Winners of the prestigious 2018 Brian Perry Regional Sports Awards were announced on Friday 1^st February 2019 at Claudelands Conference & Exhibition Centre, Hamilton. The event showcases and celebrates sporting achievement from local grassroots clubs through to high performance level.
 
78 individuals, teams, clubs and events from around the region were selected as finalists from more than 600 nominations received for the awards. Commonwealth Games gold medallists, squash player Joelle King and rugby player Stacey Waaka, jointly took out both the Sportswoman of the Year title and the top honour of Supreme Award for Sporting Excellence.
 
Joelle claimed gold medals in both the singles and doubles at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and Stacey was part of the Black Ferns Rugby Sevens team that won gold at the Games and a world title at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in July last year.
 
Other winners from the night included cyclist Sam Gaze who won Sportsman of the Year, Real Health NZ picking up the Innovation in Sport & Recreation award for their health and fitness online community initiative, rugby player Quinn Tupaea winning the Emerging Talent award, Taupo Phoenix Rugby League Club’s Stephanie Ngamotu-Tahana picking up the award for Administrator of the Year, and blind triathlete Shannon Cleave winning the new Disability Award.
 
As always, the judges’ decisions were made extremely difficult by the high calibre of nominations submitted from around the Waikato region. Sport Waikato Chief Executive Matthew Cooper commented on the outstanding talent throughout our region. “The performances of our sportspeople and supporters from across the Waikato region have just been outstanding, and we commend them on the hard work and sacrifices they make every day – to be a finalist at these awards is a major achievement.”
 
“Congratulations to all of our finalists and our winners.”

Ends.

 

2018 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Award Winners

 

Category	First Name	Last Name	Sport	Club/Organisation	District
Administrator	Stephanie	Ngamotu-Tahana	Rugby League	Taupo Phoenix Rugby League Club	Taupo
Club			Cricket	Hauraki Plains Youth Cricket	Hauraki
Community Coach	Michael	Polley	Volleyball	Hamilton Volleyball Club	Hamilton
Club Team	Thames Coast Bowling Men’s Club Fours Team		Bowls	Thames Coast Bowling Club Inc	Thames Coromandel
Disability	Shannon	Cleave	Triathlon	Achilles Waikato	Hamilton
Performance Coach	Gareth	Hopkins	Cricket	Northern Districts Cricket Association	Hamilton
Emerging Talent	Quinn	Tupaea	Rugby Union	Waikato Rugby Union	Hamilton
Official	Glenn	Carson	Squash	Squash Waikato	Hamilton
Sportswoman & Supreme Award for Sporting Excellence	Joelle Stacey	King Waaka	Squash Rugby Union	Squash Waikato Waikato Rugby Union	Waipa Hamilton
Sportsman	Sam	Gaze	Cycling (MTB)	Te Awamutu Sports Cycling	Waipa
Team	Knights		Cricket	Northern Districts Cricket Association	Hamilton
Secondary School Sportswoman	Charlisse	Leger-Walker	Basketball	St Peter's School, Cambridge	Waipa
Secondary School Sportsman	Finn	Fisher-Black	Cycling	St Peter's School, Cambridge	Waipa
Secondary School Team	St Peter’s School, Cambridge Girls U18 Rowing Eight		Rowing	St Peter’s School, Cambridge	Waipa
Innovation in Sport & Recreation	Real Health NZ				Matamata-Piako

 

 

2018 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Award Winners Blurbs 

Craigs Investment Partners Innovation in Sport & Recreation Award – Real Health NZ
Real Health NZ is an online community supporting busy women to be their best selves. Run by qualified personal trainers and health coaches Renee Norman and Jenna Smith, they provide real, simple health and fitness solutions aimed at empowering women to go above and beyond what they ever thought possible.
Lodge Real Estate Community Coach of the Year – Michael Polley
Coach of the Hamilton Volleyball Club Senior Women's Indoor team that competed at the National Champs for the first time since 1996, finishing 3rd. He has moved the team from placing 3rd at Midlands and 5th at Northern Zone in 2017 to winning both the Midlands and Northern Zone titles.
 
