George Maynard! Congratulations George – you can read George’s full nomination below and learn more about who else was nominated.
George’s full nomination reads:
During this season George qualified as a referee, helped at numerous Riga fixtures and was upgraded to the next level referee. In one season that’s pretty tremendous progress!
George proactively responded to a call for people to get qualified as a referee and attended a course in Oxford. He qualified and pretty much the next week got his first appointment as second referee at one of the Riga NVL fixtures.
His talent was soon spotted and Rita encouraged him onto the stand as first referee in one of the Div 3 triangulars. He excelled and was upgraded to the next level of referee – a 3R!
George did many fixtures for Riga this season getting us out of a hole on many occasions! This ensured we were compliant (as having another qualified referee was one of VE’s requirements of us entering the mens Div 3 team) with VE rules. But more importantly George stepped up for the sport and the Club when the sport is facing a crisis of a shortage of match officials.
We look forward to seeing George continue his refereeing journey (together with all the extra take aways that this will enable him to consume!). Thanks George – great job!
Coming a close second this year was super Lucia! Lucia’s nomination read:
Lucia has been a super star this year stepping up to help with coaching the beginner and intermediate juniors. This filled a gap that has been holding us back as a club and putting additional pressure on existing volunteers.
Having Lucía and Jon as the coaches provides consistency and gives the kids a much better experience. Lucia has also taken over a lot of the admin liaising with parents and other committee members to ensure bookings are on time and the waiting list and progression of juniors to advanced sessions is well managed.
She has also supported the kids and taken them to competitions. This has enabled many of the children to get their competitive Riga debut under their belt and ensure they are inspired to continue their volleyball journey.
We are lucky to have Lucia as part of the team. Great job and thank you!
There are also a lot of special mentions for all of this year’s nominees. You are all fantastic and we couldn’t do it without you so thank you! These included:
- Jon – For his commitment to all teams and his hours and hours spent coaching, analysing results and supporting the entire club across ladies, mens and juniors
- Jules – for all her work on the committee, co-ordinating all the junior elements and covering gaps in the junior coaching and helping ensure the recreational session co-ordinators all have help and support. She’s your lady for all emergencies and puts in hours to ensure you all have the very best Riga experience possible.
- Lavi – “She has consistently cheered everyone on! Shown great love for the sport and made each training session fun and memorable! She is the most extroverted individual I know and I love her for it”
- Brendan – for being an amazing and dedicated coach and driving the Brendan gossip bus to away fixtures!
- Kat – because she always gives it her all at training and is very welcoming and helpful to the new people
- Rafa – for his infectious energy and enthusiasm both off and on court. He helped both mens teams, was instrumental in the mens shield run and did many a scoring duty. Just don’t ask him to look after your phone – he constantly leaves his lying around everywhere!
- Jan – For having the patience of a saint when it comes to managing the rec session and especially the chaos of the waiting list
- Clare – For her work on the committee and the massive progress with the juniors and organisation of the junior competitions. Her energy, work and commitment put into everything she does, especially when it’s been a particularly difficult year to enjoy some aspects of volleyball! There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t think it’s a privilege to have her with us.
- Mim – for continuing to steer us despite having a lot of life priorities with the new baby, as well as being off court for most of this season! Her continued long service and invaluable contribution to the Club over many year’s is excellent. We’re lucky to have you 🙂
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all the amazing volunteers across the Club.