Awards for Fylde sport heroes
Fylde’s amateur sporting heroes will be honoured this week as the winners of the Fylde Sports Awards are presented with their awards at a reception at the Town Hall in St Annes.
Silver Trophy
The Fylde Sports Awards are part of the Lancashire Sports Awards which are billed as the largest celebration of amateur sport in the County. They have been developed in partnership with each of Lancashire’s local authorities in order to celebrate sporting achievement and spread best practice.
Now in their 8th year, the Lancashire Sports Awards pay tribute to those, young and old, that show dedication to perform at the highest level or those who work tirelessly to support individuals or clubs week in, week out, for the love of sport.
The Fylde nominations have been sifted through and this week the winners will be presented with their awards.
The winners of the 2009 Fylde Sports Awards are:
Coach of the Year
Peter Whiteside (Lytham St Annes YMCA Football Club)
Peter is the current manager and coach of the U18’s team and has supported this team single handedly through every age group from U9’s in his 10 year involvement in the club. His record of successes with the team makes him the most successful manager of one team ever in local youth football.
As well as a fantastic coach to the players Peter is a great mentor for other coaches and volunteers within the club, always taking time out to support and guide others. The discipline and behaviour ethic he instils in his players is exemplary and Peter has been a brilliant role model for the boys.
Community Club of the Year
Fylde Rugby Club
The club secured funding for two full time development officers who have a massive impact on growing the club and building community and school links. Just some of the work the team does in schools includes training opportunities for volunteers, coaches and officials and the organisation and administration of the Fylde & Wyre RUFFS league which provides valuable playing opportunities for 11 high schools.
Fylde recently hosted their 3rd annual beach rugby tournament which was a great success and engaged the local community with teams of friends entering who has never picked up a rugby ball before!
As a club they have just received the re-accreditation of Clubmark and have also been granted the Whole Club Seal of Approval by the RFU.
Young Volunteer of the Year (aged 14-24 years)
Emma James
For the past four years Emma has been highly involved in volunteering, especially in sport. In total she has completed over 500 hours of volunteering and is working towards 600. She helps coach the school’s hockey, netball, rounders and trampoline teams, supporting the girls as they progress from one season to another. In PE lessons Emma has supported children with learning difficulties through the paired support programme, learning valuable skills about how to adapt lessons for all needs and abilities
Rising Star- Young Performer of the Year (under 18 years)
Tawana Gardner (Blackpool Wyre & Fylde Athletics Club)
At only the age of 12, Tawana has already been tipped as an Olympic medal winner! As a sprinter she is too young to represent the county yet but has made a huge impact on the club circuit. At the Lancashire Championships Tawana achieved Gold for both the 100m and 200m. She then went on to compete in a national competition in Scotland and with another great performance came home with Gold in both the 60m and 200m racing against athletes from all over the country!
Special Recognition Award
Martin Heald (Carr Hill High School)
From a very young age Martin has had some massive barriers to overcome, he was diagnosed with Cancer twice and it had to be treated with intensive chemotherapy and radiation from the age of just 3 years old. At the age of 14 he was then diagnosed with an unrelated bone tumour. As a result, in addition to treatment, his leg had to be amputated from the hip downwards, followed by in excess of 10 operations due to complications from chemotherapy.
However rather than just giving up on sport Martin ploughed all his time and energy into football. He now plays for the Manchester United Amputee team and has been selected to represent Great Britain in both the European Championships and the World Cup in Brazil this summer.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Commitment to Sport
Peter Woods (Football, Cricket & Local Community Organisations)
Peter has dedicated over 33 years of his life to community sport in the Kirkham area. He founded the Kirkham Junior Football club in 1974, which now provides grassroots football for over 250 children aged 6-18 years. He is still a driving force within the club taking on a multitude of voluntary roles including club secretary and recently led the club in achieving FA Charter Club Standard. From humble beginnings Peter has helped build an extremely well run club that is now one of the largest voluntary child based organisations in the local area.
In addition to his work with the football club, Peter also has longstanding involvement in the local Cricket Club, and community associations, always looking to support and promote any activities that will benefit children and add enrichment to their lives.
Peter’s lifetime of dedication of sport in the area has been invaluable and opportunities in the area for children and young people would never have grown to such a scale without him.
Each winner with receive their reward at a Civic Reception Presentation in the Town Hall with the Mayor, on Wednesday 29th July 2009. The winner in each category will also be put forward to represent Fylde in the Lancashire County Awards presentation evening to be held on Friday October 23 at The Guild Hall, Preston.
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