the Wigan Authority. This year's winner has the added bonus of representing the borough at the Greater Manchester Awards ceremony tomorrow.

Magnificent contribution

The concept behind the awards, supported by ADM Leisurewear, is to recognise the magnificent contribution made by coaches to the development of their chosen sport, be it at juniors level within a club or at international level.

Annalisa Coop has had an impressive impact on the club over the past year.

The progress in the club junior section has not only seen promotion to division one but also in the number of junior members. Much of this success can be attributed to the planning and meeting structure the club has adopted along with the 12-month achievement schedule for participants.

The development of the club has been matched by Annalisa's own. She has gained good practice and child protection awareness from RLS training, become an assessor for life saving, attended analysis seminars and is studying for a degree in sports science. She has also helped to foster a great club spirit.

After the success of last year's awards and the high standard of dedicated coaches, it was decided to retain the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wigan borough is fortunate to have several coaches who have maintained a high level of support for their chosen sport over many years.

Mavis Bent is one of those coaches. She became involved with the water polo section at Tyldesley in 1978. For many years she assisted the development of the senior side but in 1987 she proposed a junior development plan which the club adopted.

She encouraged members of the local community to give the sport a try and worked with children as young as eight.

The club has continued to reap the benefits of this early junior work with highlights including players representing Great Britain at youth and senior level. The club also won the national championships.

Mavis has more recently encouraged others to assist in the development of the club through coaching and officials coaches and taken on many roles including team manager, secretary and fund raiser. She now leads the club as president.

Among the highly-commended winners Darren Abram the Leigh Centurions Academy coach and Andrew Johnson of Leigh Tennis Club.