THE REGION’S future sporting champions were celebrated on Saturday night when the Northern Inland Academy of Sport held their annual awards night.
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The academy’s awards night honoured those athlete who have gone above and beyond in their chosen sports throughout the year.
New England Girls’ School’s Charlotte Raleigh was one of the big winners on the night, winning the Chairman’s award for outstanding performances and dedication on and off the netball court.
Charlotte has been a member of the academy for five years in netball and swimming.
She credits her success in both sports to the support of her teammates and coaches.
“It is amazing,” she said.
“I was just thinking how I love the opportunity to win these awards but it is my squad and my coaches that I am so happy to play with.
“In four weeks I am going down to Sydney to trial for the CIS team which is very exciting and then four weeks after that I am going down to Melbourne for the tri-state challenge which I am so excited for.”
In the 2016 program, the academy introduced new sports into the program including AFL and rugby sevens.
NIAS chief executive officer James Cooper said the sporting talent in this year’s program was outstanding but the academy aimed to provide plenty of off-field opportunities to assist with the athletes’ on-field performances.
“[Saturday night] has been a celebration of what has been the last 12 months and when you look at the calibre of athlete that is up there nominated for athlete of the year, there are some pretty talented kids amongst our 2016 squads,” he said.
“Every kid that comes into NIAS wants to be an elite athlete but the reality of the situation is it is difficult to achieve and not everyone gets to do it so if they leave our academy better equipped to succeed in life, then we have done our jobs.
“The education component is a big part of that and it is something that we are going to look to improve and continuously filter through to the athletes as they come through our programs.”
Armidale had several athletes named on the awards list.
Amelia Mazzei- Communicator of the year, Mathew McGann- basketball, Max Model- football, Lachlan Knowles- football, Sam Wright- hockey, Sterling George- hockey, Tahlia Rekunow- hockey, Stuart Geddes- athletics and Sarah Dennedy- tennis.
