Vance Brown said he is “humbled and honoured” to have been nominated for the Concacaf Women’s Football Coach of the Year Award.

The women’s national academy coach has been shortlisted by a panel of experts for leading Bermuda Under-15 girls to the Concacaf Championship Division Two title in Florida last summer. It definitely caught me by surprise,” Brown said. “I had no idea I was even nominated. I’m humbled and honoured that I was shortlisted.”

The 48-year old took charge of the under-15 girls after Naquita Robinson, the Bermuda women’s senior coach, withdrew her services for the championship to attend her brother’s wedding.

“[Robinson] and I are in constant contact and she was one of the first people I called [after learning of nomination],” Brown said.

Bermuda beat out 15 other teams in Division Two, advancing from group D with a perfect record before edging Grenada 2-1 in the final at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.

“That success was a couple of years in the making,” Brown said. “The girls had a lot of experience playing for the national under-17 side ... we knew we were going to have a good chance of doing well. We just reminded them of all their experiences and brought out the best in them.”

Brown is employed as a full-time administrator at the Bermuda Football Association. The nephew of former Somerset Trojans and Bermuda captain Dennis Brown, he been involved in football for most of his life.

He started out at youth level as a goalkeeper at Trojans where he also served as a medic for the club’s senior team for several years. Brown has also had coaching stints with Prospect United, Rude Girls and Lady Cougars and has been involved with the women’s national programme since 2000.

“I’ve been in and around this game for a long time and had a lot of exposure to different things,” he said. “This [nomination] is just fitting ... you can see the fruits of the dedication and hard work that has been put in.”

Brown is among four nominees on a shortlist that also includes Jamaica women’s national coach Hue Menzies, Mexico Under-17 women’s national coach Monica Vergara and Panama women’s national team coach Victor Suárez.

Fans are encouraged to vote in the Concacaf Awards by visiting the fan voting page located at Concacaf.com. Voting is open until January 9, 2019 with the winners of the categories to be announced on Concacaf’s official website