Beverley Burnham, Oundle School’s Head of Netball, was recently nominated for and won the East Midlands Regional Coach of the Year award. This prestigious award is the culmination of many years spent coaching netball at various levels, starting at junior county level right through to her time spent with the National Talent League (NTL).
The NTL feeds into the Superleague’s Loughborough Lightning side where she also assisted with coaching some of the best young netball players in the country. As well as her position at Oundle School, she is currently Head Coach of the Northamptonshire County Excel Academy. All this takes much of her time as a volunteer and requires not only time spent planning and delivering coaching sessions, but also travelling the country for matches.
Head of Girls Games at Oundle, Leti Brighton commented, “Bev’s success with netball at Oundle School was recognised in the nomination and an important part of why she won the award. Her dedication and commitment to Oundle players and the development of netball at the School from U12 level to senior squads has been remarkable.”
In order to continue progressing further as a coach, Bev is currently in the process of undertaking her Level 3 coaching qualification. For this she needs to put together a comprehensive portfolio covering in-depth practical and theory tasks. Her portfolio is being reviewed regularly and the course will finish with an independent assessment day. This challenging professional development has to be fitted in around her already extensive coaching commitments.
Leti added, “This part of Bev’s qualification is nearing its completion and we will no doubt soon be congratulating her on this latest prestigious achievement.”
Upon receiving the Regional Coach of the Year award, Bev was automatically put forward for the National Golden Globe Awards which took place in Leicester on Saturday 17th September 2011. Although not successful, the nomination alone served to highlight Bev’s considerable achievement both locally and within the wider national netball network.
Bev’s commitment in supporting individual players and helping build up consistently high performing teams is renowned. At present, Oundle School’s own Honor de Winton (16) has recently been selected for the National Excel U17 Netball Squad and last year the School’s U16 team came 4th in the National Finals. As a result of Bev’s continuing development of netball at Oundle, this year for the first time the School is looking to enter teams across all age groups with a view to making the National Finals at all three levels.