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Young Achievers rewarded for sporting success

16 December 2008

The event, now in its tenth year, also recognised young people for their bravery, kindness, commitment or musical, artistic or academic success, and a presentation ceremony was held at Highfields School in Matlock.

Each young person was nominated by their school, parish council, family or friend.

Among the young achievers honoured for their sporting success was 15-year-old Liam Pitchford from Chesterfield, who is a rising star in the table tennis scene.

In 2007 Liam was selected on numerous occasions to represent his country in open international tournaments and the success he achieved got him a European ranking in the top ten of the Cadet age group and secured him a place in the prestigious European Top 10 event held for the first time in England at the EIS in Sheffield.

His performance earned him a place in the development category of the British Table Tennis Federation Development Group, which includes a small number of gifted performers being schooled for London 2012. He also competed at the UK School Games in August and represented England at the Commonwealth Youth Games in October 2008.

Wheelchair basketball player Madeleine Thompson (pictured) was also a winner, after becoming the youngest wheelchair basketball player to represent her country at the Under 22 level, aged just 13.

She played for GB in the European championships in Turkey in July and the team qualified in 7th place for the World Finals.

Also receving awards for sporting success were:

Alice Sharp, an up and coming star in the world of hockey. She plays for the Belper Ladies first team in the National League North, and was part of the Belper under 18s team which won the England Hockey National Club Cup Finals in May. She has also played several matches for the England under 16s team, five of them as vice captain, and was selected to represent England under 16 girls at the European Youth Nations Championships at The Hague in Holland in July. There she won a European Championship silver medal. In their pool games, England beat Belgium 5-0 and Italy 4-1, with Alice scoring in both matches.

Mitchell Werezak, who earned his kickboxing black belt at the age of eight and is now, at the age of nine, the Midland's area champion. He has won more than 20 trophies, medals and plaques. Mitchell also excels in school and volunteers for every job available, giving up his break times to be school receptionist, media presenter, librarian, tuck shop server and a school buddy to name a few.

Ethan Marshall, who battled Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia for four years and suffered many complications with his chemotherapy has achieved a lot despite many set backs.

This year he has played for three football teams, Heanor Staffs, Belper Sports and ADASC United. He swam 50 metres with Heanor Swimming Club, learned to ride a bike with two wheels and was picked for Derby County’s Gifted and Talented.He joins every school and outreach sports club available, is reaching his goals and his self esteem is now soaring.

Joshua Haynes, a young sailor who has had great success on the water in his Optimist class dinghy. He has twice won the Derbyshire Youth Sailing, Ellen MacArthur Trophy as the highest placed junior sailor in the county wide series and has achieved similarly notable results in the regional Midland Optimist Team squad too taking overall 3rd place in the 2008 Midland Area Championships. In 2007 he was the under 10 Optimist class National Champion for Great Britain and has been selected for the Optimist class RYA regional training squad of Team GBR for three consecutive years. Recently he was the under 12 Champion at the National School Sailing Association regatta at Carsington Water.

Demi Jakymelen, a talented cross country runner and this year was the Derbyshire Cross Country Championship winner. She has also represented Derbyshire in the National Championship.

William Marshall, who has Downs Syndrome, and has taken part in many sporting activities to raise money for a variety of good causes from the Breast Cancer Appeal to the Downs Syndrome Association.This year he took part in a 60 mile bike ride from London to Brighton, which took 18 months of training and preparation. This was an amazing achievement as William was using stabilisers just two years ago.

Christopher Price, a dedicated athlete with a string of awards and titles under his belt.

His recent achievements have included coming first in pole vault awards at the Derbyshire Schools Championships and Derbyshire County Championships as well as winning the Inter counties and South Yorkshire Championships.

He has been selected for the Yorkshire and Humberside talent squads in pole vault and multi events. Other achievements include winning medals at the South Yorkshire young athletes competition, South Yorkshire Championships and Derbyshire County Championships.

He is also club record holder for pentathlon and pole vault at City of Sheffield Athletics Club.

Leon Field, who won his award for his achievements in amateur boxing. In his first year, he has won the ABA golden gloves area championships for Derbyshire class 1 under 36kg and reached the quarter finals of the national championships.

He has had an outstanding first year at local level winning seven out of his ten bouts.

Tommi Cluley, who has passed his RYA Dinghy Instructor, RYA First Aid, RYA Powerboat level 2 and RYA Seamanship level 3. In July 2008 he was part of the Derbyshire team who were placed 2nd in the National Schools Sailing Regatta. In August 2008 he was fourth British Inland 4.7 at the National Laser Finals and he is currently fourth senior with Derbyshire Youth Sailing.

Ben Dale, a talented Tae Kwon Do player. He trains for at least 8 hours a week in Long Eaton and Derby. Over the last year he has won ten gold medals, two silvers and a bronze as well as passing his black belt in December at the age of 12.

His gold medals have come from events such as the World Cup championships in Birmingham, the Spanish Open in Barcelona, the London Open and the Martial Arts Open in Paris in September.

