Local sporting stars up for county awards
A host of Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire athletes, teams and officials are in the running to win a Derby Telegraph Sports Award.
Representatives from the two areas have been invited to attend the county’s premier sports awards night – to be held next Thursday, November 12, at Derby’s Roundhouse – which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Among those contenders are Staveley taekwondo player Aaron Cobley, who has won gold medals at the UTIF British Championships, MWTA British Championships and UITF English Championships and, as a result, has been shortlisted as Young Sportsman of the Year.
He is attending the WKU World Championships in Spain, where he will represent England in four events and is targeting the senior World Championships in Argentina in 2017.
The 16-year-old will go up against two other talented performers from the county in the shape of High Peak judoka Eric Ham and Derby golfer Bradley Moore.
In the Young Sportswoman of the Year category, Chesterfield’s Alicia Barrett will go head to head with Shirland’s Niamh Emerson and High Peak swimmer Abbie Wood.
Alicia, from Newbold and a student at St Mary’s RC High School, is a member of Chesterfield and District AC and on the Derbyshire Institute of Sport programme.
The 17-year-old made the final of the 100m hurdles Commonwealth Youth Games final and finished sixth at the IAAF World Youth Championships, having set an UK Under-18 record in a qualifying round.
Among those vying for the title of Junior Team of the Year is Tupton Hall School Girls Under-12s Football Team, who have been shortlisted alongside Mickleover Sports Dynamos Under-13s Football Team and the Noel-Baker School Basketball Team.
Their outstanding achievements as a tight-knit group include winning the FA Youth Futsal National Championship, finishing as Football League Kinder+ Sport Northern runners-up and reaching the semi-finals of the ESFA National Cup.
Shortlisted in the Club of the Year category is Unit 1/BKKA, a martial arts club based in Chesterfield, who have made the top three alongside the UDSU Buxton Sportability Club and Glossop North End AFC Juniors, both of the High Peak.
The inclusive club has more than 500 members, ranging from four to 75 in age, teaching the core values of respect, humility, discipline, teamwork and dedication.
Inter-club tournaments are held, while members compete at regional, national and international events, with 41 world title winners among the ranks.
They have raised around £40,000 for local and national charities over the last few years with ‘Kickapolooza’ events, while free self-awareness/self-defence sessions are held for women and a coaching programme runs for 14 to 24-year-olds.
Those successful winners around Derbyshire’s nine districts and boroughs were automatically forwarded as nominees at county level and a shortlist of individuals, teams and clubs were then selected by a panel of sports officials, together with Derby Telegraph sports staff.
Awards will be handed out in 15 categories in all, recognising the cream of sporting talent both in performance-level and participation sport.
Photographs show Young Sportswoman of the Year finalist Chesterfield’s Alicia Barrett
