Nominations sought for Shetland Sports Awards 2012

We are once again seeking your nominations for the best performing sportspeople in the isles for the Shetland Sports Awards.

The sixth annual celebration of sporting achievement will be held in the bowls hall at the Clickimin Leisure Complex on Friday 16th November.

This year’s event, sponsored by The Shetland Times, Shetland Recreational Trust, SIC Sport & Leisure and Sportscotland, promises to be another memorable night, with a live demonstration of the sport of fencing.

We are also privileged to have as our speaker David Grevemberg, the chief executive of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Mr Grevemberg said: “This will be my first visit to the Shetland Isles and I’m looking forward very much to being part of celebrating the sporting successes and achievements of so many people. I also welcome the opportunity this occasion presents to share the ambitions the Glasgow 2014 organising committee has for an out­standing Commonwealth Games in two years’ time.

“The Games offers a world-class sporting stage for athletes from 71 nations and territories as well as oppor­tunities for individuals, businesses and communities throughout all of Scotland to be part of the biggest sporting occasion this country has ever hosted.

“Glasgow 2014 is coming to life at an increasingly fast pace and it will be my pleasure at the Shetland Sports Awards to celebrate this year’s successes in the islands and to share our plans and visions for an athlete centred, sports focused Commonwealth Games in 2014 that will make all of Scotland proud.”  

As in previous years, we are seeking nominations for the Sportsperson of the Year, Young Sportsperson of the Year, Team of the Year and Young Team of the Year.

But for the first time this year the Shetland Sports Awards Coach of the Year will be run in conjunction with the sportscotland Coaching Awards, sponsored by the national agency for sport, sportscotland.

Whereas in previous years we have simply sought nominations for Coach of the Year, we are now inviting you to nominate coaches in the following six categories: Young Coach; Young Person’s Coach; Community Coach; Development Coach; Performance Coach; and Disability Coach.

The Coach of the Year will be drawn from among the winners of these six categories, who will also take their places among the finalists for the Regional (Highlands and Islands) Coaching Awards to be held on 11th October. Winners of the Regional Coaching Awards will then become finalists for the National Coaching Awards on 18th October. The Lifetime Endeavour Award will also be presented again in honour of the late Rob Anderson. We do not seek nominations for this award.

You can make your nominations by filling in the form on p.43 of tomorrow’s print and digital editions of The Shetland Times or emailing us at editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk. Follow us at www.facebook.com/shetlandsportsawards2012

Three nominees in each category, or representatives of clubs nominated, will be invited to attend and tickets will also be sold for the evening, which includes a three-course dinner.

Last year’s Sportsperson of the Year was swimmer Andrea Strachan, who won four gold medals at the Island Games in the Isle of Wight. Coach of the Year was swimming stalwart Petur Petursson, Young Sports­person of the Year was Hadyn Thomason, Team of the Year was the Whalsay hockey side and Young Team of the Year was the Anderson High School Netball Team.

The Shetland Sports Awards, first held in 2007, are intended to recognise the achievements of the many sportsmen and women, and the clubs they represent, who have excelled both in the isles and further afield during the year.

James Johnston, general manager of SRT, said the trust was delighted with the way the awards had developed since their inception, reflecting a commitment to quality on the part of all the sponsors.

“It is important that we acknowledge the effort put in by sportspeople, coaches, mums and dads, grannies and granddads towards people performing at their best, and we are pleased to be hosting the event once again.”

Paul Riddell, editor of The Shetland Times, said: “We are proud once again to be sponsoring the Shetland Sports Awards. In the year of the Olympics and Par­alympics, and with the Commonwealth Games in 2014 just around the corner, interest in sport and admiration of sporting achievement is very high.

“In our own small way we hope that by recognising the achievements of Shetland sports people we can galvanise them to go on to greater things.”

A spokesman for sportscotland said: “We are committed to recognising and rewarding people in sport in a number of different ways. One of these is through our targeted awards programme, the sportscotland Coaching Awards.”