News

The 2018 Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards presentation ceremony was held at the HKSI today, unveiling a list of 205 awardees. The purpose of the organiser, the Hong Kong Coaching Committee (HKCC), is to recognise the dedication of coaches in nurturing Hong Kong athletes to pursue outstanding sporting results at both regional and international sporting arena, and their contribution in developing sport across the community and school levels in the past year.

The HKCC received a record-high of 255 nominations to compete for the 2018 Awards in seven categories, namely Coach of the Year Awards, Distinguished Services Award for Coaching, Coach Education Award, Best Team Sport Coach Award, Coaching Excellence Awards, Community Coach Recognition Awards and School Coach Recognition Awards.

Mr Lau Kong-wah JP, Secretary for Home Affairs, Miss Donna Tang, Executive Manager, Charities (Grant Making – Sports and Environment) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Ms Vivien Lau BBS JP, Chairman of the Hong Kong Coaching Committee officiated at the Ceremony.

Ms Lau expressed her gratitude for the hard work of coaches in her welcoming speech. She said, “In 2018, Hong Kong athletes returned with over 250 medals from various international competitions and world championships, including the Asian Games (AG), Asian Para Games (APG). All these cannot be achieved without the tireless support and nurture from coaches throughout the years. Applaud to all coaches and wish Hong Kong teams all the best at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards is an important part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Coach Education Programme. Through funding this Programme, The Hong Kong Jockey Club supported coaches to promote sports and healthy lifestyle across the city. This is in line with its belief that sports can help improve mental and physical health, unleash individuals’ potential as well as instil positive energy into the community. The Club is dedicated to multi-sector collaborations and integrating fun elements into sports to encourage people of different ages, gender, races and abilities to participate in sports and make it a habit.

The Coach of the Year Awards (COY) was one of the highlights of the presentation ceremony. The list of awardees concluded as follows: Shen Jinkang (Cycling) in the senior athletes, individual sport category; Kwok Hart-wing (Boccia) and Chiu Wing-yin (Squash) in the senior athletes, team event category; Octavian Zidaru (Fencing) in the junior athletes, individual sport category; while Lo Wan-kei (Rowing) in the junior athletes, team event category.

Squash Coach Chiu Wing-yin shared the limelight with Coach Kwok Hart-wing to be named COY for the third time. Last year, she led the Women’s Team to win the gold medal at AG and attained the third place at WSF Women’s World Team Championship.

Coach Octavian Zidaru was awarded the COY title for the first time. In 2018, he led Fencer Hsieh Sin-yan to win the champion in the Women’s Epee (Cadet) at the World Junior and Cadets Fencing Championships and won a silver medal in the Women’s Epee Individual at the Youth Olympic Games.

Since winning his debut COY title in 2001, Coach Lo Wan-kei has been serving the rowing team for 17 years. Last year, his charges Cheng Cheuk-kwan and Leung Wing-wun performed their best by winning a gold medal in the Junior Women's Pair at the Asian Rowing Junior Championships, earned Coach Lo his second COY award again.

Distinguished Service Award for Coaching was acknowledged to table tennis Coach Guan Jianhua for her untiring service in the sport for more than 10 years. Under her coaching, the Junior Girls’ Table Tennis Team has been delivering concrete results since 2005, including two bronze medals in the Junior Girls’ Singles and Junior Girls’ Team at the Asian Junior & Cadet Championships. Coach Guan has been nurturing talented athletes with huge devotion while exploring different up-to-date training methods through the years.

Coach Education Award went to dragon boat Coach Hun King-chi, the coaching instructor at the Hong Kong China Dragon Boat Association. Coach Hun started his coaching career 10 years ago. Being a solid supporter for the sport, he delivered courses to around 150 coaches in the past five years.

Coach Paul John lifted his first Best Team Sport Coach Award, by leading the Hong Kong team to get the gold medal in the Men’s Sevens at the AG.

A total of 113 coaches were awarded the Coaching Excellence Awards for leading athletes to achieve outstanding performance at the major international competitions in 2018, whilst 37 coaches received the Community Coach Recognition Awards to recognise  their special contribution in the community for a period of not less than three consecutive years. In addition, 47 full-time teachers from local primary and secondary schools were presented the School Coach Recognition Awards to acknowledge their effort in local school level.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Coach Education Programme (HKJCCEP) is funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust with a donation of some HK$9.7 million since November 2015. HKJCCEP consists of three major components including the Jockey Club Elite Coaching Development Programmes; the Jockey Club Coaching Accreditation Programmes; and the Jockey Club Community Education, as well as Coach Recognition Programmes to further support the career development of coaches. The annual Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards falls into the third category which recognises coaches’ contribution to athlete training and development in Hong Kong.

The Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards is organised by the HKCC, a joint committee of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China and the HKSI, which was established in 1991 with the aims of formulating and implementing short-term and long-term strategies for the development of coach education and accreditation programmes in Hong Kong. Over the years, more than 89,000 participants have benefited from the Programme.

For the List of Recipients for the 2018 Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards, please click here.  For the past recipients, please click here.