Suffolk Coastal District Council

Sports Awards

24 February 2008

Nominations are now open for the GreenThumb Suffolk Coastal Sports Awards 2008. The awards are a way of recognising our local sports people and organisations for their achievements and contribution to sport during 2007. This is the second year of the annual awards promoted by the Coastal Sports Alliance.

The award categories are:

The Morson Group Sports Personality of the Year.
The DC Leisure Young Sports Personality of the Year (nominees must have been under 18 on 31 August 2007) .
The Mannings Amusement Park Disabled Sports Personality of the Year.
The King Pin Club of the Year.
The Suffolk Sport Coach of the Year.
The School Sports Partnership Sports School of the Year (this award will be made to a primary school this year).
The Wolsey Volkswagen Volunteer of the Year.
The Waverley Hotel Lifetime Achievement Award.

There is a wealth of talent in our district and this is an excellent chance for them to be put in the spotlight, along with those individuals or organisations who are helping to develop and promote sport. In order to qualify nominees must currently reside in the Suffolk Coastal District or the club that they are involved in must be based within the district.

Last years winners included Will Meadows, who won Young Sports Personality for an exceptional year in Triathlon, and Jeremy and Alex Hinton for their superb efforts in the 2006 Polar Challenge, an endurance race to the North Pole. Follow this link to see all of last year's winners.

Closing date for nominations is Monday 14 January 2008. Nominees who are shortlisted for an award will be contacted by 25 January and invited to the awards ceremony which will take place on Sunday 24 February 2007 at the Seckford Theatre, Woodbridge School.

Criteria Information - click HERE

Nomination Form - Click HERE

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Community Sports Networks

One of the key aims of Suffolk Sport is to develop an effective system of Community Sports Networks across the county.

What are they ?

Community Sports Networks (CSNs) are an essential part of the Sport England Delivery System for community sport and an integral component of Suffolk Sport. At a very basic level, CSNs are a locally co-ordinated network whose core functions are :-

Increasing participation in sport and physical activity
Widening access to opportunities

Typically CSNs are a group of local delivery agents, generally marked by a local authority boundary and usually led by that authority. They have a balanced membership of local stakeholders from the voluntary, public and private sectors. The focus is on identifying local need and developing a community sports plan which can be used to attract funding to support the development of clubs, coaches and volunteers; promote the benefits of sport and physical activity; encourage a wider take up of sporting opportunities; and act as the local voice for sport and physical activity.

Some CSNs are well established, others have just emerged and some are in the early stages of development. Suffolk Sport are on track to have all 7 Suffolk CSN's up and running by March 2008.