Wednesday 14 March 2007

Wandsworth Junior Sports Person of the Year 2006

Amelia and Anne attended the Wandsworth Sports Awards for 2006 ceremony at Wandsworth Town Hall on Tuesday night.

The setting and ceremony were very swish - cool lighting and music, snappy PowerPoint presentations of past Olympic Games, celebrity sports guests who live or perform in the Borough, together with many talented local sports people from all areas of sport - from athletics through the alphabet to volleyball. The competition was very strong - stories of young swimmers training 55km a day in the pool, training for some 16-18 hours a week; people overcoming diabilities to compete in their sport; teams reaching finals and goals which they had never before achieved.

There were presentations of trophies won in local competitions or the London Youth Games last summer, followed by the team and individual awards for Services to Sport, Coach of the Year, Team of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. These were presented around a table tennis display and a 'Question of Sport' in which previous Sports Awards winners, London 2012 potential competitors and Commonwealth and Olympic athletes answered questions put to them by members of the audience. Amelia was selected to ask two questions of Adrian Turner, an Olympic swimmer, who has just moved into the Borough and she appeared on the big screen with her microphone as she spoke!

Finally came the top awards: Junior Team of the Year, Team of the Year, Junior Sports Person of the Year and Sports Person of the Year. It was like the Oscars - nominees had short summaries of their achievements read out while their pictures appeared on the big screen behind the stage. Amelia was nominated by her club and her school for the Junior Sports Person of the Year award where she was up against another athlete, a cross-country runner, a tennis player, a bowls player and a footballer.

Then came the announcement. "And the winner is ... Amelia Richards." She won!! Even modest Amelia could not contain her obvious pleasure and pride in winning this award. She was grinning broadly as she mounted the stage and received her trophy from Councillor Rosemary Torrington, Deputy Chairman for the Borough's Environment and Leisure Committee. Amelia's trophy was a silver champagne-style fluted trophy which is engraved with her name and which she holds for the year. She also received a silver salver engraved with details of her award which she can keep. As a part of the award, Amelia has been given a £100 grant to help with the expenses she incurs in travelling to competitions and buying spikes and kit.
A real boost to the end of a busy indoor season and a challenge for the upcoming outdoor season to see if Amelia can now match this success with a nomination for the Sports Person of the Year 2007 award next Spring.

2 comments:

JCW said...

I read this blog page only a few days ago - look what you've been up to since! We are all extremely proud of all three of you (oh, and Anne and Bob too, I guess!), and can't wait to see the next achievement every time we log on. Well done all of you! xxx

Anonymous said...

Well done everyone!