Leeds Hockey Club Director of Coaching: Lewis Butcher

Leeds Hockey Club are delighted to introduce Lewis Butcher as our Men’s 1st Team Coach and Director of Coaching.

Lewis has returned to the club where he played for the 1st Team from 2001 to 2007. Since then he has concentrated on his coaching career as Assistant Coach at Sheffield Hallam in the National League and Head Coach of the
Sheffield Hallam 2nd XI in North Div 2 East where they finished second in the league two seasons running and won the National 2nd XI Cup in 2008.

For the last two seasons, Lewis and has been rebuilding the 1st and 2nd XI Men’s squads and in 2010/11 narrowly missed out on promotion back to North Premier with the 1st XI, whilst the 2nd XI were promoted to Yorkshire
Premier under the guidance of Glenn Hayes and Jass Panesar. Both teams will be looking for promotion in 2011/12!

In addition to coaching club sides Sheffield Hallam and subsequently Leeds, Lewis has also coached at junior international level, being Assistant Coach to the Wales U16 Boys who came second in the Homes Nations in July 2009 and
more recently having assisted both the England U16 and U18 Boys throughout the summer of 2010. He will also be one of the Assistant Coaches with the England U21 Men when they play Holland in July 2011.

As if all that were not enough, Lewis also is employed as a EHB Centrally Contracted Coach (CCC) and is appointed to oversee the Junior Regional Performance Centre (JRPC) in Leeds and has previously been involved at the Futures
Cup with the U16 Girls & U18 Boys Pennine Pumas squads in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Lewis combines his coaching alongside his day job as England Hockey Board's Relationship Manager for Yorkshire & Humber and in January 2011 qualified as a Level 3 Hockey Coach - no wonder he’s known as 'Mr Hockey'!

This appointment represents a big step forward for Leeds Hockey Club.  Lewis is our first professional coach and represents our desire to improve standards on the playing field for adults and juniors and within the club’s own coaching pathway as we plan to build the club for a stronger future.