Luke Farrugia
The Goalden Globe Awards are England Netball's annual awards ceremony, beginning at a regional level, with various events held over the summer to recognise and reward volunteers and culminating in a glittering national awards evening. This year's awards will take place on 17th September at Chateau Impney Hotel and Exhibition Centre in Worcester, and MasterClass Sports Tours are very pleased to announce that we will be sponsoring the 'Teachers Award'.
The 'Teachers Award' recognises outstanding contribution to netball through delivery in the education environment. Each nominee must have volunteered for a minimum of 3 years and this must be outside of their statutory responsibilities as a teacher. Nominees should have made a particular impact between 1st April 2015 and 31st March 2016, and they and/or their educational establishment must be affiliated to England Netball.
Ahead of the this year's Goalden Globes, we decided to take a look at the nominees and learn a bit more about why have been nominated for one of england netball's most prestigious awards.
Name - Donna Cooper
School - Hartismere School, Suffolk
About me - I'm 32 years old, and have been a PE teacher for 10 years. Married and a mum to a 3 year old, I live in Stowmarket and I love running and playing netball.
Why do you believe you won your regional awards and have been nominated for the national netball teachers award? I think I won the award because I do alot of things for netball within my county. I am head of netball and dance in my school currently. I play in division one local league and captain my team I am vice chair for Stowmarket ladies NC and have been for 5 years. Im vice chair for Suffolk and have been for two years. I umpire netball for my club and regional and currently working towards my B award. Im a umpiring mentor for Suffolk. Im a level 2 netball coach and coach the top four teams in my club. This year I also coached players in my county development and satellite squads. I volunteer for England netball and helped at the superleague finals, eng v Australian and have just been excepted for England v Jamaica. I also help my students and young players in my club volunteer for England. I run teacher netball fundraisers for nets 10 raising over £200 this year at my school. I arranged and took a team to London to play in the world record attempt 90of 90. I believe the only team in Suffolk. I set up and run a junior netball team in my club attracting over 30 new players. I basically love netball and love helping players from my school, club and county improve and progress. I try to offer as many opportunities that I find to all my players so they can love the game as much as I do.
What is your most memorable volunteering experience? My most memorable volunteering moment was when I first volunteered for England netball at the cooper box for the eng v Australia game. I loved every minute of it and at the end of the event I was able to meet the players. Helen Housby is my favourite and I loved watching her play live for the first time and then meeting her! I was mascot helpers for the day meeting and greating the fans. I also ended up being interviewed by sky news.
Find out more about our official netball tours in association with England Netball, which include our netball tours in Holland, Dubai and Barbados.