Royal Navy Diver receives Meritorious Service Medal

Sid was recently awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). It is a highly prestigious award which is awarded to very few. 
 
Serving for 28 years in the Royal Navy, Sid has been awarded the MSM for outstanding service and his dedication to military, national and international winter sports.  After starting his career in winter sports in 1994 he won 1st place in the Great Briton Novice Skeleton Bobsled championships, he then went on to compete extremely successfully at all levels, including captaining the Great Britain team for 2 years, leading to 4th place in the 1998 world cup. 
 
He formed the first Royal Navy Skeleton Bobsled team and for the past 9 years has singlehandedly been the team manager and coach. Under his leadership, the team have taken 4 first places at Inter-Service competitions.

Sid’s dedication, loyalty and effectiveness in coaching is recognised at an international level which has seen him coach team Great Britain, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States in both skeleton and at the Cresta run. In 2009/10, he was on the coaching team which led to Team GB winning gold at the Vancouver winter Olympics.
 
In 2009 he was awarded the RN Sports Official of the Year for his outstanding leadership of the Royal Navy Skeleton Team.  Sid’s Skeleton Bobsleigh team will next compete in March at Igls, Austria at the Inter-Services Competition. 
 
Competition for MSMs is extremely high and very few achieve success, therefore only individuals who are considered truly exceptional who meet the criteria should be considered.  The Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) is a medal intended to reward those who have at least 20 years’ non-commissioned service. To receive an MSM, an individual must have performed good, faithful, valuable and meritorious service, with conduct judged to be irreproachable.
 
Sid joined the Royal Navy in 1983. In his spare time he enjoys Skeleton Bosleigh, skiing and sailing.

On receiving the award Sid said

“The support from my wife and friends have helped me achieve this award and I’m deeply honoured to be awarded the MSM”