An Aylesbury wheelchair basketball and 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 Dirk van der Merwe, who is the lead coach at the Disability Karate Federation in Buckinghamshire, will be in attendance after being nominated for the Disability Coach of the Year.

Van der Merwe, who has been a paraplegic wheelchair user for over 20 years, is a world karate champion who works solely as a volunteer.

In the past six months van der Merwe has helped sustain participation for several hundred disabled young people in three regions of Buckinghamshire.

He has worked tirelessly to create a festival of martial arts, where disabled people can show their skills; people with any ability or disability can participate.  

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