Sussex Young Team of the Year
Congratulations to the Year 10 Girls Basketball Team who were crowned 'Sussex Young Team of the Year' at the Sussex Sports Awards
We arrived at the Hilton hotel at 6.30pm on Friday, 27th November all dressed up and excited about the evening ahead. After a short wait we headed down into the main room to find our tables. We all sat down admiring our surroundings and found, even as it began to fill up, we were the only big group of children there.
As we were served our first course the main speaker for the evening took to the stage, Derek Redmond, and told us his story:
Redmond arrived at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona determined to win a medal in the 400m. The stadium is packed with 65,000 fans, bracing themselves for one of sport's greatest and most exciting spectacles. The race begins and Redmond breaks from the pack and quickly seizes the lead. Down the backstretch, only 175 meters away from finishing, Redmond is a sure to make the finals. Suddenly, he hears a pop in his right hamstring. He pulls up lame, as if he had been shot. On the track, Redmond realises his dream of an Olympic medal is gone. Tears run down his face. "All I could think was, I'm out of the Olympics... again." As the medical crew arrives with a stretcher, Redmond tells them, "No, there's no way I'm getting on that stretcher. I'm going to finish my race." Then, in a moment that will live forever in the minds of millions, Redmond lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly, and starts hobbling down the track. One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more painful than the one before, his face twisted with pain and tears, Redmond limps onward, and the crowd, many in tears, cheer him on. Suddenly, Jim Redmond (his dad) finally gets to the bottom ofthe stands, leaps over the railing, avoids a security guard, and runs out to his son, with two security people chasing after him. "That's my son out there!" he yells back to security, "and I'm going to help him." Finally, with Derek refusing to surrender and painfully limping along the track, Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish and wraps his arm around his waist. "I'm here, son." Jim says softly, hugging his boy. "We'll finish together." Derek puts his arms around his father's shoulders and sobs. Derek finished the race in last place.
After this highly motivating story the first awards were announced. We all sat patiently waiting for our category to be announced. Finally the time came. No one knew quite what to expect, there was the Dorothy Stringer boys U14 team, Dorothy Stinger girls U14 and one other team. Everyone sat nervously and just waited for the winner to be announced, it was a very tense few seconds. And then they said it: "The winner of Sussex team of the year is... Dorothy stringer girls U14!" We all looked around astonished and then slowly stood up to go on to the stage and collect the award. None of us could quite believe we had actually won it. After that we had several photographs taken, and eventually went back to take our seats again.
For the rest of the evening we just sat and listened to the other awards being presented, all still very pleased. Unfortunately we couldn't stay on for the disco as it went on until 1 in the morning, but we still had a very fun evening.
The whole girls basketball team would like to say a big thank you to the boy's team for putting up with us over the last year, and helping us improve by training with us, and also to say well done to them because what they achieved was also outstanding. Also, of course, we would like to say the biggest thank you to Mr Kelly, because none of what we achieved would have been possible without him believing in us from the beginning and helping us week after week to improve our skills. He made our team what it is, and we are truly grateful for that and hope we made him proud and can continue to do so in the years to come.
Written by Charlotte Kirkland (10SHL)
 |
 |
 |
