Nottinghamshire rewards sporting champions

Nottinghamshire's Sports Review of the Year 2007 took place on Tuesday 29 January at the East Midlands Conference Centre on the campus of the University of Nottingham. Nearly five hundred people gathered to celebrate the achievements of participants, administrators, coaches and officials in Nottinghamshire sport.

An achievement summary of the winners follows this list.

Awards were presented in the following categories

Category	Winner
Club of the Year	Sycamore Table Tennis Club
Nottinghamshire Youth Games Fair Play Award (sponsored by East Midlands Airport)	Broxtowe
Professional of the Year	Ryan Sidebottom (Cricket)
Volunteer of the Year	Sally Sillery (Football)
Coach of the Year: Performance	Lesley Whitehead (Tennis)
Coach of the Year: Community	Jon Penney (Multi-Sports)
Disabled Sportsperson of the Year	Kayleigh Black (Boccia)
Team of the Year	Paul Adcock and Peter Mills (Badminton)
Amateur Sportsperson of the Year	Tim Brabants (Kayaking)
Roll of Honour	Ted Harris (Football) Julie Lowe (Kayaking) Jack Walters (Athletics) Colin Slater MBE (Football) Rita Gordon (Athletics)
Special Award	Nottingham Panthers
Outstanding Achievement of the Year	Emma Dallman (World Transplant Games Athletics and Swimming)

Achievements summary of the winners

Disabled Sportsperson of the Year
Winner - Kayleigh Black - Boccia

Having come right through the ranks as a beginner at the Nottinghamshire Youth Games, June saw Kayleigh rewarded with a team gold medal at the Boccia World Championships in Canada. She trained with the Great Britain squad in Hong Kong and took 3rd place in the GB and Midlands boccia competitions.

Coach of the Year – Performance

Winner - Lesley Whitehead - Tennis

Head Coach of the learning disability national squad, September saw Lesley take the Great Britain team including 2 players from Nottinghamshire to the Special Olympics World Games in China. Over the 9 events, all of the 6 team members won medals including 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.

Coach of the Year – Community

Winner - Jon Penney - Multi-Sports

A qualified tennis, football and cricket coach, John has created innovative ways to engage young people in physical activity through the multi-skill activity inclusion project. He works in primary and secondary schools to re-engage young people into mainstream PE and sport and reaches some that would never have succeeded without his intervention and support.

Amateur Sportsperson of the Year

Winner -Tim Brabants - Kayaking

At the Sprint World Championships in Germany in August, Tim was crowned World Champion, winning the K1 1000m event and improving on his silver at the European Championships in Spain where he had also taken gold in the 500m race. In August, Tim won gold in the Beijing test events at both 1000 and 500m and qualified for the Olympics.

Amateur Team of the Year

Winner - Peter Mills and Chris Adcock - Badminton

April saw Peter from Newark and Chris from Mansfield crowned winners of the Under 19 European Junior title. They are the first British pair to win the event since 1971 and the first winning pair ever where both players represent the same county. The pair had already taken the national title in March.

Volunteer of the Year

Winner - Sally Sillery - Football

Secretary of Winthorpe and Coddington Tigers, Sally has helped to rebuild the clubhouse after an arson attack by raising funds and organising the building works. Sally’s husband, the club chairman, is seriously ill, so she has taken over his club responsibilities as well as his care. She works with 10 managers and 10 teams and sits on the league committee.

Club of the Year

Winner - Sycamore Table Tennis Club - Table Tennis

Despite negative publicity for the area, the Sycamore Table Tennis Club has done much to encourage players to come to the area and has really embraced the diverse community that lives nearby. Recently accredited, the club welcomes all age groups and abilities with a strong emphasis on developing volunteers by offering training and recognition to all those who contribute. They have raised funds to refurbish their 7 tables and purchase a coaching robot and have also attracted a major sponsor.

Professional Sportsperson of the Year

Winner - Ryan Sidebottom - Cricket

Winner of Notts ‘Player of the Year’ despite some niggling injuries, Ryan’s consistent performances on the county circuit ensured an England call up at the start of the season.

At the second npower Test against West Indies at Headingley, he recorded match figures of 8-86 and followed up with the first five-wicket haul of his career in the fourth Test at Chester-le-Street.

Roll of Honour

Julie Lowe - Kayaking

Julie has coached kayaking in Newark for over 17 years. She has helped hundreds of young people discover the sport and to excel up to international level. She trains paddles from the age of 5 upwards with varying forms and degrees of disability and she has transformed a shed in her back garden to a fully-functioning gym with adapted equipment in which her athletes can train.

Ted Harris - Football

Ted is responsible for keeping the Newark Youth Football League running. He arranges fixtures, records results, organises competitions and registers all 1500 players with the Notts FA. Up until last year, Ted was doing this formidable task while holding down a full time job. He retired last year at the age of 74 but still offers his valuable time to football.

Jack Walters - Athletics

Involved in Nottinghamshire athletics since 1954, Jack is the President of Notts AAA’s and has been involved with most track, cross-country and road running events in the county. He officiates at an average of 50 events per year and is always happy to advise or mentor new timekeepers and officials entering the sport.

Colin Slater MBE - Football

The voice of Notts County, Colin has reported on the side for 50 years. He was awarded the M.B.E in 2001, not only for his work in journalism, but also for his public relations work for the FA and Chairmanship of the Lord Taverners. On 17 November 2007, Colin covered his 2,000th Notts’ match for Radio Nottingham.

Rita Gordon – Athletics

Rita joined Newark Athletics Club 8 years ago. She has been highly involved in coaching county and regional standard athletes and has recently embarked on her level 4 sprint coaching qualification. This year, Rita is retiring and her huge level of experience will be hugely missed as well as her rapport with young athletes.

Outstanding Achievement of the Year

Emma Dallman - Swimming and Athletics

Emma who had a liver transplant operation at the age of 6, is still on medication. She raised £2,200 to be able to compete at the World Transplant Games in Bangkok. After months of training with Sherwood Swimming Club, she joined 125 athletes as part of the Great Britain team in which she competed in both athletics and swimming events. Emma returned from Thailand with a gold medal in the 50m freestyle swimming as well as silver at the long jump, 50m freestyle and backstroke events and a bronze in the 50m freestyle. 55 countries took part in the competition with over 1,000 competitors taking part to raise international awareness of organ donation.