After two big wins to open up the 2021 season on Sunday, Sept. 26, York Lions field hockey coach Zeeshan Minhas will now add some more accolades to his collection. He is the 2021 winner of Field Hockey Canada's Development Coach Award for his tireless work as a hockey administrator, amateur coach, and program facilitator.

Along with his duties at York, Minhas currently runs the Dolphins Field Hockey Club for junior athletes. He has coached at the club, college, regional and provincial level and has supported Field Hockey Ontario's Nextgen training and ID camps.

Minhas is an experienced coach at the university level. He first worked as an assistant coach for York University in 2011, then took over as the head coach in 2013. Minhas continues to work as the head coach for York, with Lisa McCrae as his assistant. He credits McCrae as a key collaborator for many years, as she also coaches with Dolphins FHC. With Minhas and McCrae at the helm, York recently won back-to-back OUA titles and U SPORTS silver medals in 2017 and 2018.

Minhas earned the York Lions coach of the year award in 2017 after his OUA title-winning performance took the Lions to the U SPORTS national championship for the first time since 1996.

Approximately 18,000 field hockey players across the country – 9,000 of which are a part of high school field hockey programs – dedicate themselves to the sport at all levels from community hockey to high performance. Field Hockey Canada is the governing body for all of those programs and players in Canada.