Sports stars shine at Kaiwaka dinner

Rising sporting stars of the Otamatea district gathered for the annual Kaiwaka Sports Association Sportsperson of the Year awards dinner, held on April 22.

About 120 attended the gala affair, representing 12 associations and clubs.
Guest speaker of the evening was paralympian Gold Medallist Cameron Leslie who gave an engaging overview of his swimming career and the lead-up to his gold medal performance in the men’s 150m individual relay at the Beijing summer paralympics last year. His time of 2:33.57 broke the previous world record by more than a second.

Cameron, who was born with a quadruple limb deficiency, told the audience that he credited his parents with a lot of his success.
“They never treated me as any different than their other children, and that made all the difference,” he said.

His advice to the young sportspeople in the audience was to set realistic goals and be prepared to achieve them step-by-step.
More than 20 sports people were nominated in the four award categories.

Absolute Concrete Otamatea Hawks top performing player Naish Massey took out the Senior Sportsperson Of The Year Award. Over the years Naish has been selected for a number of rep teams including Northland

Under 17s (Vikings), Northland Under 18s and Northland Under 20s. He was named the club’s Premier Forward last year.
Other senior sports nominees were Robyn Marshall from the fitness centre and Toni Phillips for Otamatea-ex netball.
The Junior Sportsperson of the Year Award went to hockey’s Bradley Kemp, aged 16. Bradley is a member of the Otamatea High School’s 1st XI boys hockey team which won the Northland Boys Collegiate competition and came fifth in the Coaches Cup National Tournament. He has also achieved in triathlon, athletics and swimming.

Other nominees were Tayler Jaques for gymnastics, Anna Bonnetto for soccer, Ryan Cocking for tennis, Renee Russell for high school netball, and Boyd Flavell for rugby.
The Service to Sport Award went to Otamatea ex netball’s Mirna Clarijs who has supported her sport as club president, treasurer and secretary, has organised musters, uniforms, fundraisers, prizegiving, working bees and trophies. Mirna is a senior badged umpire, a member of Netball Rodney Association’s executive committee and the senior registration officer. Her other community involvement includes Kaiwaka School PTA secretary, Kaiwaka Playcentre president and fundraising officer.

Other nominees were Stephanie Brown for gymnastics, Sandy Shaw for high school netball, Melissa Watts for primary school netball, Karen Bradley for fitness centre, Niven Lowrie for rugby, Tina Holst for athletics, Karen Harris for tennis, Jean McLeish for Kaiwaka School, and Barbara Thomas for squash.

The Greg McRae Memorial Trophy was awarded to Ryan Cocking, 17, for his achievements in hockey. Ryan is a member of the Northland men’s hockey team and the Northern Region Under 21s squad, as well as a number of other representative teams. Ryan has coached his 1st XI team alongside his coach and is credited with being a great role model. His other sporting interests include tennis, badminton, Duke of Edinburgh and squash.

Other nominees were Matt Moulds for rugby, Samara Foster for high school netball, Georgia Jaques for tennis, Kalika Brown for gymnastics, and Jeremy Rosser for soccer.

1: Senior Sportsperson Award winner Naish Massey (left) with nominee Toni Phillips.

2: Mirna Clarijs (far right) picked up the Service to Sport Award. She is pictured with other nominees Sandy Shaw, Stephanie Brown, Jean McLeish, Niven Lowrie, Tina Holst, Karen Harris, Barbara Thomas and Melissa Watts.

3: Pictured, from left, are Junior Sportsman Bradley Kemp, with other nominees Ryan Cocking, Tayler Jaques and Renee Russell.

4: Greg McRae Memorial Trophy winner Ryan Cocking (third from left), with other nominees Kalika Brown, Georgia Jaques and Jeremy Rosser.