Hamish McKnight, the Midlothian-based GB and Scottish Snowboard coach who started his journey at Hillend Dry Slope, was named top High Performance Coach at the sportscotland Coaching, Officiating and Volunteering (COV) Awards 2023 during a ceremony in Glasgow City Chambers.
The sportscotland COV Awards celebrate those who break down barriers, inspire and enhance the lives of others through sport, and recognise the commitment of those who apply their own time and effort to make sport accessible to all.
In his role as Head Coach of Freestyle Snowboarding at GB Snowsport, Hamish has supported athletes from a variety of backgrounds who have gone onto achieve success and results at the highest international level.
These include Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan who won back-to-back bronze medals at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
Throughout his career, Hamish has championed equality in sport by promoting equal opportunities for female athletes to access high performance coaching and support. Over the course of the 2022-23 season, Hamish and his team supported Mia Brookes with an individually tailored approach that led to her winning the FIS World Championships Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle title.
Hamish has not only achieved the top level of Snowboard coach qualifications, but has helped re-design the education material for coach education in the sport.
Hamish said: “I’ve had a coach’s mindset all my life; I never thought any other way. Anything I see as a self-determined challenge, that’s not necessarily difficult but a challenge of some kind that can be broken down into parts, learned and reaped a reward from, then I’m into it.
“The struggling with something is the first reward. When a young girl or boy comes to me and says ‘I’m struggling with this’ initially (I’m) ecstatic because it means they’ve chosen something that they can’t do, and they want it.
“It’s that part of my job that I love and love working with them to get it.”
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