A sports coach from Huddersfield, who previously represented Great Britain in Wheelchair Basketball, has won an award for her commitment to teaching disability sport.
Yvonne Waft, 47, has scooped the South Yorkshire Sport Disability Coach of the Year Award for 2014.
Having had both legs amputated and suffering partial paralysis in her hips following the contraction of meningitis aged 19, Yvonne took up coaching to share her knowledge and experience of the sport with others.
She coaches the Sheffield Steelers Third Division wheelchair basketball team and Under 15s, as well as playing with Sheffield Steelers Second Division and women’s teams.
She commutes from Huddersfield to Sheffield every Tuesday in order to coach her team and gives up her Saturday mornings to teach younger players. She is also on the club.
Club members and tutees who nominated her for the award described Yvonne as “a special person, dedicated, committed and reliable, who has turned her skills to coaching five to 50-year-olds of all abilities, demonstrating a true passion for wheelchair basketball.”
One of her students added: “Yvonne is one of the most inspirational and amazing people I know. She has helped me improve my game and is always ready to offer support and guidance.
“When our Third Division team started this season, we had never all played a game together before, but Yvonne put loads of time into training us and talking us through drills and tactics, eventually taking us through our first win.
“She is the backbone of team and is an inspiration to young people coming into the sport.”
Yvonne said: “I am very surprised and pleased to have won the award. I would like to thank the people who took the time to nominate me.
“I just love having the chance to pass on some of my knowledge and experience in the game to a new generation of players.”
Yvonne was presented with her trophy at a training session by Michelle Hayden, the coaching development manager at South Yorkshire Sport.
She has now been nominated for the National Sports Coach UK Coaching Awards.
Michelle said: “Yvonne is such a determined and focused woman. Importantly, she remembers to create fun in her sessions, providing praise to all she coaches. She is a true role model to all her fellow basketball players and disabled sports people and she is a worthy winner of this award.”
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