Winning ways celebrated

Olympians, paralympians, coaches and talented youngsters have all been honoured at the Black Country Sports and Physical Activity Awards.

The much sought-after awards are handed out at a glitzy ceremony each November, which will take place at The Light House in Wolverhampton this year. Now in its sixth year, the awards have come a long way from the idea that was spawned by director Simon Hall.

Mr Hall wanted to celebrate those who worked hard behind the scenes to allow the future sports stars to flourish, as well as the talented stars themselves.

The director of the Black Country BeActive Partnership approached local councils to create a fixture in the sporting calendar to pay tribute to those who work hard all year round, whether it is to perfect their skills or to coach others.

Some of the more well-known people who have won awards, such as Olympic hero Kristian Thomas, triathlete Jodie Stimpson and paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds, who went on to reach the top of their sports.

But the awards night is an event that celebrates and gives thanks for the commitment, hard work, dedication and achievements of all clubs, coaches, volunteers, and athletes involved in community sport in the Black Country.

They also aim to recognise the impact that this makes on the lives of residents in the region.

It was set up in 2009 as a means of rewarding and celebrating those individuals, clubs and projects that would not otherwise get the recognition they deserve.

These include last years Unsung Hero winner Chris Moore. He took over as chairman of Streetly Cricket Club when the club was on its knees. Having helped refinance the club, he is now chief executive, scorer, groundsman and project manager for the club.

After struggling to field two sides, the club now comfortably fields three league sides every week, as well as having an impressive youth and development system.

The club also achieved Clubmark accreditation, in no small part down to Mr Moore's sterling work. The awards also celebrate heroes from disabled sports, with a Disabled and Young Disabled Sportsperson of the Year.

Last year's winners were disabled tennis player Jordanne Whiley, who is the current French Open Doubles Champion, and Jacob Robinson, who plays wheelchair basketball for the Great Britain Under-23 squad.

The Community Project of the Year was also involved in disability sport.

The One Albion Disability and Sporting Club worked with more than 160 participants in special schools and special education needs units of mainstream schools to introduce them to football. A number of the participants have since gone on to compete for teams since taking part in the classes.

Paul Hunt, disability sports co-ordinator at One Albion, said: "As a charity, we have been going for nearly eight years now, so it was nice to get some recognition.

"It wasn't just me though, we all went to the awards ceremony and had a good time celebrating it together, which is important that we all share that. A lot of people do a lot of good work around the region and they deserved to get recognised for it."

Some of the winners from the Black Country awards also go forward for regional and even national awards.

For example, last year's Black Country Club of the Year, Kewford Eagles FC went on to win the Club of the Year award at the West Midlands Community Sports Awards.

The club then went on to open a £1.1 million football centre after securing grants from the Football Foundation, the Premier League and the FA.

This year, the winners from Community Club of the Year, Community Coach of the Year, Community Project of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, will all go forward to the West Midlands awards, which takes place at Villa Park in November.

With support from the Express & Star, this year's awards is set to be bigger and better than ever. The 12 awards are set to be fiercely contested with organisers hoping for more nominations than ever to be sent in.