Northamptonshire school and sports coaches nominated for excellence awards

Pacesetter coach Claire pictured with Guilsborough pupils in January, as part of their Magnificent Mind training session.

Pacesetter Sports & Wellbeing have been named as finalists in two categories at the Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards.

Nick Bellamy, managing director of Pacesetter which delivers sports coaching and wellbeing programmes in primary schools, is a finalist in the category Businessman of the Year and Niall Mathers has been named in the category of Apprentice of the Year.

Before the pandemic, Pacesetter staff were working with 12,000 pupils across Northamptonshire each week to deliver sports sessions and mental health and wellbeing projects.

Usually, their 34 full time members of staff would be out and about teaching in 120 nurseries, primary and secondary schools taking P.E classes, after-school clubs, PSHE and other programmes. Thinking outside the box, director Nick Schanschieff and his coaches had to adapt and they created seven virtual lessons to do at home, which were being led by wellbeing and sports coaches on Youtube.

Nick Bellamy, managing director, was over the moon to be nominated for the award. He said: ‘I was thrilled to learn that I’ve been shortlisted for Businessman of the Year.

"This is testament to my team for being such an amazing and accommodating group to manage and I’m just fortunate to be involved in an industry that I’m so passionate about.

"I’m extremely proud of Niall too for being nominated for Apprentice of the Year. A hard-working, talented individual who deserves all the accolades he’s going to get in the future."

Guilsborough Primary School pupils were thrilled to be nominated

It comes as Guilsborough Primary School, who Pacesetter have worked closely with to set up a mental health coaching programme, are also finalists of the community project gong.

The school were nominated for their work they do to empower their young people through a sports project called the playmaker award, which was delivered to year 6 and then a separate mental health project named magnificent mind champion delivered to year 5.

Nick Schanschieff, PE Lead at Guilsborough Primary, said: "This is an amazing achievement for a primary school to be involved in the awards.

"The children were buzzing on Thursday when they opened their gold envelope in front of their head teacher, Mrs Shilliam.

"The school recognises the importance of sport alongside the wellbeing and mental health of these youngsters. Because these projects are delivered by the children to the rest of the school creates a really positive and caring environment. It has also given those directly involved, the year 6’s and year 5’s the confidence and belief in themselves for the good of the community."

The finals are scheduled in February at the County Cricket Ground, hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald.