The European winners of the ECB Sky Sports Coach Awards 2011 have been announced today with three outstanding talents being recognised in Europe, one of them being Andy McCrea from Templepatrick Cricket Club.

Andy won the Outstanding Coaching Award and as a volunteer carefully balanced out his work-load with his full time profession as a teacher at Campbell College. Andy has been at the forefront of many projects, namely overseeing huge growth in junior player participation levels through his tireless work as a coach and leader of the Templepatrick club’s coaching team. As well as on club and school links; the club caters for boys and girls as young as five to 17.

ICC Regional Development Manager Europe, Richard Holdsworth who chaired the selection of the winners said: "The ECB Sky Sports Coach Awards are fantastic for coaches in Europe as it reveals the great work that many are doing.  The three winners thoroughly deserve their awards for their success in each different category."

"Andy McCrea, Mike Kinder and Jamie Burton have all shown great dedication and enthusiasm to the development of cricket; their outstanding work is a great contribution to our growing game" added Holdsworth.

Sky Sports sponsorship of ECB Coach Education once again allows the ECB Coaches Association an opportunity to identify nominations for the annual Sky Sports Coach Awards. Now entering their fifth year, the awards are a way of saying thank you to people who have made a significant contribution to the support and development of coaches and coaching in cricket.  These regional award winners will now be put forward for the national awards.