Falkirk Sports Council Web Site

It is that time of year again when we are seeking nominations for our Sports Personality of the year 2011. There are some important changes to the awards so please note these changes.

Awards will no longer be made at this event for under 14s/cadets, primary school team and secondary school team.

These awards will be held at the annual Active Schools awards ceremony later in the year.

Due to various problems last year, nominations will only be accepted if the nomination form is countersigned by the club secretary of the nominee and all contact information has been completed.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from the Falkirk Council website at http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/chief_executive/governance/annual_awards.aspx

Forms are also available at most Falkirk Council venues.

The closing date for nominations is 31^st December 2011.

GRANT AID

Grant aid forms have been sent to our registered clubs and individuals for the period April - September 2011. Completed forms must be returned to the secretary no later than the end of November so that the payments can be made before the end of the year. Although our level of grant from Falkirk Council has been reduced in line with other grand receiving bodies, we are very grateful at this time of severe cuts to budgets, to still be able to award grants to our members.

Depute Provost Allyson Black in the absence of Provost Pat Reid hosted the Annual Awards for Sport and the Arts in Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday 31st March. The event was an opportunity to reward the residents of the Falkirk Council Area for their outstanding achievements during 2010.

The winner of the Senior Sports Personality for 2010 Leanne Ross presented by double Commonwealth gold medalist Jennifer McIntosh

This year our presenter is none other than Golden Girl Jennifer McIntosh who has given up her time from preparing for the 2011 Olympics to present our awards tonight.

The first Award is for the Club of the Year In a year of great achievement, members of this club competed at the world indoor championships and at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. They had over 15 individual medallists at the Scottish Championships. They provided numerous Scottish championship winning teams, including an under13 girls team unbeaten in all events; an under 17 girls team who were Scottish road race champions. The club contains many internationalists and they have supported many events including organising the Scottish Cross Country Championships.Club of the year are Falkirk Victoria Harriers.

The next award goes to the Club Team of the Year As just mentioned, this group of girls were unbeaten in all events last year. Their success included the Scottish 4x100m championships, the Scottish 3x800m championships and the Scottish indoor 4x200m championships. They were also the Scottish multi event champions.Club team of the year are Falkirk Victoria Harriers U13 Girls

Our next award goes to the Schools Team of the Year This team won the Scottish Schools Basketball Cup final. This is made ven more impressive since it was their fifth straight final and the four victory in a row, an unprecedented sequence of success.Schools team of the Year are Falkirk High School Girls Basketball The service to sport awards are an opportunity to celebrate the people without whom none of what you see tonight would be possible.

The local service to sport goes to one such unsung hero.She has been a committee member of her club for over ten years and treasurer for most of that period. She has been the main admin person, organising officials, entries and results for the successful primary school cross country league. This now has 24 schools taking part with over 600 finishers in each of its three races each year and over 850 children are registered to take part in this league. Local Service to Sport goes to Caroline Lawless

I would now like to ask the recently elected Chairman David Laing from SALSC, The Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils to present the National Service to Sport award.Our winner is a committee member and general secretary of Falkirk Victoria Harriers for the past ten years. During this time he has organised two cross country internationals at Calendar Park, bringing ompetitors from all over the UK and Ireland to Falkirk.He is the race director of the highly successful “Round the Houses” and Jim Dingwall Memorial Road Race, widely regarded as one of the best in Britain.He has officiated at or assisted with numerous Scottish Cross Country championships held in Falkirk in recent years and at other events.National Service to Sport goes to Andrew Stevenson

Coach of the Year During 2010 he has been coach to both the Scottish and British target rifle shooting teams. He has recently been appointed as the coach for the Great Britain 2012 Olympic team. The highlight of the year cam in Delhi at the Commonwealth games. His athletes won a total of four gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, making shooting the most successful Scottish Sport at the games. The clean sweep of four gold medals in the prone events has never been achieved before by any country. Unfortunately he is in Australia so could I ask his wife Shirley to collect his award.Coach of the year for 2010 is Donald McIntosh

New Coach of the Year This is the Dora Crudge memorial trophy, named after a lady who was a great supporter of both the ports Council and her own sport of Blind Bowling.It is always good that when an athlete retires from competitive sport, that they use their experience to help others. This young lady was a gymnast from a very young age, competing successfully at local and international level. While at high school, she began to coach on a part time basis and is now the head coach for the pre-school and junior groups at Falkirk School of Gymnastics, where she is responsible for all aspects of their training.New Coach of the Year is Heather McLuckie.

