Winchester District Sports Awards 2012
The Winchester District Sport and Physical Activity Alliance (SPAA) held its fifth annual sports awards at Winchester Guildhall on Wednesday 5 December.
The 18 different awards and special presentations that were up for grabs aimed to recognise publicly the commitment and excellence of coaches, volunteers, sportsmen and women across the Winchester District and celebrate their successes over the past year.
Andy Steggall, EDF awards sports journalist of the year, hosted the evening, which for the second year had grown to be so big that two ceremonies were needed. The Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Frank Pearson, Deputy Mayor of Winchester Cllr Ernest Jeffs and Chair of the Local SPAA, Stuart Barlow were also on hand to help celebrate the sporting year and achievements on both local and national levels.
Graced with a plethora of Olympic and Paralympic speakers, the guests heard from GB Wheelchair Rugby Player Kylie Grimes and Team Manager Bev Everton, and local GB Goalball Paralympian and Winchester star Adam Knott. In between these presentations the crowd was inspired by Sally Walton from GB Hockey who has over 130 International caps and was Team GB’s 100th selected member for last summer’s Olympic Games. Sally also wowed the crowd when she showed off her London 2012.
The awards also celebrated volunteering initiatives, after the success of the national Games Makers this summer, and saw local Health Walk Volunteer Leaders, Swanmore College’s Young Ambassadors and tireless volunteer Samantha Illston collect awards from the stage for their hard work over the course of the last year.
The evening saw over 350 people celebrate with a talented pool of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls and a high number of exceptional volunteers, coaches and sports personalities. Judging the nominations was extremely difficult this year, so the winners and the highly commended should feel very proud of their achievements.
Cllr Patricia Stallard, portfolio holder for Culture, Heritage and Sport at Winchester City Council, said:
The evening is a magnificent way for us to showcase all that is great in terms of sport across the Winchester District. Being involved in such a fantastic event that celebrates the year we have had has been incredible, our local sporting stars that compete, coach and volunteer deserve this recognition and their stories will leave some truly inspiring messages with everyone that attended. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone involved in staging the event!
Stuart Barlow, Chair of the Winchester District SPAA, added:
The SPAA has delivered a number of different events and activities across the course of the year and celebrating them alongside our clubs, coaches, volunteers and sport stars who help us achieve our outcomes has been brilliant. Picking a winner for each category is always a tough job but as tonight shows the achievements of all of our nominees are something special and they all deserve praise! Well done to all involved. We have some great plans and a new framework to launch soon so I have no doubt that next year will be another fantastic one for the SPAA, so please keep an eye out for when the nominations for awards open next year and help us celebrate by putting more nominations forward.
Individual awards were sponsored by local partners and organisations that helped to financially support the event and ensure a first class evening could be delivered. Nominations for the Sport Hampshire & IOW county awards are now open where all Winchester winners will be put forward to hopefully receive even more awards!
This year's winners were:
Junior Sportsman – Thomas Graham – Diving
Sponsored by Sparsholt College
Junior Sportswoman – Kelly Simm – Gymnastics
Sponsored by the University of Winchester
Junior Disability Sportsperson – Adam Knott – Goalball
Junior Male Volunteer – Will Short – Various
Junior Female Volunteer – Bethany Shaw – Various
Junior School Team of the Year – Kings School Year 9 Football Team
Sponsored By Winchester Physiotherapy
Junior Team – St Cross Symondians U13 Cricket Team
Sponsored By 4SportsUK
Senior Sportsman – Jimmy Adams - Cricket
Senior Sportswoman – Lindsey Andrews – Karate/Mixed Martial Arts
Senior Disability Sportsperson – Alex Goodman – Swimming
Sponsored by Lloyds TSB
Senior Volunteer – Jim Shea – Football
Sponsored by Fieldfare Leader
Coach of the Year – Tim Nash – Volleyball
Sponsored by DC Leisure
Senior Team – St Cross Symondians Mens 1st XI Cricket Team - Cricket
Sponsored by Winchester City Council
Club of the Year – Worthys Youth FC – Football
Sponsored by Sport Hampshire & IOW
Service to Sport – Pauline Goater – Judo
For further information about the event, how you could sponsor an award or nominate someone for next year’s celebrations please contact Chris Peach, Sports Development Officer on 01962 848 532 or email cpeach@winchester.gov.uk