10 - ALLAN RENIKE (football)

WARATAHS may have won the Western Premier League titles in 2006 and 2007 but it wasn’t until 2009 that they took out the minor premiership.

Renike guided the side to the minor premiership and the grand final.

Unfortunately the Orange side went down to Westside Panthers in a shoot-out in one of the most memorable grand finals in recent history.

9 - MARK GARDNER (cricket)

MARK Gardner was kept busy during the summer seasons in 2009.

He continued his role as coach of the Kinross 1st X1 with the students proving to be competitive in the Orange District Cricket Association first grade competition.

They have also been dominant in the school system taking out the Country Schools Cricket Association Douglas Shield this year.

8 - CHRIS MARJORAM (hockey)

CHRIS Marjoram helped to guide Bloomfield to the men’s Premier League Hockey semi-finals in 2009.

It wasn’t so much that he helped the side perform so well, it was what he went through in order to do it.

Marjoram was hit by a car in February while cycling home from work.

He fractured his L1 vertebrae and broke a bone in his shoulder and spent seven days in hospital before being sent home and spending three weeks in a back brace.

7 - NERYL MANNS (netball)

NERYL Manns couldn’t stop smiling after Robin Hood won back-to-back Orange Netball Association division one titles.

The side, under the guidance of Manns, took out its first title in 2008 and then repeated the result this year when they defeated arch-rivals Westoil in an extra-time thriller.

6 - PAM RYAN (netball)

ORANGE’S State League netball side is one of the most dominant teams in the region’s sporting history.

The side has won 14 consecutive state league titles and been undefeated for the last six seasons.

This year, under the guidance of Pam Ryan, they cruised through their regular matches before easily accounting for Young in the grand final.

Part of Ryan’s approach to coaching the talented group was to, in the occasional game, play them out of their normal positions to ensure they were always challenged.

5 - IAN POLLET (martial arts)

IAN Pollet is based in Orange but is kept busy with his schools around the Central West.

His students regularly perform well at tournaments and have brought home the club titles from national events.

Pollet himself has plenty of knowledge to share with his students and he has an eighth-dan black belt.

4 - JAKE KENNEY (boxing)

JAKE Kenney was rewarded for his boxers’ results this year by being selected as a NSW coach for the Australian Boxing Championships.

Included in Kenney’s NSW team were three fighters from his own gym in Orange, Mobsport.

Kenney’s star pupil, Sam Ah-See, claimed the 69kg elite male national title while David Pisani won the elite male 51kg class. Michael Crook won silver in the schoolboys’ 40kg division.

These results helped NSW win the senior championship for the first time in 15 years.

3 - STEVE CRITOPH (swimming)

BEING a swimming coach means early mornings and hours beside a pool as the swimmers go up and down.

Steve Critoph is head coach for the Kinross Wolaroi School swim squad and has swimmers succeeding at various levels.

Tom Brodie and Alison Matuschka qualified for the Australian Age Open Water Championships, every member of the Kinross team swam at least one personal best each at the NSW Country Championships and plenty of swimmers qualified for the NSW All Schools Championships.

A highlight during the year was Deaf swimmer Craig Morgan representing Australia at the Deaflympic Games in Taipei.

2 - GRANT PICKERING (softball)

IT is rare that Grant Pickering boasts about his achievements. You couldn’t blame him if he did because his list of achievements is impressive and long.

This year alone he was selected as the NSW All Schools girls’ softball coach.

This side took out the School Sport Australia 17 Years and Under Championships and had eight players selected in the national team.

Pickering was selected as the SSA girls’ coach and this side finished fourth at the Softball Australia International Tournament against senior sides from other countries.

1 - PETE SHEA (hockey)

PETE Shea made an outstanding debut as NSW under 18 girls’ coach in 2009, winning a national title.

Shea took the state side to the Under 18 Girls’ Australian Championships where they won their third consecutive national title.

The NSW girls won five of their seven pool matches before winning their semi-final 2-1 against Queensland in extra-time and then the final 3-1 against Victoria.

Shea will be back to try and help NSW defend the title in 2010.

Shea also coached Kinross-CYMS in the women’s Premier League Hockey competition where they went through to the semi-finals for the first time.