Badminton England National Volunteer & Coach Awards

Overview & Background Information

To recognise the phenomenal work of our voluntary and coaching workforce, Badminton England present annual awards to individuals within the badminton community. In previous years, the Volunteer of the Year Award, the Geoff Rofe Young Volunteer of the Year Award and the Grassroots Coach of the Year Award have been presented but we were excited to announce a change to the National Volunteer & Coach Awards for 2025. This year, there were four Awards which were open for nominations.

Geoff Rofe Young Leader of the Year Award (sponsored by YONEX)
Grassroots Coach of the Year Award (sponsored by YONEX)
Committee Member of the Year Award (sponsored by YONEX)
Technical Official of the Year Award (sponsored by YONEX)

These awards are presented to individuals within our badminton community who have stood out in demonstrating undoubted passion, commitment and dedication to badminton in the last twelve months and had a positive impact and influence on others’ experience within the sport.

2019 National Volunteer Awards

Congratulations to the two 2019 National Volunteer Award winners:

2019 Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Imogen Eagles
2019 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Phil Jones

Read about Phil & Imogen’s achievements HERE

2020 National Volunteer Awards

Congratulations to the two 2020 National Volunteer Award winners:

2020 Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Annie Zhu
2020 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Melanie Vickery

Read about Melanie & Annie’s achievements HERE

2021 National Volunteer Awards

Congratulations to the two 2021 National Volunteer Award winners:

2021 Geoff Rofe Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): William Snell
2021 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Claire Lapworth

Read about Claire & William’s achievements HERE

2022 National Volunteer & Coach Awards

Congratulations to the three 2022 National Volunteer & Coach Award winners:

2022 Geoff Rofe Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Oscar Butler
2022 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Jess Canfield
2022 Grassroots Coach of the Year: Keith Burns

Read about Oscar, Jess & Keith’s achievements HERE

2023 National Volunteer & Coach Awards

Congratulations to the three 2023 National Volunteer & Coach Award winners:

2023 Geoff Rofe Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Siân Phillips
2023 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Helen Thornton
2023 Grassroots Coach of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Anna Collis

Read about Siân, Helen & Anna’s achievements HERE

2024 National Volunteer & Coach Awards

Congratulations to the three 2024 National Volunteer & Coach Award winners:

2024 Geoff Rofe Young Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Sophie Girgis
2024 Volunteer of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Thomas Feilding
2024 Grassroots Coach of the Year (sponsored by YONEX): Stephen Kiernan

Read about Sophie, Thomas & Stephen’s achievements HERE

2025 National Volunteer & Coach Awards

We were excited to announce a change to the National Volunteer & Coach Awards for 2025. This year, there were four Awards which were open for nominations:

Geoff Rofe Young Leader of the Year Award
Grassroots Coach of the Year Award
Committee Member of the Year Award
Technical Official of the Year Award

The Committee Member of the Year Award & Technical Official of the Year Award are brand new and replaced the existing ‘Volunteer of the Year Award’ to allow us to recognise more volunteers in the badminton community for their hard work and branch out further to celebrate more voluntary roles in the future.

Congratulations to the four 2025 National Volunteer & Coach Award winners: