RICHARD Cheetham, who lives in Alresford, nearly missed getting the MBE he has been awarded in the New Year’s Honours list for services to education and community sport as he didn’t receive his letter from Buckingham Palace.

“I had moved and the letter went to my old address and they didn’t forward it. I only realised two weeks ago when I got an e-mail reminder,” he said.

“I feel very honoured. It is not something I would have even thought about when I was a student at Portsmouth and then doing sport studies at Brunel University, getting an MBE for a job I love doing.”

Richard is a senior fellow in sports coaching studies at the University of Winchester where he has worked since 2005.

Born in Northampton, he came to Hampshire when he began coaching rugby in Basingstoke before spending three years teaching and coaching in New Zealand.

His research focus centres on a more holistic approach to coaching with time spent since 2013 at Saracens Rugby Club within the academy programme and, more recently, at Fulham Football Club.

Richard has also developed a strong reputation on creative thinking and innovation within coach education and development.

He has gained recognition nationally and internationally within coach education and has been an invited speaker for British Cycling, Cycling Ireland, England Handball, and the England Cricket Coaches’ Association.

Since May 2014, Richard has worked with the UCI World Cycling Elite Coach Education Programme in Switzerland.

In addition, a key focus of his work is establishing links with local and national sports organisations to strengthen the degree programme and therefore enhance student employability through providing opportunities for volunteering, mentoring and community coaching placements.

As a result, he received the 2014 Vice-Chancellors Award for Community Engagement.

In 2010, Richard completed the Atacama Desert Ultra-marathon and regularly competes in other endurance races such as Ironman and the UK coast to coast challenges.

Richard is an experienced rugby union coach educator for the London South region and Hampshire RFU, as well as a tutor for SCUK on the Talent Foundation Series. He is also part of the Project 500 coaching initiative aimed at encouraging more woman to become sports coaches.

His job also involves travel and he is due to attend conferences in British Columbia and Vancouver in Canada. It is because of travel and his busy schedule that, he said: “I haven’t had time to organise a celebration. A lot of my family live in Australia and my partner Nicky’s parents live in the far north of Scotland.

“However, we will be having a celebration party and then I will be looking forward to collecting my MBE probably at Windsor Castle and my guests will be Nicky and my six-year-old daughter Kitty.”

But he added: “Although it’s a marvellous honour, the most rewarding thing for me is helping support my students become the best in the field of coaching and sport.”