Derby City Sports Awards 2008 - Winners

The Derby City Sports Awards ceremony took place at Derby County Football Club, Pride Park on 19 September 2008. Over 300 people attended the event including past, present and future Olympians as well as many of the unsung community heroes that deliver sport at a grass roots level. The 16 awards were presented by The Deputy Mayor of Derby - Councillor Sean Marshall, Tom Glick – President and CEO of Derby County Football Club, Councillor Joe Naitta - Portfolio holder for Leisure and Culture and Paul Robinson – Director of Environmental Services, Derby City Council.

The categories of winners were:

Junior Team of the Year
Junior Sportsman of the Year
Junior Sportswoman of the Year
Junior Disabled Sportsperson of the Year
Team of the Year
Young Sports Leader/Young Sports Coach of the Year
Performance Coach of the Year
Community Coach of the Year
Club of the Year
Veteran Sportsperson of the Year
Contribution to School Sport
Disabled Sportsperson of the Year
Service to Sport Award
Sportsperson of the Year
Roll of Honour – Outstanding Contribution to Sport
Lifetime Achievement Award

Junior Team of the Year

Nominees: Derby District Under 13 Cricket Team, Breadsall Priory Junior Golf, Derby City Rugby League U14s and Ecclesbourne School Year 10 Rugby Team.

Winner: Derby City Rugby League U14s
Derby City Rugby League Club U14s remained unbeaten throughout the 2008 season. Competing in the Midlands competition the team comprehensively beat everyone in their path including a Yorkshire team, Toll Bar, who come from a hot bed of rugby league. The U14s have really developed as a team over the past 12 months and have had six team members selected for representation at county level, with one team member being selected to play in a Yorkshire regional competition.

Junior Sportsman of the Year

Nominees: Mikey Manghum – Basketball, Simon Foskett – Sailing, David Bishop – Triathlon, Thomas Bishop – Triathlon, Jamie Turner – Cricket, Anthony Goodwin – Rugby Fives, Ashley Hill – Rugby Fives

Winner: Thomas Bishop - Triathlon
Thomas has had a fantastic year taking part in competitions at the top level of his sport. He has taken a number of junior triathlon titles at both regional and national level, including first place at Southwell Junior Triathlon, Eton sprints junior triathlon and the junior elite triathlon in London.

Tom’s greatest success this year was representing Great Britain at junior level in duathalon at the Holland Holten where, as the youngest competitor, he produced a fantastic performance to finish in first place. Tom hopes now to be selected for the Junior Olympics in 2009.

Junior Sportswoman of the Year

Nominees: Demi Jade Watkins – Gymnastics, Emma Vickers – Table Tennis, Charlotte Caunt – Gymnastics, Lauren Steadman – Netball, Suzzanne Palmer - Athletics

Winner: Emma Vickers – Table Tennis
Over the past year Emma has maintained her number one Junior National ranking. She won gold at the UK School games where she won the U19 girls event. Emma went on to win a double gold in the National Junior Championships winning the junior singles title and the junior girls doubles title.

In January 2008 Emma competed in the European Top 12 against the top players in Europe. She followed this by travelling to Malta to play for England in the World School Championships, where the team finished fourth. Emma will begin the new season ranked number one at Under 18 level.

Junior Disabled Sportsperson of the Year

Nominees: Zishan Zahid – Multi-sports and Ricky Blampied - Gymnastics

Winner: Ricky Blampied – Gymnastics
Ricky represented Great Britain in the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China in October last year. This was his first major competition where he performed extremely well winning two gold and five silver medals.
He went on to compete in regional competitions in March this year and was again successful, winning one gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Ricky continually trains hard and is reaping the rewards of his dedication but is always in search of more medals!

Team of the Year

Nominees: Trinity Warriors – Streetdance, Derwent Valley Rovers Football Club, Shaftesbury Ladies Netball Team, Derby Trailblazers second team, Viking Canoe Polo A Team, Derby School of Chinese Martial Art Wushu Team and Derby Moor Rugby Fives Team

Winner: Viking Canoe Polo A Team – Canoe Polo
In the 2007/2008 season Viking Canoe Polo A Team won the National Cup and were runners up in Division One of the National League. The team also finished fifth in the European Club Championships.

The team was voted ‘Britain’s Best Team’ by other canoe polo clubs from within the league. To add to their achievements, four members of the team were selected for Great Britain to compete in the World Championships in Canada in July 2008. Team captain, Nick Archer also had the honour of captaining Great Britain at the championships.

