Wednesday 9 March 2016 After a busy week teaching maths at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL), Pam Hardaker spends hours every weekend on the hockey pitch, nurturing the talents of young players. Now Pam’s dedication has been recognised with a prestigious honour, the Coach – Participation Award in the Special Contribution category at the Leeds Sports Awards. At this annual celebration of the city’s proud sporting achievements, Pam was in a high quality pool of nominees, with rugby league coach Adam Fletcher and trampolining coach Dan May both highly commended. Leeds Adel Hockey Club nominated Pam for the award, in recognition of her 30 years involvement with the club. For two thirds of that time Pam has run the club’s junior section, and she also plays for the ladies’ fourth team. During the week she coaches GSAL’s U14B girls’ team. Pam said: “I like to see the children do well but more important is to get them playing for the fun and friendship it gives them. My particular role is coaching the U10s; that’s when if you can get them enthusiastic they will keep going, and develop into the senior team players.” Writing on the club website Mark Powley, chair of Leeds Adel Hockey Club, said: “This recognition should not be underestimated when you see the level of talent on display at awards evenings like this. All of the headline winners will have started out their sporting journeys under the tuition of hard working and dedicated coaches like Pam and we have seen a number of talented hockey players develop from being shy U10 players to go on to international recognition and representative hockey.” Congratulations also to GSAL pupil Ellie Jones Y10, who attended the awards as a member of Leeds Swimming Club which won the Young Club/Team Award. General Senior School
