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Rick Pilling wins major coaching award
Rick Pilling was awarded the Development Coach of the Year Award from England Athletics at a ceremony in London last week. This prestigious award was in recognition of all the work that Rick has done to develop coaching within the Lewes club and to help athletes across Sussex to realise their true potential.
Rick started coaching at Lewes AC when his son Chris started competing for Lewes AC and both were inspired to focus on pole vaulting. In six years Rick has taken Pole Vaulting in Lewes AC and indeed the county of Sussex to new heights. He has travelled countrywide in his pursuit to learn more about the event. Pole Vault School in Loughborough, regular visits to Sutton and Lee Valley and England Athletics Local Coach Development workshops are part of his coaching routine.
As a Level 3 coach he is now sharing his coaching experience with other coaches and fulfils his role as Coaching Coordinator for Lewes AC. His 12 strong group of athletes, which includes athletes from several Sussex clubs, are a testament to the dedication which he applies to his coaching.
Improving year on year, seven of these twelve athletes are ranked in the national Top 20 for their age groups. All 12 of Ricks athletes have performances posted on the England Athletics Ranking Lists Power of 10 and 7 of the 12 athletes are ranked in the top 20 in the UK for their event, the Pole Vault.
His athletes have won medals at Sussex County Championships, Southern Counties Championships both indoors and outdoors. Two athletes competed in the English Schools Championships in Gateshead with Naomi Lee placing 6th and Emilie Blackwell 3rd – A major achievement for the athletes, Lewes AC, and for the dedication and expertise of Rick.