Academy athletes set to celebrate

THE FedUni WestVic Academy of Sport plans to hold their annual awards dinner next month.

Rather than awarding an individual Athlete of the Year as the academy has done in the past, the WVAS board will celebrate the perseverance of their young sportspeople, their coaches and families throughout the challenges of the last 18 months.

The Academy’s executive officer Shenae Keleher said individuals who have reached an elite level of performance will also be recognised with commendations, based on their results and additional criteria.

“The pandemic has reduced the number of performances possible, particularly in international competitions, but the majority of our athletes are at a national level,” she said.

“Being able to compete nationally is still pretty cool, especially within the last two years, so we’re going to recognise that.

“We support many diverse sports with achievements that are very different, so we want to run the awards in the fairest way possible. We look forward to a great evening.”

The awards dinner is planned for the Ballarat Golf Club on Wednesday, 1 September – COVID-19 restrictions permitting – in partnership with the Ballarat Sportsmen’s Club.

“All of our athletes are invited for the night, and this year we have Lisa Alexander AM as our guest speaker; the previous Diamonds netball coach for Australia,” Ms Keleher said.

The WVAS board plans to reintroduce the Athlete of the Year Award in 2022, reviewing athletes’ results and performance from the period of January 2021 to June 2022.

The FedUni WestVic Academy of Sport annual awards dinner was originally scheduled for two weeks ago on Wednesday, 4 August but was postponed due to the state’s sixth pandemic lockdown.