Students and teachers recognised at Victorian School Sports Awards
A memorable celebration of achievement, leadership and contribution to sport
The Victorian School Sports Awards, held on Wednesday 27 April 2022, recognised outstanding students and teachers for their achievements and contributions in 2021.
At a ceremony at Melbourne's Glasshouse, 28 individual Sporting Blue Awards were presented to students who demonstrated excellence in particular sports. In addition, 5 awards recognised outstanding achievements and contributions by students and teachers to school and community sports.
Master of ceremonies at the event was Madison Browne, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and former Australian Diamonds netball champion. The event also featured Paralympic swimmer Col Pearse and Olympic diver Anabelle Smith, who presented the awards.
The awards are coordinated by School Sport Victoria, as part of the department, which runs an extensive school sport program for primary and secondary schools across Victoria.
School Sport Victoria CEO Rayoni Nelson said the spectacular ceremony was the culmination of many months of work by many people across the department's Communications and School Sport Victoria teams.
'There are so many people I'd like to acknowledge for their efforts in helping to bring this tremendous event to life,' Rayoni said.
'From coordinating nominations and the selection process, through the event planning stages, creative and design phases, promotion, ceremony logistics and the day itself, there is so much that goes into events like this.
'It was wonderful to see all of this come together in such a wonderful celebration of our school sports community, so I would really like to thank everyone involved.'
Inspiring excellence
The Lindsay Gaze Award for Outstanding Sports Leadership is one of the event's most prestigious awards. It was awarded to Aanchal Sharma of Suzanne Cory High School.
Through determination and hard work to become a competitive table tennis player, Aanchal has emerged as a powerful role model for girls in sports that are traditionally dominated by boys.
'At my former school, when I started playing table tennis, there were only 3 girls out of 30 students. I noticed that girls weren't encouraged to participate in male-dominated sports,' she said.
'This sparked my interest in raising awareness about gender disparity in sports that still exists.'
Aanchal's achievements mirrored the inspirational efforts of all student award winners. Along with recognising these students, the event also acknowledged the efforts of our teachers who give so much to help them thrive.
Outstanding Teacher Contribution Awards went to teachers Taryn Richardson of McClelland Secondary College and Christopher Sly of Oberon High School.
Taryn has made an enormous contribution to student participation, health and wellbeing through her involvement in softball and baseball.
She coaches baseball at Sandringham Baseball Club in summer, Dingley Baseball Club in winter and softball at Rebels Dandenong, along with holding roles at both state and national levels.
Meanwhile, Christopher was instrumental in running a virtual cross-country event at Oberon High School during the learning-from-home period in 2021.
He got students involved in fitness and wellbeing activities that brought the school community together during a challenging time.
Find out more
To view the full list of recipients and videos featuring this year's winners, and to nominate a 2022 award recipient, refer to Victorian School Sports Awards.
