This years Sports Awards were held in the Aurora Centre on Thursday 18th October. Guest speaker for the evening was Anton Cooper 2018 World Mountain bike Champion

Sportswoman of the Year:

Sami Donnelly

Sami’s main sport at school is Cycling - Track and Road. Her biggest achievement this year was winning a Silver medal at the Junior World Track Cycling Championships in Switzerland in August with her teammates in the Women’s Team Pursuit event. In the Individual Pursuit at this event, she placed 9th. As part of the NZ U19 Track team competing at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships, she achieved a gold medal in the Teams Pursuit and a bronze medal in the Madison. At 16 she is the youngest member of the team. As part of the Canterbury Track Cycling team, she achieved gold in the Elite Women’s Teams Pursuit and 4th in the Individual Pursuit. Sami is a member of the Burnside High Road Cycling Team in the Wednesday schools’ competition. With all her successes this year, Sami deservedly won the category of Girls – Most Outstanding Achievement in One Sport – at the Zonta Sports Awards evening in October.

Sportsman of the Year:

Hiroki Miya

Hiroki has had a great year with his Golf and, with his school team, came 3rd at the NZ Secondary Schools Golf Teams’ Final in Palmerston North during Winter Tournament Week. Hiroki has had wins this year in Canterbury Match Play and Age Group (U19) Championship events and also won the North Island Men’s U19 Championships with a 13-under par score. A highlight for Hiroki end of last year was winning the Faldo Series Asia NZ U22 Championships with a 9-under par score, and then going on to compete and win the Grand Final of this tournament in Vietnam in March this year. He has played many overseas tournaments this year, including Men’s and Boy’s tournaments, and was voted as the Junior Men’s Golfer of the Year this year by Canterbury Golf. Hiroki was a finalist in the category of Boys – Most Outstanding Achievement in One Sport – at the Zonta Sports Awards evening in October.

Team of the Year:

Table Tennis – Boys Team

This team of four; Alexander Zhou (Capt), Samuel Li, Sang-Yong Park and Zak McKellar, are winners again this year of the Canterbury and NZ Secondary Schools’ Table Tennis Open A Grade Teams Championships. The boys are back-to-back champions, after winning both these titles last year. After the teams event at this year’s National Championships, Alex came 2nd in the U19 Individual Championships, and Sang-Yong came 2nd in the U15 Boys Individual Championships.

Alex and Sang-Yong have both represented NZ this year in their age groups, travelling to Rarotonga for the Oceania Championships earlier this year, and Alex is travelling with the NZ U18 team again in December to compete in the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Australia.

The Boys Table Tennis team were finalists in the category of Boys – Most Outstanding Team – at the Zonta Sports Awards evening in October, and received “Highly Commended” for their efforts this year.

Principal’s Cup for Outstanding Achievement in Sport:

Juliana Hung

Juliana has had a successful year with her Golf. She was a member of the Burnside High Mixed Team, who came 3rd at the NZ Secondary Schools Golf Final in Palmerston North, during Winter Tournament Week. After this event, she attended the NZ Age Group Championships, where she finished up at this event as the Winner of the NZ U17 Women’s grade. Notable wins for her this year include winning the Canterbury Stroke Play Championships in January, winning the NZ Stroke Play Championships in March and winning the South Island U19 Championships in April. In May she won the Canterbury Golf Order of Merit for both Women and Juniors, and also won both the Canterbury Women’s and Canterbury Junior Women’s Golfer of the Year. In May this year she was selected into the National Golf Academy. She has played numerous overseas tournaments achieving top 10 placings. Juliana was selected to represent New Zealand for Golf at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. She was also a finalist in the category of Girls – Most Outstanding Achievement in One Sport – at the Zonta Sports Awards evening in October.

Contribution to Sport:

Fergus Vickers - Rowing

Nominated by Mr White, Teacher in Charge of Rowing, and backed up by Sarah Lindley (Head Coach), Fergus made the step from being a rower himself the previous two seasons, to helping coach our young, large squad of rowers this year.

Fergus supported the Head Coach throughout the year and was sole charge of a number of morning trainings. He volunteered and attended all the regattas that Burnside High entered into in the 2017/2018 season, and was always willing to help load and unload boats after training and regattas and support the students getting ready for their races. With Fergus’ help, many of the crews achieved top placings at their different regattas over the season, culminating in making three ‘A’ finals at Maadi Cup in Twizel.

Over the winter months this year, Fergus has worked towards achieving his Rowing New Zealand Level 1 Coaching certificate. On top of this he is also accredited with his Maritime NZ Boat Safety certificate. Fergus is an enormous asset to the Burnside High School rowing programme, with his commitment and great work ethic, and he will be one to watch as he develops his coaching in years to come. Fergus was a finalist in the category of Boys – Contribution to Sports Administration – at the Zonta Sports Awards evening in October.