Lodge Real Estate Club Team of the Year – Thames Coast Bowling Men' s Club Fours Team
The Thames Coast Men’s Club Fours won their club title and went on to win the Thames Valley Centre Champs and Zone Two playoffs. This qualified the team for the National Club Championships where they won the Bowls New Zealand Men’s Club Fours Championship. 
 
Lodge Real Estate Club of the Year – Hauraki Plains Youth Cricket
Over the past 12 months the Hauraki Plains Youth Cricket Club have grown club numbers. Together with the help of Ngatea Primary and Hauraki District Council, they secured funding and consent to build cricket nets for public use on the Ngatea Domain to help develop the skills of local players.
 
Deloitte Administrator of the Year – Stephanie Ngamotu-Tahana
Stephanie was the Taupo Phoenix Rugby League Club Manager of the year; she instigated a major fundraiser for the club earlier in the year, upgraded the player database, secured sponsorship, organised playing strips and assisted in the club where and when she was needed.
 
Montana Food and Events Official of the Year – Glenn Carson
Glenn is an internationally qualified World Squash Referee, the highest accreditation level in squash and one of only 20 worldwide. Glenn officiated at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and has recently conducted assessments on New Zealand's regional squash referee candidates.
 
Silver Fern Farms Disability Award – Shannon Cleave
Shannon is a blind triathlete, and the current Oceania and New Zealand Paratriathlon Champion (Vision Impaired - Female) and ranked 14th in the world. Shannon was named Athlete of the year 2018 for Achilles New Zealand.
 
Tompkins Wake Performance Coach of the Year – Gareth Hopkins
Gareth is the Head Coach of the Northern Knights T20 side who won the Burger King Super Smash Title in 2018. Gareth was the first specialist T20 Head Coach in New Zealand Domestic Cricket and his impact was instant, taking the Knights from 5th to title winners.
 
APL Secondary School Sportsman of the Year – Finn Fisher-Black (St Peter’s School, Cambridge)
Finn won gold at the 2018 Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Switzerland in the Team Pursuit; he also claimed 4th place in the Individual Pursuit. At the Elite National Track Cycling Championships, Finn won silver in the Open 25km Madison.
 
APL Secondary School Sportswoman of the Year – Charlisse Leger-Walker (St Peter’s School, Cambridge)
Charlisse is a member of the Tall Ferns Basketball team that won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. She is also a member and Captain of the New Zealand U17 team that were placed 12th at the FIBA World Cup. Charlisse was the 4th leading scorer at the tournament.
 
APL Secondary School Team of the Year – St Peter’s School, Cambridge Girls U18 Rowing Eight
The St Peter's School, Cambridge Girls U18 Rowing Eight are the winners of the New Zealand Secondary School Girls U18 Rowing Eight and the North Island U18 Girls Rowing Eight champions.

University of Waikato Emerging Talent – Quinn Tupaea
Quinn made his debut for the Waikato Mitre 10 team against Manawatu; he then went on to feature in all of Waikato’s games this season. During his 12 games, Tupaea scored 35 points through seven tries and was awarded the Emerging Player of the Year at the Gallagher Waikato Rugby Awards.

FleetPartners Sportsman of the Year – Sam Gaze
Sam won gold at the Elite Men's World Cup Round 1 MTB Cross Country in Stellenbosch, claimed gold in the Elite Men's Commonwealth Games MTB Cross Country and claimed two 1st places at the Elite Men's World Cup MTB Cross Country short track series. Sam was also 2nd in the Oceania Elite Men Cross Country Championships.

Gallagher Sportswoman of the Year & Supreme Award for Sporting Excellence – Joelle King & Stacey Waaka
Joelle claimed gold medals in both the singles and doubles at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, as well as bronze in the mixed doubles. She is currently seeded 4th in the world. Joelle was the Cleveland Classic 2018 winner and Windy City Open runner up.
Stacey was part of the Black Ferns Rugby Sevens team that won gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and a world title at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in July. She was recently named the Gallagher Sportsperson of the Year at the Gallagher Waikato Rugby Awards.

Wintec Team of the Year – Knights
The Knights are New Zealand’s 2018 Burger King Super Smash champions (T20), winning in phenomenal style with an utterly one-sided nine-wicket victory over the Central Stags.