2019 Vitality Goalden Globe Awards voting – Unsung Hero Award

The Vitality Goalden Globe Awards is a collective celebration, beginning at a regional level and culminating in a prestigious national awards evening.

Find out more about the fantastic nominees for the Unsung Hero Award and have your say on who should win the category…

Linda Gaine – East

Linda has helped the development of KATs Netball Club for many years. The club now has 11 adult teams and 19 junior teams. Linda also voluntarily gained the club its Silver CAPs. Up until last year, Linda was chairperson of the Colchester league and now continues to be a part of the committee as Vice Chairperson. Linda has now taken on a volunteer role on the Regional Board to develop coaches and grow netball locally.

Sue Eaton – East Midlands

Without Sue, Bingham Netball would not still be running. She has led the expansion of the club from a group of friends training to having senior and junior teams within the local leagues. She has supported new and Back to Netball players, making the club inclusive to all ages and abilities. Sue ensures the club is represented at all Nottingham club meetings and AGM ensuring information is passed onto all club members.

Angela Blyszko – North East

Angela supports the administration and management of the Thornaby League. She recruits new teams into the league whilst arranging all of the umpiring for the 66 games per season. Thornaby Netball Club have new members keen to pursue coaching and Angela mentors them. She coaches, umpires, supports in the effective running and management of a league and supports others in their professional development.

Ruksana Moress – North West

Ruksana has delivered Back to Netball sessions for 10 years to over 150 women from disadvantaged areas; it was a breakthrough for her to get women from the BME community and those with mental health issues involved. In October 2018, Elite Netball Club were the only club in Blackburn to have three diverse teams at league level. Ruksana coached Elite 1 who were Blackburn League runners-up in 2017 after one season.

Karen Bossom – South

Karen’s passion is infectious and she takes any opportunity to engage with people to encourage them to get involved. Karen believes in “sport for all” and has always promoted the provision of competitive opportunities for all abilities with the club running A and B teams in every age group within juniors. She has once again run a successful umpire mentoring programme, resulting in several passing their C Award.

Christine Laker – South West

Christine is responsible for the growth of the Plymouth Junior League from 11 teams to 49. Her organisation has helped the league to run smoothly and provide opportunities for young players to regularly access competitive netball. She has been part of a small committee, which has organised and run weekly fixtures for a number of years. By her unfailing support of the league and the club, Christine has made opportunities available for hundreds.

Natalie Buckley – Yorkshire and Humberside

Rebels Netball Club offer netball to little nippers, juniors, competitive adults, ladies in our Back to Netball and Walking Netball sessions who haven’t played for 40 years, and it is Natalie who encourages and supports them. Natalie has organised netball tournaments to Spain, which we won and then got us sharing our success in our local newspaper! She never ceases to amaze as to how she recruits players to Rebels; one time whilst shopping!

Thea Hassall – West Midlands

Thea was one of three people who set up Parkside Netball Club with the objective to develop elite netball players and later set up Newhall Netball Club as a feeder club. In over 20 years that Thea has been involved, she has nurtured over 400 players; including Ama Agbeze, Beth Cobden and Layla Guscoth. Parkside have won several national titles with Thea. One of her philosophies is that netball is more than just a sport and she has spent a huge portion of her life creating a positive netball experience.

Cast your vote now!