Crown glory
SOUTH Coast Athletics was in the spot light once again with Eleanor Patterson taking out the Athletics Australia Junior Athlete of the Year award at Crown on Thursday Night.
South Coast Athletics President David Green, Eleanor Patterson’s coach, was awarded the Junior Coach of the Year Award. The award caps off a sensational year for Patterson who claimed her second Open High Jump Australian title, broke the World Youth Record with a leap of 1.96m and won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
When asked what winning the award meant Patterson replied, “It is certainly a great honour to have all the hard work and time that has been put into the achievements over the years, recognised.
“To be recognised in this manner is amazing in itself but for David to be awarded too is icing on the cake and so well deserving of him.
“It makes me excited for what the future holds.”
Coach David Green has developed Patterson from a young age and remarked, “I certainly understand the effort and commitment Eleanor has put in and what she has sacrificed to get where she is, so it is a well deserved award.
It certainly hasn’t been easy and the amount of time involved and not just the training component has been immense from her.
“It is a tough being an individual sport and one where if your preparation isn’t great it can have a dramatic effect on how you compete and you can be exposed.
“Eleanor always gives herself the best opportunity to compete well and follows my preparation routine to perfection.
“I must admit the local environment and what the area has got to offer for alternative types of training has assisted us immensely, however having no athletic facilities here at Leongatha has made it very hard so we have had to travel to do what we have to do.”
“As a coach I would like to say my family has been unbelievably supportive and have sacrificed so much over so many years.
“Their support has allowed me to spend the time required to prepare the athletes I coach the best I can.
“Athletics doesn’t have the exposure or sponsorship of other sports so you have to be self motivated and willing to sacrifice a lot time wise and financially as a coach and I look back and know this could not have been done without my family’s commitment to the cause and that part you can never be thankful enough for.
“My family are my biggest supporters and biggest critics at the same time, they keep me honest and on top of things and that part is special really because when you look deeper into it, their contribution has definitely made me a better coach.”
Accolades: from left, South Coast Athletics president David Green and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eleanor Patterson were the recipients of major Athletics Australia awards at Crown on Thursday, October 23.
Short URL: /?p=12609
Posted by Sarah Vella on Oct 30 2014. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
