The Angling Trust has announced that after 17 years of unprecedented success, Steve Sanders will stand down from his position as manager of Sensas England U20’s team with immediate effect.
Steve first took the reigns as manager in 2003, leading the team into the 17th FIPS-ed Youth World Championships in Portugal, a championship that brought immediate success as the team returned with a silver medal in the individual category and a creditable fifth place finish in the team category. This was the beginning of an incredibly successful journey to become the number one ranked team in the world and 10 years and 10 medals later, England achieved that goal and have remained at the top of the rankings ever since. Over the course of Steve’s 17-year tenure, England amassed a total of 21 medals with 10 team medals and 11 individual medals. The undoubted highlight of Steve’s reign came in the 2013 World Championships in France on the La Vilaine River. England produced a phenomenal performance and swept the board with team gold and individual gold, silver and bronze medals.
Equally important as the medal count has been Steve’s contribution to the development and progression of the anglers he has tutored and mentored over that period. Many of these young anglers have progressed through the system and have gone on to represent England at senior level, the ultimate accolade for a coach or manager working with young people.
Ben Thompson, Angling Trust said “We are obviously disappointed to lose such an important and talented member of our management team. Steve has been integral to the success of the team and development of so many anglers within the system. I speak on behalf of the Angling Trust and all of the anglers who have been fortunate enough to benefit from Steve’s knowledge over the years in offering our sincere thanks for the enormous amount of effort and commitment he has contributed over such a long period. He has created a legacy and finding someone to fill his shoes will be incredibly difficult. We wish him the very best of luck for the future and hope he continues to enjoy his own team and individual match fishing.”
Steve said “I have enjoyed every minute of my time as England Manager and it has been a privilege to work with the many talented youngsters, I’m proud of each and every one of them. Not only have they achieved unprecedented success, they have represented our nation with honour and distinction. We have an outstanding tradition of producing top quality young anglers. I’d like to wish the team and my successor the very best of luck for the future.”
The search for a new manager begins immediately. The new manager will lead Sensas Team England U20’s into the 34th World Championships in Hungary in August 2020. The Angling Trust invites anyone interested in becoming the new manager to get in touch by emailing the Trust’s Senior Competitions & Performance Manager Ben Thompson at ben.thompson@anglingtrust.net
