Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2008... my last awards :-(

Levon De Silva

The 3rd annual Oxfordshire Sports Awards took place at the Kassam Stadium on 7 November 2008. The winners were unveiled in front of 270 guests, including 36 finalists, 9 Olympians and 2 Paralympians.

The guests were treated to an inspirational speech by Anna Hemmings, two times Olympian and six times world champion, and a host of local Olympic and Paralympic athletes who were congratulated on their successes in Beijing earlier in the year. But it was 13 year old, Levon De Silva, who stole the show with a performance of his European Championship Street Dance.

Steve Williams (pictured below), Gold Medallist in the Men's Coxless Fours in Beijing was awarded Sportsman of the Year. The other award winners were: City of Oxford Junior Women's Coxless Four (Junior Sports Team of the Year); Men's 1st Team of Banbury Hockey Club (Sports Team of the Year); Tim Hampson (Coach of the Year); Wallingford Rugby Club (Club of the Year); Caitlin Williams (Junior Unsung Hero); Imogen Shaylor (Young Sportsperson of the Year); David Kuester (Veteran Sportsperson of the Year); Claire Scott (Extreme Sportsperson of the Year); Graham Kiff (Disabled Sportsperson of the Year); Lesley Williams (Unsung Hero); and Claire Lasko (Sportswoman of the Year).

The amount of dedication and talent at the Kassam Stadium that evening was overwhelming. It was the best awards yet and I was very proud to own it. As you will have seen in the title of this post, I will no longer be organising the Oxfordshire Sports Awards as I am leaving the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership next month to take on a new challenge as Business Development Manager with a cancer charity. Roger Cowdrey, very kindly presented me with a beautiful bunch of flowers and I was delighted to go out on a high!!

Thank you to everybody for making the evening so special.

Sports Review feature 'In Oxford'

The October edition of 'In Oxford' features a sports review about the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership, written by me!

It is an article about what the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership is, what we do and how to find out more, it is available in the October edition of 'In Oxford' distributed to a number of outlets across the county and will be available online for a year.

Click here to see the double page spread in the 'In Oxford' magazine on pages 64 & 65. Oxfordshire Sports Partnership listings can also be found on pages 20 & 30.


The online review can be seen by clicking this link.

2008 Nominations launch...

Nominations for the Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2008 were launched on BBC Oxford on Friday 1st August.

It is time for the public to nominate local sportsmen and women who have excelled on the local, regional, national and international scene in the 2007/08 season. We are also looking for nominations for successful sports teams and clubs and supportive coaches and volunteers. Nominations can be made for juniors, seniors and veterans! The following categories are open:

Club of the Year
Coach of the Year
Disabled Sportsperson of the Year
Extreme Sportsperson of the Year
Junior Sports Team of the Year
Junior Sportsperson of the Year
Junior Unsung Hero
Sports Team of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Sportswoman of the Year
Unsung Hero
Veteran Sportsperson of the Year

You can listen to Roger Cowdrey, Chairman, and myself appealing for nominations on BBC Oxford 95.2FM by clicking here.

To nominate visit: www.oxfordshiresport.org/sportsawards

Oxfordshire Youth Games 2008 is a success!

Despite the terrible weather on Sunday everybody seemed to enjoy the Games. Sports stars, Maggie Alphonsi and Mark Richardson, got stuck in with the 800 youngsters, taking part in sports, signing autographs and answering questions.

Maggie blew the whistle for the first Tag Rugby game to start the six sports competitions for youngsters from across the county, where they battled it out in heavy downpours to be crowned winners of 2008.

Over 50 volunteers, wearing red 'here to help' polo shirts helped set up the Games, made sure it ran smoothly and encouarged the kids taking part. They did a great job and we couldn't have done it with out them.

The rain started very early on in the morning, which meant the opening ceremony was a wash out and the cricket competition cancelled! Luckily for the participants the rain eased during competitions, but began aagin just before the medal presentations.. typical! Mark Richardson presented the 1st and 2nd placed teams with their medals and trophies, he commented: “I have really enjoyed the event today, it is a great success and the youngsters seemed to relish it!”

The Oxfordshire Youth Games, sponsored by BRITA Water Filter Systems Ltd, Waitrose Abingdon and Oxford’s FM107.9 and JACKfm, is a multi sports competition organised by the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership core team and partners.