Veteran The winner of this award has had a truly outstanding season. She was the Scottish Road race series overall senior champion, having lost only once in the series. Despite qualifying as a veteran she has consistently beaten many of Scotland best senior athletes. She is the Scottish Masters 3km and 10km champion, where her time in winning the 10,000m was the third best ever by a British athlete in her age group.Veteran of the year is Fiona Matheson

Disability Individual The winner of this award was a member of the Great Britain Squad for the European Special Olympics in arsaw, where she won gold in the shot put and silver in the 100m.At the national Special Olympics, she won three gold medals in the 100m shot put and discuss.She has won countless medals at regional and Scottish level .Our winner is Cara McRae

Firstly we have the Cadet, or Under 14 Award. This is always a very difficult category to judge and this year proved no different, as the judging panel were unable to separate two girls and drew lots to decide their place.

Our third placed winner is from the Kobe Osaka club and won a bronze medal at the world championships in Greece. This was the second year running that she had taken the bronze medal. In 3rd place is Lauren Howe

In second place also from the Kobe Osaka club, she won a bronze medal in the world championships in Greece. This was followed by a bronze at the British national Championships and tow gold medals at the Kobe Osaka British Championships.In 2nd place is Holly Martin The winner of the under 14 award is a swimmer. She is the British 100m backstroke champion, a title she has won for the 3 rd successive year and the British 200m backstroke champion.A member of the Scottish youth squad, she is the Scottish record holder at 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke. She holds the British record for 50m backstroke.The U14 Sports Personality of the Year is Charlotte McKenzie

And now we have the Junior, or Under 18 category In 3 rd place is one of the many fine athletes from Falkirk Victoria HarriersHe took the gold medal in the Scottish Under 15 in Hammer and Discus and bronze in the Under 15 shot put.In 3 rd place is Ciaran Wright

In 2 nd place is another athlete from Falkirk Victoria Harriers.She is ranked #2 Under 20 in the UK in the hammer, having won the Scottish Under 23 championships, runner up in the British Under 23 championships and 5 th in the UK SENIOR championships and European trials.She was selected for the British team for the World Junior Championships where she finished in 10 th place.In 2 nd Place is Myra Perkins Our winner tonight has achieved a unique double, winning both the arts and sports young personality of the year.She won 17 championships in 2010 including Scottish, British, Commonwealth and World Championships.Her success has been recognised worldwide, including the honour of leading the parade in Edinburgh for the papal visit, an invitation to New York for Tartan Day and a reception in Stirling Castle where she danced for the First Minister.The winner of the Under 18 award is Anthea Bundy

Finally we come to the senior award and the presentation of the Wilkinson Sword.In 3 rd place we have a man who represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, having set a new Scottish pole vault record of 5m 22cm. He is recovering in Portugal from a serious injury and is unable to be here tonight In 3 rd place is Richard Hurren

In 2 nd place is one of those rare people who are not just good at two sports, but British champion at two sports. Last year she won the British freestyle wrestling championships and later the British Black Belt Judo championships. Another Commonwealth athlete, she took 4 th place in judo.She won bronze competing for Britain at the world championships, was Clydesdale Bank athlete f the month for January and was Central FM Sporting Hero of the year. She also is unable to be here toning as she is also in Europe competing.Our runner up is Jayne Clason

Our winner tonight is an established Scottish football international, with over 50 caps. She has played in every game over the past year, both friendly and competitive, scoring her first goal away to Georgia in Tbilisi.She has a full set of domestic medals and has played in the women's UEFA champions league.An active sports co-ordinator, she is also the only one of our winners tonight with their own Wikipedia page!Our Sports Personality of the year is Leanne Ross

We have one more award to make. This young lady would have been a very good candidate for our senior award this year having won 2 gold and one bronze medal in Delhi last year. Like Steve Frew she now lives outside the Falkirk Council Area and was now eligible to be nominated for our awards. We decided however that her achievements should not go unrecognised so we are presenting this award for outstanding achievement in her sport to Jennifer McIntosh.