Oliver Hooper, who regularly volunteers for Sporting Futures, taking an active role within the organisation, particularly during half-terms. Oliver also coaches a variety of sports, including football, basketball and multi-sports sessions around the county.

In the past year he has completed over 500 volunteering hours in various settings. He holds Level 1 NGB qualifications in volleyball, cricket, boccia, handball and cheerleading.

He has taken a highly active role within the Sportsability Club held weekly at Brookfield Community School and was recently appointed as a Chesterfield Young Sports Ambassador.

Lauren Herberts, a cadet trainer in Glapwell St John and a sports leader at Tupton Hall Comprehensive. Lauren has taken her youth first aid in the Army Cadets and taken her basic proficiency training in youth with the army. She is level five in canoeing.

Lauren has also reached her bronze certificate in the Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Luke Sayles, a talented wheelchair fencer who has shown incredible strength of character and determination Last month he competed in the Norwich Union Youth Games; a national event which brings together the cream of young disabled sportsmen and women to compete in a wide range of different sports. Luke won three medals in total, bronze in table tennis and wheelchair basketball as well as winning individual silver in the wheelchair fencing.

He has since been approached by the British disability fencing coach to develop his talent further.

Rachel Vowles, a prominent member of the school trampoline club, regularly helping out with coaching the younger students. Over the summer she took and passed the level 1 trampoline coach award and has represented the school in trampoline competitions for the last three years. As well as trampolining and her academic studies Rachel attends dance club, horse riding and represents the school for netball and hockey tournaments.

Ross Chatterton, who started karate when he was nine after being bullied at school. He was picked to compete and has represented Great Britain for the past three years. This year he achieved a 1st and 2nd place In October this year he passed his 2nd degree black belt qualification. He trains 6 days a week and teaches younger children on Saturdays.

Ross recently went to Italy to represent GB in a kick boxing competition. He won it and is now the junior kick boxing champion of the world.

Sam Colclough, who has spent five years on the Amber Valley Sports Leadership Programme, and over the last two years has spent around 450 hours as a volunteer, helping to run sessions and managing junior teams in annual community competitions.

Ben Bellamy,a talented wrestler who has been attending the Wirksworth and Middleton Wrestling Club for the past five years. Over the past two years, Ben has been competing with Team Great Britain at international level and has travelled to Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and a host of other countries. He was also chosen to represent England in the Junior Commonwealth Games in India.

Cameron McNeill, an excellent cross country and road runner who regularly represents Wilsthorpe Business and Enterprise College. He recently competed in the 10K adult race at Merrill School finishing 13 out of over 400 competitors. In the past year he has won the District School Championships, came fourth in the Derbyshire Schools and represented Derbyshire in the Junior Boys category at the English Schools Championships in Liverpool.

Ice skater Olivia Betts-Dawson, who has competed in a variety of events including six British qualifiers and one British Championship as well as Welsh and Scottish Championships.

To achieve this she had to take more than 15 ice skating tests in a single year to get up to the required standard. In 2007 she also competed in the Northern Ireland Championships which involved flying to Ireland. She has been placed 2nd and 3rd several times and in 2008 has taken a further 6 high level tests which now means she is qualified for a dance partner and could compete in the senior national and international competitions.

Olivia trains very hard and, once on the ice, never leaves it during a training session.

She completes a weekly round trip of almost 500 miles in order to train in Guildford demonstrating enormous commitment.

Chris O’Hara, who has spent ten years on the Amber Valley Sports Leadership Development Programme, taking part in every activity he could at school. At the age of eight he joined the holiday outreach scheme and has attended every session since. At 14 he tried out his leadership skills with his peers and learned how to be a sports leader by helping coaches to run sessions, managing junior teams and other duties. He officiates at games and takes part in Nightreach sessions as a leader assisting the coach. In total Chris has volunteered 450 hours to his community.

Lauretta Curtis, who is described as a model student and talented all round young sportswoman She is passionate about athletics, thrives on competition and gives 100 per cent in pursuit of her goals.

Consequently she quickly achieved local, regional and national success – in 2007 she was a member of the first placed Junior Girls Athletics squad and this year she came fourth in the individual 100m Intermediate girls’ event at the English School Athletics Championships. She also achieved silver medal at the UK school games 2008.

Lindsey Pearson, who has been a senior mentor at Highfields School Sports Leadership Academy.

She has qualified Level 3 Higher Sports Leader - Gold Award.

She is a member of the Derbyshire Sports Leadership Academy and has more than 550 hours of voluntary service in the school, school sport partnership, Derbyshire Dales and Derbyshire. She has gained level 1 NGB awards in athletics, badminton, hockey, cricket, and level 1 and 2 in rounders.

Lindsey has been a massive role model for the development of girls cricket at Highfields and in the Dales, being a coach alongside Charlotte Horton. She has championed the cause of the Step into Sport programme by being the Derbyshire Ambassador reporting back to representatives from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Adam Darkins, who has achieved great success in sport and he has represented Derbyshire in both cricket and football. Adam has learning difficulties but always tries hard and is very caring and supportive towards others. He currently plays cricket for Derbyshire and is registered as Gifted and Talented.