The Oxfordshire Youth Games is about getting young people in to sports they don’t normally get the chance to do and encouraging them to do more physical activity, contributing to the recommended amount of 1 hour a day.

Although medals and trophies are awarded for the 8 districts on the day the over all emphasis is on fun and participation and all competitors are winners by getting active and enjoying sport!

Picture: Maggie Alphonsi (Rugby) and Mark Richardson (Athletics) signing autographs with the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire and a District Councillor.

It's back...Oxfordshire Youth Games 2008

The 3rd annual Oxfordshire Youth Games takes place this weekend, Sunday 6th July.

It's like a mini Olympics for young people, 850 participants from across Oxfordshire will take part in 7 sports competitions (athletics, badminton, cricket, football, hockey, high 5 netball and TAG rugby).

The Games is supported BRITA, Waitrose and Oxford's FM107.9 and JACKfm.

I am leading on the event organisation for the second year... we hope to see over 1800 people attend on Sunday. There are a full range of activities available for the families of the youngsters in the Entertainment Zone, including flight simulators, an orienteering course and lots of freebies!

Listen to me here on Oxford's FM107.9 seeking volunteers for the event.

Finger's crossed the weather will stay nice! I will let you know how it goes next Monday!

Published Work

Here are examples of my published work to date. Ranging from information leaflets, to advertorials, case studies and WebPages.

Half Hour Health

Half Hour Health was produced in conjunction with the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). It is aimed at adults (16+) and focuses on the social and health benefits of taking part in sport and active recreation.

The key message we aim to communicate through this leaflet is that adults should be taking part in the recommended amount of 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity on 5 or more days of the week.

Over 20,000 Half Hour Health leaflets have been distributed around Oxfordshire via the PCT in pharmacies and doctors surgeries; leisure providers in their gyms and new members packs; the sports development teams of city and district councils; and at Oxfordshire Sports Partnership events.

It was my responsibility to write the copy and the design and print briefs for Half Hour Health. I proofed the document, gathered feedback from the PCT and developed it until it was ready for print.

To view a PDF of Half Hour Health click here.

No Sweat

No Sweat is a unique publication, in that it is aimed at young people (under 16) rather than their parents. It is used to promote physical activity and it's health and social advantages, the fact that sport and physical activity can be cool and encourages young people to take part in the recommended amount of 1 hour of physical activity everyday. There are also suggestions for a variety of sports.

Following meetings with representatives from School Sports Partnerships and the Oxfordshire PCT, it was up to me to turn my notes in to copy that teenagers could relate to, brief the designers on content and layout and source the images. The draft leaflet was given to small focus groups of 11-14 year olds for feedback before going to the next design phase, feedback was very positive.

30,000 of No Sweat have been distributed across Oxfordshire schools, we have received requests from youth centres and lesiure providers for copies too.

To view a PDF of No Sweat click here.

National Governing Bodies of Sport Fliers

The NGB (National Governing Body) sports fliers are sports specific with the purpose of signposting the opportunities available in their sport for all ages in Oxfordshire. The fliers were produced as a result of requests by a number of the key National Governing Bodies of Sport in Oxfordshire.

The NGB's briefed me on the information they wanted to include and the audiences they wanted to reach. I created the design brief, sent it to my graphic designer, he came up with two template designs for the NGB's to choose from.

So far, 5,000 fliers have been produced for athletics and badminton, and 10,000 in rugby. Netball and Swimming are in the process of collating the data before going to the design shop. They will be posted here as soon as they are available.

To view a PDF of the fliers please click on the individual images.

Case Studies

As part of my role I am constantly asked to produce case studies to highlight individual events or projects and the excellent work of the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership.

Here are two examples of case studies I produced for an external organisation, Sporting Champions.

Sporting Champions provide current and retired international sports men and women for appearances at sporting events locally.

In 2007, Alison Mowbray and Ade Adepitan visited the Oxfordshire Youth Games and the Oxfordshire Parallel Youth Games.

Following the events I submitted case studies to Sporting Champions. They can be viewed on the Sporting Champions website and by clicking the images above.

Both case studies were used as examples for other County Sports Partnerships across the UK.

More case studies of successes in 2007 / 2008 coming soon...!

I recently had an editorial published in the Scene Magazine for Oxfordshire. To be uploaded soon...

Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2007

In 2007, BBC Oxford became Broadcast Partner for the Oxfordshire Sports Awards. The awards grew in size and recognition.

The nominations were launched on the BBC Radio Oxford breakfast show, in an interview with myself and Roger Cowdrey, Chairman of the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership, and on BBC South Today, in an interview with one of our 2006 winners and a very successful local athlete, Nathan Douglas. Listen to my interview on the Breakfast show here.

We continued to plug nominations online, radio and TV for 5 weeks. As a result we received a 60% increase in nominations and 100% increase in attendees on the night. Listen to my second radio interview here, this was on the last day of nominations.

The awards ceremony was held at the Kassam Stadium in November 2007. They aimed to showcase the wealth of sporting talent and dedication seen in Oxfordshire in 2007.

We added two new categories for 2007.

It was very encouraging to see all the winners there on evening to pick up their awards from Jerome Sale, BBC Oxford Sports Editor and Presenter, it shows they really are special to local people, some of whom are competing in International competitions.

The winners were:

Junior Sports Team of the Year: Oxford School of Gymnastics Trio

Sports Team of the Year: Men's 1st Team of Oxford Cricket Club

Coach of the Year: Nick Malden (Hockey)

Club of the Year: Rover Oxford Hockey Club

Junior Unsung Hero: Lauren Addison (Netball)

Unsung Hero: Alan Vincent (Athletics)

Junior Sportsperson of the Year: Katherine O'Connor (Golf)

Disabled Sportsperson of the Year: Daniel Steward (Power-lifting)

Extreme Sportsperson of the Year: Ben Ayre (Mountain-Boarding)

Sportsman of the Year: Bradley Smith (125cc world motor cycle racing)

Sportswoman of the Year: Nichola Simpson (Archery)

Oxfordshire Sports Awards 2008 Nominations coming soon...!

Charity Skydive

In May 2006 I decided to give my my legs a rest from from charity runs - something I really didn't think my heart was is going to thank me for! - Yes - I took the plunge and jumped out of a plane at 13,000ft - free falling to 5,000ft! All in aid of the Fund for Epilepsy.

It was FANTASTIC! I laughed and smiled all the way down! What an experience!

Once we signed in we were put into jump groups - I was pleased to have my 2 friends, Amy and Sarah with me on the same flight! The three of us were totally relaxed after the briefing - having heard that the tandem instructors had all done over 2000 jumps - phew! In their words "we are here looking ugly - just to make you look good"

Their sense of humor and reassurance was all we needed to feel totally relaxed and at ease. Then came the good news (I think) perfect weather conditions meant we would exit from 13,000ft - well whats an extra 3,000ft when you are up there?

Our jump was called and we met our instructors - I was lucky enough to have the owner of the centre, Mike. We walked over to the aircraft (very small) in true Top Gun fashion.

Mike talked me through the exit and the landing on the way up - oh and some gerneral chit chat and friendly banter with the others as well! At 9,000ft hats and goggles went on and we were tightly secured to our instructors. The doors were then opened and we were shuffled to the edge - out we went one after the other.

We were freefalling at 125mph. 45 seconds later the parachute was pulled and we floated down over the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. I steered us down to safety - with a few spins and turns. A perfect landing (leaving skid marks in the grass) and I was buzzing for the rest of the weekend.

What was even more exhilarating than the jump was the fact that I raised £1,100 for the Fund for Epilepsy, a charity working to find the "causes and cures" for this much neglected and underfunded condition.

I have a close connection with Epilepsy as my lil' sis, Chloe, is not only severely disabled, but when she was 10 she developed Epilepsy. Luckily her seizures are very much controlled and she has been seizure free for a number of years. But I have seen first hand what impact Epilepsy can have on not only the person with the condition but their family and friends also.

For many people and especially the very young, Epilepsy is a debilitating and life altering condition. Sadly, each year over 1000 people in the UK, will die as a result of their Epilepsy.

The Fund for Epilepsy merged in 2007 with the Epilepsy Research Foundation to form Epilepsy Research UK. Epilepsy Research UK promotes and supports basic and clinical scientific research into the causes, treatment and prevention of epilepsy. They are the only national charity in the UK dedicated to funding independent research exclusively into epilepsy, the work that they support is vital.