Geoff Richards, the England Women’s Rugby Team Head Coach was voted sports coach UK’s England Coach of the Year at last month’s awards ceremony , winning jointly with England football coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, and athletics coach Alex Stanton in the category judged on the significant impact a coach has on the performance of players or teams at a national or international level.

Geoff, who has been coach of the England women’s team for 18 months, has taken their performance to a new level and helped them to achieve the most successful period of their history. Said Paula George, England Women’s Captain, “I have been coached at a high level since the age of seventeen. In all that time I have had coaches who are good organisers, good motivators, good tacticians and even those good at feedback. Geoff is the first coach who has been able to offer all of this. For me he is able to push you so hard that you feel like there is nothing left to give and then he squeezes more from you.”