Nixon's big night

Giants softball coach Tony Nixon was the toast of last night's
2007-08 Wairarapa sports awards.
Not only did he beat off formidable opposition to take out the Sports Administrator of the Year trophy but he also won the first-ever supreme award, decided from the five cateogry winners.
Nixon has had a memorable last 12 months both on the club and inter-provincial scene.
For the second time in three seasons Nixon guided Giants to success in the Hutt Valley premier men's league , widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive inter-club softball competitions in the land. They beat highly-rated Hutt City United 5-1 in a stunning grand final performance.
Giants also made the semi-finals of the Inter-City series involving the top Wellington and Hutt Valley sides for the first time and placed in the top 10 at the national inter-club championships played at Avalon. Nixon's curriculum vitae was further boosted when he was named selector-coach of the Hutt Valley men's team to contest the national NPC competition. And he couldn't have made a more impressive debut in the dual role, Hutt Valley winning the title.
Opposing Nixon for the administrative award were athletics coach Mark Harris,.whose efforts have seen many of the region's youngsters regularly make the headlines at national level, Wairarapa senior tennis selector Steve Hurley whose team went through last season undefeated and won the Adidas Cup as the best-performed team in the Central Districts, and the previous year's winner, basketball referee Andy Thackray, who again officiated on the international front.
SENIOR SPORTS PERSONALITY
The Senior Sports Personality of the Year award was won by 16-year-old Wairarapa College student Ben Campbell, who hit the headlines when he prevailed in a tight finish to the New Zealand under-23 golf stroke play championship.That effort was the catalyst to him being selected to represent the New Zealand junior team in their trans-Tasman clash with Australia and Campbell was unbeaten in singles play there. Campbell's next major assignment will be the Australian Junior Masters in Perth later this month.
Other finalists for the senior award were national horse endurance riding title holder Jenny Champion, national junior and secondary schools discus champion Courtnay Fafeita and the winner for the past two years, ace rally driver Richard Mason, third placegetter in last year's national title race despite missing one round because of overseas commitments.
JUNIOR SPORTS PERSONALITY
It was nothing new for outstanding middle distance runner Stevie Paine when she was announced as the winner of the Junior Sports Personality of the Year award. It was Paine's third appearance amongst the four finalists and the third time she had emerged triumphant.
Her list of notable successes over the past 12 months makes impressive reading, including as they do a national cross-country title, victories over 1500m 800m and 400m at both the North Island and South Island Colgate Games and six golds at the Wellington centre championships.
Up against Paine for the junior award were claybird shooter Greg Bentley who at just 12 years of age has already made his mark against adult competition and swimmers Charlotte Pope and Katrina Simmonds, whose efforts in that sport have seen them both named to take part in Swim New Zealand's development programme.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
The Sports Team of the Year category. was won by sisters Emma and Sarah Berry, both of whom have attend St Matthew's Collegiate and whose stunning results in yachting had already seen them adjudged as the winners of both the Sports Personality of the Year and Team of the Year trophies at the Wairarapa secondary schools sports awards. Among their notable victories were two age group titles at the world 420 class championships in Auckland and they also placed ninth in the 29er class at the world youth championships. Other finalists for the team award were the Giants men's softball team which won the Hutt Valley premier men's competition., the Masterton Squash Club's women's team which won the national B grade title and the unbeaten Wairarapa senior tennis team which, as mentioned previously won the Adidas Cup for being the best perfomed side in the Central Districts.
CLUB OF THE YEAR
The Sports Club of the Year award which marks achievements over more than just 12 months was won by the Masterton Swimming Club, which last year celebrated their 100th birthday. They have the largest competitive squad of all swimming clubs in the Wairarapa and punch well above their weight at both local and national level, a point well illustrated by them having five of their swimmers chosen to attend Swim New Zealand's latest national age group development programme, the third most for any club in that 79-strong squad. Also contesting for the club award last night were the Dalefield Hockey Club, the largest hockey club in Wairarapa which will reach 100 years of age next year, the Giants Softball Club which is the only softball club operating in the Wairarapa and the Wairarapa Cricket Umpires Association, which belie their relatively small active membership with the number of important assignments given their members on the representative front. Guest speaker at last night's function, which drew a capacity crowd to Solway Park's Copthorne Hotel, was Bob Francis, who was a member of the referee appointments panel at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.