Anyone that has been involved in any kind of sport, knows that clubs often rely on generous people giving countless hours as volunteers.
Lucky clubs have people that give a few years of their time, but Cricket Wanganui have been the fortunate recipients of a lot more than that from David Berry.
The Wanganui resident has been coaching for over 30 years, he has been in charge of high performance teams such as Central Districts A, but has mostly concentrated on giving his time to community coaching.
As a former Wanganui Hawke Cup player, Berry has given time to nearly every avid young cricketer in Wanganui for the last three decades.
Cricket Wanganui Development Officer Dilan Raj can testify to how rare people like Berry are.
“A person that basically volunteers his time due to his passion about cricket, and his passion about people. People like him are very rare to find.”
“For the last 15 to 20 years he was the go to guy for coaching, he would coach everyone. He would be the person that every single kid would have gone past him.”
David, who is an avid golfer, has done more than his share of community work, yet he is still coaching to this day.
“Last year Wanganui Collegiate struggled to find a coach, so he put up his hand and he took them to a very successful season.”
Raj says Berry is able to do what he does as he operates in a superb partnership with his wife.
“Someone that’s key is his wife Beth Berry, who administered Cricket Wanganui and kept Cricket Wanganui going for a long time, which was all done voluntarily.”
David is not your everyday coach either; he is someone that goes the extra distance for people that need help.
“Beth was a teacher, and taught at low decile schools. He would use cricket to try and develop those kids, in some cases it required going to their houses, picking them up, taking them to the game, coaching them, then dropping them home after the game.”
Still not enough, over the years David has run junior cricket centres, coached Wanganui junior rep teams, ranging from U11’s to U17s as well as the Wanganui Hawke Cup team.
The Outstanding Contribution and Services to Coaching award could not go to a more deserving winner than David Berry. Both Cricket Wanganui and New Zealand Cricket will forever be grateful for the never-ending work David has done.
New Zealand Cricket has recently added some online coaching courses. If you are interested in becoming a coach, or interested in taking a coaching course click here.
Outstanding Contribution and Services to Coaching:
The 2015/16 Outstanding Contribution to Coaching award recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to community coaching over many years. The award winner has to have demonstrated commitment and passion towards coaching and developing players at the community level for several years.
