Quinn: Wairarapa sports hero

The big winner at last night's 2010-11 Wairarapa sports awards, Carterton athletics administrator and field events coach John Quinn, follows a simple coaching philosophy.
Quinn, who beat off the five other category winners to take out the supreme award after earlier being announced as the administrator of the year, not only looks to enhance the performance level of his charges he also wants them to enjoy themselves and make life-long friendships while doing so.
Quinn has a lengthy list of notable successes as a coach with the number of throwers who have either won, been placed or made finals at various national competitions reaching into double figures. These have come in practically all of the field event throwing disciplines - discus, shot put and hammer throw.
Quinn has earned himself a number of Athletics New Zealand level 1 or 2 coaching certificates and was part of the New Zealand field events coaching team at the 2010 Oceania junior track and field championships.
His vast resume also includes instructing at both Young Olympian and Team Wairarapa training camps, attending coaching congresses across the Tasman in both 2007 and 2009, twice being manager-coach of the Wellington regional team contesting the inter-provincial cross country championships and being the Wairarapa representative on Athletics New Zealand's junior committee.
Quinn has been chairperson of Team Wairarapa since its formation, is a foundation trustee of the Wairarapa All-Weather Track Trust and club captain of Athletics Carterton for the last four years
In September Quinn will travel to the Isle of Man as part of the official support team for the New Zealand squad contesting the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Other finalists for the administrative award last night were softball identity Russell Thompson, a long-time stalwart of the Giants club, and football's Dave Wright, who has given remarkable service to Douglas Villa AFC.
Winner of the senior sports personality of the year award was Jesse Workman, a member of the Capital men's hockey team which won the national men's title in 2010. Workman was also selected in the New Zealand Maori men's side for the Pacific Cup tourney in Fiji and was a key component of the Dalefield side which contested the Wellington premier division competition. He is also closely involved with the development of Wairarapa's most promising talent as Hockey Wairarapa's regional development officer. New Zealand kayaking rep Anne Cairns and national barefoot skiiing rep Sarah Linton were also finalists for the senior award.
It was deja vu for Alex Fafeita and Bella Biggs when they were announced as respective winners of the youth and junior awards as they also won in those categories last year.
Fafeita, the sole Wairarapa athlete to make the New Zealand Commonwealth Youth Games line-up, has had huge success over the past 12 months, culminating with his win in the under-18 hammer throw at the Australian junior track and field championships where he was competing for the first Oceania team. He also placed second in the shot put there while the 2011 New Zealand track and field champs saw him win the 16-yrs hammer throw and shot put titles. He beat off the challenges of fellow athlete Laura McKenna and Junior Black Sox softballer Campbell Gaunt for the youth award.
The wins and records registered by Bella Biggs on the swimming front within the last year could fill a page. She shone in a number of strokes, as evidenced by her coming away from the national junior champs with two gold, two silver and one bronze. She was the top points scorer in her 11yrs age group at the Wellington long course championships, the Wellington winter champs and the Swim Wairarapa champs. Amazingly, she broke 25 Swim Wairarapa records in the 12yrs and under division over the 2010-11 season.
Ace tennis exponent Georgia Atkinson and another up-and-coming swimming star Charlotte Hamill-Harris were the other junior finalists.
Winners of the sports team of the year category were the Wairarapa-Bush rugby team which might have had some mixed results in the 2010 Heartland championship but finished things off in style by beating Buller in a hard-fought Lochore Cup final. The Giants men's softball team, which made the semifinals of both their Inter-City series and Hutt Valley competitions, and the Wairarapa United men's football side, third in the central league, were runners-up for the team trophy.
The sports club of the year award went to Douglas Villa AFC, whose promotion of junior football, in particular, has been remarkably successful.
They currently field 21 junior and five senior teams and their end-of-season junior tourney hast year attracted 98 teams and 1100 players. The other two finalists were Carterton Swimming Club and Masterton Petanque Club.
Two men who have given long service to a number of sports within the Wairarapa region, Bryant Booth and Norm Wilton, were the recipients of the two lifetime achievement awards.
Bryant Booth has been a particularly strong supporter of the Gladstone sports complex, being a member of the original committee which first set about fundraising and building the popular facility.
Norm Wilton is a household name in the Masterton district for his fostering of sport, especially at junior and youth levels.
An athletics and wrestling champion in his own active days, he has spent countless hours at the Masterton Youth Community Centre encouraging youngsters.