SBS Southland Sports Awards
2004 Southland Sports Awards

2004 marked the 51st SBS Southland Sports Awards, which for the second year was held at Stadium Southland, on April 15th, 2005.

Guest speaker was Don Tricker, Coach to the World Champion Black Sox Softball team in 2000 & 2004, who spoke memorably of another country's team members, who disrespected the haka. This resulted in the those two members of that team being involved in an accident. The 3rd baseman, while trying to throw the ball to 1st base hit the pitcher in the side of the head, knocking him out. The next team to face the Black Sox lined up at first base & watched the haka solemnly, and once it was over, they applauded.

The aims of the Awards are:

• to inspire the Southland sporting community
• to recognise and honour the outstanding achievements and performances
• to recognise and honour our top coaches
• to recognise and honour the services of our top officials and administrators
• to promote positive sporting role models for Southlanders

Winners

The supreme award for Senior Sportsperson of the Year went to Donna Loffhagen for her efforts at the 2004 Athens Olympics in basketball, where she finished the tournament as top rebounder & ninth in steals, while still racking up 14.7 points a game. Donna was also a member of the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting who finished the National Bank Cup on top for the 6th year running.

Junior Sportsperson of the Year was a very competitive category again this year, and once again, it was mentioned that to be even a finalist you really had to have won a world championship. the 2004 winner was Scarlett Hagen, who finished 1st at the World Downhill Mountain Biking Champs. Scarlett's time was that good, that if she had competed in the open category, she would have finished second, behind fellow New Zealander Vanessa Quinn.

The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting pulled off another win in the Team of the Year award, after winning their sixth National Bank Cup netball title in a row. This is the 4th year the Sting have won this award.

Coach of the Year went to Robyn Broughton, coach of the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting, 6 time National Bank Cup winners in netball. Robyn has been the dynamic driving force behind the Sting, who've shown year after year they have what it takes to stay on top.

Paddy O'Brien won the Administrator of the Year award. Paddy widely known as New Zealand's best referee has been nominated for the award many times, and it seems only fitting that he finally wins the award in his final year, having retired early in 2005.

The Sport Southland Services to Sport Awards were also presented during the course of the night. The first award went to Keith Douglas for his voluntary work for motor sport in Southland. When presenting this award, Helen Young CEO for Sport Southland noted that many people don't realise, but there are many motor sports in Southland, with Keith having a hand in many of them.

The second Sport Southland Services to Sport Awards went to Graham Sycamore, a well known name in cycling. Among his credits, Graham was tour manager for the Tour of Southland for many many years.

A Special Award was also presented to Jamie Mackintosh, who captained the New Zealand Under 19 Rugby Team, which won the Under 19 World Cup in 2004.

Finalists

SOUTHLAND SENIOR SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR
Donna Loffhagen (Basketball & Netball)
Matt Randall (Cycling)
Matt Slade (Athletics)
Shona Klimeck (Lawn Bowls)
Lesley Rumball (Netball)
Jimmy Cowan (Rugby)

SOUTHLAND JUNIOR SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR
Kelsey Keenan (Trampolining & Tumbling)
Bryn Murphy (Swimming)
Julia McClean (Skiing)
Scarlett Hagen (Mountain-Biking)
Nathan Cohen (Rowing)

SOUTHLAND ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR
Brian McEwan (Athletics)
Paddy O'Brien (Rugby)
Esther Price (Swimming)
Jackie Barron (Netball)

SOUTHLAND TEAM OF THE YEAR
Jamie Lynch and Cameron Lynch (Bowls)
Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting (Netball)
Spirit of Southland Swim Team NZ Age Group Swimming Championships (Swimming)
Kristin Anderson and Alysha Withington (Synchronised Swimming)

SOUTHLAND COACH OF THE YEAR
Lance Smith (Athletics)
Robyn Broughton (Netball)
Jeremy Duncan (Swimming)

For More Information

For further information contact Gordon Crombie of Sport Southland, or Ross Jackson of the Southland Amateur Sports Trust.

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