Young Sports Leader/Young Sports Coach of the Year

Nominees: Tom Mill, Lauren Steadman, Sarah Brown, Matthew Blakemore, Jessica Brown, Charlotte Hopper, Danielle Riddings

Winner: Jessica Brown - Gymnastics
Jessica is 17 years old and has been coaching at Derby City Gymnastics Club since she was 14. A successful gymnast herself she has now turned her attention to passing on skills to younger gymnasts and coaches the junior artistic squad.

Jessica’s strengths are in her organisation and dedication. She provides gymnasts with individual aims and goals to follow as well as constructive worksheets for gymnasts to use in their sessions. She dedicates a lot of her time to coaching and works hard to choreograph floor routines for her gymnasts.

Three of her gymnasts entered the county floor and vault competition with two of them winning joint gold. In March all of her gymnasts passed grade seven, with two of those achieving distinctions. Two of her gymnasts also qualified for the regional championships. The success of Jessica’s gymnasts is a credit to the hard work that Jessica puts in herself to help young athletes develop.

Performance Coach of the Year

Nominees: Jamie Maudsley – Basketball, Mark Rose – Swimming and Mike Donoghue - Wushu

Winner: Mark Rose - Swimming
Mark is the head coach of the Derventio Excel Swim Squad. This year Mark has continually developed swimmers who represent the squad, once again leading them to achieve the ‘Top Team’ at the regional championships.

Under Mark’s guidance there have been a number of successes this year, including one in five swimmers achieving a gold medal at the National Championships, half of the squad achieving other medals at the National Championships, one swimmer making the finals of an Olympic B event and European Junior Championships. Mark has also coached a swimmer who was competing at the Paralympics in six events.

Mark also coaches the junior GB team who last year finished top of the medal table at the junior championships. Mark is an excellent coach, mentor and motivator who passes on a wealth of experience and enthusiasm for swimming.

Community Coach of the Year

Nominees: Clive Mason – Gymnastics, Doug Whitlam – Swimming, Dave Pratt – Swimming, Emma Symes, Tim Fitzgerald, Jean MacDonald and John Swan – all Walking, Marilyn O’Sullivan – Table Tennis, Mark Annison – Golf, Steve Pateman – Weightlifting, Boxing and Sumo and Alistair Cook - Athletics

Winner: Clive Mason - Gymnastics
Clive is head coach at Mickleover Gymnastics Club based at Derby College. Clive has helped establish a club, which boasts nearly 150 members. The club is made up of both boys and girls with ages ranging from five to 15 years of age.

The majority of the club members are from the local area of Mickleover, Mackworth and Littleover. Clive works hard to engage the local community in the club and also strives to develop younger coaches to help him in his sessions.

Club members are beginning to win medals at regional championships under Clive’s guidance as a direct result of his hard work throughout the year. Clive continues to develop the club and increase the opportunities for young people to take part in gymnastics.

Club of the Year

Nominees: Penine Netball Club, Sportsability Club, Derby Wheelblazers Basketball Club, Hooked Extreme Sports Club and Foiled Again Fencing Club.

Winner: Hooked Extreme Sports Club - Skateboarding
Hooked Extreme is a skateboarding club that operates from Murray Park Community School. Hooked provide accessible extreme sports provision for young people. Through their work Hooked have helped cut anti-social behaviour in their local community by encouraging young people to engage in a positive activity. They have excellent links with Murray Park Community School and also have begun to branch out across the city to a number of other schools.

The club achieved a milestone of being the first in the country to deliver skateboarding in National Curriculum PE, which has engaged with young people who may not have usually excelled in mainstream PE.

The club runs and maintains its own website to an extremely high standard using it as an effective tool to consult with existing members of the club and engage with new ones. They have event updates, weekly blogs and regular competitions where youngsters can upload shots of their tricks for the chance to win skating equipment and clothing. This is all run by a very committed group of volunteers who strive to improve the club.

In the coming year Hooked are undertaking a huge piece of work with the local authority to assess and develop the facilities for skateboarding across the city with the view of making Derby the place to be for skating in the Midlands.

Veteran Sportsperson of the Year

Nominees: Lesley Sturgess – Squash, Barry Hawksworth – Athletics and Andy Eagers - Cycling

Winner: Andy Eagers - cycling
Andy Eagers has been a top cyclist for many years at the Derby Mercury Club. He is the current record holder for the 100 mile individual time trial in Derby.

