An Ealing boccia coach is in line to follow in the footsteps of Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson after being nominated for a top prize at the 2016 UK Coaching Awards.

The UK Coaching Awards honour sports coaches and coaching organisations who have demonstrated outstanding success over the previous 12 months.

This year's star-studded event will be held at the Holiday Inn at Wembley on Tuesday 29 November and Sunil Birdy, who is head coach at PACE, England BC4 Boccia and Hawks Academy, will be in attendance after being nominated for the Community Coach of the Year.

Birdy is head coach at PACE, a club offering people of all abilities opportunities to actively participate in sports and physical activity programmes at a level of their choice.

He has infused his coaching style and experiences into the core structure of the club, creating high calibre volunteers, coaches and athletes.

In addition, his successful coaching strategies has led to increased demand for adapted sports programmes, particularly the delivery of boccia by schools, colleges, disability establishments and cooperate organisations in Ealing and across London.  

Previous winners at the UK Coaching Awards include Jessica Ennis-Hill’s mentor Toni Minichiello and Sir Alex, and Mark Gannon, Chief Executive Officer of Sports Coach UK said: “Year after year our expert judging panel struggle to narrow down hundreds of nominees to our finalists and this year has been no exception; arguably it’s been an even greater task due to the multitude of sporting success we’ve had.

“These awards are a fantastic way for us to shine a spotlight on and express our gratitude and appreciation to the coaches who support and inspire us through sport and activity to achieve our goals.”

The 2016 UK Coaching Awards hosted by Sports Coach UK honours the sports coaches and coaching organisations who have demonstrated success over the previous 12 months, as well as being a perfect opportunity to raise the profile of coaches at all levels of sport and physical activity – visit: www.sportscoachuk.org