Bob Mackay is the most recent Lothian coach to be honoured by BADMINTONscotland as he became the 8th recipient of the award which is presented in memory of Donella Crawford to a volunteer coach who has made an outstanding contribution to coaching young people in badminton.
As those of us in Lothian are well aware, Bob has dedicated a huge amount of his personal time to developing badminton in his local area. He has run the Tall Oaks club in Edinburgh since 1985, providing the opportunity for primary and secondary school children of all backgrounds and abilities to learn to play badminton.
A number of extremely talented players have developed their skills at Tall Oaks under Bob, a testament to his longstanding dedication and his superb organizational and coaching ability. A number of those have gone on to represent Scotland at the highest level on the international stage, including players who represented Scotland with distinction at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
During his time Bob has also taken responsibility for coaching the Edinburgh and Lothian U12 teams, taking hundreds of children on dozens of badminton trips. He is a passionate and enthusiastic exponent of our sport, has always instilled a high degree of sportsmanship in the children under his tutelage and has had a positive influence on countless children in his area.
He is seen here being presented with the award by David Cunningham, himself a previous recipient of the award, at the Scottish National Junior Championships on Sunday 23rd April. The other Lothian coach to have received this award was Irene Blair.