In 2008 Andy has represented Derby in a number of regional road races and has been extremely successful. He has been competing in open age categories and still proving that age is no barrier by winning seven first places throughout the year. Andy represented England at the ‘World Masters Road Championships’ in August 2008.

Andy Eagers is a fantastic ambassador and role model for veteran sports performers and participants. He is a great advocate for being active for life and proves that everyone can gain enjoyment from sport.

Contribution to School Sport

Winner: Graeme Pegg
Graeme has been involved in football at school for over 26 years since he first became a teacher back in 1982. For many years Graeme was a team manager for the Derby District team and gave up many evenings and weekends to travel, coach and manage the team at various fixtures around the region.

Graeme’s most notable achievement as team manager was guiding his U15 team to the last 16 of the English Schools Cup.

Disabled Sportsperson of the Year

Nominees: Leon Taylor and Katie Bailey – both for Football

Winner: Leon Taylor - Football
Leon currently plays for Nottingham County FC Pan Disability Team but lives in Derby. He regularly competes in regional festivals with the team and this year was selected to play for Great Britain.

Leon travelled to Beijing with the Great Britain Paralympics team and arrived home just a few days ago after having the honour of representing his country at the pinnacle of all sporting events.

Service to Sport Award

Nominees: Sheila Rollinson – Football, Mary Yardley – Netball, Donna Beckett – Netball, Joy Proctor – Gymnastics, Dawn Heron – Netball, Hazel Finch – Rugby League and Andy Eagers - Cycling

Winner: Mary Yardley - Netball
Mary has been involved with Derbyshire Netball since 1988 setting up a local league in 1993. She has been instrumental in developing this league from the original four teams to today’s league of 26 adult teams and 14 junior teams.

In 1998 Mary was the obvious choice for chairman of the netball league. She still carries out this role today and provides a knowledgeable and balanced view of what is needed for the continual development of netball from grassroots to excellence level across the city and county.

On top of all this hard work Mary continues to offer her time and expertise in coaching and officiating when required. She is someone who is really deserving of this award and is a fantastic ambassador for netball.

Sportsperson of the Year

Nominees: Emma Vickers – Table Tennis, George Murfin – Canoe Polo and Donna Kellogg - Badminton

Winner: Donna Kellogg - Badminton
Most recently seen competing for Team GB at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Donna has had a very successful 2007/2008 season. Together with Anthony Clark, Donna is the 2008 English Mixed Doubles National Champion and the 2008 European Mixed Doubles Champion and together they were runners up in the 2008 Swiss Open and Singapore Open. Donna also won the Ladies Doubles with Tracey Hallam at the 2008 National Championships and won a World Team Bronze Medal at the 2007 Sudirman Cup. She currently holds a world ranking of eighth in ladies doubles and fifth in mixed doubles. Recently awarded her 74th full cap for England, she is the current ranked Number one in England at both mixed and ladies doubles.

As well as competing at world class level Donna finds time to represent Sport England as a 'Sporting Champion' which involves attending events selected by Sport England to inspire and motivate particularly young people to participate in sport.

Roll of Honour - Outstanding Contribution to Sport

Winner: Mick Aherne in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cricket over his lifetime. A well-liked and respected individual, his coaching career spanned the best part of two decades. Mick worked with children of all ages in schools and clubs and was heavily involved in the organisation and management of district cricket teams. He was a great advocate and coach of disability cricket and had the ability to relate to young people of all backgrounds. Mick will be greatly missed by all those who knew him.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Nominees: Alan Davies – Cricket, Arthur Keily – Athletics and Dave Orford – Cycling.

Winner: Arthur Keily
Arthur has a career in long distance running that spans over five decades. During this time he competed for Great Britain at the 1960 Rome Olympics and won numerous medals and championships as well as holding a variety of record times. Arthur has also raised over £5 million for charity during his career and was running well into his 70s. His collection of medals and running memorabilia is on show at Derby Museum.

This award recognises the success in sport that Arthur has had throughout his life and shows a lifelong commitment and dedication to sport. It is given to someone who is an inspiration to people through their hard work and achievements.

Derbyshire Sports Awards 2008

All of the winners from the Derby Sports Awards will go forward as nominees for the Derbyshire Sports Awards.  For more information on the Derbyshire awards visit the Derbyshire Sport website.