Butch Gifford Receives Queens Services Medal 

Oceania Squash Life Member Butch Gifford has received the Queens Services Medal for his work in squash.

Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to the Queen's Service Order.

Butch is well known for a variety of different achievements over the years. He is a life member of Squash NZ and has also been on the selection panel for the Squash NZ Hall of Fame. 

Butch Gifford’s first involvement in squash was to help get the Morrinsville Squash Club built. Since that time, there is probably no area of squash in New Zealand that Butch hasn’t been a part of – from selecting and managing national teams, coaching, refereeing, working for Squash NZ (paid and unpaid) and designing and building the first KiwiSquash courts. But all that (and more!) were simply not enough for Butch… his coaching input has extended beyond New Zealand onto the world stage and particularly, with the Oceania Squash Federation (OSF).

Butch was awarded the Squash New Zealand Personality of the Year 2012. 

A brief, unabridged timeline of Butch Gifford’s involvement in Squash, from the man himself…

• Became involved with local Squash Club from it being built in Morrinsville
• Qualified as Senior Coach for New Zealand Squash
• Part of first Coaching Committee established by New Zealand Squash
• Part of committee who established the first New Zealand Junior Committee
• Managed Waikato Junior teams for 10 years
• Life member of Morrinsville, Waikato and New Zealand Squash
• New Zealand Squash Junior selector then Senior selector
• Manager of first Colts tour of New Zealand
• Managed and Coached Junior Teams against Australia – Singapore and Malaysia
• Designed and built first Kiwisquash courts – wrote and produced first video and resource material
• Director of Coaching and Development for Squash New Zealand – both paid and as a volunteer
• Director of referees for New Zealand Squash 
• Spent 3 months in Singapore and Malaysia establishing both Coaching and Refereeing structures.
• Organiser of World Coaching Symposium held in Christchurch during Junior Men’s World Championships
• Delegate and presenter at first/second and third World Squash Federation Coaching Conferences
• Presenter at New Zealand first “Coaching for Women” conference held in Wellington
• Presenter at numerous Squash Australia Coaching courses
• Contracted to Badminton New Zealand in Club development role
• Contracted to Sport Training and Assessment as trainer for New Zealand Qualifications Authority courses.
• Attended Melbourne as Technical Director for World Doubles Championship at invitation of  World Squash Federation
• Appointed Technical Director for World Masters Championships held in Christchurch
• Part of High Performance board for Squash New Zealand
• Attended initial Oceania event held in Henderson
• Became a Vice President of Oceania Squash Federation at some stage
• Have been to all Oceania Squash major events such as the South Pacific Games held every 4 years interspersed with Oceania Games where Squash can play also every 4 years – played so there are Squash games every second year.
• At these games have held various positions to assist and develop the Island administrators so they can conduct events in their country without needing to engage outside expertise. Supplied draws and draw sheets for them to use during the year
• Spent 2 weeks in Samoa with their Teams for South Pacific games
• Spent 1 week in Rarotonga with their South Pacific Games team

It is great to see Butch receive this award and it is well deserved for all of his hard work!