Honouring sporting achievements

WELL DONE: Sean Brown, left (WHS coach of Touch Team) and Jason Caskey congratulate each other on sharing the Coach of the Year award at the Whanganui Sports Awards held at the Wanganui racecourse on Friday night.

It was a good night for the rugby boys as Jason Caskey shared the Mars Petcare Coach of the Year award with one of his former players in Whanganui High School's mixed touch guru Sean Brown.

Brown thanked his school and his wife, while acknowledging he had learned a lot about coaching while under Caskey.

"The coaches are definitely the one to put in the effort to put the players in the position to achieve."

That sentiment was echoed by Ruhia Tamati as she and Mitchell Millar went on stage to accept the Treadwell Gordon Junior Team award on behalf of the WHS Mixed Touch side.

Year 13 student Tamati talked about joining the team as a Year 9 when they finished 10th at nationals, and it was Brown mentoring them which eventually saw the squad evolve and become the side which won the title this year.

"Your time and effort do not go unnoticed and is appreciated by the touch community," she said to her coach from the stage.

Both WHS students were among six recipients of the Tupoho Sports Scholarship awards, a break in tradition as usually there are four athletes given the annual boost.

By Jared Smith
Wanganui Chronicle
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