SENIOR SPORTS AWARDS
On Saturday 12th May, we celebrated the achievements of our senior pupils sporting endeavours over the past year.
The black tie event began with a drinks reception outside the Thomas Arnold Hall before moving inside for a three course dinner and the presentation of the awards. Our guest of honour this year was Torz Anderson, England Lacrosse player and World Cup Bronze medallist. She won the European Club Championships four times, winning Most Valuable Player of the tournament in 2014. She currently plays in both the SEWLA for Putney and in the Women’s Super League.
As dinner commenced, Mr Morison, attending his 8th and final Sports Awards, opened proceedings by inviting Oliver Morgan and Olivia Pratt, to review the sporting year. Both spoke with passion and humour, praising the many achievements of all the teams and sharing numerous fond memories of an action packed year on the sports pitch.
In total 19 awards were presented (a list of winners can be seen at the bottom of this article). The most prestigious awards of the evening are considered to be the ‘Services to Sport’ awards as well as the highly contested 'Team of the Year' award.
The Services to Sport awards are awarded to individuals who have gone above and beyond the normal remit of school sport by immersing themselves fully into sporting life, whether that be by helping coach our prep school children or umpire lower school netball matches; they are among our top performers and respected as true role models for the sporting fraternity here at school. This year the two deserving winners were Olivia Pratt and Mark Antrobus. As the new Director of Sport I have heard a huge amount about their dedication to sport and the input they have had during their time at school. I would like to thank them for all their hard work and for continuing the tradition of sporting excellence here at Warminster School.
The final award of the night was for the ‘Team of the Year’. This was an extremely tightly fought contest between our two most successful teams, the Boys 1st XI Hockey and the Boys 1st VI Tennis. With records both to be proud of, the award is voted for by members of the PE & Games Department. The vote was exceptionally close but in the end the winners for this year, and deservedly so, were the Boys 1st VI Tennis team, with an unbeaten season and outstandingly led for the third year in a row by Oliver Morgan who collected the trophy.
I was thrilled to hear of the performances that have taken place throughout the sports department this year and I would like to thank all the pupils who put in so much personal effort into representing Warminster School. My final thanks goes to our dedicated ground and catering staff for all their hard work and commitment; they provide us with outstanding pitches to play on week in/week out and superb match teas that keep us all fuelled, not to mention our many spectators, during and after match fixtures.
Work commences on our impressive refurbishment of the astro turf and hard court area on Tuesday 29th May. These two new facility upgrades will provide us with an outstanding new sporting facility and allow us to provide the best possible playing surfaces for our pupils and opposition teams. I look forward with much anticipation to seeing the finished article in September.
Finally, an enormous thank you must go to Alex Rall and his catering team for all the hard work they put into providing us all with such a delicious meal and ensuring that we all enjoyed a truly memorable night.
2017/18 Senior Sports Awards Winners
Girls’ Tennis Most Improved Player – Maisie Fogg
Girls’ Tennis Player of the Season – Hattie Leslie
Boys’ Tennis Most Improved Player – Max Reinard
Boys’ Tennis Player of the Season – Oliver Morgan
Boys’ Cricket Most Improved Player – Alex Halls
Boys’ Cricket Player of the Season – William Smith
Boys’ Rugby Most Improved Player – Camillo Seiller-Tarbuk
Boys’ Rugby Player of the Season – Robbie Maclean
Girls’ Hockey Most Improved – Rosa Herring
Girls’ Hockey Player of the Season – Franziska Bork
Football Most Improved Player of the Season – Sam Boughton
Football Player of the Season – Tim Schneider
Netball Most Improved Player of the Season – Poppy Helm
Netball Player of the Season – Maisie Craven-Smith
Boys’ Hockey Most Improved Player of the Season – William Harris
Boys’ Hockey Player of the Season – Luis Czichos
Girls’ Services to Sport – Olivia Pratt
Boys’ Services to Sport – Mark Antrobus
Team of the Year – Boys 1st VI Tennis
Thank you to Jon Edkins for capturing the event, photographs can be found on Flickr.
Tim Watts, Director of Sport