Recognition for stars of future

Hamish Baron, hockey; Lynlee Smith, water polo; Jessica McCormack, basketball; Phillis Meti, athletics, golf, netball, waka ama; Blair McLay, yachting; Thomas Abercrombie, basketball; and Ben Windsor, trampolining. Picture / Dean Purcell.

Clinton Avery is on the final countdown to the Commonwealth Games, Thomas Abercrombie is heading to Washington, Lynlee Smith to Hawaii and Blair McLay to France, and Hamish Baron is hoping for a trip to China.

The recipients of this year's New Zealand Herald Junior Sports Awards, acknowledged at a luncheon in Auckland yesterday, are off in all directions in pursuit of their sporting dreams.

This year's awards attracted a record number of entries, giving the judging panel - Olympic gold medallist Yvette Corlett, former NZ women's cricket captain Emily Drumm, former hockey international David Appleby, Julie Clist from the Millennium Institute of Health and Sport and Herald sports writer Terry Maddaford - plenty to ponder.

Abercrombie, 18, had his talents in basketball and volleyball recognised. He was selected but was unable to play in the under-19 volleyball team at the Youth Olympics in Sydney, preferring to play basketball at the same event, where he was named in the five-man all-star tournament team.

He later played for the Junior Tall Blacks in the United States and was named in the Tall Blacks training squad. He heads to Washington State University in June.

Also heading overseas to take up a university scholarship is New Zealand women's waterpolo player Lynlee Smith, who begins at the University of Hawaii in August.

Smith has been a member of the New Zealand team for the past two years and was part of the team that scored a historic win over Australia in last year's world championships in Canada.

McLay, 18, won the Laser Radial Youth world championships in Brazil by one point. He also finished third in the Radial Open world championships. McLay's next major event is a laser regatta in France in April.

Hamish Baron, 19, played five matches for the New Zealand men's hockey team at the Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Kuala Lumpur in June after first being selected for the national development squad in December and later played in four home tests against Malaysia. Having missed out on a place in the Commonwealth Games team, he is hoping for a recall for the Black Sticks' next outing in China.

Avery, 18, was unable to attend the luncheon as he is preparing for the Games, in which he will compete in the mountain biking.

Also heading to the Games is Jessica McCormack, 16, the youngest member of the Tall Ferns basketball team.

McCormack was one of four highly commended. Others were Phillis Meti, 18, for athletics, netball, waka ama and golf, Rebecca Spence, 17, who continued her world-class efforts in the duathlon and triathlon, and Ben Windsor, 18, one of New Zealand's top trampolinists.