Provest Pat Reid once again hosted the Annual Awards for Sport, Arts and Community in Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday 23rd March. The event was an opportunity to reward the residents of the Falkirk Council Area for their outstanding achievements during 2009.

The award ceremony was held in Falkirk Town Hall and this year it was an honour to have Louise Martin CBE to present the awards.

Louise competed in the Commonwealth Games as a swimmer, was President of Scottish Gymnastics and served as chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for many years and was the first woman to hold this post.

She now has the top job as chair of sportscotland and more than anyone responsible for winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Glasgow.

The club of the year had another hugely successful 2009, with one European Title, 3 national titles and 24 international players, four of whom played in the Great Britain Olympic elite development programme. They were the Scottish national league champions for junior men and cadet women; the Scottish national cup winners for cadet women; runners up in the Scottish national league for senior men and cup runners up for junior men. The club also provides coaching to 24 primary schools.

The winners of the club team are the International Pairs World Gold champions. This global event is the largest of its kind for club golfers, with participants having to win all the way from club to national level before representing their country in the final. Pairs from 24 countries, including America, South Africa and Canada took part in the finals, which were held at St Andrews.

This award goes to the winners of the Scottish U18 girls basketball school cup. The team consisted of players who were all under 16, but playing against many other teams full of 5 th and 6 th years. This was the third straight victory for the girls, who have made the final in each of the last four years, winning it on three occasions.

The winners of the school team of the Year : Falkirk High School U18 basketball team

Both the club of the year and school team of the year have something in common, the same head coach. John Bunyan has been the head coach of Falkirk Fury for the 18 years since its inception, producing championship winning team and internationalists on a yearly basis. He was part of the Scottish senior men's coaching staff in the commonwealth games in Australia and has produced players that have gone onwards to the British pro league, Great Britain senior men's team and the top flight of American college basketball.

The winner of the young coach was a gymnast with Falkirk School of Gymnastics and then Falkirk Infinity. She left school to take up coaching full time and has gradually taken on more responsibility, such that she is now the head coach for several pre-school and recreation classes. She was instrumental in setting up the baby beans classes for 1-2 years of age at Falkirk School of Gymnastics.

The winner of this category is probably the finest visually impaired bowler in Scotland. Qualifying for the world championships in Melbourne Australia, he took the silver medal. He took the gold in the Scottish singles for the fifth time in a row; was skipper of the Scottish pairs and Scottish rinks and in November, won the UK singles title in Gateshead.

As well as the world champions with us tonight, we have a world record holder. At the Scottish Masters championships in June she broke the world age group 3000m record. A month later, at the British Masters championships, she broke the world age group 5000m record. Among her many achievements last year, she took silver medals at both 1500m and 5000m at the British masters Championships.

The winner of this award has been a stalwart of Falkirk Otters for over 15 years, as parent, coach and president. He continues to coach and has organised numerous trips abroad. He was instrumental in setting up the Falkirk Integrated regional Swimming team and has been a great support to the Central Swimming Championships. He is one of the unsung heroes, without which much of the success you see tonight would not be possible.

George Ferguson, Honorary Treasurer of SALSC, the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils presented the following award.

It has been several years since Highland Dancing has been recognised as part of the Sport Scotland family. It is appropriate that our first award winner from that sport should be someone who is synonymous with Highland Dancing within the Falkirk area. A former 3 times world champion herself, she has coached in this area for 48 years, in her extremely successful McKechnie School of dance and the Performing Arts. She has produced over 50 champion dancers, winning over 1000 championship titles. Many of these include Scottish, British and Commonwealth titles. 3 of her dancers have won world championship titles. She is an independent member and official adjudicator of the Scottish Official Board of Highland dancing and has been on the technical committee for 40 years.

