St Albans Sports Awards

Les Crabtree

St Albans Sports Awards

The St Albans Arts, Sport and Health Development Team in partnership with St Albans City & District Council, St Albans Special Olympics & hosted the first annual St Albans District Sports Awards to recognise the great work going on within sport in St Albans over the year. The awards took place at the Vineyard Church, St Albans on Thursday 26^{th April.}

The awards were designed not only to acknowledge the exceptional sporting performance of individual athletes but also to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of 'behind the scenes' sports people who have given something to sport in the last 12 months. The awards offered a fantastic opportunity for people to be recognised for all the hard work they have put into sport in the district.

Anthony

The awards were also unique because they merged with Special Olympics St Albans to highlight the extraordinary level of ability, hard work and dedication that the Special Olympics athletes are contributing to sport in the district. Special Olympics is a charity which aims to organise, encourage, promote and develop sports training and competition for people with a learning disability on a year round basis. Success has been seen in regular competitions in athletics, football, golf and swimming. The group is also looking forward to hosting their third regional swimming gala on 28 April at University of Hertfordshire's pool in Hatfield.

Tom McNab, Chair of the St Albans District Sports Partnership said 'the sports awards ceremony showed St Albans at its very best, celebrating the rich investment of volunteers in our young people, it was a privilege to be there'

Peta

The District Sports Partbership award winners:

 nominated by local Clubs.

Junior Section (Under 16 age group)

1. Contribution & Commitment to Sport, Enthusiasm & Attitude -

George Connolly Arsenal Academy.

2. Contribution & Commitment to Team Sport -

Daniel Broome, West Herts Warriors.

Rachel McCullough, East of England Rugby

3. Contribution & Commitment to Individual Sport -

George Carter, Barnet Copthall Swim Club

Patrick Stewart, County Squash

4. Junior Sports Person of the Year -

Jessica Dangerfield, British Acrobat Gymnastic Champion

Senior Section (17+ age group)

5. Contribution & Commitment to Sport, Enthusiasm & Attitude -

Samuel Claridge, U16, U18, U21 County Team

6. Contribution & Commitment to Sport -

Tom Collin, Harpenden RFC/Saracens RFC/England U16

Nicholas Chaudhury, County 400m Champ/Reps England Megan Chapple, County 300m Champ

7. Contribution & Commitment to Team Sport -

Gemma Coggins, England Rounders Team

Harriet Kent, England Lacrosse U19 Team

8. Contribution & Commitment to Individual Sport -

Peta Lundgren, County Champion Javelin

Helen Van Kemp, County Hurdles Champ/Reps England

9. Senior Sports Person of the Year -

Victoria Webster, Herts Cross Country Champ/Reps England & won international competitions.

10. Official / Administrator of the year -

Les Crabtree - Harpenden Town Football Club

Charlie

The Special Olympic award winners:

Nominated by Special Olympics St Albans Members:

1. Players Player of the Year Awards in each sport went to:

Donna Bozier - Athletics, Works extremely hard at training.

Peter Fitzjohn - Golf, has played some wonderful golf this year.

Keiran Murphy - Football, shows real commitment and passion for football.

Simon Taylor - Football, always works hard and great tackler.

Sophie Inder - Swimming, always smiling and enjoys training.

Anthony Ilott - Swimming, works extremely hard at training.

Alison Dudley - Swimming, improved steadily over the year.

2. Coaches Player of the Year Awards in each sport went to:

James Hall - Athletics,

Graham Chaplin - Golf

Michael McKinley - Football

Ryan James - Football

Charlie Binks - Swimming

Vincent Sui - Swimming

James Harrison - Swimming

3. Coach of the Year Award - Natasha Bullock, Athletics. Always enthusiastic and motivational, making sessions fun and explaining the drills well.

4. The Rowland Shield Award was presented by Chris Rowland to Paul Miles, described as: Brave, Enthusiastic, Thoughtful, Friendly, Understanding, Committed and 'demonstrating the true Special Olympian Spirit that there mum would have been proud of'

Ross

St Albans & Harpenden School Sports Partnership award winners:

 Nominated by schools

Junior Section (Under 16 age group)

1. Contribution & Commitment to Sport -

Annabelle Gay, All rounder Football, Netball, Lacrosse, ect..

2. Junior Sports Person of the Year -

Max Baggio, County cross country champ/National ski champ

Senior Section (16+ Age group)

3. Contribution & Commitment to Sport -

Emily Westwood, England Badminton Team U13 & U15.

Mary Parrott, Great Britain Archery Team

Charlotte Claridge, County Swim Champ

Cameron Taylor, Ranked Top 100 for Tennis in age group. Ross McNiven, National Table Tennis Ranking U13, U15 &U18.

4. Senior Sports Person of the Year -

Katherine Deal, South England 1500m Champ, likely to be selected for Beijing Paralympics and hopefully London 2012.

Thank you to everyone who attended and well done to all the award winners.

If you require any more information on the winners or the event please call Leanne or Emily on 01727 827667.