Double Success For High-Flying Army Women's Volleyball Coach
Army women's volleyball team head coach Nikki Mead, who recently masterminded another Inter-Services title victory, has been appointed team manager for the England women's side.
The warrant officer, who was nominated for the Official of the Year prize at last year's Army Sports Awards, is very much a coach in demand at the moment.
She's been behind the resurgence of the UK Armed Forces' volleyball teams, while overseeing another crown for the Army women at the Inter-Services Championships.
Now, however, the Yorkshire-based soldier will be looking to use her military background to great effect on the international stage.
It's a prestigious position which will see her work alongside England head coach David Goodchild.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Mead told Forces Network she's looking forward to getting started:
"I'll be making sure all the players are accommodated [for], that they can travel and... [they are] all available when the coach requires them. [Then] he doesn't need to worry about the management of the squad and the individual players. He can just go onto [the] court and coach."
"They haven't had somebody, I think, who can... commit as much time as I can."
The Army Women have proved to be queens of the volleyball court time and again in recent seasons.
In contrast, Team GB made its Olympic debut at London 2012 and hasn't yet fared too well on the international circuit.
WO2 Mead, however, has sensed an opportunity that could boost the national teams and benefit the military. She said:
"One of the things that I want to try and do within the Volleyball England set-up is recruit into the forces because a lot of them [the athletes] feel the need to go [and] work away on professional contracts because they can't get the time off to play volleyball."
"If we can get them into the forces, get them more time away to play volleyball in an environment where they can develop all the time, then there's more chance the England squads will progress further in their competitions.
"[That] brings better funding, especially for the GB Olympic squad, so that they can progress and continually develop, which would be great for the sport in general."
The soldier was full of praise for her Army outfit, meanwhile, which recently lifted more forces silverware with victories against the Royal Navy and RAF. She said:
"This is like my second family. They're friends, as well as my players.
"They've been so amazing. They've been champions the whole time I've coached them. I'm so proud of where we've come, from being a team that never competed in any competitions at all, to being champions of every competition we've entered."
She'll take up her new role with England later in the summer.
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