Draycote Water Sailing Club members recognised at Rugby Sports Awards 2022
by Jeremy Atkins 8 Apr 2023 18:25 BST
31 March 2023
DWSC sailor Joe Rowe wins Young Sportsperson of the Year Award - Rugby Sports Awards 2022 © Rugby Sport and Leisure
Despite having no 'H'-shaped goalposts on site, and the coaches not being fully versed with the latest scrummaging techniques (unless you count Steve Irish's tips for dealing with a crowded leeward gate), Draycote Water Sailing Club still managed to do pretty well at the Rugby Sports Awards 2022, presented at the end of March at a gala awards ceremony attended by the great and good in Rugby sport.
It is not actually as illogical as it sounds when it is appreciated that these awards are about sports people living or competing for a club based in the borough of Rugby, and are not exclusively linked to a 15-a-side game with an oval ball. Inevitably oval-ball players did feature in the awards as you would expect from that sport's home town, along with a myriad of other sports from athletics, gymnastics, football, canoeing, trampolining, American Football and many others.
Draycote was honoured to scoop two big awards from both ends of the age spectrum. Joe Rowe, Topper World Champion, was awarded Young Sportsperson of the Year to crown a magnificent year for him, and Jon Hughes was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award following over 18 years of service for the Club. Both awards were thoroughly deserved.
Steve Irish just missed out and was runner-up as Coach of the Year.
Most impressive was the Club's performance in the 'Excellence in Sport' category. Ten of these are awarded annual to young people who are performing at the highest national or international level. They come with some financial and other support from the GLL Sports Foundation.
This year, half of the award winners were members of Draycote Water Sailing Club! To be fair, only four got them for sailing: Joe Rowe, Freddie Sunderland, Stella Nygard and Alice Davis. But 40% of these awards for sailing was a remarkable achievement. As Freddie's mum, Jane, said: "Huge thanks to Draycote Water Sailing Club for their unwavering support. Lovely to be part of such a wonderful club."
And the fifth DWSC winner, Lola Huett, who has been known to win the Club's Optimist series, but for the moment she is concentrating more on artistic swimming - and it's obviously paying dividends for her. Her capsizes will have to be scored for artistic merit when she gets back in her Oppie!
Last year's Excellence in Sport award winners, Millie Irish and Jess Powell, also returned for the event and got their valuable support extended for another year.
Commodore, Will Whittaker, commented: "It was a splendid evening to see so much of our young talent recognised within the borough. It can often seem like sailing is a minor sport, particularly away from the coast, but here in the centre of England it is clear we are pulling our weight, if not leading the way."