NORANDA resident Ken Perks, who celebrates his 60th anniversary as a sports coach this year, wants to continue coaching for as long as he can.
The Morley Bowling Club and WA under-18s lawn bowls coach has coached juniors and seniors across football, tee-ball and lawn bowls throughout his career.
Perks (74) was the inaugural vice-president of the Noranda Junior Hawks Football Club after starting the club with his friend Allan East.
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READ NOWIn his early days, he coached 120 under-12s players in a team called the Moseys before moving to the Morley Eagles Teeball Club, where his son was a member.
He coached three premiership teams in the under-9s, under-10s and under-11s during his time as a tee-ball coach.
He then started coaching lawn bowls at Morley, Inglewood, Bedford and Warwick bowling clubs and went on to win the WA Bowls Coach of the Year in 2014 and 2016.
Perks said he enjoyed seeing players improving and having fun at competitions and practice.
“As a coach, I have always worked on having good discipline for the players to achieve all their goals and work hard in practice to get that shot right,” he said.
“There is always somebody that will ask you ‘how did you do that?’.
“This is where all coaches can help this player out to achieve to the best of their ability to play that shot well.”
He said he felt motivated to continue giving juniors and adults a chance to play at the best and perform well on and off the field.
“I think sport is a way for people to enjoy themselves, to prove to themselves they can do it, to give them something to do in their leisure time and keeps them out of trouble,” he said.
“I would love to coach as long as my heart holds out.”