In 3 rd place is a real star in the sport of table tennis. He is the current Scottish and British U12 champion. As well as his individual success he has worked hard to build up interest in his sport and is good ambasedor for it.

The runner up is also a Scottish champion, the current 400m individual medley champion, he also medalled at the British championship. He holds Scottish age records in the 50m freestyle, 50m back and 100m Individual medlay.

The winner of the U14 award is another Scottish champion, taking two gold medals at the Scottish National Karate championships. Despite being injured for much of the year, he also won a gold at the Duth open championships and a bronze in the British championships.

In third place in the Junior catagory is a student of Kobe Osaka Karate. In 2009 she won two silver and a bronze medal at the Scottish championships, but also won two bronze medals at the European championships in Holland.

The runner up is a fantastic prospect in the sport of boxing. He is the current Scottish and British junior champion, a Scottish Internationalist and is world rated.

The winner of the junior award only took up athletics in June, but quickly became the top ranked in Scotland at 800m and the mile and second ranked at 1500m. He has been selected to represent Scotland at U17 level, Scottish schools and the Scottish cross country team.

In 3rd place is the current world champion in the sport of blackball pool. A former Eurpean champion and with numerour tournament wins in Scotland and throughout the UK, he became world champion in April last year

The runner up is the first Scotswoman to ever play at the highest level of American colledge basketball. Her colledge, Old Dominion, is one of the top 20 in the USA, yet she broke into its starting 5 in her freashman season. She earned a spot in the Great Britain World Student games team and the British Olympic programme.

The winner of the senior award is Scottish champion and Great Britain internationalist. Although she took gold in the Scottish 60m in doors, it is at long jump that she truly excells. She took gold at the Scottish U23 championships, was 5th in the UK senior championships and took gold for Great Britain at an international meeting in Belgium.

Provest Pat Reid once again hosted the Annual Awards for Sport, Arts and Community in Falkirk Town Hall on Tuesday 10th March. The event was an opportunity to reward the residents of the Falkirk Council Area for their outstanding achievements during 2008.

To present the awards, I am delighted to welcome possibly the most successful sportswoman ever to come from Falkirk District, Shirley McIntosh MBE

She has won more Commonwealth Games rifle shooting medals (4) than any other Scottish woman. She has the distinction of being the winner of the first ever prone Gold Medal for women at the Commonwealth Games (1994, Victoria), and the first Scottish woman shooter to be awarded the MBE for services to shooting, in 1996. Her achievements in Victoria in 1994 (gold in the individual prone and silver in the prone pairs) were the best ever achieved by a Scottish woman at a CG up to that point, and this was rewarded by her being selected to carry the Scottish flag at the closing ceremony. This was particularly satisfying as this honour is given by the other athletes in the team, not by the management.

The winner of the veteran award was the bronze medallist at the British Masters track and field championships at 1500m, also coming 4 th at 800m. She took silver at the Scottish Masters at 1500m and finished in the top seven at both 800m and 1500m at the European Masters in Slovenia.

The club of the year provides opportunity for all levels of athletes, supporting from elite internationalists to the Jog Scotland program. Amongst their members they boast a Commonwealth Youth games athlete, the Scottish U17 athlete of the year and numerous other internationalists British and Scottish record holders. Such is their strength in depth, that they supplied around half the athletes that saw the Forth Valley team win the northern division of the UK junior league and promotion to the premier division.

The club team of the year won the Central Girls Football league for season 2007/08. They won the Umbro International Football Festival in Manchester, winning every match they played and without conceding a single goal.

The winners of this award are the Scottish Schools national A Cup winners at basketball. Last year was the 3 rd consecutive year that this group of girls reached the finals of the Schools Cup. They were runners up in S1, won the trophy in S2 and again in S3, probably a unique achievement.

