Service to Sport recipients Margaret Holcroft, Peter Cawkwell, Adrianna Ball, Pearl Best with Hamilton mayor Andrew King. Photo / Facebook
On Wednesday night a number of Hamilton sportspeople and volunteers were recognised in the 2018 Hamilton City Sports Awards.
The five Service to Sport nominees were Adrianna Ball, Pearl Best, Peter Cawkwell, Margaret Holcroft and Chris Kuggeleijn who have made a huge contribution to sport in Hamilton City.
Damien Puddle was awarded Administrator of the Year for the second year in a row for dedication to growing the sport of Parkour in the Waikato region.
Richard Petherick picked up the Community Coach of the Year award after having a successful year as coach of the Aber Old Boys Premier Men's Hockey team that won the Waikato Hockey Association Premier Men's Championship and the Midlands Intercity Men's Championship.
Fraser High School student Kacey Nicholls won the award for Secondary School Student Contribution to Sport for her contribution to sport at Fraser High School, facilitating sports events and umpiring netball. This award honours students who have demonstrated exceptional sports leadership in and out of school.
Sport Waikato was pleased with the high calibre of nominations, finalists and winners who were nominated.
All the secondary school nominees and eligible winners will now be considered as finalists for the Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards in January in Hamilton.
2018 winners
■Service to Sport: Adrianna Ball, Pearl Best, Peter Cawkwell, Margaret Holcroft and Chris Kuggeleijn
■Administrator of the Year: Damien Puddle
■Coach of the Year: Richard Petherick
■Official of the Year: Hollie Cooke
■Club of the Year: Horsham Downs Badminton Club
■Team of the Year: Aber Old Boys Men's Hockey Team
■Secondary School Sportsman of the Year: Campbell Crouch
■Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year: Montessa Taikarena
■Secondary School Student Contribution to Sport: Kacey Nicholls
■Service to Sport Recipient: Adrianna Ball — Horsham Downs Badminton Club
Adrianna Ball is a life member of the Horsham Downs Badminton Club and has been actively involved since the early 90s in both the junior and adult programmes at the club.
She has spent 22-plus years coaching and being an active member of the committee, holding various positions including chairperson, and she has helped organise and run many club and Waikato tournaments and events. Adrianna is a strong advocate for players with disabilities becoming equals in the club and within the sport of badminton. Horsham Downs Club has been an active contributor to the Waikato Badminton Association's many successful project events and badminton initiatives thanks to Adrianna.
■Service to Sport Recipient: Pearl Best — Hamilton Roller Skating Club
Pearl Best has been the secretary of the Hamilton Roller Skating Club for over 37 years. Although Pearl actually 'retired 'last year she is still the go-to person for any information or advice; if it's not in her head, it will be in one of her famous notebooks that go back years. Pearl remains on the Hamilton Roller Skating Club Rinks Trust as a Trustee.
Pearl has kept meticulous, manual records which go back decades and are often useful and referred to. In addition to usual secretary duties, Pearl has spent many years as a team manager at national events, run competition open days, helped at school holiday programmes, taken rink bookings and much, much more. A truly wonderful volunteer.
■Service to Sport Recipient: Peter Cawkwell — Waikato Hockey Association
Peter Cawkwell has undertaken volunteer roles within hockey since 1967. His roles have been hockey administration, President, Secretary, Coach, Manager, Fundraiser, Website Developer and Manager, Sponsorship Coordinator, more committees than can be counted or listed, plus he is still a regular umpire.
In 2016 Peter was appointed a life member of Waikato Hockey. Peter has a full raft of skills, from managing to rolling up his sleeves in any situation. He has negotiated sponsorship, managed staff, organised functions, events and tournaments, plus has the technical ability to build and run websites. Peter is one of a kind and has added much value to hockey over the years.
■Service to Sport Recipient: Margaret Holcroft — Athletics Waikato Bay of Plenty
Margaret Holcroft has filled many roles for her Fairfield Athletic Club and Athletics Waikato-Bay of Plenty over a period of more than 20 years. She has committed many hours to roles within the sport of athletics.
Notable achievements include Margaret's involvement with the preparation for the Colgate Games in 2019 which she was instrumental in bringing to the region. Margaret is conscientious, meticulous and has excellent organisational skills that ensure all events that she is associated with run smoothly. Her dedicated attitude and exceptional organisational skills have ensured successful operations of children's athletics in our region for many years. She has made a huge contribution to local athletics that is greatly appreciated by many.
■Service to Sport Recipient: Chris Kuggeleijn — Northern Districts Cricket
Chris Kuggeleijn has had an involvement in Northern Districts Cricket for over 40 years, starting as a schoolboy representative and progressing on as a player, captain and coach. As a first-class player his career spanned 15 seasons, five of them as captain of Northern Districts. Chris coached the Northern Districts men's team for five seasons, winning trophies in all three formats of the game.
Chris now coaches the 1st XI at Hamilton Boys' High School, winning the national secondary schoolboys title, the Gillette Cup, three times. Chris has a national reputation as an astute and innovative coach, and he has made a massive contribution to the development of hundreds of schoolboy cricketers and adult representative players.
■Administrator of the Year: Damien Puddle — Parkour NZ
Damien has developed a number of programmes this year to grow the sport of Parkour including the expansion of Parkour in Schools programme, developing an organisational membership network and assisting with continued professional development for coaches.
Coach of the Year: Richard Petherick — Hamilton Old Boys and Old Girls Hockey Club
Richard is the coach of the Aber Old Boys Premier Men's Hockey team that won the Waikato Hockey Association Premier Men's Championship and the Midlands Intercity Men's Championship.
■Official of the Year: Hollie Cooke — Waikato Lacrosse Association
Hollie is the head coach of the Waikato Lacrosse School League and was the New Zealand Accredited Umpire for the Australian U18 National tournament.
Hollie assists with developing high school umpires.
■Club of the Year: Horsham Downs Badminton Club
Horsham Downs has had its most successful year since it started 70 years ago which was contributed to moving to a larger venue, allowing the club to double its membership and provide more opportunities for all players.
■Team of the Year: Aber Old Boys Men's Hockey Team — Hamilton Old Boys and Old Girls Hockey Club
Aber Old Boys Men's Team completed the 2018 season unbeaten.
Winners of both the Midlands Intercity Men's Championship and the Waikato Hockey Association Men's Premier Championship.
■Secondary School Sportsman of the Year: Campbell Crouch — Hamilton Boys' High School
Campbell competed at the World Junior Rowing Championships winning silver.
Campbell stroked the Boys High Coxed Four to win the Springbok shield and was in the eight that were Maadi cup runners up.
■Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year: Montessa Taikarena — Hamilton Girls' High School
Montessa is a member of the Girls' High team who are NZSS Condor title holders. She is a member of the NZ U18 Touch team, and NZ U18 7s team. Montessa was a member of the NZ Youth Women's 7s team who won Gold at the Youth Olympic Games.
■Secondary School Student Contribution to Sport: Kacey Nicholls — Fraser High School
Kacey is a member of the Fraser High School sports council.
This year she took a lead in facilitating most school events, including Cross Country, Athletics Day, Sports Awards and Colour Run.
She umpires for school netball teams and assists with other tasks that need doing around the Sports Office.
The Crusaders saw off the Chiefs in a physical encounter in Christchurch.