The 2025 Coaching Awards have been awarded with Matthew Bruce, Ricky Lee and Simon Bell having been recognised for their efforts during the 2024/25 season.
All three coaches have gone above and beyond for their respective clubs this campaign and were presented with their awards this week.
Young Coach of the Year: Matthew Bruce
A dedicated and enthusiastic youth coach at North Down Hockey Club, Matthew Bruce has been coaching at the youth camps run by the club and takes U11 boys each week, as well as assisting at U13 and U15 sessions.
A past pupil of Regent House School, Bruce has been involved in coaching at the school, working with the boys’ hockey team and helping them win both the Taylor Cup and Richardson Plate in a successful year for the school.
In addition, he has also become involved with Ards Ladies 4th XI as well as coaching at the Ulster Hockey U13 TDP sessions and holiday camps.
Matthew was presented with his award by Ulster Hockey Head of Development Jonathan McMeeking at Ulster University, Jordanstown.
Children’s Coach of the Year: Ricky Lee
The ‘driving force’ behind Instonians Hockey Club’s youth section, Ricky Lee is the current Head Coach of the U9-U15 Boys and has implemented a programme of youth hockey across all age and gender groups and caters for all abilities.
Ricky has established a group of dedicated coaches for each year group, acting as the central coordinator between the age and gender coaching groups, planning weekly practice sessions and providing instructions to the coaches on the training objectives.
Through Ricky’s leadership and administration, every age group at Seahorses has access to well-planned training sessions and regular volunteer coaching staff. The high-quality, organised coaching ensures that the children are consistently progressing their skills, and the dedicated coaches for each group creates a fun and familiar atmosphere that promotes participation.
He also actively encourages the development of youth coaching skills and umpiring by regularly allowing children from the u15/u17 age group to assist the coaches and have opportunities to umpire matches.
Ricky Lee was presented with his award by Ulster Hockey President Mervyn Logan at Shaw’s Bridge.
Club Performance Coach of the Year: Simon Bell
Simon Bell led Queen’s University to a second consecutive Legacy Wealth Management Premier League title with his side finishing the 2024/25 campaign as invincible as well as leading the division for both goals scored (63) and goals conceded (6) across their 18 league games.
On top of their league success, Bell also guided the University side to promotion, winning the EYHL2 first, beating Monkstown in the semi-finals before beating Ulster rivals Portadown in the final to win their second piece of silverware of the season.
Furthermore, the side also reached the 2024/25 Denman Shield Final, where they were narrowly beaten by Ulster Elks, losing 2-1 at Havelock Park, with the defeat proving to be one of just two defeats across all competitions this past season.
Simon was presented with his award by Ulster Hockey CEO Marc Scott at Queen’s Sport Campus.
