Woking Sports Award Evening 2015

Gordon’s School was represented in three different categories at the annual Woking Sports Award Evening. Simon Carr was nominated for Sport Volunteer of the Year, Amy Dove for Young Sports Personality of the Year and The U15 Netball team for Team of the Year.

About the nominees:

Simon Carr

Simon has always been passionate about Hockey, but unfortunately it is not on the curriculum for Simon at school. However this did not deter Simon and he found other ways of being involved in Hockey within school and the local area. At school Simon has umpired across all levels of hockey from Under 12s to Under 18s and has officiated at these games with great success. Simon has also become a member of Woking Hockey Club where he has represented at both U16 level and senior 2nd team level. Simon has also been selected to represent Surrey in the U16 Hockey Team this year showing his commitment to developing his game and his enthusiasm for Hockey.

Simon has relished the opportunity to umpire Hockey and took it upon himself to seek out and attend a Level 1 Hockey Umpiring Course, where he passed the theory test and the three assessments matches.  After being recognised as a well-established club umpire Surrey Hockey Umpire Association assessed Simon and promoted him to a County level umpire and to be a part of Surrey Hockey Umpires' Association. At 15 years old Simon was umpiring Men’s 2nd team games in the London Hockey Leagues and the Surrey Hockey Leagues. Even more impressively Simon was asked to take charge of the Mens’ Play Off Finals for the London Leagues this year. Simon gives up every Saturday and some Sundays to umpire, travelling around the South of England to be a part of the Surry Umpires’ Association. It is remarkable that someone of such a relatively young age can command respect amongst senior players - something which some adult umpires struggle to achieve.

Amy Dove (athletics)

Amy attended several local Sportshall competitions over the winter (in-between cross country events) and was spotted by Surrey selectors as she had the fastest 6 lap time this year of the U13 Girls.

Amy attended trial sessions for the Surrey team and was selected. The Surrey team then went on to win the Regional competition held in West Sussex, securing a place in the final. The final took place in Manchester’s Sportcity and Surrey were just one of 11 teams from around the UK, all hoping to become Sporthall Champions 2015.

I am delighted to report that the Surrey U13 Girls’ team won the Championship! This was the first time Surrey U13 girls have won the competition since its inception in 1984. Not only did the Surrey team win, but Amy and her team mate won their 8 lap paarlauf securing them a gold medal.

Amy’s other event was the 6 lap race where she came second overall to achieve a silver medal. Amy also had the second highest points on the day which is a fantastic achievement, as she is a young member of the U13s.  Amy will still be eligible as an U13 next year and so can hopefully repeat her success.

U15 Netball Team

The U15 Netball Team won all of their 15 matches this year scoring 268 goals and conceding only 75. They won the Surrey State Schools County Competition earlier this year, beating Bishop Wand 14 - 1, St Bedes 10 - 2, Woking High 8 - 3, Blenheim 7 - 3 and St Peters 8 - 7. This 100% win rate shows the consistently high standard that the girls have shown both in matches and training this year to win both the District league and Tournament.

The U15 team have played every game with an exemplary attitude, being graceful in success and never ‘over celebrating’. They have maintained a professional attitude and approach to all their fixtures. Although they have already won the District League and Tournament for the last 4 years they have shown consistency of form to win again this year and, indeed, improved by going on to win the Surrey State Schools Netball Tournament being crowned champions for the first time.

The Awards Evening

The evening was a great success with Simon being crowned Woking Sports Volunteer of the Year 2015. Simon will now go forward to represent Woking at the Surrey Sports Award 2015.