Moorlands sporting success in the spotlight

Sporting stars from across the Moorlands, including record breaking swimmers, a netball club which is celebrating 20 years, a dedicated cricket coach and an inspirational Ju-Jitsu Dan, have had their successes recognised at the district's annual sports awards.

Organised by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, the categories included junior and senior sports achiever and awards for teams, coaches and volunteers.

Councillor Brian Johnson, cabinet member for sports and leisure at the Council, said: "Sport is one of our national passions and something that everyone can get involved in. It unites communities and has wide reaching benefits for many aspects of life including improving health and well-being, social interaction and building life-long friendships.

"That's why we hold this annual celebration of the people in the Moorlands who embody what sporting participation is all about. It was a real pleasure to meet local people who are enthusiastic and dedicated about their particular sport and to share some of their success with them."

This year's winners were:

• Alton Towers Resort Junior Sports Achiever of the Year - swimmer Elizabeth Harris, a member of Stockport Metro, competes at national level and has had a very successful year including winning multiple gold medals at North West regional and England North levels, the British Summer Long Course Nationals and Sainsbury's Schools Games. She has achieved her goal of making the England team and has been selected for the England Central team which will compete in the English school national event later this year.

• Ted Perry Senior Sports Achiever of the Year(sponsored by Bowcock and Pursaill) - record-breaking Joseph Hulme swims with Leek Amateur Swimming Club and began a successful year by winning three golds, two silvers and breaking two meet records at the Portuguese International Open meeting in February 2015. He also represented Great Britain in the US Grand Prix in Orlando winning the 200m backstroke B final and at the Canadian Junior Winter Short Course Nationals where he broke the meet record when he won gold in the 200m backstroke.

• Team/Club of the Year Award (sponsored by Collcap Packaging) - went to Tean Valley Netball Club who celebrated 20 years as an England Netball affiliated club during 2015. The club started as a group of mums who wanted to get fit and play netball after having their children. From that small group of about 10 mums, Tean Valley now have six teams playing in the Stoke-on-Trent league, seven junior teams playing in the County Junior league, five under-11s teams competing in all local High Five festivals and a thriving Back to Netball group. The club has many volunteers who are qualified coaches, umpires and team managers and it has recently received re-accreditation for Silver CAPs from England Netball. It also organises many events that involve the whole community.

• Sports Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Volunteer of the Year Award - Liz Stretton now coaches at Leek Amateur Swimming Club following a successful swimming career during which she swam at all levels from club to international. She has worked with all the groups from the top Swim School group to the top competitive group and the Masters' (adults) group. Under Liz's guidance, the Club has increased the number of swimmers qualifying for the county and regional championships and she has encouraged and mentored new coaches and officials instilling them with her own meticulous attention to detail.

• Sports Coach of the Year (sponsored by Collcap Packaging) - Jason Carrigan is a well-established volunteer junior coach for Checkley Cricket Club and dedicates a considerable amount of time to encouraging the juniors. He instigated the founding of a development team to help support talented juniors and guide and integrate them into the senior game. Jason is also an active player in the team and is Club Secretary working on the management committee and helping prepare the Club accounts. The team won its respective league title in its first year.

• Alan Hurst Contribution to Sport Award - William Frickleton has been involved with martial arts for over 50 years and has taught over 400 students in the Staffordshire region. He began training in Ju-Jitsu in 1973 and achieved his black belt (Shodan) a few years later. William has gained a large number of martial arts achievements from 2^nd Dan black belt up to an including the 6^th Dan black belt. In 1987 he founded CKK BU-Jutsu martial arts school which is now based in Biddulph. Thanks to his leadership the club now has a very active junior section that trains in the competitive elements of Ju Jitsu and contributes to the demonstration team.

The Staffordshire Moorlands Sports Awards were organised by the District Council and sponsored by Bowcock and Pursaill, Collcap Packaging, Alton Towers Resort and Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.