Sports Unsung Hero award for Julie Norman

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Judo coach wins Lincolnshire unsung hero

Judo coach Julie Norman has been named BBC's Yorkshire & Lincolnshire sporting Unsung Hero for 2010.

Julie, 54, will now enter the national Unsung Hero final at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards where the winner will be revealed.

Involved in judo for nearly 40 years, she has been a senior coach for more than 22 of them.

She currently volunteers for more than 12 hours a week as a coach at the Acorn Judo Club in Digby, Lincolnshire.

The club has around 70 members from the villages and RAF bases around the Sleaford area. Upon receiving the award, Norman told BBC Look North: "It's absolutely fantastic and I can't thank the parents enough.

"The judges were particularly impressed with the extra effort Julie made to help young people with confidence problems into the sport" BBC Radio Lincolnshire news and sports editor Michael Hortin

"They [the pupils] make it a pleasure to teach, they can be little devils at times but they are good."

BBC Radio Lincolnshire news and sports editor Michael Hortin, who helped judge the award, said: "The standard of entries was very high, but the panel of judges felt Julie's commitment to judo over a long period of time in rural Lincolnshire should be recognised.

"The judges were particularly impressed with the extra effort Julie made to help young people with confidence problems into the sport."

Now in its eighth year, the BBC Sports Unsung Hero Award recognises and rewards outstanding contribution by individuals at the grassroots level of local sport, who give up their time on a voluntary basis so that sport can be played and enjoyed by people throughout the UK.

The judging panel for the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire unsung hero award 2010 were: Michael Hortin - Chairman; David Jennings - Head of Regional & Local Programming BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire; Charlie Partridge - Managing Editor; BBC Lincolnshire; Gwilym Lloyd - BBC Radio Humberside; John Pakey - Sports Editor Lincolnshire Echo, Janet Inman - Lincolnshire Sports Partnership; Richard Munson - Humber Sport Partnership.