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A celebratory dinner to honour one of athletics¶ best known coaches is to be
held in Leeds in March.

The celebratory dinner will commemorate the life and work of Wilf Paish who
sadly passed away at the start of last year. Yorkshire-based Paish was coach
of javelin aces Tessa Sanderson and Mick Hill with more than 100 of the
athletes who came under his guidance becoming Olympians.

Wilf trained to be a PE teacher at Carnegie College, now part of Leeds

Metropolitan University before taking a teaching post in Essex. He then
returned to Yorkshire after being appointed as National Coach for the N orth in
the early sixties and has been an adopted Yorkshireman ever since.

His most famous coaching success was with javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson
who moved to Leeds after a disappointing Olympics in 1980. Paish¶s original
thinking and innovative coaching methods helped her to kick start her career
and she subsequently won gold at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Another athlete who trained under the tutelage of Paish was Mick Hill who
enjoyed javelin success at international level including a World Championship
medal and a UK record.

Speaking about Wilf¶s influence on his own career, Hill, who now works as
Director of Athletics at Leeds Met said: ³I met Wilf 31 years ago when I came
to join in a training session with his Yorkshire and Humberside Athletics
Squad at Carnegie. From that day onwards the direction of my life changed
towards athletics as I was taken under his wing as a p romising young javelin
thrower.

"His love of athletics was absolute and his knowledge, enthusiasm, coaching
and teaching expertise has been experience d by hundreds of thousands of
athletes, coaches and teachers all over the globe either through direct contact
with him or through his extensive written work .´

The event will be held on Friday 11 March, 2011 at the newly refurbished
Centenary Pavilion, Elland Road from 7:30pm. Tickets are just £55 per person
which includes a drink on arrival, a four course meal plus coffee, wine and
entertainment into the night.

As part of the celebrations, the ³Wilf Paish Scholarship Fund´ will be launched
which will enable Leeds Metropolitan University to support talented athletes
from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them through their university studies
so that they may realise their full potential. Building this legacy to support
athletes in need is something that was close to Wilf¶s heart ± the Paish family
are of the firm belief that this is what Wilf would have wanted and are giving
both the fund and the event their full support.

Olympic gold medalist Tessa Sanderson and Olympic coach Tom McNab
were both very close to Wilf and will also be speaking at the event.

To purchase tickets for you and your guests please visit:

www.leedsmet.ac.uk/wilfpaish or call Leeds Met¶s Development & Alumni
Relations team on 0113 812 3147.

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For further details please contact Mark Dorey in the News and Media team at
Leeds Met on 0113 812 3021 or email m.dorey@leedsmet.ac.uk
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Y Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and over 300,000

associate students through its p artnerships with 24 colleges.
Y The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment
Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in
the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*.
Y The University¶s award-winning learning environments include the
iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best Commercial Property
Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards; Broadcast ing
Place, winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building
category and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation.
Y Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have
been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.
Y The University is home to The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence for
sport and disability sport and is 2nd in the British University and
Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings.
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