Rome’s work gets recognised
After guiding members of the University of Bath-based GB wheelchair fencing squad to World titles and Paralympic medals, Peter Rome now has a trophy of his own after being among the winners at the 2020 UK Coaching Awards.
Rome, lead coach on the EIS World-class Wheelchair Fencing Programme since 2016, was named as High Performance Coach of the Year during a virtual ceremony on Thursday.
“The shock is still settling in,” he said. “I’m obviously very delighted to win the award but it was an amazing event and very well hosted.
“To see the depth of coaching within the UK was just phenomenal. It was inspiring just to see all the presentations. It brought back memories of when I was a grassroots coach and working in clubs and communities.”
Rome was praised by the judges for setting high standards and having the total respect of his athletes by remaining calm under pressure, patient and clear in his messaging, and always leading by example.
Under his guidance, triple World Champion Dimitri Coutya and Rio 2016 Paralympic silver-medallist Piers Gilliver have won nearly a half-century of international medals between them during the past three years. They are also ranked number one in the world in their respective disciplines heading into a rescheduled Tokyo Paralympic year.
Their success has helped the GB programme grow and develop, with Oliver Lam-watson and Shah Rashid now training regularly alongside Coutya and Gilliver at the Team Bath Sports Training Village.
Find out more about the wheelchair fencing programme by visiting www.teambath.com/fencing.