Lauren Steadman receiving her award
Swimming made a huge splash in the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Sports Awards, organised by LIVING SPORT in conjunction with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
No less than three awards were presented to the sport, with the Cambridge Dive Team taking Ridgeons Club of the Year, their coach James Etherington scooping Coach of the Year, and Lauren Steadman from Huntingdon Piranhas winning the Sports Performer with a Disability category.
The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony on November 1, hosted at Comberton Performance Centre, and featuring local sports personalities, including javelin star Goldie Sayers, World Champion Darts player Martin Adams and World Championship gymnast Louis Smith.
The Cambridge Dive Team - Ridgeons Club of the Year
As the competitive arm of the Cambridge Diving Development Centre, the club is now recognised as one of the leading centres of excellence in the country. The Club won not only for increasing community participation, but also for producing many elite divers. In fact, five youngsters have been selected to join the British Junior Talent Programme, a national scheme to find the next generation of Olympic medallists! The club also runs very popular lunchtime community diving sessions for school children, adults with behavioural problems and children with learning difficulties.
James Etherington – Coach of the Year
The Cambridge Dive Team has thrived since James joined and now caters for 200 children and 20 adults learning to dive. James is nationally recognised as one of the leading young coaches in British Diving, proven by medals his competitors have won up to national level championships. This year, James set up his own Talent Identification Programme, visiting local schools and inviting youngsters to join the club. In addition, five young elite divers he has guided have been selected for the national scheme to find the next generation of Olympians. James has just left the UK for Bulgaria, where he is setting up a summer and winter activity centre. His award was collected at the Ceremony by one of the club’s elite young divers, Aaron Paul.
Lauren Steadman – swimmer, Huntingdon Piranhas
Lauren is a 14-year-old swimmer with Huntingdon Piranhas Swimming Club who, after going from strength to strength in regional, national and international competitions, has her sights set on competing in the Paralympics in Beijing next year.
Lauren has a prosthetic right arm, but this has not held her back. Lauren joined the Piranhas in June 2005 and steadily increased her hours of swim training.
She started competitive swimming early in 2006 carrying off gold medals in all of the eight events she took part in at an Eastern Region Disabled Swimming meet held in Lowestoft. She then took part in the National Junior Disability Sport Event Swimming Championships held in Ponds Forge in Sheffield, finishing in the top four of her five events.
Lauren is now part of the British Swimming World Class Athlete’s Development programme and her hard work led to a call up for the Danish Open in Esbjerg for swimmers with a disability in March this year, where she collected a gold medal in the 50 m backstroke, four silver and two bronze medals.
Also nominated and named as runners up in the ARCHANT YOUNG COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER category: Emily Thorpe and Douglas Green who both volunteer at the Cambridge Disabled Kids Swimming Club.
Awards organiser for LIVING SPORT, Lorna Watkins, said:”This is proof, if proof were needed, that swimming is thriving in our county and that clubs are succeeding in bringing more and more people into the sport for enjoyment, and providing an Olympic pathway for those gifted and talented swimmers.”
Sharyn Bord accepts the award on behalf of Cambridge Dive Team
