Dan Lewis: Soccer coach for whom equality is the name of the game

The Anglo-Celt Community & Sports Awards, in partnership with Mannok and Kingspan, will take place this Thursday evening in the Cavan Crystal Hotel. Dan Lewis from UCL Harps is a finalist for Volunteer of the Year...

A “reluctant hero” is probably the best way to describe Dan Lewis, who is coaching not one, two or even three youth soccer teams in Cavan’s UCL Harps soccer club this season but five!

Being nominated in the Volunteer of the Year category is a source of mild embarrassment for the Essex man who followed several members of his family in making Cavan his home around seven years ago. Every soccer parent knows how useful it is to have someone to coach your kids who has played the game themselves, and Arsenal-mad Dan has many years under his belt before training as a coach with the FAI.

However, what sets Dan and UCL Harps FC apart is their ethos of giving each member of each team equal game time.

As the Celt spoke to Dan about his nomination, he was preparing to take an U15 girls team to the Community Games. He previously prepped the U13 boys team for the Games but, throughout the year, he is coach to the U14 boys and girls teams as well as the U16 ladies squad.

When asked to describe his coaching style, the sales and marketing manager at Arden Broadband, said “fun first”.

“I think I’m a mini motivator,” Dan told the Celt. “With my Under 14 girls team, for example, we have a complete mixed bag with some really skilled players and absolute beginners but win, lose or draw each girl gets game time.

“That’s what a team is supposed to be about, after all,” he added, “And, if you’re a half-decent coach you should be able to get all girls up to a good standard.

“We’re all a team at the end of the day,” he said.

When he took stock, Dan mused that at the start of this season the girls team had 19 players signed up and now, as the end of the season approaches, there are still 19 players on the books.

He refuses to take all the credit himself, though.

“I am genuinely not alone in UCL,” he stressed,” Edel, Pauric and Ronan plus more – and the club itself – assist me with all teams.”

Nevertheless, it was Dan Lewis, the modest and hard-working coach who received multiple nominations for this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

With special thanks to our partners and sponsors in these awards - Mannok, Kingspan, Sherry FitzGerald Declan Woods, Cavan Crystal Hotel, Dovida, Kyte Powertech, CICS Silo Clean and Joe Rowley Windows