The winners of Blacktown City’s 31st Sports Awards were announced on Friday, 14 February 2014 at Rooty Hill RSL Club in a special gala presentation evening.
Over 57 sports women, men, young people, administrators and coaches were nominated for an award across nine categories with 24 sports represented.
The top honour of the night, the 2013 Sportsperson of the Year, was announced by the Mayor of Blacktown City, Councillor Len Robinson as 20 year old Gurinder Sandhu of Minchinbury for his achievements in cricket.
Gurinder is an Australian representative in cricket. In early 2013, he represented NSW in the BUPA Sheffield Shield and Ryobi Cup where he won a Man of the Match award. Gurinder was awarded the Cricket NSW Steve Waugh Medal for Best Player of the Year in 2013 – the youngest player in history to win this medal.
Other winners on the night included:
Sports Coach of the Year: Mark Titheradge of Penrith (representing Shalvey Public School) – Rugby League
Sports Administrator of the Year: Lisa Ann Thorn of Seven Hills – Soccer
Junior Sportsperson of the Year: Raquel Roukos of Oakhurst – Athletics
Sports Volunteer of the Year: Nathan Mahoney of Quakers Hill – Cricket
Under 12 Encouragement Awards: Eric Tripathi of Blacktown, Olivia Rayment of Kellyville Ridge and Sylvia Musel of Marayong – Tennis
Junior Encouragement Awards: Daniel Robertson of Glendenning, Edwyn Ramos of Glenwood and Lauren Thompson of Beecroft (representing Sydney Academy of Gymnastics at Seven Hills) – Baseball
Blacktown City Team of the Year: Chifley College (Shalvey Campus) U14 Buckley Shield Rugby League Team
The Mayoral Shield: Louis Xuereb – Netball
“Congratulations to all the nominees in the 2013 Sports Awards. Winner or not, you should all be so proud to have been nominated. I wish each of you the best of luck in your future sporting endeavours”, Mayor Robinson said on the night.
Our Sports Awards program has run since 1983, recognising the City’s sports men, women, boys and girls. The program involves people of all ages and levels of competition and promotes sports and sporting clubs within the community.
Nominations for the 2014 Sports Awards season are now open. For more details visit Council’s website at www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au or call Council on 9839 6000.
Information on the 2013 Sports Award winners:
Sports Coach of the Year
Mark Titheradge has been the head Rugby League coach / manager at Shalvey Public School for the past 25 years. Mark invests a great amount of effort in training children during recess and lunch breaks, travelling away from home, encouraging students in their weekend / representative Rugby League endeavours and organising tipping competitions with the staff.
In the past 25 years, Mark and his teams have participated in and won the 2012 Telstra Legends Shield, Mt Druitt Zone PSSA, Penrith District Greg Alexander Shield, Penrith District Royce Simmonds Shield, Legends of Legend State Competition, Junior and Senior Panther Trophy and NSW PSSA State Knockout competition.
Sports Administrator of the Year
Lisa Ann Thorn is the current President of the Kings Langley Soccer Football Club where she has been a member for seven years. During this time, Lisa initiated the ‘Open Goals’ program, designed for special needs players. The program is the only one of its kind in Blacktown and attracts players from the inner West and South West. Lisa coaches and coordinates the program and is also a board member of the Blacktown District Soccer Football Association.
Junior Sportsperson of the Year
Raquel Roukos competes in race walking and athletics middle distance running. She is a State Champion in the 1500m walk. At the Australian Little Athletics National Championships in Canberra (April 2013) she won the gold medal in the 1500m walk winning by 14 seconds. In June 2013, she competed at the National Race Walking Federation Carnival in Canberra competing in the 3km walk in the Under 14 and 16 years Girls categories. As a team event she won the gold medal in both age groups for NSW.
Sports Volunteer of the Year
Nathan Mahoney was awarded Blacktown City Cricket Club’s Club Person of the Year Award in 2013. This was Nathan’s first year on the club committee as Sponsorship Officer. Nathan tirelessly phoned countless large and small businesses to secure financial sponsorship the club. Through this process, Nathan secured the club’s major sponsor – Steggles. Nathan also carries out scoring and team manager duties for the U14/1 Team. In June 2013, Nathan was nominated for the role of Treasurer.
Blacktown City Team of the Year
Chifley College U14 Buckley Shield Rugby League Team is made up of boys from different Chifley College campuses. The team has reached an amazing feat, given that they had come together only a few months prior to winning the NSW U14s Buckley Shield State Rugby League Championships under their coach, Mr Broadhead. The boys have an excellent work ethic and showed respect to one another and their opponents.
Encouragement Awards:
Under 12 Encouragement Awards
Eric Tripathi is a regular with Blacktown Tennis Club. In December 2012, Eric won the 10 years and under boys singles at Gosford. He was a finalist at a Northern Suburbs District Tournament. In January 2013, Eric was invited to represent NSW in the inaugural National 10 and under team event conducted in Melbourne following the Australian Open Tennis
Olivia Rayment has been trampolining for the past two and a half years. During 2013 she earned two titles at the NSW Trampoline State Level Championships. At the National Club Championships Olivia won two silver medals, and in her first year on the NSW Team competing at the National Championships she won her first National Title.
Sylvia Musel is ranked No. 1 in NSW for Fencing in the U11 and U13 age groups. In 2013, she won gold at the Roberta Nutt Schools Championships where she competed against girls from 17 schools. Sylvia also won Gold in the Girls Sabre U11 City of Sydney and NSW Championships.
Junior Encouragement Awards:
Daniel Robertson plays baseball locally for Quakers Hill Pirates Baseball Club. He also plays fourth level grade in the Sydney Winter Baseball League. Daniel umpires junior baseball games and volunteers for the Sydney Blue Sox. Recently Daniel was selected to compete at the 2013 World Boys Tournament at Frenso, California.
Edwyn Ramos was awarded the Rosewall Medal for his outstanding result at the NSW Hardcourt Tennis Inter District Season. This medal recognises the Best and Fairest player over the competition. This award is based on the player having won his singles rubber plus 50% of double matches played on the day, plus sportsmanship, team participation, general demeanour and behaviour. Edwyn has been participating in Open Men’s events where he is winning through to main draw and quarter finals on a regular basis. Nationally ranked at 455, Edwyn is a young man with a big future.
Lauren Thompson has been very successful in her sport of Artistic Gymnastics. During 2013 at the NSW State Championships Lauren won 1st place in the All Round, Vault, Bars and Beam categories. At the Australian National Championships, Lauren came 4th in Floor and 9th in Bars. At her National Club Championships – Lauren’s team results were 1st place Bars and Beam; 2nd place All Round and Vault; 3rd place Floor Individual. Lauren also came 4th in Floor and Bars and 5th in All Round and Beam.
The Mayoral Shield: Louis Xuereb has been the club coach for Nagle Netball Club for 30 years and a Representative Coach for Blacktown City Netball for 5 years. He is the club Coaching Co-Ordinator and mentor of the new coaches coming up. Louis has coached senior and junior teams with outstanding results. Overall Louis has been involved with approximately 120 teams. His 2013 teams all did extremely well in their respective divisions.