Natahar Bava is unique among the awardees for the Coach of the Year accolade for one simple reason - he alternated between the sports of rugby and athletics and distinguished himself as a coach and athlete at both respective game disciplines.

The quality of the rugby team was evident as early as 1977 when the side, only a few months under Natahar's care swept to a silver medal at the SEAP Games '77 in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently, the National Rugby team managed to attain the top three positions in several competitions in 1978.

Natahar Bava started in1963, at the age of 17 years, when he played rugby with the Singapore All-Blues, the National Asian side at the time. At 18 years, then studying at Raffles Institution, he played for the Singapore U-23 side and the Singapore Civilians.

"Nat" then left Rugby for Track & Field (sprinter and relay runner) from 1965 to 1970. He was 20 years-old when he was part of the victorious 4 x 400m relay team (comprising himself, Canagasabai Kunalan, the late Gunasena Migale and Ho Mun Cheong) at the 1966 Asian Games (Bangkok) that won a bronze medal in a national record time (3:13.4) that still stands today.

Natahar later returned to the rugby fold and played in the first Singapore All-Citizens Rugby Team in 1971. Soon after he left for the USA on a State Department Exchange Educational Programme. He returned to Singapore in 1977 and was appointed as the Singapore Civilians' volunteer coach followed by his stint as volunteer coach for the National team.

In 1982, he was promoted as the Director of Athletics and Department Chairman of the Singapore American School where he actively developed and promoted rugby in the IASAS (Interscholastic Association of South Asian Schools), an association of International High Schools in Singapore, Bangkok, K.L., Jakarta, Manila and Taipei. To his credit, rugby has been a mandatory event at these schools ever since.

Today, Natahar Bava serves as Deputy Chairman of the Coaching Committee of the Singapore Hockey Federation. He is also the Team Manager of the U-21 Men's Hockey team preparing for the 2009 Junior World Cup to be hosted by Singapore and Malaysia.

A lover of sport in general, Nat's humility also resonates when he states in full candour, "I am pleased to have served Singapore as the volunteer rugby coach as I consider the stint as National Service, whether representing our Republic in Athletics or for Rugby. I was very thankful for the opportunity to serve".