Wales: WELSH SPORTING LUMINARY SCOOPS OBE 
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| Welsh Hockey Union |
June 15, 2005 
Welsh Hockey
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The Sports Council for Wales and Welsh Hockey Union are delighted to announce that Anne Ellis has been recognised in the recent Honours list with the award of an OBE.
Swansea star Anne was awarded an MBE in 1980 in recognition of her services to sport and - in particular - to her unequivocally successful international hockey career.
Since that time she has retired from the teaching profession and has devoted her time to her sporting interests at national and international level - particularly those associated with hockey and the Sports Council for Wales.
Anne has been a member of the Sports Council for Wales since 1993 and Vice-Chair since July 1999. She is Chair of the SPORTLOT National Panel and the National Excellence Panel which supports Élite Cymru - the Council?s lottery funded programme aimed at providing a wide range of support services to burgeoning elite athletes.
Chair of the Sports Council for Wales Philip Carling is quick to commend his colleague:
?This latest honour for Anne, in a long serving career in sport in Wales as player, coach and administrator is richly deserved. Her overall contribution to Welsh sport is immeasurable. It will almost certainly never be matched. On a personal note, her warmth, vast experience and unfailing selflessness as Vice Chair of SCW have been of incalculable help to me. I am absolutely delighted for her.?
Anne is also Chairman of the Wales National Pool in Swansea ? a newly-built facility which has helped cultivate the Olympic and Paralympic successes of Wales? brightest swimming talents, David Davies and David Roberts.
Much of Anne?s life has been dominated by sport - both as a participant at Penarth Ladies Hockey Club and for Wales and Great Britain.
Educated at Gowerton Girls' Grammar School and Glamorgan Training College Barry, her playing achievements include gaining 136 consecutive Welsh caps and captaining both Wales and Great Britain's Olympic Team.
Following retirement from international hockey she embarked on a career coaching Wales and the Great Britain team. She also coached Swansea Ladies HC to six Welsh Cups in seven years; is a past winner of the British Coach of the Year Award and is included within the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
When the Wales Men?s and Women?s Hockey Associations were brought under one umbrella Anne was unanimously elected President ? a post she still holds to the present day.
In addition to her Welsh duties her knowledge and experience has been sought by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) where she is a member of both the Executive and Coaching Committees and by the European Hockey Federation where she is a member of the Development Committee and organiser of all coaching and courses at European level. In 2001 she was appointed Manager of the FIH Year of the Youth project which resulted in a prestigious award from the Federation in recognition of her outstanding services to world youth hockey.
Anne?s award is testament to the hard work and service that she has dedicated to sport over a substantial number of years and is summed up by the Chairman of the Welsh Hockey Union, Alan Rookes, who states:
?We can all take enormous pleasure from Anne?s award as without her undying passion for sport, and hockey in particular, the Welsh Hockey Union would not be in as strong a position as it is today?.
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