The spotlight at Saturday’s South West Sydney Academy of Sport graduation and awards dinner was shining on more than just outstanding athletes.
Naturally it was especially bright for the winners of the two biggest awards, gun baseballer Adam Bates (athlete of the year), and para-swimmer Daniel Lill (disability athlete of the year), pictured above and at right.
Not surprisingly, both of these fine athletes picked up a stack of other awards through the evening.
But in a sign of the changing times, the spotlight was also on the people who are in the background of athletic performance, making it an even more special night for the academy and its supporters.
For the first time since the academy’s establishment a lifetime achievement award for 20 or more years of service was introduced on Saturday night.
There were not one, but two presentations: one to Peter Campbell, who has been an academy director since 2002 and chairperson since 2008.
The second was to Gerry Knights, a member of the founding working party almost 30 years ago, convenor and committee representative 1997 – 2006 and chief executive officer of the academy since 2006. Mr Knights is pictured here with Peter Campbell.
Another new award in 2023 was volunteer of the year.
There were also two recipients of this honour, AFLW head coach Ben Robinson, and volleyball squad manager Shinavia Jerochim.
Other award categories and the winners on the night were:
Sport program (coaches) awards:
AFLW: Brea Trevitt
Basketball: Jade Dabrowksi and Max Brown-Tjakuapi
BMX: Clay Jonson
Golf: Joey Eason
Hockey: Jasmine Scott-Castle and Darcy Ryder
Indigenous athlete program: Zoey Saba
Netball athletes: Blessing Donvenekham
Netball umpires: Piper Steed
Softball: Cassandra Taylor and Parker Cameron
Triathlon: Zoe Bruce
Volleyball: Amelie Alnimer and William Chandhara
Wests Future Para Stars: Daniel Lill
Wests Future Stars: Adam Bates
Chairperson award:
Max Brown-Tjakuapi – basketball
