Lifetime Coaching Award - Peter Dyke

[<<] [>>] by Roger Staples
23rd March 2015 (CqE Official News)

After being introduced to croquet in his youth, Peter took it up more seriously in 1981 when he was instrumental in the formation, from scratch, of the Nailsea & District Croquet Club.

He was the club's first Chairman and has remained a member of the committee ever since, largely as tournament and fixtures secretary. In addition to these responsibilities, he has been a central figure in the club's coaching programme for all this time, running open days, beginners' courses, improvers' courses, assisting with CA coaching courses, and of course being the main driving force behind Nailsea's long-running and highly successful junior coaching. Until taking early retirement in the late 90s, Peter was a maths teacher at Nailsea Comprehensive School, and always encouraged his pupils to come along and try croquet.

This lead to several successes in the National Schools' Croquet Championship, and produced several players who went on to international standard, most notably Kriss Chambers, Marcus Evans, Ryan Cabble, and Harry Dodge. All those players, and many more, owe their success to Peter's enthusiasm and patient coaching, which he continues to provide to this day. His tireless and selfless commitment to passing on his knowledge via coaching has benefited many hundreds of croquet players over the years and his contribution to croquet coaching at Nailsea and in the South West Federation is incalculable.

There can be no more fitting recipient of the Lifetime Coaching Award.