Sports Ball returned to Newcastle Civic Centre for another year on Sunday 7 May, recognising all of the successes of our students over the past year. With nearly 400 students, sports staff, Northumbria Alumni, and event sponsors in attendance to celebrate, the night was set to be bigger than ever.
The evening was dedicated to celebrating student participants, interns, athletes, volunteers, coaches, clubs, teams and staff over the 2022-23 academic year. It was an opportunity to be proud of everything Northumbria Sport, and it couldn't have been a more successful night.
After an introduction to the proceedings from Head of Sport Daryl Dixon, VP Sport Elliot Watson kicked off the awards with the ‘Commitment to Sport’ award, sponsored by Northumbria Alumni Association. This trophy was awarded to Thomas Bracewell who has shown dedication to his role at the university massively over the past year.
Next up was ‘Volunteer of the Year’ sponsored by partners Boost Drinks. After a year of contributing to not only sport at Northumbria but also the wider community, Beth Brennan deservingly took this title.
The next award on the list was ‘Coach of the Year’, sponsored by Arch. Amongst tough competition, Rugby League coach Adam Huston took the trophy. After a massively successful season leading the Men’s second team, this award was extremely well deserved.
The award for ‘Individual Performance of the Year’ sponsored by Tass followed, with Boxing Club president Leon Musson taking the trophy. After securing gold at this year's BUCS Boxing Championships, Leon has had an amazing year with the club and we can't wait to see what he does next.
Our ‘Intern of the Year’ award came next in proceedings, this one also being sponsored by Northumbria Alumni Association. James Matthews won the award, being recognised for all of the hard work he contributes behind the scenes at Northumbria Sport alongside both staff and other interns and volunteers.
Up next was ‘Team of the Year’ sponsored by Unite Students. After winning the cup at the end of this season, Rugby Union Men’s 3’s very deservingly took the trophy this year.
Our ‘Club Committee Member of the Year’ award followed, being secured by another Men’s Rugby Union representative and club president, Ben Whinney. Sponsored by Northumbria Students’ Union, this award recognised all of the hard work Ben has put into leading the club over the year.
The penultimate award of the night was ‘Club of the Year’, sponsored by MVP. The win this year went to Netball after an extremely successful season!
The final award of the night was this year's ‘Sports Personality of the Year.’ Up against three other tough candidates, Football president Aidan Rutledge took the trophy, wrapping up the awards for the night.
It was a brilliant night for sport and a massive congratulations goes out to all of our nominees and winners. We hope you all had a brilliant night celebrating success and are proud of all of your achievements. See you all next year!
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