The winners of the primary school team are following in a proud history of gymnastics at Wallacestone School. The team of Ross Callahan, Sophie Wallace, Emerald Jeffrey and Lucy McKeitch won the regional heat for the Scottish Schools and then took bronze in The Scottish Primary Schools Championship

The winner of the service to sport award has been a great servant to Falkirk otter Swimming club for many years. She has coached many swimmers who have gone on to national level and still coached the developer swimmer very week. She has also acted as a technical official as well as organising many trips and fund-raising activities. The service to sport award recognises those people without whom clubs would simply cease to function and without whom none of what you see tonight would be possible.

Amongst tonight's winners are British Champions, and medal winners at European and Commonwealth level. The winner of the disability award went even better and was part of the Great Britain team at the Beijing Paralympics, where he was one of only two Scots in the cerebral palsy football team. He was part of the Scottish team for the world championships where he started every game and was top scorer.

A successful wrestler in his own right, the young man has concentrated more on coaching rather than competing. As well as assisting his head coach, he runs the club when more senior coaches are unable to attend and has shown great commitment and patience with younger wrestlers.

The winner of the Dora Crudge Memorial Trophy for Young Coach of the year is Steven Abercrombie

The winner of this years coach of the year is from Football. As coach of Gairdoch United Football Club under 15s he has taken them to successive league titles. A well as coaching he has been involved in fund raising, training and the refurbishment of premises. He organised participation for the team in a tournament in Holland where they finished second.

The cadet awards are for under 14s. As with other years, this category was especially difficult to judge, with many achieving recognition far beyond Scotland.

That was certainly the case with the young lady in third place who was the Scottish, British and European titles, before winning three champion titles in Australia. In the sport of Highland Dancing, she is ranked No 1 in the world at her age group, winning 18 of the 21 competitions she competed in last year, the most by any juvenile dancer.

In second place is another girl, who must surely be one of the most promising swimmers this area has produced in many years. She is the current British 11 years 100m breaststroke champion winning the title in Sheffield last year. She broke the Scottish age group record for girls backstroke and the est district records for 50m and 100m breaststroke.

The winner of the cadet award this year is the commonwealth champion in Karate, winning the title at Meadowbank last year. This followed on for success as Scottish champion and Scottish Open champion and he has sights set on this years world championships in Malaysia.

In third place is a young man who competed for Scotland in the Junior European Tae Kwon Do championships in Croatia, where he took bronze medals in the team patterns and team sparring.

Second place goes to the Scottish and British U17 girls hammer champion. Despite being only 16, she won the Scottish U20 championship and is among the top 3 in the UK at that level. Amongst other international competitions she was 2 nd in the Gothenburg youth games and was 4 th in the Junior Commonwealth Games in Pune India, missing bronze by just 4cm.

The winner of the junior award was also part of the Scottish team at the Junior Commonwealth Games in India, She took the silver medal in the in the 3 position air rifle competition, adding to her British Junior U21 title and her Scottish Junior ladies title. She was 2 nd in the Scottish Senior ladies championship and represented Great Britain at the Junior Nordic Championships in Sweden, finishing 2 nd and setting four Scottish senior and junior records in the process.

Our final award of the evening is the senior category and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy. I would like to ask the Provost to present these awards.

In third place is an athlete who is the Scottish indoor 800m champion. He added the Scottish U23 800m championship outdoors and was selected for the Scottish team that competed in the bank of Scotland Cup.3 rd place goes to Gary Smith

In second place is a member of the great Britain development squad and the Scottish Elite squad at wrestling. He won the Welsh open, was second in the English Junior Championships and 3 rd in the British Junior Championships. 2 nd place goes to Michael Airnes

The winner of the senior award is the Scottish Senior Indoor pole vault champion. She also won the Scottish Universities indoor championships and the Scottish Open indoor championships in a new personal best of 4 metres. She has represented Great Britain and is among the top ranked in the UK at any age groups.The winner of the senior award is Kim Skinner

Falkirk Town Hall was the venue once again for the Annual Awards presentations for Sport, Arts and Community winners from the Falkirk Council Area. Provost Pat Reid hosted the event and guest of honour presenting the Sports Awards this year was Jullian Peck, Sports Editor of the Falkirk Herald. All the citations are to be found on our news page.

The winner of the 2007 Senior Sports Personality of the year was Nicole Arther World Water Ski Champion.